Author: Jared Rose

Jared Rose
VP of Sales

At Adventos, one of the most common questions that we see IT departments and law enforcement agencies face time and again comes down to whether to build an on premise infrastructure or go with a cloud-based solution for all of their agency management system needs. While both have their fair share of advantages and disadvantages, the true answer to this question requires you to take a deeper look at the specifics of your own organizational objectives and needs to help guarantee you’ll have the service you need when you need it the most. The good news is that SmartForce runs both on premise and on the cloud

Security and Compliance

One of the major benefits that a cloud-based solution has over an on-premise alternative is one of security and compliance. According to a study recently conducted by IJIS, companies that used cloud-based solutions had 45% fewer incidents of data loss, 45% less security-related downtime and a staggering 93% fewer audit deficiencies – all of which are hugely important qualities for law enforcement agencies in particular.

None of this is to say that there is a “one size fits all” answer to this particular question. For some, an on-premise solution will be the only way to guarantee the level of control over their data and processes that they need on a daily basis. For many others, however, a cloud-based solution is the single best way to control costs, guarantee scalability, security and compliance and deploy as quickly and as efficiently as possible

Time to Deploy

Picking the right solution is one thing – getting that solution up and running across an agency is something else entirely. Setting up your own on-premise infrastructure allows you to maintain complete control over your environment, but it also takes time. If the time to deploy for an in-house solution is a month, you’re looking at a months of salaries for IT employees, two months of overtime when issues arise or when things don’t go as expected, etc. With a cloud-based solution, you have none of these concerns – an agency management system like SmartForce can typically be deployed in a manner of hours, not months, and can then be further customized to fit the precise way you like to work.

Maintenance and Upgrades

Many people don’t realize until it’s far too late that when they decide to set up their own on-premise solution, there is a large amount of responsibility that comes with the control they’re trying to hold onto. This most commonly takes the form of maintenance and upgrades. If something goes wrong, you need to fix it – or find the person who can and schedule their service. If something needs to be upgraded, it isn’t going to happen automatically – you need to find the right person to get the job done, which means labor costs, downtime and more.

With a cloud-based solution, however, regular upgrades are built into the cost of the solution in the first place. You don’t have to worry about updating as much as a single piece of software – as everything is delivered in an on-demand capacity, you always have access to the latest tools at all times. Maintenance and upgrades aren’t just easier – they’re literally things you don’t have to worry about any longer.

Scalability

One of the most important qualities that law enforcement agencies need to consider when deciding between cloud vs. on-premise solutions is one of scalability. Always having access to the resources you need when you need them is key to operational success, but the reverse is also true: paying too much for resources you aren’t effectively utilizing is one of the most efficient ways to waste money today.

Cloud-based solutions like SmartForce are inherently scalable as storage, processing and other requirements are served up in an on-demand manner. Essentially, you’re paying one fixed price for whatever you need, whenever you need it.

Costs

This was purposely listed last. After careful consideration of the first four factors and your particular agency and goals you are in the best place to determine the true cost of deploying the solution on-premise or via the cloud.

Parties interested in the SmartForce™ Agency Management System and how it improves intelligence and community collaboration, click here. After watching the demo video, you are invited to request a free trial of the agency management system to try for yourselves.

Jared Rose
VP of Sales

One of a crime analyst’s most important roles is to distribute information to fellow law enforcement officers. Getting this information into the hands of officers on patrol, responding to calls, or actively working cases is critical to effective police work.

While email has its place in distributing information, crime analysts have told us that using an agency management system has distinct advantages. With so many daily emails coming to officers, they may overlook critical information they need from crime analysts. A quick delete of an email can make it difficult to find at the moment it’s most needed.

Email and agency management systems are both needed in modern police departments, but they should be used, particularly by crime analysts, in very specific circumstances.

Occasions When Crime Analysts Should Use Email

There are a number of times when sending information through email is the best choice, including:

• Sending an official department memo that goes to all personnel.
• Requesting specific information from one person or a small group of people.
• Notifying a group of people where to find information that has been recently posted.
• Responding to a specific request made by one person or a small group of people.

By limiting use of email to these functions, officers will know the types of information to expect from crime analysts via email.

Advantages of Disseminating Information through an Agency Management System

For distributing regularly produced or one-time-only crime analysis, an agency management system has many distinct advantages over email. Here are some the best reasons to use agency management systems for sharing crime analysis information:

• Real-time communications: With the ability to communicate in real time through discussion boards or threads, law enforcement personnel can discuss what further crime analysis is needed, what areas need more examination or what other products need to be created. All personnel involved in an investigation can keep up to date on its status, including notifications when a crime is solved, an arrest is made or a suspect provides new information that needs further investigation.
• Organized information: Pertinent Information about an investigation can be stored and organized in one place. This alleviates the need for individual personnel to create their own organization system and for information to be distributed consistently and accurately. This allows relevant personnel to access information specific to their own investigative needs. For example, information can be organized by district, type of product or other self-created categories as needed by the department.
• Searchable archives: With archived reports, personnel can use keyword searches or phrases to locate and retrieve needed information. Officers do not need to search through old emails or request a crime analyst to locate and resend information.
• Large files are easily accessible: Photos, graphs, maps, charts, videos, BOLOs and other data are often large files that can be cumbersome and eat up storage on mobile devices. Agency management systems make such files easy to access, retrieve and use immediately.
• Pop-up alerts: When information is particularly important, such as a crime pattern bulletin or video of a crime in progress, an alert, much like a website pop-up ad, can be posted. These pop-ups provide a helpful alert to personnel who access the agency management system, keeping them apprised of vital information as quickly as possible. When the crisis is over, the alert can be removed and archived.

