What’s Cookin’ in Cook County, Illinois?

Every CRA knows that people-data from Cook County, Illinois destroys turnaround times, costs more than other data, and is the bane of your reputation. Why? Historically there have been too few public access terminals for researchers to process criminal background checks in a timely manner and records access is not yet automatable. The 37 available terminals were just too few to handle the volume. Well, that’s changing.

As part of its commitment to make people-data equitably accessible to all, InformData, together with the local Cook County government are nearly doubling the number of terminals. In the coming weeks, at least 30 additional terminals will be added and made accessible to all!

This won’t completely solve the problem as demand continues to exceed supply, however, InformData is committed to helping CRAs secure research in Cook County in a more predictable and reliable fashion.

This is a huge step toward relieving the pressure in Cook County which will significantly improve turnaround times, efficiency and maintaining your reputation as a reliable CRA who can be counted on to get the job done.

Let’s consider how this small example plays out if all of us in the people-data business work together to make people-data equitably available to all.

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Direct-Source Data®

That’s data that is available without layers of middlemen that add cost, time and questionable chain of custody to the data CRAs and their customers need to make informed hiring, tenancy and career decisions. The cost and time issues are pretty clear. Make data directly available and your costs and time to acquire the data go down. Chain of custody issues may be less clear but are increasingly important as security and accuracy concerns become top of mind for everyone. Let’s consider…

If a 3^rd party research contractor collects information for a search on a public terminal, that data begins its journey to the customer on a pad of paper or if you’re lucky, laptop. But when that researcher stops at Starbucks and leaves that pad of paper on the dashboard of the car or the laptop screen is open while the researcher sips her/his coffee, who else saw the data? And when that information is hand transcribed into a CRA’s automation platform, who is double-checking it? These are process problems and when data isn’t direct-source, every layer between the source and CRA adds risk and uncertainty in addition to time and cost. Direct-Source Data uses processes that treat people-data as a data supply chain to eliminate layers, reduce hazards, lower cost and decrease turnaround time.

InformData’s commitment to make people-data equitably accessible to all is the way it’s making Direct-Source Data available whenever possible. What just happened in Cook County, Illinois is an example of this commitment in action. By insisting that the data they purchase is direct-source, CRAs large and small are helping themselves be more competitive, more compliant, more scalable and more profitable. If your CRA isn’t using Direct-Source Data today, you should consider the benefits and support the effort to make people-data equitably accessible to all.