The Alabama Resource Management System [ARMS] - http://arms.alabama.gov/

About ARMS:

“Across Alabama there are thousands of wonderful people working everyday to improve the lives of children and families.”
ARMS is a partnership between several state agencies, non profit organizations, and communities across Alabama. ARMS began in the Department of Children's Affairs it has grown to include not only resources, but also statistical and financial information about Alabama's children and families. The vision of ARMS is to be a system that allows the sharing of information between state agencies and communities in order to facilitate the planning, implementation, and evaluation of community needs.
Pre-made mapping of currently available statistical information.  ARMS can take data that is already available and publish maps.  Often this not only reduces the workload of the agency, but also allows more detailed maps and improved quality. 

ARMS can publish statistical information on the ARMS Map Server.  This allows the agency and/or users to view this information in context with other statistical information and available resources.

ARMS can publish grant information.  ARMS can map the location of grant recipients so Legislators or others interested can see the distribution of grants in an area.  This also allows the location of grants to be seen in correspondence to demographic or statistical data. 

ARMS can create custom reports for grant applicants to use when applying for state funds.  ARMS can take the demographic portion of an RFP and create an automated report that allows applicants to gather community information in seconds rather than hours.  This provides a consistent source of demographic data that can be used for application evaluation and allows applicants a more equal playing field.

ARMS can create custom dashboards to track performance measures.  ARMS can create password protected monthly reports that keep decision makers abreast of client demographics and performance measures.  This near real time access to information can increase performance and early awareness of trends.  ARMS has been recognized for creating tools that are both powerful and easy to use. 
 
ARMS can consult with agencies to complete custom analysis of clients.  Utilizing ARMS data and analytical tools ARMS staff can work with an agency to complete a confidential analysis of existing data that the agency can use to assess service delivery.
ARMS provides access to information from the Department of Education, Mental Health and Retardation, Administrative Office of Courts, Youth Services, Public Health, Human Resources, Kids Count, Secretary of State, Industrial Relations, United Way, Criminal Justice Information System, and several private data providers.

Across Alabama there are thousands of wonderful people working everyday to improve the lives of children and families.  These incredible people work tirelessly and often cannot do the tedious work of tracking down and researching data. However, funders and boards often put pressure on these programs to provide community data resulting in days away from their service to find this data. What would it be like if we made the data easy to find, easy to understand, and more specialized and timely so they could spend their time analyzing the data and making better decisions? The power is in using the data, not finding it.

ARMS is a jointly administered by the Alabama Department of Children’s Affairs (DCA) and the Alabama Criminal Justice Information Center (ACJIC).

Day to day operations are managed by ACJIC with Chris McInnish as the Project Manager.

The Management Team is:
  • Chris McInnish - Children’s Affairs Liaison to ACJIC
  • Steve McKinney – President, SICS Consultants, LLC
  • Becki Goggins - ACJIC Uniformed Crime Reporting Division Manager
  • Maury Mitchell - ACJIC Director

The development of ARMS could not have happened without the technical assistance of the following individuals and companies:

  • Chris Johnson - US Space and Rocket Center, VP
  • Rick Toliver – Teledyne, Information Technology and Services
  • Ann Peton - Virginia College of Osteopathic Medicine, Health Wellness and Fitness
  • Environmental System Research Institute (ESRI)
    •  Bill Davenhall – Global Manager, Health
    • Chris Kinabrew – Marketing and Advertising
    • Scott Christman – Account Executive
    • Katie Clift – Information Technology and Services
    • Antony Jayaprakash – Product Engineer
    • Ismael Chivite - ArcGIS Server Product Manager
    • Bjorn Svensson - Product Engineer
    • Mansour Raad - Senior Software Architect

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