Modern Policing needs supporting systems which are flexible, feature rich and intuitive. Most importantly, the applications themselves should be ‘intelligent’. This means that they are designed to assist the user and leverage the value of what the organisational knowledge base holds with minimum demand for the user. In particular, the systems should ‘add value’ in a variety of ways from automatically profiling data to simply capturing information without requiring input. Furthermore, the device itself may offer features to be exploited.
Bluestar’s mobile applications follow these principles and are more than simply reduced versions of desktop product (which we see all too often unfortunately). The products Bluestar provides are designed and built for the device itself so that the features available can be used to support the application. This approach is combined with the award winning Corvus repository which means that our applications can deliver real operational benefit in a manner that user’s find compelling.
Of course, the mobile applications are fully integrated with their desktop equivalents so that information is exchanged seamlessly.
The Platform
Bluestar has invested in an approach which allows us to share the same application platform across all major operating system platforms. This means we can deploy the same core applications to Android, iOS and Windows devices minimising the administrative overhead in the process.
Forms Engine
There is an operational need to make a wide range of submissions relating to a variety of events and information. This is also a requirement which continues to grow. Bluestar has addresses this problem by building a ‘forms engine’, able to translate a description of a form into a run-time component. This allows new forms or amendments to be incorporated into the mobile environment extremely quickly. Of course, all of the forms can access the built-in Corvus features which exploit both the power of the device and the value of the Corvus knowledge base.
For instance, assuming the devices have GPS chips, they know where they are, so we don’t ask the user, we let the device tell us where the location is, similarly for the time and date. The forms engine is linked into SEV too, this means there is no need to re-key a well known persons details, just load them from the existing database. Use of simple functionality such as voice to text recognition allow Bluestar mobile solutions to offer a real incentive for use of the device compared to the desktop and bring many time saving benefits.
Corvus Active Briefing System (CABS)
The Corvus Active Briefing System (CABS) is truly unique and innovative despite being developed more than 5 years ago. Modern devices are at last catching up with the design and allows officers to receive real-time updates based upon their current (or proposed) location. The GPS chip embedded in the device is used to report to the officer a wide range of points and locations of interest. Examples might include recent arrests, crimes, incidents or priority offender addresses. The actual mix is controlled by a number of subscription themes linked to job role and access privileges.
Perhaps the most valuable feature is represented by the integration with our Neighbourhood Profiles (NHP) module. This means that areas, tasks and notifications can be defined and the user alerted on the device when entering the locality.
Key Features
- Wide range of devices supported
- Applications will use advanced features if the device can support them with fallback if not
- Applications designed for the mobile platform rather than simply ported
- Data is auto-filled where possible
- Desktop apps provided to complement the mobile apps
- Device views can be customised for each job role
- Built on the Corvus platform so reliability and security comes as standard