SAP Investigative Case Management (SAP ICM) is streamlined for end-to-end processes of any investigation in public security and beyond. This is not the end of the story though. For complex investigations, which are not following a straight and simple path but are forking and winding, many supportive tools and features could be helpful and necessary. Such tools could support the digital agenda for policing and organizations that conduct investigations. Here are some trends and outlooks that will dominate our thinking and development considerations over the coming years.
1. Eye-opener: Visualize your data
Data in tables are nice for sorting and filtering but you cannot see easily how they belong together. Specifically in ICM the relations between persons, objects, locations, and events are of utter importance. How much simpler is it to look at a picture that shows how everything is connected! We believe that customers will embrace graphs, maps, timelines, and more eye-catching features that could be added. An ideal tool would be designed for visualizing not only ICM data but data from different sources and systems.
2. Needle in the haystack: Quick (re)searches with SAP HANA
SAP ICM runs smoothly on HANA, SAP’s platform for in-memory computing. However, the full power of HANA is yet to be unleashed for ICM. This especially valid for the requirements on searches and researches. Combining search criteria of different objects connected by relations, mixing searches on structured and unstructured data, using features like fuzzy or phonetic search can slow down the performance significantly. Possible future HANA-based enhancements to ICM could conceivably improve search efficiency and capabilities.
3. On the road again: Mobile processes
One would assume that public security organizations are natural customers for mobile processes because few incidents happen directly in their offices. Reality is a bit more complicated, and a mobilized ICM has to be designed carefully. Police officers in action must be attentive and alert, they don’t have the time to fumble around with mobile devices usually. Therefore they will only use them if there is a clear advantage. Mobility is thus a major focus for us as we consider the future of ICM.
4. It’s one world: National and international data exchange
Crime does not stop at borders, neither of states nor of countries. On the other hand public security organizations are often bound to these borders. The only way to overcome this is exchanging and sharing data in a way that ensures the very high data safety requirements in this area. SAP is evaluating how national and international standards for interfaces for public security data can be supported and integrated with ICM to ensure that crime can be fought globally.
5. Beyond vanilla: ICM flavors for special purposes
Investigations in different organizations and areas are similar but not the same. Processes in border management, justice management, fraud management etc. can already run with ICM currently. However, their particular needs could be supported even better with specific solution considerations that we are evaluating. This might also include further integration with solutions like SAP hybris for multichannel demands.
What do you think?
Do you feel that I missed a general topic that must be mentioned in this list of current trends for ICM? Is there anything else you would like to see addressed by SAP to push ICM to the next level? Pease let me know directly or post a comment below. Your feedback is much appreciated!
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