SOLUTION BRIEF

Expediting Processes for Effective Case Management

ADOBE IMPROVES CASE MANAGEMENT PROCESSES BY:

• Providing a common platform for sharing case-related documents and forms

• Eliminating re-keying of form data

• Accelerating collaboration with other agencies and mobile case workers

• Extending security controls to documents used by people outside the agency

• Allowing mobile workers to work with documents and forms offline

• Protecting the integrity of the case jacket by ensuring greater compliance with privacy and security policies at each step in the process

Automate information sharing and extend processes beyond the networkEvery day across the country, a district attorney, police dispatcher, social worker, or civil engineer is called on to make a decision that could mean the difference been life and death. The situation might call for assessing hurricane damage to a bridge or protecting the chain of custody of evidence in a criminal trial. The right decision rests on whether the best available information is brought to bear in the case.

Yet public safety, criminal justice, and technical and social services case workers today face a number of challenges. Despite some improvements, most government back-office systems are incompatible with each other, making collaboration slow and difficult. Further, most government processes are still paper-based, so pertinent case records may be scattered throughout offices, systems, and even jurisdictions. Case workers often spend more time chasing down information than providing decision support. Furthermore, disparate systems and paper-bound processes make adhering to privacy and security guidelines difficult at best and could put cases at risk.

The Adobe approach to case management helps agencies manage information more efficiently, resolve cases more quickly, reduce liability risks, and empower managers to make better informed decisions.

A Common Platform for Sharing Case DocumentsThe Adobe® Intelligent Document Platform, combined with products and services from leading partners in areas such as security, records management, and wireless communications, provides a common infrastructure for form-based processes and secure information sharing between agencies. This infrastructure extends processes beyond the network to mobile case workers and other agencies, and enables compliance with policy, privacy, and security mandates.

The Adobe Intelligent Document Platform uses standards-based eXtensible Markup Language (XML), 2D barcode technology, and Web services to enable agencies to replace manual data entry and records redundancies with automated, interoperable business processes. Case information can be compiled into a PDF file, which is accessible through the free and ubiquitous Adobe Reader®.

Intelligent Documents incorporate the business logic of XML to further automate data extraction. This data can be shared with other systems or exchanged and routed beyond the agency network to mobile workers, service providers, and law enforcement entities. These streamlined electronic workflows allow case workers to more easily retrieve and assemble records to generate customized reports or audits, and have greater accountability over the accuracy of their data.

With 2D barcode technology, case workers or their clients can complete and print a form online, offline, or outside the network. A 2D barcode embedded in the document can then be scanned, extracting the form’s data into the host back end. The agency’s databases are dynamically updated, regardless of document format, and case workers receive a complete, up-to-date, and more secure case file.

By automating case management processes, especially for time-consuming routine tasks, case managers can focus their energies where they can have the greatest impact, whether adjudicating a difficult benefits claim or strengthening the government’s case in a criminal prosecution. In the end, agencies improve operational efficiencies, accelerate user adoption, and enhance constituent satisfaction.

With the Adobe Intelligent Document Platform, case workers can pull multiple document types and formats—including evidentiary documents, biometric data, photographs, video clips, or XML and metadata—into a single, integrated, electronic PDF case file.

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Automating the case management workflow using the Adobe Intelligent Document Platform

Protecting Sensitive Information, Document-by-Document and Step-by-StepEven with the capabilities of Intelligent Documents and automated workflows, flexibility without security is moot. A minor irregularity can jeopardize the case or an individual’s privacy. Thus, the integrity of the case record as it moves from one stage to the next has to be fail-safe. The Adobe Intelligent Document Platform is designed to help meet these standards because security policies can be set for each document in the case jacket.

Intelligent Documents have persistent security policies that define how long the document can be accessed, who can access it, and what rights they have within the document. The policies remain with the document, regardless of whether it travels inside or outside the agency network. Furthermore, documents can be encrypted, authenticated, or digitally signed, helping to protect the privacy and security of the record throughout its lifecycle, at every step of the case proceeding. Adobe document security controls provide the ability to revoke documents at any time and monitor version control, to validate that there is no tampering by unauthorized users.

Optimizing Case Management Processes with AdobeThe Adobe approach to case management affords government case managers a number of advantages. It bridges the paper and digital worlds, automates workflows, and extends them inside and outside the network. Case managers have access to a better, timely, and complete chain of evidence, thereby multiplying individual performance as well as staff productivity. Automating processes also improves collaboration, lowers operational costs, and frees staff to manage more complex or higher value tasks.

Robust security policies allow agencies to comply with stringent privacy mandates and reduce their risk of liability. Plus, the Adobe Intelligent Document Platform can be integrated into existing system environments without the need to “rip and replace” giving organizations immediate pay-offs—with the ability to scale in the future. Ultimately, the agency mission is better served, one Intelligent Document at a time.

The Adobe approach to case management puts the right information in the hands of the right people at the right time. By improving collaboration, communication, and processes, Adobe helps create the conditions under which anytime, anywhere, interactive government can take place. The result: a more interactive case management team that can be effective, can stay on top of its workload, and has all the tools it needs to make a difference in the lives of individual citizens.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

To learn more about how Adobe can help make case management processes more efficient, visit www.adobe.com/government.

Better by Adobe.™

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