External Information Manager

The External Information Manager contains the individuals and vehicles involved in the Case. This information can be used to populate fields on any of the forms contained in the Case.

The External Information Manager can be populated in a variety of ways. This includes:

• Opening the External Information Manager and keying the information in directly.

• Keying data into data fields on forms that are contained in the External Information Manager.

• Using a Barcode reader to scan driver and registration information from 2D bar-coded licenses and registrations.

• Using the external search feature to query your Mobile Data Browser (MDB) and return the information. This feature is only available if it has been implemented by your agency.

When you first open a Case click on the External Information button near the bottom of the Navigation area, you will see a screen like this:

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You can add information to External Information by first selecting the Individuals or Vehicles tab at the top of the window and then expand if needed by clicking “+”.

If you choose to Add an Individual, you will get a screen that looks like this where you can key in the data:

Once you have keyed the necessary information click off the field.

 

If you choose to Add a Vehicle, you will get a screen that looks like this where you can key in the data. Some data fields have dropdown lists for easy selection.

Do not enter the Vehicle Type through External Information because different forms use different vehicle types

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To add another vehicle or individual right click on the white space in the External Information pane and select “Add New External Information”.

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Once the data is in External Information, it can be brought into the appropriate data fields on the form by highlighting the appropriate Individual or Vehicle then clicking OK. Note Carriers information is not used in Wisconsin’s suite of forms.

Once you have placed files into the message cache TraCS contains a button labeled External Search.  When pressed, it populates the common information pool with drivers and vehicles, which can then be used to populate the form:

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During a contact, the officer typically runs vehicle and person inquiries for all involved in the incident using third party Mobile Data Browsers (MDBs), which retrieve data from DOJ’s TIME system. 

Data retrieved by the MDB may be imported into TraCS if a mobile data interface (MDI) is installed to provide an interface between TraCS and the MDB or is built into the MDB.

External Search saves the officers a great deal of typing when completing TraCS forms.

The eTIME browser is compatible with the external search.  Contact your Mobile Data Browser vendor if you are unsure if they support exporting data for TraCS External Search.  If your vendor does not currently support external search and is interested in doing so, please give them a copy of our integration documentation:

https://trust.dot.state.wi.us/tracs/documentation/TraCS10IntegrationCD.zip