Connecting your agency takes a signed MOU, a copy of your data, and a prepared Windows machine. Your IT staff pull the data and open one remote session; FINDER engineers build and install the connection. Your FINDER Sales contact runs the process from start to finish.
Sign the FINDER MOU in DocuSign (a data provider’s agreement is added only if a module requires one), and confirm your contacts on the FINDER Agency Assessment Form your Sales contact sends you.
When the MOU is signed, your Sales contact sends a request for a data fragment of each applicable CAD, RMS and JMS system, with a secure upload link. Have it in by the kickoff call. It is the single biggest factor in how quickly your agency goes live.
Your Sales contact books the three calls as a weekly series once your agreement is complete. When the fragment and the Windows host are ready, the series moves. User access is activated at go-live, once your records are validated. Agencies already using FINDER Query keep that access throughout.
Reserve 60 min, expect 30. Confirm CAD, RMS and JMS connections and read-only access to your data fragments. Choose user setup. Confirm the Windows host and remote-access method for installation. Bring IT and the records validator.
30 min call, 3 hr access window. Review parser status and the historical-load estimate. FINDER engineers begin installation at the end of the call; it typically takes 1 to 2 hours. Historical loading may continue afterward. Have the approved Windows host and remote access ready.
Reserve 60 min. Compare source records with FINDER, check structured fields and review crime heat maps. Confirm data approval and sharing, activate user access, train your admin and schedule user training. Bring source-system access and your admin.
A current user list with names, agency emails and AD groups on the FINDER roster template. Your admin approves the group-to-role and module mapping. Each listed user receives an email invitation to accept and set a password. No passwords are exported.
Your identity provider details and an IT contact. FINDER configures and tests single sign-on with your IT during activation. Users sign in through your agency identity provider.
Users register at login.findersoftware.com. FINDER verifies the agency and designated admin; your admin approves remaining users.
An Active Directory export is a point-in-time roster, not automatic directory synchronization. After go-live, your admin manages additions, changes and removals using the agreed method.
Confirm your agency lead, IT contact, records validator, primary admin and backup admin. One person may fill more than one role.
Identify your CAD (dispatch), RMS (records) and JMS (jail) systems, including vendor and version, and any other systems such as ALPR. Mark a system not applicable if your agency does not use or control it.
Send a data fragment for each applicable system by the kickoff call. A fragment is a backup copy or structured export of the system so FINDER engineering can build your parser; screenshots and printed reports do not work.
Use the secure upload link supplied by FINDER and arrange read-only access for the fragments and connected data sources. Do not send records or passwords in ordinary email.
Agency IT prepares an existing approved Windows VM or physical machine before the installation call. A dedicated server purchase is not required.
The uploader is a lightweight .NET console application run through Windows Task Scheduler. It reads approved data with read-only credentials and sends records outbound on the agreed schedule. IT confirms any local network, proxy or outbound access rules and the remote-access method before installation. These rules apply to the Windows host only; users reach FINDER through their browser.
Agency IT opens the approved remote-access session at the end of the installation call and does not need to stay on the call. Plan for three short check-ins: 5 to 10 minutes at the start, 1 to 2 minutes while the parser runs, and a final completion check. Where agency policy requires a monitored session, the agency provides the escort for the full window.
After installation, FINDER reports the historical date range and load progress and confirms the validation call. Keep an ongoing IT contact for source-system upgrades, credential changes and connection issues.
Your Sales contact sends your agreement, your data fragment request, your assessment form link and the call series. Questions before then go to sales.
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