Michigan DOC manages complex offender 'timecomp' rules with Microsoft Dynamics CRM-based XRM solution

About twenty stakeholders at the Michigan Department of Corrections gathered in a conference room in 2013 to begin their migration away from an aging mainframe offender management system and onto a Microsoft Dynamics CRM-based system. A lifelong veteran of the department spoke up to share his greatest fear about the project.

The worst thing that a corrections department can do is mistakenly release a dangerous inmate early, only to have them go off and commit a terrible crime. A math calculation error can't be the cause of such a tragedy, the official warned fellow employees and the Dynamics CRM implementation team preparing for the project. "That is the worst story we can have," he reminded the team.

MDOC needed to replace its aging and increasingly inefficient "timecomp" system, which is used for calculating the remaining sentences of its 40,000 inmates as well as the 60,000 people on parole in the state. For each felon housed in the MDOC, the sentence handed down by the justice system becomes one of several factors that determine the length of time that person will spend behind bars. An inmate's sentence can be reduced by credit for time served, participation in prison work or education programs and good behavior. Conversely, a sentence can be extended due to things like bad behavior, refusing drug or alcohol testing, or conviction of additional charges.

Every day, states are required to calculate the number of remaining days on the sentences of every inmate and parolee. Both the offenders and the victims have access to the timecomp information.