The state of Illinois had 49,000 inmates in its Department of Corrections (IDOC) facilities in 2010 and another 28,000 parolees. 

With an aging mainframe system and dozens of disparate PC-based applications to manage all these offenders, the IDOC knew needed a solution to improve public safety and criminal justice for the future. To add to the urgency, the department was facing a shrinking pool of IT professionals with the skills to support the old technology.