DOJ's case management system enters design phase

The Justice Department’s Litigation Case Management System (LCMS) has entered the design phase and should be completed by early September, Justice officials said.Chris Carey, the system’s program manager, said the department plans to begin testing LCMS this winter and have it up and running by October 2008. Four U.S. attorneys’ offices will test the system before it is deployed, he added.LCMS will provide a wide range of support tools for 94 U.S. attorneys’ offices and six other major litigation offices, Carey said today at a conference on law enforcement information technology sponsored by AFCEA International’s Bethesda, Md., chapter.He said the system is the cornerstone for sharing information within Justice. It provides information on cases and management tools for people working on those cases.The department currently has seven case management systems, which inhibits information sharing and increases costs, Carey said.When it is fully deployed, each Justice division will have its own view of LCMS. From a Web portal, users will be able to cross agency boundaries to access the FBI’s Sentinel system, case data, case referrals and victim information, Carey said.He added that, at the executive level, senior agency managers will be able use a dashboard interface to give performance evaluations and access data to aid with decision-making.LCMS will also help supervisors track attorneys’ caseloads so they can monitor the allocation of resources, and it will give attorneys the tools they need to research and manage cases, Carey said.In May, Justice awarded Computer Sciences Corp. a $42 million contract to develop the system.