Information "Bulk Filing" vs Intelligence Management

Written by Bradley Siddell

A RMS (Records Management System) is neither an intelligence data base nor electronic major case management network. Too many times small and enterprise law enforcement and intelligence agencies employ their IT experts to research, design, built and implement the Mother of All data collection and analysis programs.

Unfortunately the functionality requirements of a records system does not necessarily align with the needs of data collation for an investigational unit such as a cold case homicide squad or economic crimes section. Information management via electronic or more traditional means must align with the intelligence cycle; collection, collation, evaluation, analysis, and dissemination.

Understanding the terminology is the first step towards making the correct decision and eliminating inaccurate assumptions. There are a variety of software solutions that have been labelled incorrectly. Occasionally these classifications of systems are combined to form hybrid information management protocols. In order to truly understand their purpose they must be evaluated based on the following criteria:

Records Management Systems (RMS) - a computer based network or information warehouse facility that provides enterprise wide storage on raw or global information. The relevance of the information is less important than the archiving process in place. The main purpose of an RMS is to ensure that there are documentary records of interaction between the owner of the information and the client or public in the case of law enforcement. RMS systems address collection, and in some cases collation but seldom any other process in the intelligence cycle.

Incident Management Systems (IMS) - a computer based network or localized application that provides departments with the ability to record and track incidents or occurrences relevant to the mandate of the organization. The incident or event is the nucleus of the information management and spawns other follow up or analysis activity. The main purpose is to correlate incidents for statistical or comparative analysis. Most if not all of the intelligence cycle process is addressed by an IMS, however the analysis portion may not be as robust as other alternatives. Example.

Task Management Systems (TMS) - a computer based local application at a restricted or global level which assigns, monitors and records progress of many to many relationship tasks. A TMS is commonly required for investigational follow up and multi-tasking by managers of a serious crime, high profile incident, or natural disaster. Data collection may be a small component of the system; put the priority is on the administration of both operational and administrational duties. By itself, it does not address much of the intelligence cycle. However, it is a critical component of a true incident (IMS) and major case management system (MCMS)(see below).

Entity Management Systems (EMS) - a computer based enterprise wide, and in some instances, multi-enterprise wide system of comparing entity information for investigational analysis purposes. Entities may or may not include persons, places, thinks, documents, multi-media, events, actions, and results. Entities can be categorized or compartmentalized. There are two classifications that will help a user distinguish a EMS from a simple vs. sophisticated system. Programs that record and compare entities at rest and in motion are the more advanced systems. EMS address the collection and evaluation of entity data but they may not deal well with volume information found in electronic or paper text. Entities need to be extracted from text which involves a manual effort or more sophisticated technology injection. Example.

Major Case Management Systems (MCMS) - an advanced computer system that can be employed either locally or enterprise wide. The most common hurdle for MCM system is scalability and network bandwidth. MCM systems incorporate all of the elements of the above systems. MCM systems which have moved from a client-server based operation to web-based technologies are preferred. A true MCM system will include the ability to coordinate dissemination of records-reports and any judicial process that may be attached to the project. Some agencies mistakenly call there RMS and MCM system. This is a fallacy. Example.

Intelligence Analysis Systems (IAS) - a graphically based computer system that has the ability to evaluate, categorize, and analyse information for the purpose of transforming the data into actionable intelligence. IA systems are rarely data bases and are not accustom to the storage of voluminous data. Although there are some exceptions to this rule, IA systems will commonly extract subsets of data from any or all of the above systems and import that information for further study. Some IA systems can access live external sources of data for the purpose of drilling down through the associations-relationships-links between entities and events. IA systems have a temporal measurement capacity and will be used to produce activity time licence and association link analysis. Example.

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