Platform Capabilities

PowerCase ICM Data Model

Underpinning PowerCase is a configurable data model that is responsible for organizing and managing every aspect of the investigation and the information/evidence collected during its lifetime.

An important aspect of the PowerCase data-model is that it automatically records the provenance of every activity and piece of information, giving answers to questions such as “where did this information come from?”, “who received it?”, and “why was it obtained?”.

Central/Distributed storage

PowerCase supports the centralised storage of all structured and unstructured data to ensure information is available to all users for search and management purposes. De-centralised content management storage (files, multimedia, etc.) is also supported.

Localisation – Language/Time Zone

In large organisations, or where the agency covers multiple-jurisdictions, the PowerCase interface can support multiple languages. Users can select their preferred language to adjust the display of labels and dropdown values.  Look-up search maps across each offered language.

Date/Time information, from the Case setting down to individual data records are associated with a specified time-zone, so users and their activities, even when working across multiple time zones on the same case, are accurately record.

Role Based Access Control  

User roles control access levels to case data and application features. Training costs and time are reduced by ensuring users only have access to the elements of the application required to perform their job.

Case & Record level security

Control user access to entire cases or specific data records within a case.  Highly sensitive information can be restricted to specified roles.

Audit

A complete audit trail is maintained for all case activity. Authorised users can query the audit logs and view and compare different versions of data records using specialised tools that highlight additions, changes, and deletions between versions.

Case Management

Central to any case management system is the concept of the “Case” – an organisation’s or agency’s response to an incident.

In PowerCase, a Case will follow a workflow from creation through to closure.  The Case acts as a container in which roles are assigned, tasks and jobs created, and collected data securely stored.

Offences/Contraventions

Driving the planning and operation of every case is the set of offences or contraventions under investigation.

Users choose one or more offences to add to their case – each offence will provide details of the relevant Act/Legislation, along with links to the “subject” and other associated participants (witnesses, victims, etc.). During the investigation, as information is received and reviewed it can be linked to an Offence thereby building a clear picture of how case evidence relates to each charge.

Operation Planning

Canvass, Seized Property, and Surveillance operations must be carefully planned, with the necessary approvals obtained and recorded.  PowerCase provides features to manage these operations and record the information and evidence that result from operation activities.

Tip/Intelligence Management

Tips and intelligence provided by the public, external agencies and internal sources are recorded, evaluated, and triaged for action, whether it be a new investigation or information relevant to existing enquiries.

Property Management

Record, track and manage the disposition of Seized Propriety. Flags on retention deadlines alert users to key dates and extensions.

Reporting / Dashboards

Case dashboards provide up-to-date information about the overall status of the case. Each user is provided with specific information associated with their role in in the investigation.

Authorised users can generate ad-hoc reports from both a case or department perspective.

Task Management

Lines of enquiry and other investigative jobs are managed through the creation, assignment and tracking of Tasks.

Initial Tasks are created automatically (based on case type), but are also derived directly from collected information to ensure that the investigations direction is evidence led. If the investigation focus changes, Tasks can quickly be updated, prioritised, or reassigned to ensure the direction and speed of the investigation is kept on course.

 “Template” Task

Authorised users can create and configure Task Templates that automatically add investigative jobs at appropriate times during the Case workflow.

Integrated Analytics

Launch link charts from any data record (person, Task, Document, etc.) or records returned by a search to instantly provide new insights to case data.  Users can apply the various “explore” and analytical features to reveal further associations.

Data Matching

New information is automatically checked against existing case/departmental information and users notified when a match occurs. These “triggers” are not only indicators of potential common elements across cases, but also reduce data duplication and consolidate associations to case entities.

Text analysis / entity extraction

Identify and extract information from text documents to create Person, Telephone, Organisations, Tasks, Events, etc. Each new object is matched against existing data holdings to prevent entity duplication and highlight associations in data.

Disclosure Preparation

The timely review and preparation of evidence for court is one of the most labour intensive elements of any investigation. In order to streamline workflows, PowerCase provides tools to manage the conversion, vetting, redaction, and review of case information directly from the application.

Job bottlenecks are identified to ensure resources are directed to where they are needed most, ensuring timely delivery of information to the prosecution and defence.

Disclosure Presentation

Just as every investigation is different, every agency has its own requirements for the organisation and presentation of disclosed materials. PowerCase solutions can be configured to organise disclosed evidence around a range of different structures such as Task, Offences, or evidence categories/folders.

In addition, ensuring that only the right versions of materials are disclosed is vital. PowerCase manages the disclosure of original, vetted and redacted information for the appropriate audience.

Dashboards

PowerCase dashboards provide insight to managers and investigators on the current state of their investigation, highlighting outstanding jobs and potential bottlenecks.

Search

Advanced free-text and field level searching capabilities, combined with control of the “scope” of the search (e.g. Records/Cases/Regions/Departments) allows users to quickly locate data of interest. Results can be saved or exported in a number of formats.

Text based files are automatically indexed when uploaded, ensuring free text search is extended to these file types.