Strategic Human Resource Management and Technology 375
collecting case information from the time a case is opened until it is settled
by interfacing with the district attorney ’ s offi ce and the Department of
Motor Vehicles. When a 911 call comes in, a dispatcher writes a report on
that call, and if a police offi cer is involved, he or she also writes a report.
Those reports go to the sheriff ’ s offi ce and then to the district attorney ’ s
offi ce. It is then up to the district attorney to fi le a complaint or sit on the
reports until more evidence is collected. The district attorney may hold
the reports for up to one year until prosecutors have suffi cient evidence to
fi le. If the district attorney ’ s offi ce determines there is suffi cient evidence
to fi le a complaint, it fi les the necessary paperwork, which is integrated
with the superior court system. Each case is given a number by which it
can be tracked for the remainder of its life. The system can handle cases
from any division in the court: traffi c, probate, or small claims. It also per-
mits cross - referencing between courts, allowing personnel to access any
information on an individual in the system regardless of which court pos-
sesses the information (McKay, 2003).
A recent article in the Tampa Tribune illustrates how e - mails sent to the
City of Tampa ’ s Web site for customer service requests fi nd their way to city
employees ’ BlackBerries during evenings and weekends. Inquiries are
delivered immediately to staff who can answer the questions. The City of
Tampa tracks its service requests, sending e - mails to residents when action
is taken so they know that progress is being made to resolve their problem
(Parker, 2007).
Information systems optimize the flow of information and knowl-
edge within the organization and help management maximize knowledge
resources. Because the productivity of employees depends on the quality
of systems serving them, management decisions about information
technology are important to the effectiveness of public and nonprofit
organizations.
Information Systems Technology
To understand information systems requires understanding the problems
they are designed to solve, their architectural and design elements,
and the organizational processes that are needed to accomplish the
required tasks. To be able to use an information system, a manager must
understand the organization, the management, and the technology dimen-
sions of the system and how they can be used to provide information
leading to effective solutions. Computer - based information systems rely
