Primary Department: Universal Services
Primary Department Head/Elected Official: Sindhu Menon, Executive Director & CIO
Managing Department: Universal Services
Managing Department Head/Elected Official: Sindhu Menon, Executive Director & CIO
Regular or Supplemental RCA: Regular RCA
Type of Request: Investment Memo
Investment Memo Type: Final Investment Memo
Project Name: JWEB Modernization
Project ID (if applicable): NI047
Vendor Legal Name (if applicable): N/A
MWBE Contracted Goal (if applicable): N/A
MWBE Current Achievement (if applicable): N/A
Justification for 0% MWDBE Participation Goal: N/A - Goal not applicable to request
Grant Indirect Costs Rate (if applicable): N/A
Justification for 0% Grant Indirect Costs Rate (if applicable): N/A - Not a grant item
Incremental Authorization Requested: $950,000
Total Estimated Project Cost: $25,000,000
Request Summary:
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Request for approval of the Final Investment Memo for JWEB Modernization project for an incremental authorization of $950,000 for a total authorization of $2,450,000 and commercial paper funding in the amount of $950,000 for a total allocation of $2,450,000.
end
Project Description:
Software applications have a defined shelf life. Technology and development methodologies change over time to improve reliability, capabilities and efficiencies. In particular, JWEB, an in-house collection of custom developed software, originally designed in the 1990’s is becoming obsolete as the underlying technology becomes obsolete and laws, policies and business practices change so much that the software becomes extremely difficult and complicated to support and maintain. The system outages related to JWEB are frequent and have caused multiple challenges to public safety and other justice related services. The architecture is outdated and needs to be updated as soon as possible to meet the demands of stakeholders.
The modernization project is expected to be completed in phases. For FY26 the focus will be on implementation of the integration platform, design of the new data architecture and design of the new application architecture.
JWEB is a collection of in-house developed software programs that support our justice community (District Attorney’s Office, Criminal Courts at Law, District Clerks Office, District Courts, Public Defenders Office, Law Enforcement and several other county agencies). JWEB is an updated version of the original mainframe JIMS. It is the second generation of the JIMS mainframe and is a web-based application. The JWEB modernization project, which the Universal Services team kicked off in 2022, will enable the team to move to using a modern architecture and data model that fully leverages the newer environments (security, scalability, ease of maintenance and ease of enhancement).
We have evaluated other alternatives along the way, are interviewing other Texas counties and are exploring 3rd party vendors to explore the best solution for the County. Everything we have explored so far has reinforced the resolve to continue to develop and modernize JWEB. We have released new features and functionality as well as developed key data to continue the replacement. Utilizing existing development resources and expanding the team, we will continue to build the new solution in FY26. This work will span multiple years.
JWEB is composed of JWEB Criminal, JWEB Civil and Constable Tracking System. Supporting these main modules are several smaller components that support extensive batch reporting, data replication and application programming interface (API) development and management. Many of these database designs were migrated from the legacy mainframe, JIMS.
The scope of this phase is to select and implement an integration platform, start to build a new data model/architecture. The new integration platform will provide the Harris County justice community with a system for exchanging data within and external, that is secure, scalable, easy to maintain and easy to enhance. This phase will also provide resources to redesign our data model and start to identify a potential new platform in which to rebuild the JWEB software.
There might be changes in the County’s needs that result in operational changes for the projects throughout the Fiscal Year, but the overall scope will remain the same.
