The Judicial Conference of Indiana is responsible for developing a standard PSI Report to be used by all courts in Indiana. [IC 11-13-1-8(b)(4)]  The PSI Report is used to gather social and legal history information about an offender and is a tool to assist the Judge in determining individualized sentencing options.  In 2011, the Indiana Judicial Center and the Probation Officer Advisory Board worked to revise the standard PSI Report to incorporate additional details and risk assessment domain information.  In conjunction with that project, JTAC began developing the revised PSI Report as a new INcite Application.  On November 7, 2011, the PSI Application was deployed in a pilot phase to the following five Indiana probation departments in the following counties:  Marion, Tippecanoe, Monroe, Dearborn and Blackford.  On January 3, 2012, the PSI Application was made available statewide to over 850 probation officers.  The Judicial Conference Board of Directors is requiring all probation departments to utilize the new INcite PSI Application.

The PSI Report along with the Abstract of Judgment and Sentencing Order (which are to be completed by the sentencing court) must be submitted to the Indiana Department of Correction (DOC) whenever a convicted person is sentenced to a term of imprisonment. [IC 35-38-1-14]  Using INcite, DOC staff will have the ability to retrieve the PSI Report, prepared by the probation officer, directly from the INcite Application, resulting in cost savings, more efficient communication between courts and DOC and fewer resources expended to track down missing paperwork.  Probation departments will be able to view completed PSI Reports statewide and, on repeat offenders, have the ability to create a new PSI report utilizing information stored from a previous report in the INcite system.  This becomes invaluable when compiling the legal history of an offender.  Prior to the PSI Application, probation departments throughout the state were completing PSI Reports independently of one another and did not share completed reports with other departments.  After using the PSI application for the first time, Cathy Knight from Miami County declared, “Just did my first PSI on the new system…..and I love it!!!” 

The next phase of JTAC’s project entails the development of an electronic version of the Abstract of Judgment, which will create the form required by statute whenever a defendant is sentenced to DOC.  The court will have the ability to attach its Sentencing Order to the Abstract of Judgment enabling DOC staff to have at their fingertips all the information they need to expedite the processing of a person who has been sentenced to their department.  When the Abstract of Judgment application is used statewide by all courts, comprehensive conviction and sentencing information will be readily available to courts, legislators, other policy makers and the public.

Thank you to the Hamilton County Probation Department for allowing Ms. Webb to visit, and for sharing their experiences with Odyssey Supervision with a Tyler representative.

The two courts in Jennings County and the three circuit courts and Probation Department in Henry County changed the way they do business on December 12^th when they began to use Odyssey.  Odyssey is now being used in 113 courts in 38 counties, handling over 36% of the state’s total caseload.

Susan Lightfoot, the Chief Probation Officer in Henry County, provided the following comments regarding the deployment experience in Henry County:  “Anytime that you make a move from one computer case management system to another, there is going to be stress and added work, coupled with concerns about whether you will lose any versatility.  The trade-offs are more features and upgraded technology recognized statewide.  Odyssey promises to be a positive step forward for Henry County Probation and Henry County overall.  Enough cannot be said about the JTAC staff for their patience, kindness and perseverance with our staff.  Odyssey is no different from anything else with probation….you have to be willing to upgrade, be innovative and willing to adapt, or probation may not be the place to be!”

Thanks to the staff of Henry and Jennings counties for their hard work and dedication during the transition to Odyssey.

The transition to Odyssey Supervision went smoothly and the probation staff members were quite receptive to using the new application.  The Chief Probation Officer for the Hendricks Circuit Court Probation Department, Gwyn Green, commented, “Our transition to Odyssey was not as difficult as we thought it would be.  JTAC staff did their very best to accommodate all our requests and even sat in court with us to ensure we had immediate help when needed.  Although there are some aspects of Odyssey that will take time to get used to, we have been able to navigate through most of it rather easily.”  JTAC would like to thank Chief Probation Officers Todd McCormack and Gwyn Green for their dedication and hard work to bring Odyssey Supervision to Hendricks County.

Later this month JTAC will be working to implement Odyssey Supervision with the Henry County Probation Department.

“I especially like the new Financial Report we send to the Auditor’s office to pay jurors,” says Kellie Haynes, Cass County Superior 2 Court Reporter. Other recent improvements include a new Questionnaire Processing feature, a convenient Panel Contact List, and cleaner, more intuitive navigation.

Brown, Delaware, Grant, Henry, Miami, and Perry Counties began using the new application in preparation for their 2012 trials, bringing the total number of INcite JMS counties to 57. “Easiest time I have ever had,” reported Teresa Baker, Grant Circuit Court Bailiff, after printing questionnaires for 1st quarter, 2012.

For more information about the INcite JMS, contact Jill Russell at jrussell@jtac.in.gov or 317.234.2734.

Since their go-live date, the Union County Probation Department has been working diligently to transfer all of their existing cases into the new application.  They are the first Supervision agency to utilize the payment plan feature within the Odyssey financial component, which allows them to closely monitor those clients that are behind on their monthly supervision fees.  Overall, the staff looks forward to the many capabilities Odyssey provides.  Chief Probation Officer Cyndi Baumbauer commented, “We are very grateful to have gotten the opportunity to receive the Supervision component of Odyssey. The JTAC staff have been very helpful in making the transition process as smooth as possible. Having Odyssey and being directly linked to the Court and Clerk’s Office will make us much more effective and efficient in our supervision of cases.”  Ms. Baumbauer also indicated that she is looking forward to having accurate statistical information that is extracted from the Supervision database and submitted to the Division of State Court Administration quarterly.  JTAC has recently enhanced the quarterly data analysis process to ensure accurate tabulations and timely submission of these reports.

