Tips for navigating your next CAD/RMS transition

• CAD/RMS transitions provide an opportunity to rethink your agency’s workflows.

• Identify your agency’s biggest pain points, and consider how your new CAD or RMS solution could help address those challenges.

• To avoid racking up extra costs and extended timelines, think through your data usage and data management practices in advance.

• Data integration enables agencies to retain full access to their historical CAD/RMS data, clean up dirty data, and perform analysis across multiple datasets.

Records management systems (RMS) and computer-aided dispatch (CAD) systems are the backbone of law enforcement agencies, powering essential functions such as patrol, incident response, investigations, and reporting. But solutions often leave personnel unsatisfied; one 2025 survey revealed that many users wouldn’t recommend their RMS or CAD platform.

However, switching CAD/RMS systems is no easy task. Agency stakeholders face resistance to change, prohibitive costs, and fears over mishandled data migration. To offer guidance on this tricky transition process, Peregrine hosted a masterclass featuring four speakers with experience navigating CAD/RMS transitions. These speakers included:

• Major Justin Ross, Operational Logistics Bureau, Pasco County Sheriff's Office (PCSO)

• Chief Brian Bubar, San Pablo Police Department (SPPD)

• Eric Wood, Information Security and Compliance, Peregrine

• Doug Shoemaker, Public Safety Executive, Peregrine (moderator)

Throughout the masterclass, the speakers discussed pain points, insightful advice, and helpful technology solutions that made their switch smoother. Keep reading to learn four tips on successful transitions.

1. Prepare for an organizational change 

At first glance, a CAD/RMS transition just seems like a technology project, Wood said. But it’s actually a catalyst for organizational change.

“This is a chance to get the right leadership that's open to change, the right kind of change, and to implement it with this new solution,” Wood said. “Technology is not the big challenge here. It's organizational change.”

Modern RMS solutions promote a shift to cloud-based environments, data interoperability, and other impactful changes that drive data-driven policing. But if your personnel have been using the same system for 15 years, they might not want to change their workflows — even if those workflows were based on outdated technology. This is an opportunity to rethink your limitations, Maj. Ross said. 

“I know that ‘change’ is the forbidden word in law enforcement. We hate change, and we hate the way things are,” Maj. Ross said. “But it is a great opportunity to take a look at what and how you do things in your organization. Don't get stuck in the way that you've always done things.”

2. Stay true to your priorities

Still, it isn’t feasible to overhaul everything at once. Agencies need a strong project manager to gather feedback from a cross-section of stakeholders, identify the agency’s biggest pain points, and seek out specific solutions, Ross said.

“It’s definitely not an overnight decision,” Ross said. “I don't think there is a perfect solution out there. Everybody wants to be able to do everything, and you have to look at the pieces that you are struggling with or unhappy with the most.”

Once you’ve determined your top priorities, it’s important to stick to them, Chief Bubar said. He spoke to many RMS vendors that wanted to offer a full suite experience. But ultimately, that wasn’t what the SPPD needed. To make the right choice, Bubar needed to take a step back and focus on the agency’s main goals.

“Every department is unique. Every department has different priorities. Every community has different priorities,” Bubar said. “Identify and stay true to that while being open to new technology, new ways of doing business.”

3. Understand the implications of data migration

Data stored in your legacy system is still essential for reporting, investigations, and historical insights. But transferring that data is complicated. Different solutions store data differently, and if historical information is mapped incorrectly to your new system, you might end up with dirty data, such as duplicate profiles, incomplete information, and inaccurate datasets that slow down operations.

“Having good, clean data is really important,” Ross said. “I think a lot of people underestimate that. A data migration is the number one way to make you have dirty data. So be careful. Be diligent.”

Like many agencies, the PCSO initially wanted to skip migration completely. But segmenting data across legacy and new systems forces personnel to constantly switch between the two platforms to gather the information they need. Frequent context switching makes agencies less efficient, potentially slowing down investigations, response times, and reporting. 

It’s critical to think through data usage, future data needs, and potential repercussions. For example, what information do your deputies, analysts, and reporting staff need to access quickly? Will a CAD/RMS switch interfere with your partner agencies’ workflows? How will a new solution fit into your existing tech stack? 

While you can’t predict everything, thinking through your data management helps limit unexpected fees and extended timelines, Wood said. 

“It’s the agency's responsibility to really think strategically about a year, two years, four years down the road,” Wood said. “Are you making the right decisions to set yourself up for success, and to not have to keep coming back to that money tree, and back to change orders that often will take six months or a fiscal cycle?”

4. Data integration reduces costs and increases efficiency 

The SPPD initially wanted to migrate all of its legacy data to its new solution, but Bubar discovered that every piece of data significantly increased the cost of their contract. 

“To me, it's simple. I want this information. I need it timely. It needs to be accessible, and it needs to have value. It needs to be tangible for not only our officers responding to a critical incident, but our community,” Bubar said. "Well, come to find out, that's a much harder task and, quite frankly, an expensive task.”

Data integration was the solution, Bubar said. The SPPD uses Peregrine to access a replicated server hosting its legacy data, minimizing the amount of data to transfer. Peregrine ingested, cleaned, and enhanced the SPPD’s historical data, seamlessly integrating it alongside its real-time intelligence inputs, new RMS solution, and external datasets. Now, the agency’s RMS solution is one component that works in concert with other sources.

Instead of constantly context switching between multiple systems, SPPD personnel can analyze all real-time and historical data in an integrated, centralized platform. This provides a more complete operating picture, allowing personnel to access actionable, contextualized data when they need it most. 

“We have all these technology features that our RMS system may or may not have a relationship with, but are still relevant,” Bubar said. “Whatever system we pick, we should be looking at how software can supplement our use of this RMS system.”

Make your CAD/RMS transition seamless

At the PCSO, Ross was wary of data migration, as the agency was still dealing with the fallout from a messy RMS migration from 15 years ago. But when the PCSO’s new RMS vendor enlisted Peregrine to handle its data migration, Ross saw the benefits of having a true partner in data integration. 

“It was beneficial having a consultant that was an expert in data, that knew all of that stuff and could help us walk through those issues,” Maj. Ross said. “And then it really was a lot of long nights. … We were working till one or two in the morning just testing data and refiguring out workflows.”

Peregrine’s deployment strategists embed with agencies like the PCSO and SPPD to identify pain points, understand workflows, and develop custom solutions to support all operations, including CAD/RMS transitions. 

Peregrine doesn’t just give your agency access to its legacy data; we make that data more useful. During a CAD/RMS transition, Peregrine cleans dirty data, automatically merges duplicate records, and enhances the dataset with automated analysis, dynamic dashboards, and secure information sharing capabilities.

To learn how Peregrine can support your agency’s CAD/RMS transition, contact our team.