Child Focus

Nonprofit Agency Implements Case Management Solution to Better Protect Children

In 2008, the nonprofit group Child Focus processed 109,971 calls to its hot line. To manage the resulting information, reports, child cases, and partner contact information, employees used a number of applications. This resulted in inefficiencies and siphoned off precious time needed to locate missing children. Managers implemented Microsoft Dynamics® CRM 4.0 to provide an efficient, single-solution platform to run Child Focus’s case management system.

Business Needs
The European Center for Missing and Sexually Exploited Children operates under the name of Child Focus. This nonprofit organization is dedicated to the prevention, and investigation of, child disappearances and sexual abuse.

Toward these ends, the group’s 50 employees and 2,000 volunteers collaborate with police, governmental organizations, and social and healthcare services entities around the world. In the last 10 years, Child Focus has responded to more than 350,000 calls and investigated 30,000 cases.

To manage the volume of calls and missing children cases, the organization relied upon a number of different systems. These included separate applications to host child case files, contact information, recorded calls, and notes. Unfortunately, switching back and forth between applications was inefficient and extended the process to recover children.

“One of the most important rules for missing children is that you can’t lose time,” explains Kristin Kloeck, General Manager and CEO for Child Focus in Belgium. “The quicker you spread the information, the better the chance you have to find the child.”

To accelerate the child recovery process, managers decided to consolidate the agency’s data sources into a single case management solution.

“We wanted to create one centralized database that would provide users access to the right information at the right time to inform the right decisions,” explains Alex Isakhanian, Software Development and Maintenance Manager for Child Focus. “We felt that by doing that we could improve the efficiency of our case managers to complete their work faster.”

Another requirement was the need to follow the laws of the people, organizations, and law enforcement officials that agency users collaborate with. Moreover, as calls came in, managers needed to record them and associate them with their database for easy replay. And sadly, Child Focus needed a system to track and redirect prank and erroneous calls—which in 2007 totaled 7,483.

Solution
In an effort to use existing financial resources for the benefit of children in need, Child Focus leaders solicited sponsorships to acquire and implement IT solutions. They found enthusiastic support from Microsoft.

“Child Focus received a full suite of cutting-edge technology through the Microsoft Unlimited Potential program,” says Kloeck. “The donation makes it possible for us to operate at the same performance level as a for-profit corporation.”

Child Focus technicians worked with Microsoft® Gold Certified Partner to implement a comprehensive IT solution. Together, they deployed the Windows Server® 2008 operating system to promote the speedy and secure dissemination of missing-children photos and information. They also installed Microsoft MapPoint® 2006 business mapping software to identify the best locations to hang missing children posters.

Additionally, the deployment team installed Microsoft Dynamics® CRM business software to manage the Child Focus emergency call center, missing children files, and relations with judicial authorities and law-enforcement contacts. To efficiently manage documents and make them available to users, the team will integrate Microsoft Office SharePoint® Server 2007 with Microsoft Dynamics CRM.

On the data side of the implementation, partner specialists used Scribe Insight software to import and update data from multiple sources. Child Focus specialists then scrubbed their “customer” data, created the initial imports into Microsoft Dynamics CRM, and validated them. Thus, the CRM system replaced the Computer Associates Unicenter Advanced Help Desk application, multiple Microsoft Office Access® database software, Microsoft Office Word templates, and many proprietary applications to ensure interoperability among these applications.

Managers worked diligently to create a new process that would fully utilize the power of Microsoft Dynamics CRM. Users enter all contact data into the system while the agency’s Computer Telephone Integration system integrates recorded phone conversations with contact data. As other case data and information arrives through various channels, it is linked to each case file.

Because there were many unique processes in place, such as templates for missing-children posters, the implementation team used the workflow engine in Microsoft Dynamics CRM to easily automate these processes. For example, they created a workflow to make it easy to locate and replay recorded phone calls—a capability previously unavailable to users.

Benefits
Child Focus used Microsoft Dynamics CRM to migrate from multiple systems and data sources onto a single platform. “Now our users have all the critical data and contacts at their fingertips,” says Isakhanian. “And by automating our streamlined processes within workflows, employees can be much more proactive and efficient in their daily activities.”

• Improved speed and efficiency to optimize the use of limited staff and resources. The limited staff at Child Focus spends dramatically less time switching between applications to do their jobs. Managers automated existing processes using Microsoft Dynamics CRM workflows. These keep cases moving through the process and provide the reporting tool necessary to identify and address stuck cases.
• Enhanced “customer” experience. By capturing and storing case data in a single location, parents, police, and justice authorities no longer answer some of the same questions repeatedly. This capability spares parents a source of frustration.
• Managers report that the up-to-date case data, ease of use, and case workflow performance of Microsoft Dynamics CRM led case managers to increase their availability and time to support victim families.
• 360-degree view improves stakeholder collaboration. Previously, users did not have visibility into who was doing what on which case. Now, any user can review case notes to quickly read updates and take the next step.
• Relational data intelligence promotes case resolution. Child Focus analysts can now cross-reference case data to identify commonalities and potential links between cases—for instance, whether two missing children attended the same school.