The bill for Dallas County’s ongoing computer systems struggle continues to grow.
The most recent bill was almost $600,000 to buy server space and hardware for Odyssey, the system that courts and the jail use to communicate about inmates and legal updates.
Some of the money will also go toward regular maintenance and subscription costs.
The software has been problematic since it was introduced for several reasons — biggest among them is how computers and programs talk to each other and how employees use them together.
“It has been cleaned up on aisle three times since,” said Dallas County Commissioner Andy Sommerman. “Now, the majority of that involves integration.”
The goal, Sommerman said, is smoother processing between departments that could eventually lead to lowering the Dallas County jail population.
Software used by the county that wouldn’t initially cooperate with Odyssey was Adult Information System and Forvis.
“When we launched, they didn’t talk to each other well,” Sommerman said. “They talked to each other some, but they didn’t talk to each other well at all. And this was the major failure that we had with Odyssey. “
He said the server and hardware purchase and implementation helped the county “round the corner” for all the software communicating much better in about a month.
Sommerman co-chairs the Information Technology Executive Governance Committee with Commissioner Theresa Daniel.
The server and hardware purchase was made through Austin-based state vendor Freeit Data Solutions.
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