JTAC welcomes the Union County Probation Department to Odyssey Supervision and thanks them for such a quick and successful go-live. 

In the coming months, JTAC will be working with Hendricks and Henry County probation departments to implement the Odyssey Supervision module.

The first enhancement are improvements to the GIS (geographic information system) mapping feature, which allows officers to record the GPS (global positioning system) coordinates for the location of a stop. The user interface has been upgraded and the mapping data has been enhanced with the assistance of the Indiana Department of Transportation.

The second major improvement occurred on the “back-end” of the software and will impact eCWS administrators within individual law enforcement agencies.  After installation of v3.0, whenever future updates are needed to the software, end users will be able to automatically download and apply the update.  Prior to this release, administrators had to load an update on each machine.  eCWS v3.0 should represent a significant time savings for administrators, and will allow JTAC to get enhancements into the field faster and more efficiently.

The new release also includes the addition of a barcode on all copies of the e-ticket.  The barcode contains the Uniform Traffic Ticket (UTT) number for that ticket.  This barcode works in conjunction with a scanner purchased for courts using the statewide court case management system called “Odyssey.”  A court user can search for a case in Odyssey by the party, case number or UTT number.  By providing the UTT number within the barcode, the court user has the ability to scan the barcode on the copy of the e-ticket, and the case will automatically open in Odyssey without the user entering the party or case information.

Over 240 law enforcement agencies are currently using eCWS.  Twenty-four agencies are in the planning stages and will soon be trained on the new v3.0 release.  If your agency is interested in obtaining eCWS, please contact the JTAC Support Team at e-mail address:  jtacecws@jtac.in.gov.

Terre Haute City Court began using Odyssey on August 29^th.  Most notably, this Court joins Cass County courts in using a “bar code/scanning entry” which reduces errors when searching or opening cases in Odyssey.  The Court processes approximately 11,000 cases every year, of which 7,000 are traffic tickets.   JTAC thanks Clerk Charles P. Hanley, Deputy Clerk Michelle Edwards and the staff for their work during the software training and manual data conversion process, and congratulates them on making the successful transition to Odyssey!

Over the Labor Day weekend, JTAC staff converted all the legacy data for Hendricks County and on September 6^th, Hendricks County judges and Clerk began using the Odyssey case management system.  Prior to go-live, JTAC conducted training for three weeks on the new software and at the same time Hendricks County staff was very hands-on with the data review and conversion processes.  The Courts process approximately 14,240 new case filings each year.  JTAC extends its thanks to Clerk Cindy Spence, the Hendricks County judges – Hon. Jeffrey Boles, Hon. David Coleman, Hon. Robert Freese, Hon. Stephenie LeMay Luken, Hon. Karen Love, Hon. Mark Smith – and their staff for their dedication and hard work during Odyssey’s implementation.  The entire Hendricks County staff has been wonderful over the past several months and it has been a pleasure to work with such a dedicated County.

Case data for all Odyssey courts is available at no cost to the public via Odyssey Public Access at mycase.in.gov.

The Steuben County Probation deployment is also the first time JTAC has utilized the Data Warehouse for probation data.  The Data Warehouse is an INcite application that was custom-built at JTAC to house the county’s case data from their old case management system.  This application will allow the probation department to maintain access to existing case records, which allows for a much easier process when converting active cases into Odyssey Supervision.  Pam Feller, the Steuben County Chief Probation Officer, commented, “I would like to thank the individuals involved with developing the Data Warehouse.  I don’t know what we would have done without it.  It has made the transition from Gavel to Odyssey a smooth process.  I can’t imagine the amount of hours that would have been spent if we had to reenter all of our notes or the expense if we had to print out all of the notes.”  With a simple copy and paste feature, staff is able to transfer their entire notes for a probation case from the Data Warehouse into the case record in Odyssey Supervision.

Steuben County will continue moving their active caseloads to Odyssey Supervision over the next few weeks.  At the conclusion of the Odyssey Supervision training, Pam Feller stated, “My staff is very pleased with the Odyssey system and the training provided by JTAC.”  JTAC is pleased with the success of the Steuben County deployment and thanks Pam Feller and her staff for their patience and positive attitudes during the training.  All participants agree that the Steuben County Probation deployment was a huge success!

JTAC will be working with the Washington County and Union County probation departments to deploy Odyssey Supervision in the coming months.

“I’ve been using the e-signature feature for No-Contact Orders and Protective Orders for the last week. To enter your electronic signature on the form you only have to check one block and enter your PIN. That’s it, it works perfectly!” stated Warren Haas, Judge, Grant County Superior Court 3.

Judge Christopher Goff, Wabash County Superior Court, stated, “I particularly value the electronic signature enhancement because I stop everything to consider the Petition, and now that my electronic signature is available, it prevents additional court interruptions which allows for a smoother process for issuing Orders of Protection.” 

The electronic signature enhancement will allow law enforcement the ability to print a signed copy of the Order from any computer and printer with Internet access, even in their vehicles.   Should an incident arise where there is a need to execute service on a respondent/defendant during a routine traffic stop or during a domestic incident, the officer will have a signed copy of the Order to execute service.  In addition, a signed copy of the Order can be printed directly from the Registry without having to pull the official court file to make a copy of the Order. 

The pilot will continue for another week, and JTAC will keep recording the digital signatures of judicial officers throughout the state.  Notification of the statewide deployment of this enhancement will be sent to all judges via e-mail with a step-by-step guide for use. 

For more information or questions regarding the Protection Order Registry and the Electronic Signature Enhancement please contact LaJuan Epperson at lepperson@jtac.in.gov or 317-234-2870.