Orcuma case management system - "FIRsT" formally endorsed by the RJC
Orcuma is a software company with extensive knowledge of public and not for profit sector working and IT implementation. Their safer communities software, FIRsT, has been designed for multi-agency case working and is extremely configurable, enabling each Organisation to capture their specific operational data. The RJC have worked alongside the Orcuma team to develop a standardised version of their FIRsT software which adheres to our Registration Framework standards and Practice Guidance requirements.
The FIRsT Case Management system has been reviewed against our rigorous endorsement framework which has been developed to ensure that data is collected and stored, in line with GDPR and Confidentially laws, and that standard requirements for data reporting can be delivered in line with multiple sectors. Having successfully demonstrated that the system meets our endorsement criteria, the RJC are delighted to announce our endorsement of the Orcuma FIRsT Case Management system.
Jim Simon, the RJC’s chief executive said:
“The RJC are excited to work with the Orcuma team to develop an effective case recording tool to support RJ service delivery. We would recommend it as an easy to use, secure case management system. Being able to offer our members access to such a system will be of great benefit and ensure a more consistent approach to data recording and case management.”
Case Study – Safer Communities Restorative Cleveland
We have had the pleasure of working with Orcuma for a number of years, within the field of Restorative Justice, victim care and offender rehabilitation. Their expertise and knowledge of our practice has enabled us to responsively develop Orcuma’s ‘FIRsT multi-agency safer communities software’ to best suit the reporting requirements of our Commissioners, partners, the Restorative Justice Council and the Ministry of Justice.
Readily available and accessible guidance from the Orcuma Team ensures ease of use and Practitioner confidence in navigating the Case Management System. Crucially, the means to be able to quickly adapt reporting fields has supported the growth of our restorative provision, extending to other related areas that may sit alongside Restorative Justice, such as Anti-Social Behaviour and Mediation Services.
The flexibility of Orcuma in implementing any required changes, without interruption to delivery or performance reporting, has avoided any unnecessary impact on those accessing our service. The quality of case recording this affords has meant that we can be confident in monitoring and evaluating the experience of those harmed by crime and those responsible for having caused this harm, the impact of our delivery, outcomes achieved through participants’ engagement in Restorative Justice interventions, and the standard of service provided by individual Practitioners, and the Service as a whole. This enables us to advocate defensible practice, and robust service evaluation and quality assurance procedures. As such, the software supports professional accountability and consistency in the recording of all aspects of restorative practice, from assessment through to evaluation. The provision of a clear framework upon which to standardise performance reporting, further offers the opportunity for the robust analysis of restorative data on a national basis and shared learning amongst service providers. This is pivotal to all our efforts in the continued promotion and delivery of high-quality Restorative Justice, in accordance with the best practice guidelines observed by the Restorative Justice Council.
Purchasing FIRsT software
Accessing the Orcuma FIRsT software requires an annual user licence for each user accessing the system. This includes:
- Hosting (UK based), Telephone / Email / Online (Hardware and software) support and maintenance, data backups and disaster recovery restore
- Cyber Essentials PLUS and IASME certification
- GDPR compliant software
- Incident management with email and ticket support (utilising Zoho Desk software)
- Configuration of the Test and Live FIRsT systems to meet operational needs and go live.
- Standard RJC setup – Based on a standard best practice model approved by the RJC
- Standard RJC setup with “local” adaptions – Based on a standard best practice model approved by the RJC but allows for additional fields to capture local data requirements
- Testing of the configuration
- Training documentation - generic user guide
- Training documentation - generic system administrator user guide outlining the key functionality
We are delighted to confirm that members of the RJC are able to benefit from exclusive discounts including:
- Free Project management
- Free Virtual Training
- Free Bespoke creation of end user training documentation
- Free Report creation and ongoing support
- Free implementation support
- Free software upgrades and patches
- Free hosting, support, and maintenance
To find out more about Orcuma’s FIRsT software and take advantage of our exclusive member offer, visit their website or contact Paul Mitchell via email at paul.mitchell@orcuma.com
Endorsement Framework
It is important that any management information systems that are to be RJC endorsed for use by any organisation, service or individual person delivering restorative practices, adhere to our Registration Framework Standards and Practice Guidance Requirements
This will ensure the contribution to safe practice and that correct data will be collected and stored, in line with GDPR and Confidentially laws, and that standard requirements for data reporting can be delivered in line with multiple sectors
A review of the Orcuma FIRsT software demonstrated that it meets the following endorsement criteria
Recording Demographics
- Capacity, alongside the basic person identifying data (name, date of birth, address) to record further demographics such as Gender, Ethnicity, Belief, Sexual Orientation, Relationship status, Disability, Additional Needs, Mental Health, language barrier/Interpreter needed, in line with current recommended terminology
