DEVELOPMENT OF THE SYSTEM WAS ACCOMPLISHED IN THREE STEPS: CONVERSION OF HISTORIC DATA; COMPUTERIZATION OF FINGERPRINT SEARCH IN SUPPORT OF THE IDENTIFICATION PROCESS; AND COMPUTERIZATION AND UPDATING OF CRIMINAL HISTORIES. IT WAS EVIDENT THAT A MAJOR DESIGN EFFORT WAS REQUIRED TO IMPROVE CRIMINAL HISTORY RESPONSE TIME TO THE USER AGENCIES; CONSEQUENTLY, WORK BEGAN ON REDESIGNING AN IMPROVED PROCESSING SYSTEM. NYSIIS RECEIVES FINGERPRINT CARDS BY FASCIMILE (FOR HIGH PRIORITY PRINTS) OR BY MAIL. ALL PRINTS ARE SENT TO THE INPUT QUALITY CONTROL SECTION FOR A QUALITY CHECK, PRIORITY ASSIGNMENT, AND LABELING. PRIMARY FINGERPRINT CLASSIFICATION IS RECORDED, AND PRINTS ARE PASSED ON FOR FURTHER QUALITY CHECKS, CODING, EDITING, AND TRANSCRIPTION AT THE DATA PREPARATION UNIT. THE DATA ENTRY SECTION ENTERS ALL REQUIRED DATA ELEMENTS INTO THE COMPUTER QUEUE BY CRT, AND COMPUTER EDITS ARE PERFORMED. ONCE DATA IS ACCEPTED BY THE COMPUTER, A WANTED INQUIRY MESSAGE IS GENERATED, AND A NAME/NUMBER SEARCH OF THE NYSIIS WANTED AND NAME FILE IS MADE AUTOMATICALLY. IF NAMES OF SUSPECTS ARE RETURNED, THE PRINTS AR ROUTED TO THE MASTER FILE FOR POSITIVE IDENTIFICATION. OTHERWISE, THE PRINT PROCEEDS TO THE MANUAL NAME INDEX SECTION. IF NO POSSIBLE IDENTIFICATION IS FORTHCOMING, A FULL FINGERPRINT CLASSIFICATION IS CARRIED OUT, AND PRINTS ARE THEN FORWARDED TO THE MASTER FINGERPRINT UNIT WHERE THEY ARE FILED IN THE MANUAL (FOR THOSE BORN PRIOR TO 1925) OR THE MACHINE SECTION FOR POSSIBLE MATCHING WITH EXISTING PRINTS. FOLLOWING THE IDENTIFICATION FUNCTION, CONTROL INFORMATION IS ENTERED WHICH TRIGGERS AN UPDATING OF THE CRIMINAL HISTORY FILE, THE AUTOMATED NAME FILE, AND THE AUTOMATED FINGERPRINT FILE. THE CRIMINAL HISTORY IS RETRIEVED IF AVAILABLE AND MATCHED WITH THE INPUT DOCUMENT. IF WANTED STATUS IS INDICATED, DOCUMENTS ARE ROUTED FOR ATTACHMENT OF THE WANTED NOTICE. OUTPUT RESPONSE IS THEN SENT BACK TO THE REQUESTING JURISDICTION BY MAIL OR FASCIMILE. THE TRANSACTION CONTROL DOCUMENT IS DETACHED AND SENT TO QUEUE CLOSE TERMINAL FOR CLOSEOUT. THE NEW PROCESSING SYSTEM PERMITS ONLINE DATA ENTRY, INCORPORATES ERROR CORRECTION PROCEDURES WHICH ARE SIMPLER THAN THOSE UNDER THE OLD SYSTEM, AND IMPROVES USER RESPONSE TIME AND OVERALL WORKFLOW. A LISTING OF COMPUTER SYSTEM COMPONENTS (BURROUGHS B-6700 COMPUTER SYSTEM) WHICH SUPPORTS THE NEW SYSTEM IS PRESENTED. THE SYSTEM OPERATES EFFECTIVELY AND EFFICIENTLY, AND FURTHER IMPROVEMENTS ARE BEING UNDERTAKEN. EXAMPLES OF PRINTOUTS, FORMS, AND ENTRY SCREEN FORMAT ARE ALSO PROVIDED. (JAP)