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Performance Details

Department of Public Safety - Information Systems

Mission

Manage the Department of Public Safety's information technology services and ensure secure access to criminal justice information systems.

Core Services

  • Ensure users of the Alaska Public Safety Information System (APSIN) have access to the system.
  • Ensure that DPS programming teams have capacity for development and support of regulatory and compliance requirements, changing business processes, and DPS projects involving information services.
Arrow GraphicMission Results Core Services
A: Provide and manage secure access to and the integrity of criminal justice information in Alaska.  Details >
  • TARGET #1: Design and implement changes to and manage the Alaska Public Safety Information Network (APSIN)
A1: Ensure users of the Alaska Public Safety Information System (APSIN) have access to the system.  Details >
  • TARGET #1: Increase the number of users with access to the Alaska Public Safety Information System (APSIN) by 3% per year
A2: Ensure that DPS programming teams have capacity for development and support of regulatory and compliance requirements, changing business processes, and DPS projects involving information services.  Details >
  • TARGET #1: Limit support activities to 25% of available programming hours to allow for 75% of staff time to be spent on regulatory and compliance requirements, changing business processes, and DPS projects.

Performance Detail


A: Result - Provide and manage secure access to and the integrity of criminal justice information in Alaska.
    
Target #1: Design and implement changes to and manage the Alaska Public Safety Information Network (APSIN)
Analysis of results and challenges: Software development work over the last reporting period has focused primarily on fixing errant data entry and validation problems while facilitating changes required to ensure ongoing compliance with State and Federal requirements. The APSIN system, and ancillary applications have been in place and modified in an ad hoc nature for so long and with inadequate Quality Assurance that invariably, significant bugs have been introduced into the complex code base. These bugs and data entry anomalies have cause very significant strain on the Department of Public Safety (DPS) technical staff to triage and maintain baseline functionality while ensuring continuity of operations.

Support for the aged APSIN code base is handled primarily by DPS Software Engineering staff with targeted supplementation by a contract resource to ensure that more advanced break fixes are facilitated and staff are trained on their triage. Security has been maintained at a baseline similar to what existed in the past. DPS Software Engineering management is working diligently to reorganize workloads and enable proactive porting or migration of ancillary applications with a dependency on the legacy APSIN code base. The long-term goal is facilitating APSINs replacement with modern software running under modern architectural paradigms and reducing the scope of this replacement as much as possible by porting ancillary applications in advance of this effort.


A1: Core Service - Ensure users of the Alaska Public Safety Information System (APSIN) have access to the system.
    
Target #1: Increase the number of users with access to the Alaska Public Safety Information System (APSIN) by 3% per year

Individuals with Criminal Justice Information Systems Clearances for Access to Criminal Justice Systems
Fiscal Year Total # of Users Change from Prior Year Percent Inc/Dec Target-Increase by 3%
FY 2019
8,822
+1.85%
160
-88.24%
+1.8%
5,892
+3.01%
FY 2018
8,662
+18.63%
1,360
-5.03%
+18.6%
5,720
+3.01%
FY 2017
7,302
+24.4%
1,432
+125.16%
+19.6%
5,553
+3.01%
FY 2016
5,870
+12.15%
636
+32.78%
+12.2%
5,391
+10.07%
FY 2015
5,234
+10.07%
479
-45.63%
+10%
4,898
+22.7%
FY 2014
4,755
+22.74%
881
+6192.86%
+22.7%
3,992
+2.99%
FY 2013
3,874
14
0%
3,876

Analysis of results and challenges: The Department of Public Safety is compliant with federal security policy relating to individuals with direct and indirect access to APSIN criminal justice information. As is clear from significant increase in the number of security clearances conducted beginning in FY2014, the department has significantly surpassed a target increase in the number of security clearances conducted. This is largely due to efforts on the part of Bureau staff to educate our customers on security clearance requirements and also because agencies are wishing to use ‘cloud’ services, which requires security clearances for each employee of these service provides with physical or logical access to Alaska’s criminal justice data.

The number of new security clearances completed in FY2018 is well above the target of 3%. This reflects the department’s continued efforts to ensure all individuals with physical or logical access to confidential criminal justice information have been properly screened prior to obtaining a security clearance for access to this data.


A2: Core Service - Ensure that DPS programming teams have capacity for development and support of regulatory and compliance requirements, changing business processes, and DPS projects involving information services.
    
Target #1: Limit support activities to 25% of available programming hours to allow for 75% of staff time to be spent on regulatory and compliance requirements, changing business processes, and DPS projects.

Programming Hours Breakdown
Year Project Work Support Quarter 3 Quarter 4 YTD Total Quarter 6 Quarter 7
2019
57.19%
42.81%
0
0%
0
0%
0
0%
0
0%
0
0%
2018
63.79%
36.21%
0
0%
0
0%
0
0%
0
0%
0
0%
2017
66.04%
33.96%
0
0
0
0
0

Analysis of results and challenges: As the technical teams remain understaffed, DPS programming teams have not been able to reach the target, however improvements and standardization of programming processes have resulted in a downward trend for support activities, despite staffing and funding issues. In FY2020, several major initiatives will add uncertainty to the amount of support work required of DPS programming teams. Major initiatives include Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD), Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS), Fire and Life Safety plan review and inspections, changes to the Uniform Crime Reporting National Incident-Based Reporting System (UCR-NIBRS) compliance, datacenter migration efforts, and the first phase of a replacement for APSIN. The expected move of technical personnel into the Office of Information Technology will be a challenge in that clearer lines of communication must be put into place as resourcing expands beyond DPS personnel.

 

Current as of November 27, 2019