NIEM "Harmony" Released

A recent newsletter from the NIEM project stated:


"The new release of the National Information Exchange Model (NIEM), version 2.0, also known as the “Harmony” release, was driven by practitioner requirements through a well-defined collaborative process and brings many great features. Some of the highlights of NIEM 2.0 are:

• Improved semantic quality (harmonization) of the NIEM Core model (Universal and Common) as well as some specific components from the individual domains.
• Remodeling to remove duplication, complexity, and ambiguity.
• Simplification of Universal and Common components to make it easier to understand and use the model, while maintaining their identity of Universal and Common in metadata.
• Domain version independence.
• Integrated ~30 NCCT issues resolved by NBAC/NTAC.
• Addition of five new code lists and types, and updates to existing code lists.
• Migration tools, both for those using NIEM 1.0 as well as those using GJXDM 3.0.3."

For additional information see the full announcement at: http://www.niem.gov/newsletter1.php#1

Court GJXDM/NIEM Projects in Progress, May, 2007

We have recently heard from several courts that are working on data sharing programs.

Thom Edwards from the New Hampshire Administrative Office of the Courts reports that they currently have a project called J-ONE underway that will use the GJXDM as the standard for information exchange.  He also reports that the J-ONE project will provide transformation services to connect to their new court case management system.  They are also considering exchanges with other state agencies. In particular they are looking into exchanges in the area of Child Support orders and the federal IV-D program.

Kankakee County, Illinois issues RFP for Court CMS

Note: This article has been edited on June 11, 2007 to reflect the extended response date. 

We received the following announcement:

The mission of this RFP is to obtain a CMS that will provide unity and cohesiveness within the various offices of the Kankakee County Court System. The core is the Clerk of the Circuit Court, with the integration of the States’ Attorney, Public Defender, Probation, Judges, County Sheriff, and local law enforcement agencies. Other Court Support Services will also be incorporated to facilitate the Court Processes.

The Kankakee County project manager and sole point of contact for purposes of this procurement is:

Becky Farmer, Project Manager
Phone: (815) 937-2905
rfarmer@k3county.net

The RFP, attachments, Kankakee County contact information and Kankakee County demographic information is located at http://www.k3county.net/bidsnrfps.html

To be considered, all proposals must be received in the issuing office no later than 2:00 p.m. Central Time on June 18, 2007 July 9, 2007. Proposals received after this time and date will not be considered.

BJA Regional Information Sharing Conference in Jacksonville, Florida

SEARCH Group and the US Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance sent us the following press release: 

It’s time to act fast if you don’t want to miss the last of four BJA-sponsored conferences to be held at the Hyatt Regency-Jacksonville Riverfront June 4-6, 2007. The cutoff date to reserve your hotel rooms is May 12.

Register now at:  http://www.search.org/conferences/2006reginfosharing/

Can your organization afford to lag behind in the critical area of planning, managing, and implementing technology solutions for your information sharing systems? If not, now is your chance to take advantage of this great opportunity to:

• Hear success stories from justice and public safety practitioners from your region and across the nation as they discuss pitfalls to avoid, lessons learned, and what has worked for them.
• Learn how to use the latest developments in policy, privacy and security, technologies, and standards to solve your information sharing challenges.
• Participate in daily breakout sessions tailored specifically for executives, managers and implementers
• Benefit from sessions that focus on strategic planning, best practices, information exchange modeling, knowledge management, partnership building—and more!
• Network with fellow practitioners from local, state, and federal agencies.

Some recipients of this email may already have attended one of the earlier conferences, and we are glad to have met you.  We have included you as a recipient so that you may encourage others in your organization to attend this last conference.

Sponsored by the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice, in cooperation with SEARCH, The National Consortium for Justice Information and Statistics, and the GJXDM Training and Technical Assistance Committee.

NIEM 2.0 Beta1

The NIEM 2.0 Beta1 is available for review and comment. It can be downloaded from http://niem.gtri.gatech.edu/niem/2.0beta1/niem2b1.zip. The release package includes a document with release notes that detail changes and the planned timeline for the 2.0 release. Please direct any questions or comments to Scott Fairholm at sfairholm@ncsc.dni.us. The deadline for comments is May 15.

Global Justice Information Sharing Conference Announced

The US Department of Justice has announced their upcoming Global Justice Information Sharing Conference to be held from August 21-23 in Chicago, Illinois.  The conference website states that (t)he U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Assistance, has collaborated with various local, state, tribal, and federal partners to develop the best possible resources to support nationwide information sharing implementations. The Global Justice Information Sharing Users' Conference will highlight best practices and lessons learned and will feature new implementation projects. The presentations will highlight both the development of the National Information Exchange Model (NIEM) and the many projects supported by DOJ's Global Justice XML Data Model (GJXDM). Additional information regarding NIEM can be found at www.niem.gov, and additional information on GJXDM can be found at www.it.ojp.gov.