The personnel consisted primarily of around 50 police staff, mainly IT professionals specializing in a range of technologies, including a large number of Java EE developers and Oracle Database Administrators (DBAs).
Police Scotland has also recently published a 10-year digital transformation plan, which focuses on upgrading its technology infrastructure, enhancing mobile capabilities, improving data integration, and increasing cyber resilience.
[1][2] The Scottish Intelligence Database was designed by an external supplier, ABM United Kingdom Limited, under the supervision of a team from SPIS, headed by Detective Superintendent Ian McCandlish, seconded from Strathclyde Police.
The Project proved problematic for SPIS / SPSA-ICT, eventually culminating in negative news coverage and questions being asked in the Scottish Parliament regarding the cost of the system, the rationale of its design, and the way it had been managed (see Controversy and External Criticism below).
In July 2005 a decision was made that an off-the-shelf software package that was already being used by several English police forces provided a better-value solution to the issue of maintaining a register of persons authorised to keep firearms, and as a consequence the SNFCHR project was cancelled.
Additionally, as the new system did not take full advantage of the considerable advances in information technology that have come along since the original 1980's design was envisaged, it was felt that a chance to significantly enhance the safety and efficiency of, for example, the processes that allow persons to be vetted for working with children had been missed.