Case Study ...

    National Offender Management Service Modelling

Advantage System Solutions Limited has worked successfully with the Home Office to deliver the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) Model. This project was awarded based on our performance during a previous delivery of a test harness which was well received by the Home Office. The NOMS model allows the Home Office to predict the impact of various policy decisions on the management of offenders - in particular, the numbers of offenders that will need to be monitored in the community and the associated cost implications.

Advantage worked with the Home Office to define requirements and produce design specifications. Development was performed using iterative approaches with the Home Office to establish the most effective means of functionality delivery.

This started with an assessment of the development platform where a comparison of a specific flow modelling tool (Simul8) was performed by comparison to a bespoke development using Microsoft© Excel. This tool assessment considered all aspects of the delivery and provided a recommendation to develop the model using Excel.

With the delivery platform agreed, Advantage completed prototype development and worked with the Home Office to engage with key stakeholders to demonstrate the concepts for the model and seek to gain a consensus for the full development. Once the design was agreed the requirements specification was updated and final development started.

Full releases of the model were then sent to the Home Office so that validation of the model outputs could be performed. Further releases with new functionality were presented along with test plans and full documentation on the construction of the code.

Further work is expected to allow the Home Office to model regional impacts of offender management.

Updated June 2006