NIEM Newsletter
CONNECT Consortium Works to Improve Interstate Sharing With NIEM
By Tim Galante, Analysts International
The states of Alabama, Kansas, Nebraska, Tennessee, and Wyoming have formed a consortium to share criminal justice data. This effort is the CONNECT (Consortium for the Exchange of Criminal Justice Technology) Project. The main goal of the CONNECT Project is to enable effective sharing of information among participating states.
CONNECT’s Vision.
The vision for the CONNECT Project is to make interstate sharing an effective, efficient, simple, and practical process, to the greatest extent possible, for each participant. CONNECT seeks to establish a proven roadmap for interstate sharing that:
- Enables the effective information flow among participating states, both for their immediate benefit and, ultimately, to provide a national model.
- Builds upon, leverages, and enhances the existing criminal justice information systems and portals currently deployed in each participating state.
- Adopts and uses proven national standards (i.e., NIEM, JRA, GFIPM) wherever and whenever practically possible within a predefined reference architecture.
CONNECT Phase 1 Is Under Way.
The initial phase of the CONNECT Project will entail a proof of concept system to share data among Alabama, Nebraska, and Wyoming. The CONNECT states have defined the data to be shared and a common format to display search results. The information will be shared leveraging Web services and NIEM. The first set of NIEM IEPDs has been delivered and also uploaded to the NIEM IEPD Clearinghouse. The IEPD can be found at (http://niem.gtri.gatech.edu/niemtools/iepdt/display/container.iepd?ref=333hStqN9Ws%3D). These first IEPDs govern the search request, search response, and detailed response to share driver’s license information and photos. Connect Phase 1 is targeted for completion in fall 2008.
If you would like additional information on the CONNECT Project, please contact Becki Goggins from the Alabama Criminal Justice Information Center (becki.goggins@alacop.gov), Michael Overton from the Nebraska Crime Commission (moverton@ncc.state.ne.us), or Tim Galante from the NIEM Communication and Outreach Committee (tgalante@analysts.com).
PM-ISE Annual Report to Congress 2008
The Office of the Program Manager for the Information Sharing Environment (PM-ISE) has issued the 2008 Annual Report to Congress. “. . . [I]t demonstrates a solid record of accomplishment by the Office of the Program Manager, the many agencies represented on the Information Sharing Council, and our partners in State, local and tribal (SLT) governments . . . .” writes Ambassador Thomas McNamara in the foreword of the report.
Pennsylvania Successfully Tests the First NIEM Rap Sheet Submission With Nlets
For more information, contact Cathy Plummer at (505) 771-1651 or cplummer@nlets.org.
For more than 40 years, Nlets has provided its users with criminal history record information from state and federal repositories via a standardized, secure, and efficient methodology. This capability enabled the states and the FBI to respond automatically to requests from other users over the Nlets network.
With the exception of a few states and the FBI, Rap Sheets are delivered in nonuniform, state-specific formats. The lack of uniformity hinders the ability of law enforcement to protect the public. It also makes it difficult to pull together accurate crime statistics that will help prevent crime and reduce recidivism.
Sponsored by the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), the Nlets Criminal History Information Exchange Format (CHIEF) project has:
- Migrated the Interstate Criminal History Transmission Specification Version 3.01 (“Rap Sheet”) to a Version 4.0 conformant with the National Information Exchange Model (“NIEM”)
- Implemented XML Rap Sheet transmission in Florida, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Wisconsin
- Preempted the risk-laden notion of a “moving target” by developing and installing XML transformation services on the Nlets network information exchange broker
- Created an environment to support statistical analysis of criminal record check transactions
On May 16, 2008, Pennsylvania successfully tested the first NIEM Rap Sheet submission with Nlets.
A uniform criminal history record format has never been mandatory. Likewise, no mandatory guidelines regarding the content of criminal history records have ever been promulgated. Standardized Rap Sheets will improve the effectiveness of nearly every justice and public safety professional in the nation. They will make these professionals more efficient while saving lives by preventing terrible mistakes from misinterpretation of out-of-state codes.
Pennsylvania’s Court Case Event GJXDM to NIEM (G2N) Pilot Project
Synopsis
The purpose of this case study is to highlight the successful development of a NIEM 2.0-Conformant Information Exchange Package Documentation (IEPD) for Pennsylvania’s Court Case Event Messages through Pennsylvania’s Justice Network (JNET) and to draw attention to resulting documentation—NIEM Adoption White Paper, Performance Measurement Plan, and Lessons-Learned Report—that can guide future NIEM implementation efforts.
