All NICRO staff have migrated to Office 365, and are using Teams to communicate with colleagues and clients.

In order to render consistent services during the Covid-19 Pandemic, NICRO has been able to render counselling and other services via online meetings with clients.

Centralised SharePoint document management and project management through Teams has enabled NICRO to improve its efficiency. NICRO will continue to expand its online operations.

Responding swiftly to the Covid-19 pandemic, NICRO launched online programmes for clients in October 2020. Using Joomla Learning Management System (LMS) as the platform, NICRO is able to offer Shifting Gears, Flattening the Curve and Choosing the High Road as online programmes.

This innovation allows clients to complete their court-mandated programmes from home. NICRO will be adding additional client programmes to the LMS over the next few months. NICRO intends the LMS to expand its footprint at minimal cost, reaching clients in areas where NICRO does not have an office. The LMS is designed to be data-light, and clients use approximately 500MB of data to complete a programme. As of June 2021, over 200 clients were engaging with programmes online.

NICRO is using the same platform to provide online professional development for criminal justice practitioners. Three professional development programmes are available online, with one already accredited for CPD points with the South African Council for Social Service Professionals. Programmes cost R500 each, with a 90 day access license. Payments are done online using the PayPal credit or debit card payment processor. To learn more about how the payments are processed, please click here.

The following programmes are available: Introduction to Psychosocial Assessments, Introduction to Domestic Violence, and The Integrated Social Crime Prevention Strategy. The following will be added over the next few months: Introduction to Using Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Practitioners and Social Work Supervision.

To access the platform, please click here.

In order to improve record keeping and reporting, NICRO has built an online case flow management system (CFMS). The system is 100% online and accessible on all devices.

The CFMS allows for live data reporting and analysis, and eliminate record duplication and errors. Permission level functionality ensures client privacy within NICRO. The CFMS also supports automation and workflows, which will increase operational functionality.