The Legal Aid Board is to implement a new legal case management system as the backbone of its work processes, tracking all cases from the application stage through service delivery to closure and archival.
The independent, publicly funded agency has awarded the contract to System Dynamics, one of Ireland’s largest, indigenous IT services providers. The project is to begin immediately and is anticipated to take 15 months, covering development and rollout phases. The value of the deal has not been disclosed.
The case management system will be built on System Dynamics’ framework, which the company said is a set of reusable, common components that form the building blocks of all of its case-management implementations. It claims this approach means that pre-built proven modules are delivered to clients, eliminating development risk and speeding up project timelines. The components are designed to be flexible, and can be configured or tailored to meet a client’s specific needs, System Dynamics said.
Paul Hall, enterprise services sales director with System Dynamics, said the company already has more than 15 reference sites using the case management system and the Legal Aid Board project is the most significant implementation of its framework to date.
The case management system will be used by more than 350 staff members at the Legal Aid Board. The agency’s reasons for implementing the new system stem from significant increases in demand for the board’s services in the current economic climate. The board said the anticipated streamlining and standardising of processes from the project would ensure benefits to staff and shorter waiting times for clients.
Frank Brady, director of legal aid at the Legal Aid Board, said the project was “essential to the future development of the organisation and one which will assist the board in delivering its mission of providing a professional, quality service to its clients in as efficient and effective a manner as possible.”
