e-FILE Automated File Builder
KIM is mindful of the recommendations contained in the 'Reducing Bureaucracy In Policing' report by Jan Berry and in working with Leicestershire Constabulary has developed a Case Preparation tool that meets many of these recommendations. Leicestershire Constabulary's overriding consideration was to provide users with an easy to use networked application that completed file building through an automated workflow and use the system to either:
- Query the connected NSPIS Custody record and use that data to populate fields in the case file
- Create a file independent of the Custody record
- Create any file
In both instances the resultant file meets the Streamlined process, provides for digitally recorded material, could be made available to Integrated Prosecution Teams and Virtual Courts where material is uploaded to an appropriate location. From the Force and the Case Officer's perspective, officers are completing the file more quickly than would be the case in a manual process and errors are being reduced due to the validation the system provides and the need for legible handwriting.
e-File outputs Case material as Microsoft Word 2003 files that meets the National MG Form standards, including the new Streamlined process and as a package of structured data. These documents may be emailed to CPS on completion and subsequently amended through the application should the circumstances change e.g. in the event of a plea change or where additional material is required. However, beneath the Word output is a layer of structured data, held by way of an XML file that may be used as data to populate other systems.