This brief identifies and discusses key considerations in assessing a criminal justice-behavioral health partnership’s readiness to consult an external vendor in the development and management of an interdisciplinary data warehouse that informs interactive policy and practice.
The issues addressed in this brief are the partnership’s readiness to approach a data warehouse vendor, vendor selection, and management of the vendor relationship. Being prepared to approach a data warehouse vendor includes establishing a governance group that will oversee the development, execution, and management of the data warehouse. This group should conduct an inventory of expertise, technology assets, capacity, and resources among the partnership agencies. This will facilitate determining whether a contractor is needed and can be funded. Steps are outlined for selecting the best vendor based on research, crafting a comprehensive vendor solicitation, a joint review of applicants, and checking references. Management of the vendor relationship involves agreement on contract terms, development of an ongoing maintenance agreement, creation of a comprehensive work plan, maintenance of regular contact with the vendor, establishment of a schedule for data warehouse demonstrations, and conducting user tests.