Case Study
Polk County Crisis & Advocacy Services
Polk County Crisis & Advocacy Services is a division of Polk County Iowa's Department of Community, Family & Youth Services that provides assistance to victims of crime. Their legacy case management system was difficult to use, had no remote access, and required manual data collection for grant reporting. eWay built a custom replacement: an ASP.NET MVC application with five integrated modules covering victim assistance, crisis response, volunteer management, public education, and grants, all sharing a single calendaring and reporting layer.
- Industry
- Government
- Platform
- Custom Application
- Services
- Custom Application Development
- Engagement
- Project-based
Client Snapshot
About Polk County Crisis & Advocacy Services
- Scale
- County government division within Polk County, Iowa, providing assistance to victims of crime regardless of race, gender, age, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or disability
Polk County Crisis & Advocacy Services is a division of the Polk County Department of Community, Family & Youth Services in Iowa. The division provides assistance to victims of crime and supports the broader public-services mission of the department through crisis response, victim assistance, public education and outreach, volunteer management, and the grants that fund the work.
The division's case management system is the operational backbone for everyday work: counselors and advocates use it to track cases, schedule activities, manage documents, coordinate with internal county areas and external agencies, and report against the grant funding that sustains the division's services.
The Challenge
A legacy case management system that was holding the team back.
Counselors, advocates, and volunteers across Polk County Crisis & Advocacy Services use a case management system every day to track cases, schedule activities, manage documents, and report against the grant funding that supports their work. The system the division had was a third-party product purchased from a vendor in California.
The legacy system provided minimal functionality and was not well-suited for an organization of the division's size and operational complexity. It was difficult to use. Data retrieval was an everyday struggle. Staff working outside the office had no remote access. Data collection for grant applications and compliance reporting had to be done manually every time a report was due.
The division needed a replacement that was more flexible, easier to use, with higher data accuracy, with remote access built in, and with technical support that a county government division can rely on. Reducing manual data collection was expected to give counselors more time with clients and produce more accurate, more easily audited grant reporting.
What the legacy system was missing
Minimal functionality unsuited for the division's size and operational complexity
Data retrieval issues that slowed everyday case work
No remote access for staff working outside the office
Manual data collection for grant applications and compliance reporting
Limited technical support for a system the division depends on
The Solution
A purpose-built case management system for the division's specific needs.
Polk County engaged eWay in 2013 to design and develop a replacement system. Work proceeded through five stages. Research established requirements through conversations with everyone in the organization the system would touch. Design converted user stories into low-fidelity prototypes, iterated with stakeholders, and produced high-fidelity working UI. Development built the application backbone on ASP.NET MVC with a SQL Server database and SSRS for reporting. Testing covered functionality, performance, and security. Maintenance refined the system through a six-month post-delivery period before operational ownership transitioned to Polk County's internal IT team.
Custom ASP.NET MVC web application replacing the legacy third-party system
Five integrated modules covering Victim Assistance, Crisis Response, Volunteer Management, Public Education and Outreach, and Grants
Each module includes intake, tracking with notification and calendaring, task management with workflow, document management, ad-hoc and automated reporting, and inter-agency communication
Integrated calendaring, scheduling, and notification across all division activities
Bootstrap-based responsive UI supporting desktop and tablet use, including remote access for staff in the field
SQL Server database with SQL Server Reporting Services for ad-hoc and templated reports against grant compliance and operational metrics
Role-based access control supporting the division's defined user roles
Six months of post-delivery refinement before maintenance transitioned to Polk County's internal IT team
Architecture
A glimpse of the stack
Application
ASP.NET MVC with C# business logic
Frontend
Bootstrap with jQuery, supporting desktop and tablet access
Database
Microsoft SQL Server
Reporting
SQL Server Reporting Services for ad-hoc and templated reports
The Outcome
A purpose-built system that gave the division back its time.
More time with clients
Replacing manual data collection with system-captured data and integrating task management, calendaring, and document handling into one application gave counselors more time for the work that matters most: working directly with the clients they serve.
Remote access for fieldwork
Staff working outside the office can access the system from desktop or tablet rather than waiting until they return to a desk. The Bootstrap-based responsive UI was built with field access in mind from the start.