Anticipated Project Expenditures and Timeline:
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Project Scope Breakdown |
Estimated Cost |
Estimated Completion |
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JWEB Modernization second phase: Assistance with evaluating and managing logistics on developing the Requirements for the Integration platform (outcome is the Integration Platform Requirements to initiate the RFP and a scoring rubric to evaluate submissions) |
$250,000 |
FY2026 |
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Renew IJIS Modernization contractors (Solutions Architect, Sr. Business Analyst, Sr. Project Manager and IJIS Coordinator) |
$700,000 |
FY2026 |
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TOTAL |
$950,000 |
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Key Deliverables for 2026 |
Start Date |
End Date |
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Complete the requirements for the Integration platform RFP |
11/15/2025 |
3/15/2026 |
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Complete the RFP for the selection of an integration platform product and implementation vendor |
3/15/2026 |
9/15/2026 |
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Upgrade existing infrastructure to stabilize the relational database environment for the IJIS integration platform |
9/1/2025 |
3/1/2026 |
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Standardize and cleanse data to improve data management criteria for consistency across the County |
9/1/2025 |
Ongoing |
Justification & Alternatives:
The modernization of these applications is critical to ensure continuity of county’s public safety and other justice related services. The upgraded applications also ensure Harris County departments and end-users do not have to work with unsupported technology or out-of-date processes, which would be more susceptible to failure and vulnerable to cyberattacks.
The new utilized applications will also reduce overhead costs required to support the current applications, due to the complex architecture of the current application. The effort will provide the following benefits:
• Access to a wide pool of resources for design and development support
• Enable configuration management to more easily test and deploy code
• Enhancements will be easier to configure and implement in the newer environment
• Enable the team to clean up some of the current JWEB backlog
• Create a computing environment that is more reliable and “fault tolerant” than the current environment
If this project is not funded, we will continue to see increase in application outages, maintenance costs, and potential exposure to increased security risks, impacts to customer functionality, and impacts to public safety and other justice related services to Harris County.
Anticipated Impact on Other Funds (If Applicable):
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County Strategic Plan Goal: 1. Make Harris County safer and more just.
County Strategic Plan Objective: E: Increase efficiency across the legal system.
Justice/Safety Initiative (Goal 1): E1: Modernize data and technology architecture across the legal system.
Infrastructure Initiative (Goal 2): N/A
Economy Initiative (Goal 3): N/A
Health Initiative (Goal 4): N/A
Climate/Resilience Initiative (Goal 5): N/A
Housing Initiative (Goal 6): N/A
Previous Court Action:
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Date |
Agenda Item # |
Action Taken |
|
8/27/2024 |
406 |
Request by Universal Services for approval of the Preliminary Investment Memo for modernization of Integrated Justice Information System (JWEB) for an initial authorization of $1,500,000. |
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10/29/2024 |
33 |
Request for approval of commercial paper funding for Universal Services for the JWEB Modernization project in the initial amount of $1,500,000. |
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Address: N/A
Precinct(s): Countywide
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Fiscal and Personnel Summary |
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Current Position Count for Service |
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Additional Positions Request |
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Anticipated Court Date: 10/30/2025
Anticipated Implementation Date (if different from Court date): Click or tap to enter a date.
Emergency/Disaster Recovery Note: Not an emergency, disaster, or ARPA related item
Legal funding compliance confirmed by: Paige Abernathy, Special Assistant County Attorney, 7/22/2025
Department Approval by: Louis Carr, IJIS Director, Heather Merkel, Director of Budget, HCUS, 10/16/2025
OMB CIP Team Approval by: William McGuinness, Director-Capital Projects & Infrastructure, 10/15/2025
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Commercial Paper Request (For OMB use only):
Receiving Department: Universal Services
Project PeopleSoft ID: NI047
CP Series Description: Commercial Paper Series D can be used for (1) construction of public works, (2) the purchase of automobiles, equipment and machinery, including computers, materials and supplies for the operation of the County’s precincts and departments (3) Professional services, including services provided by engineers, architects, attorneys, auditors, financial advisors, and fiscal agents, in connection with the contractual obligations described in (1) and (2).
Commercial Paper is being requested for the JWEB Modernization project and is expected to be repaid within the next three fiscal years either through bonds, budgetary means or pay-as-you-go sources.
OMB Financial Management contact: Amy Perez, Deputy Executive Director, Office of Management and Budget