City and vertical
Chicago investigation work runs through IDFPR private detective licensing, 225 ILCS 447, Illinois eavesdropping law, Cook County and federal attorney handoffs, surveillance records, and evidence documentation. PI Core structures that work without replacing investigator judgment.
Quick answer
PI Core is Butler Solutions' investigation case management software surface for Chicago private investigation firms. It supports intake, assignments, investigator notes, surveillance records, media and document organization, evidence references, attorney handoff context, audit-oriented operations, and migration from CROSStrax, Trackops, or CaseFleet. Chicago fit depends on IDFPR private detective licensing, the Illinois Private Detective Act under 225 ILCS 447, Illinois eavesdropping law under Article 14, all-party recording-law review context, Cook County criminal and civil attorney handoffs, and federal Northern District matters where investigation work supports litigation. PI Core does not file IDFPR renewals, decide whether a recording is lawful, guarantee admissibility, or replace investigator judgment. It keeps licensing, evidence, assignment, recording-law, and attorney-review context visible in the case record. Pricing is $99, $149, $199, or custom by user count, with a 3-month free trial, founding cohort discount, design partner path, and migration support.
PI Core in Chicago
This page is narrower than the Chicago city hub and the Illinois PI Core page. It is for investigation firms evaluating how PI Core maps to Chicago field, evidence, and attorney handoff work.
The page treats licensing, recording law, and evidence use as practitioner-reviewed workflow context. It does not claim automatic recording-law decisions, license filing, or evidence admissibility guarantees.
Chicago regulatory landscape
Chicago investigation software has to account for IDFPR licensing, all-party recording-law review, surveillance documentation, evidence organization, and attorney handoffs.
Illinois licenses private detective work through IDFPR under the state's private detective law. PI Core can track license-review context, assignments, documents, and responsible staff without filing renewals or deciding eligibility.
Illinois is treated in Butler PI content as an all-party recording-law state. PI Core can track audio flags, consent notes, source context, and attorney review status; it does not decide whether a recording is lawful.
Chicago investigators may serve Cook County and Northern District matters. PI Core keeps requesting attorney, matter, deliverables, evidence references, and handoff status together without deciding privilege or admissibility.
Surveillance records, photos, video, witness interviews, and document collections need an audit-oriented case record. PI Core structures those materials around assignment, source, review, and handoff context.
Workflow specificity
PI Core's Chicago workflow framing focuses on modern investigation operations: intake, assignment, surveillance documentation, evidence organization, recording-law review context, and attorney handoffs.
PI Core keeps client, requesting attorney, subject, assignment, investigator, due date, scope notes, and status visible for Chicago cases. It does not decide whether a requested investigation is lawful.
Investigators can keep surveillance notes, observation windows, media references, location context, and review status close to the case record. Field legality remains investigator-reviewed.
PI Core can make Illinois recording-law review visible through audio flags, consent notes, interview context, and attorney review status. It does not decide eavesdropping-law questions.
Chicago investigators working for lawyers can keep matter context, deliverables, review notes, evidence references, and delivery status together. Privilege and work product questions remain attorney-reviewed.
Chicago firms moving from CROSStrax, Trackops, or CaseFleet can use the PI Core trial period for a parallel run. Imported cases, contacts, documents, media references, assignments, and active statuses are reviewed before cutover.
Pricing and programs
PI Core uses Butler's uniform pricing structure: Starter at $99 per user per month, Small Team at $149 per user per month, Firm at $199 per user per month, and custom pricing above 25 users. PI Core includes a 3-month free trial. Each product has a founding cohort with 100 spots and 25% off for 2 years, plus an application-based design partner program with 10 spots per product.
Migration
PI Core migration follows Butler's existing migration program. Founding cohort customers receive migration free. Standard cloud-to-cloud migration is $499 for typical scope up to 5,000 records. Complex migration is $1,499 for multi-source histories, large document libraries, or unusual source structures. Migration fees are credited back as platform credit after 6 months of paid subscription.
Chicago PI Core FAQ
Yes. PI Core supports intake, assignments, evidence records, surveillance documentation, attorney handoffs, recording-law review context, audit-oriented operations, and migration support for Chicago investigation firms.
No. PI Core can track license-review context, staff responsibility, assignments, documents, and reminders. It does not file IDFPR renewals, decide eligibility, or replace licensing review.
PI Core can keep audio flags, consent notes, interview context, and attorney review status close to the case. It does not decide whether a recording is lawful under Illinois eavesdropping law.
Yes, as case workflow. PI Core supports assignments, surveillance notes, observation windows, media references, evidence organization, review status, and handoff tracking. Field legality remains investigator-reviewed.
No direct court integration is claimed. Court and attorney sources frame legal-market context. PI Core organizes investigation records, assignments, documents, evidence references, and handoffs on the firm side.
PI Core can track requesting attorney, matter, scope, deliverables, evidence references, review status, and delivery context. It does not decide privilege, work product, or admissibility questions.
Yes, where usable exports or records are available. Migration review identifies cases, clients, contacts, assignments, reports, documents, media references, custom fields, and active investigation risks before cutover.
No. PI Core supports structured evidence records, review status, source notes, and handoff context. Admissibility, authentication, privilege, and court use remain practitioner and attorney review questions.
Butler does not position PI Core as the cheapest option. Pricing is per user at $99, $149, $199, or custom by user count. The reason to evaluate PI Core is modern evidence and handoff workflow fit.
Start with PI Core pricing if user count, trial period, founding cohort eligibility, and migration terms are the main questions. Use contact for IDFPR workflow, recording-law review, surveillance evidence, attorney handoffs, or migration scoping.
Public sources cited
City and vertical information cited from public sources current as of May 5, 2026. Butler updates city+vertical content as court, licensing, and local practice sources change. The source set combines local city and county authorities with matching state-level PI Core authorities where those sources support the city-specific claims above.
Chicago PI Core evaluation
Use pricing if the main question is user count, trial period, founding cohort, or migration terms. Use contact if the question is local court fit, source-system migration, or implementation scope.