What Is Government Case Management Software?

A government agency’s ability to manage cases efficiently has the potential to greatly affect people’s lives. It’s the difference between whether or not someone can gain access to social services, whether the proper road closures are made, and how grants and funds may or may not be appropriated.

Agencies are aware of this and know that constituents want easier experiences. However, many seem to be falling short of delivering on this expectation. In fact, findings from our Connected Government report indicate only 16% of constituents say the government successfully uses technology to improve experiences.

When it comes to government case management, manual processes, and legacy systems may impede an agency’s ability to deliver effective service. Relying on manual processes may also result in a lack of standardization and an inability to access the right information at the right time. This is a problem that goes beyond the basics of productivity and operations.

Efficient case management software is necessary for government agencies to effectively serve constituents, improve satisfaction, enable transparent collaboration, and refine overall efficiency. To achieve this, agencies must adopt a strategic approach that prioritizes and supports the case management process, all while keeping constituents at the center of it all. We’ll cover what government case management is, why it’s challenging — but necessary — and solutions to help manage those challenges.

Table of contents:

• What is government case management?
• How does government case management work?
• What makes the case management process so challenging?
• What is the solution for the case management process?
• What are the benefits of government case management software?
• Key features of government case management software
• Software for investigative cases
• How to pick the right government case management software
• The cost of government case management software

Government case management refers to the process by which government agencies handle and track cases or issues related to their constituents. It involves the management of various types of cases, such as social services, licensing, and judicial case management.

The goal of government case management is to ensure that cases are handled efficiently and in a timely manner, while also prioritizing the needs and well-being of the constituents involved. This typically involves tasks such as intake, assessment, documentation, coordination of services, monitoring, and resolution of cases.

If something needs to be done with or through a government agency, it requires a case — and that case requires management. Each government program or service — from contact center communications and business permit approvals to grants management, and everything in between — typically sets up a workflow (or set of workflows) for each case to ensure the right information is captured and tracked accurately.

The government case management process involves six steps:

1. Outreach: Constituents aren’t always fully aware of what services exist to help them or how to navigate the intake process. Outreach involves actively promoting available services and targeting constituents who can benefit from them.

2. Intake: When constituents submit inquiries, applications, or make contact with an agency, the agency initiates a case. During intake, agencies collect essential information, identify the priority level of the case, and assign it to the appropriate department or personnel.

3. Assessment: Case managers review documentation and, depending on the type of case, they conduct interviews to gather more information. For more complex cases, case managers create plans of action to help constituents resolve their cases.

4. Implementation: Once plans are finalized, case managers put them into action, moving through the various steps they outlined to try and resolve the case. Government case management software can help case managers navigate the process faster and more smoothly by reducing or eliminating time-consuming administrative work, issuing reminders, or sending out notifications to keep case managers on task and constituents informed.

5. Resolution: Case managers can close out cases by documenting resolutions, updating relevant information, and providing feedback on challenges encountered or any notable successes that can help inform future cases. 

6. Analytics and Retrospective: Case managers and other personnel can take advantage of data sourced from completed cases and use AI-driven insights to improve decision-making and resource management for the organization moving forward.

Government case management can pose challenges for a variety of reasons. Namely that cases are often multifaceted, involve multiple stakeholders, and require a high volume of data. This is further compounded by intricate, and often nuanced, legal and regulatory requirements.

Today’s government agencies use many different — and often disconnected — systems, making it difficult for information to flow freely and easily. Case resolution often relies on some degree of institutional knowledge and requires that government agents spend time researching and hunting down information. This makes resolving cases highly dependent on the individual agent’s knowledge and motivation, and results in a lack of standardization and transparency across the organization.

Things like outdated technology and a lack of scalability further slow down the process, which is complicated by strict data, privacy, and security regulations.

The combination of these challenges creates an overall process that’s not only inefficient but also susceptible to errors, inaccuracies, and dissatisfaction among both employees and constituents.

Case management software for government can help address these challenges. The right technology partner can provide solutions that accelerate the case management process by unlocking insights, standardizing processes, and unifying teams. They can also replace manual tasks with automated processes and then layer artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities — like predictive analysis — on top to provide real-time recommendations. These solutions not only better serve constituents, but they also enhance the employee experience as well. And they do it more securely and at scale.

Ultimately, cloud-based case management solutions can empower government agencies with:

• The visibility they need to solve inquiries.
• The agility they need to provide better service.
• The ability to do both efficiently.

When it comes to government case management, manual processes and legacy systems may impede an agency’s ability to deliver effective service. Relying on manual processes may also result in a lack of standardization and an inability to access the right information at the right time. This is a problem that goes beyond the basics of productivity and operations.

Efficient case management software is necessary for government agencies to effectively serve constituents, improve satisfaction, enable transparent collaboration, and refine overall efficiency. Case management software can help agencies achieve this by improving operational efficiencies. These efficiencies can lead to streamlined communication and collaboration within teams that can spur increased productivity. And with higher productivity comes better case resolution which can lead to enhanced customer satisfaction.