Agency Overview
The Pennsylvania Justice Network (JNET) is the Commonwealth’s primary public safety and criminal justice information broker. JNET’s secured justice site provides a common online environment for users to access public safety and criminal justice information. This critical information comes from various contributing municipal, county, state, and federal agencies. JNET’s secure site provides access to more than 33,000 practitioners located throughout the Commonwealth’s 67 counties, as well as at federal and state agencies. JNET provides these practitioners with the ability to conduct secure investigations, research, and inquiry in a Web- and message-based environment.
JNET provides a messaging and service bus infrastructure to facilitate XML-based secure data exchanges to improve public safety. Agencies currently contributing exchange information to JNET include Pennsylvania State Police, Department of Corrections, Board of Probation and Parole, Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts (AOPC), Juvenile Court Judges Commission, Department of Transportation, Department of Public Welfare, Department of Health, Pennsylvania Sentencing Commission, Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency, and various counties. JNET has reached a key milestone with its governance, processes, and documentation to provide a comprehensive approach to adopting NIEM for both JNET and, eventually, the Commonwealth Enterprise.
Challenge
Recently, JNET merged its existing message management and approval document with its previous GJXDM development methodology to create a single comprehensive NIEM message development process. The AOPC Court Case Event Message (CCE) is the largest data exchange currently available in JNET, with more than 300 components. The CCE is currently GJXDM-conformant, and JNET selected the CCE transactions to develop the first NIEM-conformant message using the JNET NIEM repeatable procedures.
Solution
The funds appropriated to JNET through the National Governors Association (NGA) and the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) were used to create a pilot conversion of the AOPC CCE from GJXDM to NIEM 2.0 using the newly drafted JNET NIEM message development process. The CCE GJXDM to NIEM IEPD development process was used to better understand the effort required to convert GJXDM messages to NIEM, the best practices for converting existing GJXDM messages to NIEM, and the advantages of NIEM over GJXDM.
Results
Results of this project include the creation of a NIEM 2.0 CCE-conformant IEPD, completion of all required IEPD artifacts, and publication to the Pennsylvania Enterprise Repository (PEAR) and the U.S. Department of Justice IEPD Clearinghouse for use by other states. Results also include the development of a NIEM Adoption White Paper that outlines the best practice for moving GJXDM messages to NIEM; a Performance Measurement Plan that includes performance measures that benchmark conversion of existing exchanges; and a Lessons-Learned Report that summarizes the progress and various lessons learned throughout the GJXDM to NIEM project.
Featured FAQ
Will NIEM replace my existing enterprise database?
No. NIEM is not intended to provide a data model for an enterprise database. NIEM does not require agencies to alter their legacy systems and databases in any way. Enterprises might elect to incorporate NIEM data definitions into new database designs, but this is not required for NIEM conformance.
NIEM Training News
Practical Implementer’s Course—Tennessee
June 2–5, 2008Nlets conducted a training hosted by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and attended by members of AOC, ICJ Project, NIC, OHS, SENT Software, SRC, and the TBI, among others. The instructors for this class were Kate Silhol, Nlets’ senior systems engineer, and Cathy Plummer, Nlets’ CHIEF project manager. The training course was unique in that Nlets worked with Brad Truitt, the Nlets Tennessee representative, to provide tailor-focused content. Representative Truitt was very pleased with the results and felt that they had succeeded in having "real learning taking place, of real value to every agency involved."
Read the full Nlets press release.
Practical Implementer’s Course—Texas
August 12–14, 2008The IJIS Institute conducted a training hosted by the Texas Department of Public Safety and attended by 18 students representing a variety of agencies, including the Office of the Attorney General, Court Administration, and the Department of Criminal Justice. Representatives from Bexar, Collin, Lubbock, and Tarrant Counties were also in attendance:. The tremendous diversity in agencies and jurisdictions represented added a great dimension to the class. The instructor for this session was Tom Carlson of Tom Carlson Consulting, who received great reviews on the student evaluations. Tom was on the course development team and contributed significantly to the development of the instructional material. We thank Tom for his continued support of the IJIS Institute Training initiatives. This NIEM Practical Implementer’s Course was grant-funded by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
Practical Implementer’s Course—Nevada
August 19–21, 2008The IJIS Institute conducted a training hosted by the Clark County, Nevada, Department of Information Technology and attended by 19 students representing a variety of agencies, including the Clark County Detention Center, Justice and Public Safety Community of Interest, Information Technology Department, and Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. The different agencies represented made for a very lively training session. The instructor for this class was Joel Byford of MTG Management Consultants, who once again received excellent reviews on the student evaluations. Joel was also part of the NIEM course development team and designed the case study used in the instructional material. We thank Joel and MTG for their continued support of the IJIS Institute Training initiatives. This NIEM Practical Implementer’s Course was grant-funded by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
Upcoming NIEM Trainings
- October 7–9, 2008—Washington State Courts, Olympia, Washington
- October 29–31, 2008—New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS), Troy, New York
- November 4–6, 2008—Department of Criminal Justice, Alabama
