Overview#
When a detective receives a report of a serious fraud, the first hours are critical. Rather than relying on memory or locally-held paper procedures, the investigator opens a guided playbook that immediately prompts the correct sequence: securing financial records, identifying victim accounts, notifying the relevant supervisory authority, and raising a warrant application before any asset dissipation can occur. Each answer drives the next question, and the playbook branches automatically depending on whether the fraud is domestic, cross-border, or involves a regulated institution.
Guided Investigative Playbooks are dynamic, structured workflows that walk investigators through complex case procedures step by step, adapting the sequence based on the incident type and the information entered at each stage. They enforce jurisdictional compliance requirements, embed mandatory supervisory checkpoints, and create a complete auditable record of every decision and action taken throughout an investigation.
Key Features#
- Adaptive Branching Workflows: Question-and-answer forms that branch in real time based on the incident type, the investigator's responses, and the jurisdiction in which the case is occurring.
- Mandatory Compliance Checkpoints: Hard stops enforce supervisory review, legal authorisation, or warrant approval before an investigation can proceed past sensitive stages.
- Automated Task Generation: As each playbook stage is completed, tasks are automatically created and assigned to the appropriate specialist units, such as digital forensics, financial intelligence, or liaison officers.
- Playbook Template Builder: Administrators can author, version-control, and publish playbooks tailored to local procedural law, national guidelines, or agency-specific standard operating procedures.
- Golden Hour Protocols: Time-sensitive playbooks for incidents such as missing persons or kidnapping surface the most urgent actions immediately and track elapsed time against procedural deadlines.
- Digital Forensics Guidance: First-responder playbooks prompt correct device isolation, continuity-of-evidence handling, and anti-spoliation procedures before specialist units arrive.
- Full Audit Trail: Every step completion, branch decision, checkpoint authorisation, and task assignment is recorded with timestamps and the identity of the officer responsible, producing a court-ready audit record.
- Cross-Agency Collaboration Prompts: Playbooks can surface notification requirements to partner agencies, border authorities, or prosecutorial bodies at the appropriate procedural stage.
Use Cases#
- Cybercrime and Digital Forensics Triage: Guiding first responders through correct device seizure, network isolation, and chain-of-custody documentation without inadvertent spoliation of digital evidence.
- Serious and Organised Fraud: Ensuring that financial record preservation, victim identification, suspicious transaction reporting, and judicial authorisation steps occur in the correct order and within regulatory time limits.
- Missing Persons and Kidnapping: Delivering a standardised golden-hour checklist that includes media release decisions, border notifications, hospital alerts, and family liaison assignment within the critical early window.
- Homicide and Major Crime Scene Management: Coordinating scene preservation, early evidence seizure priorities, family notification procedures, and senior investigating officer briefings through a single structured flow.
- Counter-Terrorism and Multi-Agency Incidents: Orchestrating notification chains across police, security services, prosecutorial authorities, and government liaison points in accordance with national protocols.
- Compliance and Accreditation Audits: Producing documented evidence that mandatory procedural steps, supervisory reviews, and legal authorities were obtained in the correct sequence for every qualifying investigation.
Integration#
Playbook progress is recorded directly into the associated case file so that the investigation timeline reflects every completed step and branching decision. Supervisors receive automatic notifications when a checkpoint requires their authorisation, and specialist units receive task assignments as each stage triggers them. Completed playbooks feed into reporting dashboards that give command teams visibility of procedural compliance across all active investigations. The module integrates with the case management, task management, and notification components of the platform, and playbook definitions can be exported or imported using open workflow interchange formats to support interoperability with partner agency systems.
Open Standards#
- BPMN 2.0 (OMG): Playbook logic and branching conditions can be modelled and exchanged using the Business Process Model and Notation standard, enabling authoring in compatible third-party tools.
- CACAO Security Playbooks v2.0 (OASIS): Cybercrime and cyber-incident playbooks align with the Collaborative Automated Course of Action Operations specification for structured, machine-readable response workflows.
- XPDL 2.2 (WfMC): The Workflow Process Definition Language provides an interchange format for playbook definitions exchanged with workflow management systems used by partner agencies.
- ISO/IEC 27035 (Information Security Incident Management): Playbook structure and checkpoint sequencing follow the incident management lifecycle defined in this standard for cybersecurity-related investigations.
- ISO 30120 (Structured Vocabulary for Evidence): Terminology used in evidence-handling guidance within playbooks is consistent with this international standard for forensic evidence description.
- INTERPOL Major Incident Response Framework: Missing persons and cross-border serious crime playbooks incorporate notification and escalation structures aligned with INTERPOL operational guidance.
- ETSI TS 102 232 (Handover Interface for Lawful Interception): Playbooks that reach a lawful interception authorisation checkpoint are structured to produce requests consistent with this ETSI handover interface specification.
Availability#
- Enterprise Plan: Included
- Professional Plan: Core playbook execution and standard templates included; custom template builder and cross-agency notification triggers available as an add-on.
Last Reviewed: 2026-05-26