The Archdiocese of Los Angeles is investing in new technology to assist parishes and Catholic schools to create safe environments for children. For the past two years, an archdiocesan background-tracking information system, Volunteer and Personnel Information Network (VPIN), has been in development.

VPIN will track assignment histories and compliance by parish clergy, religious, staff and volunteers of fingerprinting and confidential background check requirements and VIRTUS training in child sexual abuse prevention.

VPIN allows parishes and schools to adapt features of the system to fit their local needs and it will assist the archdiocese to complete its audit reports.

The system has been developed by the Santa Paula-based software system developer LOGOS Management Software in close collaboration with the archdiocese. LOGOS has experience working with 15 dioceses and 3,000 Catholic churches.

VPIN is intended to be an easy-to-use information resource. It is web-based and an authorized person at a parish or school with an internet connection and Internet Explorer can log in to VPIN. Users will need to have an account on VPIN in order to use it; accounts can be requested by contacting the archdiocesan Office of Human Resources.

Information from last year's online school census, fingerprinting completed by the archdiocese, participation in VIRTUS sexual abuse prevention training and selected information from personnel and clergy data bases are being loaded into VPIN as base information. To date, more than 50,000 records have been entered by the archdiocese to launch VPIN. Authorized parish, school and other administrators will have access to use, update and review current information about their own staff and volunteers.

The system also allows for new and existing data to be entered directly at a parish or school location, or the archdiocese can arrange for imports and updates from parish management systems. VPIN offers other features such as group email and mail merging that can be used for the communication needs of a parish or school without cost.

With permission, parishes and schools will be able to review the history of job applicants who have been employed or have volunteered at other archdiocesan locations to verify whether the person has completed their required training, fingerprinting and background check.

VPIN is available at each location without licensing or usage fees; it is fully licensed for all archdiocesan uses. A help desk has been set up and is in operation.

An initial group of parishes and schools has been piloting the program during its limited launch phase while final testing takes place. The system is now fully operational and is expected to roll out widely in 2007.

To request an account on VPIN, call the Office of Human Resources for the VPIN Access Request Form at (213) 637-7494.

This is the forty-six article in a series. This weekly series of feature stories, commentary and analysis is compiled and edited by an advisory group to the Media Relations Office of the Archdiocese, through which the articles are distributed.