Government case management software typically contains the following functions:

• Case intake system: Create new case files and document all relevant information.
• Case management tools: Record notes, set reminders, assign tasks, track deadlines, set appointments, send/receive emails, attach files, etc.
• Workflow automation: Automate case routing and assignment, data entry, and push notifications.
• Reporting: Analyze case management data in different views (charts and graphs) and build personalized dashboards.
• Data security: Ensure sensitive constituent data remains private and secure.
• Smart forms: Create and populate forms and issue relevant surveys to targeted constituents.
• Omnichannel communication: Connect with constituents across email, text, and phone and document all communication.

Investigative case management is a process that law enforcement authorities, intelligence agencies, and other similar organizations use to manage all aspects of investigations. Software for investigative cases can provide a framework for efficient digital-first investigative case management. It can allow investigators, case workers, and other users to capture complaint details, screen and assess complaints, collect details on evidence, and document all case findings in one place.

Centralizing the investigative case management process onto a digital platform can help investigators work through cases much more efficiently. Automation and workflows offered by the platform can alleviate caseworkers of tedious administrative tasks so that they can focus on more impactful work, while the platform’s analytics capabilities can surface insights on case trends, caseload distribution across teams, and case processing times — information that can help organizations distribute resources more effectively so that constituent concerns are addressed more quickly while also preventing workplace burnout.

Improving the overall case management process goes beyond just strategy. It requires a secure, scalable technological foundation.

A government cloud solution supports business processes and case management from beginning to end. We’re going to cover how to pick the right government case solution based on key features like the ability to connect data, use automation and AI for the public sector to streamline workflows, and low-code models that let you easily customize solutions as your needs change.

The first step for any organization looking to streamline processes and find efficiencies is to organize, harmonize, and unite the data that they have. A centralized platform provides a searchable, secure location for government agencies to view all case data and related interactions. It integrates critical data points across the case management life cycle, regardless of where they may have originally been generated or stored. This 360-degree view of every case allows service agents to effectively streamline and manage resolution workflows.

This underlying data structure also makes it possible to deliver things like digital self-service, enabling constituents to solve problems without ever having to pick up the phone.

Likewise, such platforms can enhance the employee experience because powerful insights gained from connected data help them maximize their time. They can now focus less time trying to find answers to easy self-serviceable tasks and dedicate more time to complex cases.

So many of the challenges today’s government agencies face when it comes to case management stem from relying on manual processes and individual actions.

Government case management software solutions address this challenge through built-in automation. AI in government can provide easy step-by-step workflows that reduce manual tasks, systematize processes, and free up employees to focus on more valuable work. The embedded AI working alongside these workflows makes it possible for the system to provide data-driven recommendations that enable smarter, more insightful decision-making directly in the flow of work.

This not only increases productivity, it empowers employees with the information they need, exactly when they need it, allowing them to take action directly inside the platform. No toggling between systems, no switching screens, and no hunting down information. Everything is more accessible, understandable, and actionable — at the click of a button.

Government case management software gives agents a centralized place to work, communicate, and resolve cases in a more unified, productive manner.

This means that all incoming cases could be automatically processed and added to a centralized queue where agents can accept the work. All agents can now see which cases are in the queue and which have already been accepted. An agent can open a case directly from the queue, access all pertinent information instantly (the inquiry, case history, and customer information), and view it on one screen. All case-related activity, including any past constituent-agent conversations and points of contact, are now readily available to them in a single view.

Any case activity going forward will also be logged in the system. This means that any agent can pick up any case at any time and be fully up to date. They don’t have to search for information from multiple systems or ask constituents for the entire case history for a second or third time.

Consistent and transparent information helps everyone understand the entire case management process. Constituents and case managers, alike, can follow and understand progress through the case management life cycle. Constituents can easily log in, see the status of their case, or pull up a full case history, without having to call in and take up an agent’s time. But should a constituent have questions, they also have the ability to speak with an agent directly in the portal.

Government case management software pricing varies depending on the size of the agency and the features required and plans can be offered monthly or annually usually with a specific amount of time outlined in the sales agreement. Here’s a general breakdown of government CRM pricing.

• $275 per user monthly: Basic case management software with essential out-of-the-box capabilities.
• $500 per user monthly: Advanced case management software with additional features such as included storage and a higher limit on custom objects
• $650 per user monthly: Comprehensive case management software with AI/ML algorithms, improved security protocols, more robust data integration capabilities, and collaboration and productivity tools.

Implementing flexible, holistic case management software enables government agencies to meet the needs of their constituents more efficiently and effectively. More importantly, it allows them to do this in a highly informed, data-driven manner.

The right technology can jumpstart government digital transformation. These solutions overcome current case management system challenges by streamlining processes, improving accuracy, and enhancing accessibility. Ultimately, this enables government agencies to improve how they service their constituents and transform the way their agencies operate.