Assume that you are head of a team that is evaluating a new item of software that will help to improve background investigations on candidates for the position of police officer

Question

Up to this time, all applicants complete a 15-page questionnaire that must be copied several times for the background investigation. This department has 25 sworn members and is forecasted to hire one to two candidates per year for the next five years. In brief, the software requires a number of fields to be completed by the candidate (residences, references, education, living habits etc.) and, based on the application, automatically generates letters on department letterhead to the candidate's home location for references listed in the application. It also requires that all fields must be completed by the investigator before the background check is considered to be done. The package for your department is $20,000 for initial startup followed by a $5,000 per year renewal agreement. What are some questions and steps your team must address before you make a recommendation to the budget committee on whether or not to adopt this software package?

Answer 1

Main points – The team should follow the recommendations made in the text for the adoption of any new technology. These include finding out who is using this right now, the reputation of the vendor, service and training, etc. A main issue is whether this actually leads to cost savings in terms of time and the fact that there are only one or two hires per year.