ABSTRACT
Probation practitioners needs are for a system to manage probation work with offenders through court remands, bail intervention, preparation of pre-sentence reports for courts, supervision on community sentences, probation work in prisons and supervised release from custody. The proposal for a single national client information system was accepted by services but with reservations about the proposed regional computer centres and the software system chosen. The probation service welcomed the national strategy and CRAMS with a desire to experience the benefits that technology can bring. The probation service welcomed the national strategy and CRAMS with a desire to experience the benefits that technology can bring. Intermittent access is not conducive to the computer being a useful working tool and some areas have already moved to a policy of one computer per probation officer. Internationally, social work agencies are adopting information technology as the primary medium for client information.
