WATERLOO REGIONAL POLICE SERVICES: REASSESSING

THE CIMS PROJECT

Professor Deborah Compeau and Jane Movold prepared this case solely to provide material for class discussion. The authors do

not intend to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of a managerial situation. The authors may have disguised certain

names and other identifying information to protect confidentiality.

Ivey Management Services prohibits any form of reproduction, storage or transmittal without its written permission. Reproduction of

this material is not covered under authorization by any reproduction rights organization. To order copies or request permission to

reproduce materials, contact Ivey Publishing, Ivey Management Services, c/o Richard Ivey School of Business, The University of

Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada, N6A 3K7; phone (519) 661-3208; fax (519) 661-3882; e-mail [email protected].

Copyright © 2007, Ivey Management Services Version: (A) 2007-04-11

Larry Gravill, chief of the Waterloo Regional Police Service (WRPS), reflected on the last eight years and

the attempts to build an integrated information system. The Common Information Management Systems

(CIMS)1project had begun in 1997, as a joint effort between WRPS and seven other police organizations.

The project had been troubled since the beginning, and by now considerable resources had been invested

into the CIMS project by all stakeholders involved.

By September 2005, the relationship with the current vendor, Integrated Technologies Group (ITG), had

become less productive. In addition, WRPS needed to install a suitable computer aided dispatch (CAD)

and records management system (RMS), both key CIMS components, prior to December