- Capacity to record any other protected characteristics and/or vulnerabilities
- It must use restorative language throughout wherever possible and be person centered, i.e. Harmed/Victim, Harmer/Offender, Supporter, Participants etc
- Must have the capacity to record details for individual participants separately
Data recording to be included
- Details of participants relevant to the case
- Details of staff or other individuals that access the case
- Details of the referral source (including harmed/harmer/professional initiated)
- Details of the Referring Agency
- Details of the type of Crime/Harm that has occurred, listed in accordance with the current MOJ crime type guidelines and any other relevant types of harm that may need to be referenced
- Details of whether the incident is classed as a complex and sensitive case, in line with the RJC definitions and guidance for what would constitute a complex and sensitive case
- Details of whether the harm was classed as serious and violent in line with the MOJ serious and violent strategy guidelines
- Details of whether it was a hate crime or incident and clear indication of the type of hate category
- Details of the sentence stage in respect of CJS cases, or the outcome that has been agreed for non-criminal justice cases i.e. post sentence, out of court disposal, community resolution or early help, early intervention, educational, young person diversion
- Flexible configuration to allow for quick changes due to statutory or MoJ legislation or local reporting needs
Ongoing case monitoring and evaluation
- Capacity to record secure case notes relevant to the case and participants
- Capacity to record separate Harmed/Victim and Harmer/Offender Needs assessments
- Capacity to record restorative interventions and restorative outcomes in line with the widely recommended restorative approaches that are used within restorative practice i.e. Restorative conversations, restorative face to face meetings, shuttle mediation, Letters of apology or explanation, restorative circles
- Capacity to record Outcome monitoring and participant and referral agency case evaluation feedback
- Capacity to record signposting details to other agencies
- Capacity to record practitioner/staff/volunteer activity hours and to record quality assurance and case supervision hours
- The use of actions to be able to track progress with external providers or commissioned services
Non-functional requirements
Reporting
- Facility to report securely and anonymously on all demographic data including protected characteristics, crime/harm type, referral initiated by, referral source, location of crime/harm/incident, location of referrer, sensitive or complex, serious and violent, outcome monitoring, evaluation feedback, activity hours, restorative interventions, restorative outcomes, signposting
- To be able to utilise different methods of data display and visualisations
- To have a secure reporting warehouse function
- Ease of report production and publishing
- Secure access to reports
- Reports to be embedded into CMS
- Harmed, harmer cases and participants search capabilities and export for ad-hoc reports, wondered about mentioning each client having a unique ID to reduce duplication and easy retrieval
Data security
- Must be accredited to Cyber Essentials Plus and IASME
- Must be cloud hosted and must be able to prove that prove the cloud provider is ISO27001 compliant
- Must be compliant with the 14 UK Government cyber security principles
User security
- Accessible to individual users and individually password protected
- Management facility to audit system and report on internal usage
- Facility for in-house staff with permission to support with password resets
- Facility to store staff details
- Use of strong password protocols and 2FA
- Permissions levels to lock down data access on system in line with GDPR to ensure that only relevant people have access to that data
- Capacity to store data sensitive documents securely
- Keep participant, staff and referring agency personal information securely stored in line with data protection legislation and GDPR guidelines
- The ability to edit personal data and anonymize records in line with GDPR in the event of a participant withdrawing consent
- Capacity to archive and delete data in line with organisations' GDPR guidelines
- The ability to lock down cases to named allocated practitioner(s) and/or named service manager(s)
- Must have a configurable and flexible security, role and data access model and must be able to go from organisation level down to field level. Roles must be able to prevent users seeing data in line with GDPR requirements
Additional criteria
- Facility to store and generate secure letter templates and populate them with system data
- Each participant must have a unique ID to reduce duplication and easy retrieval
- Ability to merge and remove duplicate participants
- Recorded customer surveys / feedback data
- Facility to send notification of case emails to staff to ensure no drift and delay
- Facility to allocate case action requirements for practitioners if needed
- Ability to brand the software with the RJC logo and RJC’s client logo
- Secure, online referral capacity to eliminate duplicate entry of data
- Support texting and email of appointments to participants
Incident management
- Must provide incident management facilities of a dedicated email address and telephone service 0900-1700 Mon to Fri (excluding public bank holidays)
- Must provide incident management ticketing to allow for management of incidents 365/24/7
- Must provide self-service incident management portal for client self-servicing
- Must be able to provide an incident management SLA with incident management priority levels and defined escalation procedures
Insurance and Registrations
- Must hold Cyber Essentials PLUS and IASME accreditation
- Must have appropriate insurance policy in place
Procurement
- Must be able to procure based on software provider’s own terms and conditions
- Where appropriate, procurement should be available via the UK Government’s Crown Commercial Service G-Cloud offering current iteration or one previous