With SmartForce™ by Adventos, law enforcement agencies can provide crime analysts with the right tools to effectively communicate about key information and updates. With practical storage, retrieval and alert functions, officers who need information can access it quickly.

Parties interested in the SmartForce™ Agency Management System and how it improves intelligence and community collaboration, click here. After watching the demo video, you are invited to request a free trial of the agency management system to try for yourselves.

Jared Rose
VP of Sales

You are investing in the SmartForce™ Agency Management System (AMS) and you want to gain the efficiencies of being CJIS compliant on the Microsoft Government Cloud. You now need to decide between Office365, Microsoft SharePoint Online Plan 1, Microsoft SharePoint Online Plan 2, or Microsoft Azure for Government.

Information on each option:

Office365

Office365 comes with Office Professional, SharePoint Online Plan 2, Exchange Online, OneDrive for Business, and a few more features. This is the best solution to use with SmartForce™.

SharePoint Online Plan 2

This is the equivalent of SharePoint Enterprise, the top notch plan for SharePoint Online. You will have extensive searching capabilities with this solution. Searching for historical information, such as prior pattern discussions, roll call pass on, forms, and important documentation, is quick and effortless.

SharePoint Online Plan 1

This is similar to SharePoint Standard and originally available for use with On Premise servers. With this version of SharePoint, the search capability will be a bit restricted. This is the minimum requirement for the use of SmartForce™.

Microsoft Azure for Government

With this option you have more control over your environment, but there is more work to do at set up. Think of Azure as a secure cloud environment to host your own infrastructure. A SharePoint Server Farm will need to be configured along with other architectural considerations. So, more control, but more complexity and overhead to manage.

So what’s next?

Adventos™ can assist with getting you in touch with the right person at Microsoft and your Software reseller to buy Cloud licensing. Your government agency most likely has already negotiated a license agreement with Microsoft. You will want to ask for the following options (all on the Government Cloud):

• Adding user to the Core CAL (Client Access License) for Office 365 G3
• Adding user to the Core CAL for SharePoint Online Plan 2
• A stand-alone user for SharePoint Plan 1

Based on pricing you will be able to choose the right amount of licenses for your team. For example, users who are in a supervisory and/or system administrative position from the rank of Sergeants and above, you may want to provide them with O365 G3 (which comes with SharePoint Plan 12 or SharePoint Plan 2) and for the rest of the organization SharePoint Plan 1 stand alone.

Note: It is extremely important to ask for the complete pricing, so you can decide how to best divide the licensing. Finally, Microsoft offers an Office 365 Free trial for 30 days which can be extended to 120 days with a simple request. This option is a great way to “extend” your agency dollars. Free trials for Office 365 can be requested here.

Office365 Investment and Benefits

Office365 is the perfect “add-on” to your Enterprise Agreement with Office Professional. For about $6/month, per user, (your pricing may vary) you get the latest version of Office Professional, SharePoint Online Plan 2, Exchange Plan 2 (email), and OneDrive (storage) for your agency. The full price of Office Professional as a stand-alone software tool compared to investing in Office365 makes this a favorable choice.

Note: You do not have to implement all of features of Office365 right away. For instance, you can implement SharePoint Online Plan 2 first for your Smart Solution by Adventos™ and migrate to Office365 at a later date. Regardless, Adventos will be there to assist you in the transition.

SharePoint Plan 2 Investment and Benefits

This is the equivalent of SharePoint Enterprise where you will have everything you need. For a government organization adding this onto their EA (Enterprise Agreement), the pricing will usually be $3 to $6/user, per month. SharePoint Plan 2 is our recommended method of running SmartForce™, SmartCity, and SmartCounty by Adventos™.

This is the equivalent of SharePoint Enterprise where you will have everything you need. For a government organization adding this onto their EA (Enterprise Agreement), the pricing will usually be $3 to $6/user, per month. SharePoint Plan 2 is our recommended method of running SmartForce™, SmartCity, and SmartCounty by Adventos™.

SharePoint Plan 1 Investment and Benefits

This is similar to the SharePoint Standard of the good ol’ On Premise software days. We recommend this for pure end users who need only to read and edit documents or information from sites. Notice, if you have an Enterprise Agreement, your pricing can be very low (about $1 to $3/user, per month). If you do not, it may be more expensive than going with the full O365 or even SharePoint Online Plan 2.

Microsoft Azure for Government Investment and Benefits

This is similar to running a data center with SharePoint, SQL Server, and Active Directory, but hosted on the cloud. We recommend this option for very large agencies that have already made an investment on Azure Infrastructure.

In summary

Whatever platform and licensing you choose, you will be in good hands with Adventos. Most agencies in state and local government benefit from the Cloud infrastructure. You have 24×7 monitoring, CJIS level security, and you can focus on giving value to the community you serve and your employees vs. babysitting your servers. The ease of mind, security, and availability of the Cloud, will give you greater mileage.

Start Your Free Trial of SmartForce™ by Adventos

SmartForce™ is the only CJIS compliant and mobile agency management system designed to account for uncommitted time and to drive current policing strategies. SmartForce™ also provides a single platform for integrating and automating all law enforcement administrative processes outside of CAD and RMS. You can request your free trial by visiting www.adventos.com/demo.html.