Legal Services for New York City (LSNY)

1. Legal Services for New York City (LSNY) Building an Integrated Bronx Project September 2004 John Greiner www.lsny.org

2. Starting Point • Bronx Legal Services (BLS) provides free civil (not criminal) legal assistance to low income residents of the Bronx • Three locations across the borough • Separate Case Management Systems • Separate Networking Infrastructure • Separate Telephone Systems • Staff are Tied to Their Offices

3. What Does It Cost • Technology Infrastructure • Duplicative Hardware/Software/Services/Maintenance • Lower Quality, Security and Effectiveness • Staff Support • Limited Communication/Knowledge Sharing/Sense of Community • Management • No Integration of Service Delivery (Each office operates largely as a separate program) • More time spent supporting • Client Confusion • Where to go for help? (Getting the run around) • Difficulty getting through in a timely manner

4. Opportunity • Due to Citywide Strategic Plan BLS Splinters Off and LSNY-Bronx is Created • Three Offices are Maintained to Keep The Project Geographically Reachable • Happening at a Time When LSNY Begins to Build More Centralized Technology Support Resources • Time Is Of the Essence (3 Months From Soup to Nuts) • Project Director That Has Familiarity With the Existing Technology Used by BLS

5. The Plan • Implement Data Networks and Communication Environments that Virtually Integrate LSNY-Bronx’s Three Offices and Allow Greater Communication and Collaboration with Other LSNY Programs Across NYC • Provide More Seamless Client Access • Improve Support of Technical Systems and Users • Un-Tether Users From Their Offices • Lease Financing and Equipment Depreciation to Plan For Future Obsolescence

6. The Pieces • Deploy IP Telephony (via an ASP) to All Office at LSNY Bronx and Ultimately to All Other Programs Across the City. • Deploy Redundant Wide Area Connections (One Primarily for Voice/One Primarily for Data) • Provide Local File and Print Services at the Two Largest Sites with the Third Site Supported by VPN • Deploy a Single Geographically Replicated Exchange and Case Management System Environment. • Provide Users Secure Remote Access to Their Exchange, Case Management, File and Phone Systems • Move From Consulting/Accidental Techie Mix to a Circuit Riding Tech Support Staff with Consultant Backup • Centrally Manage/Monitor the Network Environment (Users/Updates/Antivirus/Intrusion Detection/Etc.) • Move Staff Beyond Minimal Use of Technology and Make Them More Comfortable in Asking for and Receiving Technology Training

7. The Impact • The Bronx Has an Integrated Telephone Intake System With a Single Public Number. Clients, Community Advocates, and Agency Staff Are Finding It Easier to Reach Out for Assistance. • Advocates Have Access Through Global and Project-Related Network Drive Shares and Exchange Folders to Model Documents, Scanned Resources, and Client Files. • Opened a Fully Functional Outreach Center Immediately Outside of the City’s Emergency Assistance Unit (For Homeless Families) • Integration is Enabling LSNY Bronx to Feed Clients to Other Programs Citywide—Reducing the Difficulty for Clients to Get the Legal Assistance They Need • Reduced Information and Communication Technology Infrastructure Cost While Increasing Quality • Only Duplication Is For Reliability • Achieving Greater Economies of Scale • Getting Much More From the Same Tech Support Dollars and Have Radically Reduced the Time Non-Tech Folks Spend on Technology Matters

8. Potential/Actual Roadblocks • Time Crunch Limited the Amount of Planning and Staff Training Provided. The Tech Support Associate Model Mitigated the Downsides By Allowing LSNY to Tweak Configurations and Offer Staff One-on-One Training • The Time Crunch Also Limited the Project Evaluation Planning As Well As Project Specific Fundraising • Didn’t Have to Deal With Existing Infrastructure (Only Data)—Greatly Simplified the Technology Plan Since We Did Not Have to Integrate Existing Hardware/Software/Services • Staff Frustration/Expectations—Employees Were Primed For Change as They Transferred to a New Employer and Location • ILEC—Caused Two Months of Delay and Additional Expense In Implementing Temporary Network Connection • Significantly More Project Management Time Needed for Administrative and Technical Problems • Getting Buy-in from Other Programs—Since Most Common Technologies Are More Powerful the Larger the Group (IP Telephony, E-mail, Etc.) It Was Harder to Get Other Projects To Sign Up For Plan Initially. • Budget/Contract Realities Have Caused Some Delays For a Few Projects

9. The Road Ahead • 4th Qtr 04—SSL VPN to Provide Users the Entire Desktop Environment Remotely • 4th Qtr 04—Citywide Video Conferencing—Client Interviews/Meetings at the Closest Location, Staff Meetings/Trainings, Inter-agency Partnerships (Initially 250 Schools, Libraries, and Non-Profits Are on the Network) • 1st Qtr 05—More Tailored Classroom Instruction in Office and Other More Specialized Applications • 1st Half 05—Virtual Volunteers with Law Firms, Schools, Community Orgs., and Individuals—Increase the Volunteer Base to Screen and Advise Client Thereby Releasing Staff to Provide More Client Representation • 2nd Half 05—Roll-out a Citywide Distributed Call Center Which Will Further Integrate Intake, Increase Access to Services for Those Who Are Most Vulnerable/Least Able, and Provide Greater Leverage of LSNY’s Language Resources by Pulling in Translators from Across the City as Needed • 2nd Half 05—Higher Speed Cellular Internet 200-300kbps to Enable Easier Staff Access Their Applications and Voice Services Anywhere in the City