Security Clearance challenge: USIS develops faster, more efficient system

FALLS CHURCH, Va., April 20, 2007 – USIS, the leading provider of background investigations to the federal government that has more investigators in the field than any other company in North America, has developed a case management and tracking system aimed at helping to eliminate the current backlog and timeliness challenges impacting the federal security clearance process.

Catalyst was developed by the company to continue to demonstrate to U.S. government agencies that background investigations can be done quicker and more cost effectively than the current security clearance case management system. Following a successful pilot program and testing phase, USIS is now using Catalyst with its federal customers other than OPM as a replacement for older systems that are redundant and costly to maintain.

USIS used its subject matter experts from IT, data entry, field investigations, case review, and quality control to design, develop, and implement the new case management and tracking system. “We’ve created what we believe to be the new industry standard for best practices in managing investigations,” said Catherine DeLeonardis, USIS director of information security and business systems.

The new system, which resides on an internal network behind a secure firewall, uses a web-based IT process to create a collaborative environment among all investigators, reviewers, and managers working on a specific case.

“Catalyst is a real time application and that improves the visibility of cases and the connectivity of a nationwide workforce,” said DeLeonardis. “Everyone working any part of a case has immediate access to what other professionals are doing on that specific case. Catalyst helps our 3,000 plus field investigators, as well as our case reviewers and managers, see what is going on at any time and that facilitates communication back and forth on a real-time basis. This quickens the pace of the work flow and accelerates the investigations while improving the decision making and review processes.”

Catalyst also provides a federal agency customer with the ability to track its cases real-time. For example, an agency security officer can access the system’s dashboard to see how many of its cases have been assigned, review the cycle times for its cases, and determine which investigations are already closed or past due.

“Our government customers now have continuing visibility to their cases, which wasn’t true before Catalyst,” said Larry McElrath, USIS project manager. “We get alerted when critical dates are being approached and, since the customer always has a snapshot of what is going on, it’s an incentive for us to keep quality and reasonable turnaround times clearly in our sights.”

The Catalyst case management and tracking system includes the following features:

• Catalyst is real time compared to legacy case management systems that run in batches and call for a one day delay to schedule each step. Its live component also means that as soon as a manager makes an assignment, investigators can see the assignment versus the old process of synchronizing work to the system.

• Catalyst eliminates scheduling conflicts and helps manage the overall process because it shows managers the case load of each investigator making new project assignment much easier. The system also provides managers with information about the best investigator to handle a specific area of the investigation by showing which investigators have specific specialties.

• Catalyst customizes to meet a customer’s specific needs because once a customer selects a desired final report format the system automatically formats all testimonies and products to the customer’s exact specifications.

• Catalyst speeds the process of creating a case file because field investigators can attach documents to the case, such as scanned court or medical records, as opposed to the usual faxing of documents to an office where an administrator attaches the documents to a case file.

• Catalyst provides new layers of security because it’s web-based and resides entirely on a secure network behind a firewall. No information about a case is stored on an investigator’s laptop and only individuals with access to the network and specific accounts can access information.

• Catalyst maintenance doesn’t stop the investigations process because it is a hosted IT platform and any maintenance or upgrades to the system won’t cause disruption to the overall workforce in the field.

Media Contact
Michael John : mobile 703.343.3325, michael.john@usis.com .

# # #

Established in 1996, USIS ( www.usis.com) is a leading provider of pre-employment and screening services to corporate and government clients. With more investigators in the field than any other company in North America and top IT technology solutions, USIS provides background investigations, drug screening solutions, and security training and staffing services. Headquartered in Falls Church, Va., USIS employs more than 7,000 associates that support business operations in all 50 states, U.S. territories, and overseas.