Are Loryx Systems products user-friendly and easy for my staff to use?
What reporting capabilities are available?
Can Loryx Systems standard reports be modified to meet my needs?
Can I create my own reports?
How does security work, are your applications protected against unauthorized access?
Is there a limit to the number of users or records the system can support?
How can your system support my agency’s unique needs…?
Why not create a customized solution?
Will Monitor meet all my needs?
How will your products meet our future needs?
Are Loryx Systems products user-friendly and easy for my staff to use?
Loryx Systems has adopted an intuitive browser-based graphical user interface that allows users to access the system immediately, reducing training requirements and possible errors. All of the products in the Monitor Suite adhere to the same design principles with the same look and feel. Access is facilitated through the use of hyperlinks, drop down fields, popup calendars, and an easy to use tabbed navigation system. Context sensitive help is always available.
All system operations including data entry, client management, record searches, and reporting, are designed with the end user in mind by a staff of former and current criminal justice end-users.
We believe (and have been told) that Monitor is the easiest case management system on the market. To make your own judgment, please schedule a demo or an on site visit.
What reporting capabilities are available?
Loryx Systems uses Microsoft’s SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) as the Monitor report writer and includes a set of approximately 100 preset reports and on-line forms covering key areas of community corrections. For example, reports relating to probation include investigations, client history, pre-sentence reports, client and court memos/notices, caseload lists, appearance lists, financial transactions, violation lists, staff performance, and management statistics. Our printed reports include selection criteria allowing users to directly modify the query.
Can Loryx Systems standard reports be modified to meet my needs?
To meet local needs, Loryx Systems can modify an existing report or create a new one (a fee may apply).
Can I create my own reports?
Agencies are not dependent on Loryx Systems. If they find it desirable, each jurisdiction has the ability to use SSRS, Crystal Reports or other ODBC compliant third party software programs to create their own ad hoc queries or customized reports. Monitor includes an administrator controlled menu that allows the administrator to determine which reports are turned on and available within the jurisdiction.
How does security work, are your applications protected against unauthorized access?
Monitor employs an advanced authorization and Roles based security system which limits its use to authenticated users that provide a valid ID (username) and password. Monitor’s Role based security system supports differential access to screens, forms, reports, functions, and data, depending upon a user’s security permissions. For example, if a user does not have permission to access a screen when s/he logs in that tab will not be visible. Users only see what they have permission to view.
Is there a limit to the number of users or records the system can support?
Our case management software can support a virtually unlimited number of users and records. Scaling of the system to the number of users or records is dictated by the hardware and configuration of the servers.
How can your system support my agency’s unique needs, which may conflict with the business rules of another jurisdiction, and still provide maintenance and upgrades for us both?
Each of our products was developed over a number of years to anticipate and incorporate the vast majority of agency requirements in their respective fields. The design of each system is based on our study and understanding of criminal justice and human services practices and procedures in jurisdictions across the country.
Obviously, agency practices vary among jurisdictions. To meet the needs of different jurisdictions, but allow us to support and maintain our software in an economical manner, we have designed the database and application model from the ground up to accommodate configuration of the system to meet specific needs of different types of agencies. Monitor is a table based system that allows one jurisdiction’s local configuration to not affect another jurisdiction. The current use of Monitor in the real world by a diverse collection of agencies proves the effectiveness of our model.
Why not create a customized solution?
Custom solutions with the proper administrative and financial support can be successful but in general, custom solutions have a very high failure rate compared to Commercial off the Shelf (COTS) systems and are much more costly. Monitor is a proven COTS system.
The traditional argument for creating a customized solution is that a jurisdiction’s needs are so unique they cannot be met by a commercial application. While that may be true for most commercial applications, it is not the case with the Monitor suite of case management products. Because of our developer expertise (we have been designing case management systems for over 20 years) we have designed our systems to meet the vast majority of agency needs and to allow internal configuration to meet the rest. Purchasers of our software not only get the benefit of our experience and expertise but the benefits of being part of a larger community of criminal justice and human service users who contribute their ideas to improve our products.
If a jurisdiction creates a customized application from scratch it really is “recreating the wheel”. Loryx Systems has already spent years and millions of dollars perfecting our case management systems. Internal development generally will suffer by comparison in at least four areas:
- Understanding your requirements. Generally IT departments are composed of technology professionals, not criminal justice professionals. To develop an appropriate solution will require a significant amount of time for the IT staff to learn your agency needs and requirements and the probability is high, if not certain, that miscommunication and misunderstanding will lead to frustration with the final product. At Loryx Systems, our developers and project managers are criminal justice professionals who already understand the field and when they sit down with you will understand your specific needs in a fraction of the time (and more accurately) than your county’s IT staff.
- Supporting your application. If an agency is dependent on a local IT department it generally must compete with other department’s projects and requests for IT assistance and your priorities are not necessarily their priorities. Our business is to support you, make sure you have access to the latest technology, and to ensure your users are continuously happy with the system. We will always be there to respond to your requests and needs.
- Cost and Features. It is simply not possible for an IT department to provide the same level of functionality and on-going support at a lower price than offered by Loryx Systems. Either the cost will exceed our license fees, the features (hence benefits) will be less, or worst case (but most likely) scenario, you will end up paying more for a less effective system.
- Time. Development of an equivalent system can take years of development time. Loryx Systems offers proven solutions that are already in use and that can be quickly installed in your jurisdiction in a fraction of the time commitment required of your staff to create a new system.
Will Monitor meet all my needs?
It all depends on what those needs are. No product, not even one as comprehensive or configurable as Monitor can meet the needs of every agency. Our product suite, however, can meet 90% or more of an agency’s business requirements “out of the box” and we are willing to work with you on meeting any remaining needs.
Loryx product specialists will work with your agency to determine how best you can use and configure Monitor to meet your needs.
How will your product meet our future needs?
The rules that affect your operations often change. The Monitor product suite is adaptable to changes in the law, reporting requirements, technology, and local workflow process.
Because we are criminal justice professionals, we are aware of standards and reporting requirements in the various criminal justice fields and our software is designed to allow prompt modification to respond to changes.
Client will be able to use our products for many years. Loryx Systems is committed to maintaining state of the art systems that will incorporate new technology and we will continue to add functionality and features that will benefit our clients. Our products are fully scalable and can serve the needs of a small, rural jurisdiction up to those of an entire state. As your population grows, or you add new programs, our software will handle your changing needs.
We are active members of the criminal justice community and corporate members of national criminal justice organizations including the American Correctional Association, American Probation and Parole Association, and National Association of Pretrial Services Agencies. Our staff, by continuing their involvement in their respective criminal justice fields, will be able to keep our products relevant and, by listening to our customers, we will continue to be responsive to your needs.