Page 132 - Automated Fingerprint Identification Systems (AFIS)

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than individuals. Administrators may want reports that indicate trends or oppor-
tunities for improvements. Researchers and policy makers may need data to
support new initiatives and formulate policy. If the data is flawed or incomplete,
the effort is wasted or offers false findings. There is no single report that
can give all this information; individual, specific reports must be generated to
answer these questions. In addition, employees must have the analytical
skills to be able to draw conclusions from the reports, and they must be famil-
iar enough with the process to know whether the reports do in fact reflect
reality.
The challenge of reports is to use them to find not just what is, but what
could be. Thinking like a business manager may show new opportunities that
had not been considered previously. Reports can help find those opportunities.

5.5.1 TENPRINT REPORTS

Tenprint operations are usually production driven. Criminal inquiries must be
responded to as quickly, accurately, and completely as possible. This rapid
response may be needed for good public policy or the demand to keep current.
Civil inquiries may have a fee associated with the search, so the individuals
printed also become “customers.” Report topics of interest to tenprint man-
agers include throughput, up-time, average response time, and quantity of
output per individual, group, and shift. The following is a brief list of reports
that capture and present this information.

1. Operator Activity: This report covers the volume of transactions completed
during a specific time period as well as the different types of transactions, for
example, the number of tenprint records entered, verified, and checked by an
operator. This information may help a supervisor determine if a team or shift
is meeting standards. This report measures human interaction with AFIS.
2. Workstation Activity: This report provides information about the functional-
ity of the various components of the AFIS system. It can tell managers whether
the system components are operating at capacity or whether a different con-
figuration should be considered, if there are sufficient workstations to meet
peak demands, or if the workstations are working at only one-third or one-half
of their capacities.
3. AFIS Special Processing and Exception Reports: These reports provide informa-
tion not only on normal processing through the system, but also on any special
processing or exception processing. If the special or exceptional processing
becomes too extensive, it may take resources away from the normal processing.
These reports can tell managers when and why these exceptions are occurring
and how they can be avoided.