Grant reporting without the scramble
Capturing operational data in the system as it happens means grant applications and compliance reporting can run from the data already there. Reports are more accurate, more easily audited, and less time-consuming to produce.
One system, five modules
Victim Assistance, Crisis Response, Volunteer Management, Public Education and Outreach, and Grants share an integrated calendar, notification system, and reporting layer. Counselors and administrators work in one place rather than coordinating across disconnected tools.
The Polk County Crisis & Advocacy case management system was delivered as a custom ASP.NET MVC application built specifically for the division's case workflow and reporting needs. eWay supported the system through a six-month refinement period after delivery before transitioning ongoing maintenance to Polk County's internal IT team.
Common questions about this engagement
What buyers ask before engaging us on a project like Polk County Crisis & Advocacy Services
Why build custom rather than buy an off-the-shelf case management product?
The division had been using an off-the-shelf product purchased from a third-party vendor and found it minimal in functionality and ill-suited to their workflow. A custom build let the application reflect how the division actually works: intake processes, task workflows, document management, calendaring, and grant reporting that match the operational reality rather than forcing the team to bend their processes around a generic product. The trade-off is more upfront effort in exchange for a tighter fit over the lifetime of the system.
What does remote access change for the division?
Counselors and advocates spend significant time away from the office: with clients, in the field, attending court appearances, or coordinating with other agencies. Without remote access, every system interaction had to wait until they returned to a desk. The new application's Bootstrap-based responsive UI lets the team access cases, update notes, and check schedules from desktop or tablet wherever they are working.
How does the system handle grant reporting?
Operational data is captured in the system as work happens: case intake, activity logs, document uploads, volunteer hours, outreach events, and so on. Grant applications and compliance reports run against that data through SQL Server Reporting Services. Both ad-hoc reports for specific questions and automated templated reports for recurring grant cycles are supported. The result is more accurate reporting, easier auditing, and less time spent collecting data manually before each cycle.
How are the five modules connected?
Victim Assistance, Crisis Response, Volunteer Management, Public Education and Outreach, and Grants are built as modules within a single application. They share a common database, a single calendaring and notification system, role-based access control, and a unified reporting layer. Counselors working a case can move between modules within the same system rather than switching tools, and administrators can run reports across modules for cross-functional reporting.
What is eWay's role today?
Polk County's internal IT team has owned the system's day-to-day maintenance since the post-delivery transition. eWay built the application, refined it through the six-month post-delivery support period, and trained the county's team to take operational ownership. The pattern is common for county-government engagements where the agency's internal IT team continues operations after a defined hand-off.
Related Case Studies
Other engagements you might want to see
Nonprofit · Custom App · Azure
Statewide Self-Exclusion Database for Iowa's Responsible Gaming Program
The Iowa Gaming Association operates the statewide Voluntary Self-Exclusion Program. A confidential list of individuals who have asked to be banned from every commercial casino in Iowa. eWay redeveloped the database application that holds this list to comply with 2017 legal reforms, hardened security to protect the sensitive records, and operates the system on Microsoft Azure for the 19 member casinos that depend on it.
Healthcare · Custom Application · Azure
Custom EMR Platform for Iowa's Largest Free-Clinic Network
Free Clinics of Iowa is a donor-supported nonprofit and the largest network of free medical clinics in the state. eWay designed, built, and continues to operate the custom EMR platform that powers patient care across more than 30 member clinics.
Government · Drupal · Custom Modules
Custom Drupal Site, Custom Modules, and Multi-Year Platform Operations
The Employees' Retirement System of Rhode Island (ERSRI) provides retirement, disability, and survivor benefits to state employees, public school teachers, judges, state police, and participating municipal employees. eWay built the editor-driven Drupal site, two custom Drupal modules (an events calendar and a webform engine) that did not exist as pre-built options, and continues to operate the platform end to end through ongoing managed operations and major Drupal version upgrades.
Have a similar environment? Let's talk.
Let's scope a managed engagement for your platform.
Every engagement starts with a platform assessment. We review your current environment, document operational gaps, and recommend a managed operations model sized to your organization.