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Technology, Leadership, Planning and Standards

Resource Guide

NCSC Contact

William Raftery

"Well-managed courts make good use of Information Technology. Automation requires courts and others work more closely and at new levels of detail. This creates tension and requires superior management, delegation, and communication. The quality of technical staff is critical and the market for them makes it difficult for courts to compete. But for even highly qualified court technologists to be effective, court leaders must manage the technologists. Talented court leaders know how to blend technical staff into the court and justice system, achieve common understandings and, very importantly, ensure that technical staff service and support those who do the court's work. Budget, staff, equipment, and caseflow and other business processes must be aligned."
-- Curriculum Guidline Four, National Association for Court Management

Links to related online resources are listed below. Non-digitized publications may be borrowed from the NCSC Library; call numbers are provided.

Featured Links

Zeigler, Paul. Integrated Justice Information Assessment: Shelby County, Tennessee. (2010).

Assessment of the County’s justice systems and recommendations for improving the flow of information between justice agencies.
Crawford, Chris. Emerging Technology Trends that Will Transform Courts. (2010). Future Trends in State Courts. Technology can be transformational. For courts this means involving the entire court organization, wedding technology to serious efforts at process reengineering, migrating from document to content management, and having the power to manage customer relations.
Keilitz, Ingo. Smart Courts: Performance Dashboards and Business Intelligence. (2010). Future Trends in State Courts. Performance dashboards are becoming the preferred way court systems and individual courts monitor, analyze, and manage their performance. They are the “face” of business intelligence designed to deliver the right information to the right people at the right time.
Technology.

NCSC Area of Expertise.
Technology Tools.

NCSC Area of Expertise.

Global Justice XML

Building Exchange Content Using the Global Justice XML Data Model. (June 2005). Search.org A User Guide for Practitioners and Developers. This User Guide is an effort to lay out the experience of the past year (2004) and to walk the reader through an explicit, step-by-step process of how to develop exchange content that will support the overarching goal of justice data interoperability
GJXDM Release 3.0.3. Office of Justice Programs Document and Schemas of the core of the Global JXDM.
Global Justice Information Sharing Initiative. U. S. Department of Justice - Office of Judicial Programs The Global Justice Information Sharing Initiative (Global) serves as a Federal Advisory Committee (FAC) and advises the U.S. Attorney General on justice information sharing and integration initiatives.
Global Justice Reference Architecture . U. S. Department of Justice - Office of Judicial Programs The Global JRA Specification is intended to be a technical implementation architecture that addresses the full range of information sharing use cases, and provides a comprehensive blueprint for implementing interoperable data sharing services and capabilities,  Three publications are: Specification (February 2007); Web Services Service Interaction Profile (August 2007); and ebXML Messaging Service Interaction Profile (October 2007).
Global Justice XML Data Model (Global JXDM). Office of Justice Programs (OJP) Official GJXML Web site that contains  information about GJXML progress and training nationwide.
GTRI Justice XML Information Center. Georgia Tech Research Institute Global JXDM is sponsored by the Office of Justice Programs (OJP), with development supported by the Global XML Structure Task Force (XSTF) which works closely with researchers at the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI).
Justice XML Resources. Search.org Justice XML is a tool to facilitate interoperability and information sharing among agencies and systems. It involves data, text, documents, transmission protocols and standards — really, a body of knowledge.
Update: The ICJIS implementation of XML and the Global Justice XML Data Model (GJXDM) . (April 2005). Maricopa County, Arizona This report provides an update on how ICJIS has been incorporating XML, specifically, the GJXDM into justice data exchanges in Maricopa County, Arizona.

Justice Information Sharing

Flango, Eugene. Can Data Exchange Between Courts and Child Welfare Agencies Improve the Outcomes for Children?. (2009). Continuing Upward from the Summit.

Collaboration between courts and child welfare agencies improves outcomes for children, and electronic data exchanges support this collaboration.
Justice Information Exchange Model (JIEM) . Search.org JIEM was developed by SEARCH through funding from the U. S. Department of  Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance, to help jurisdictions across the country document their business information sharing requirements.
National Information Sharing Standards Knowledge Base and Help Desk . Office of Justice Sharing. Justice Information Sharing Lets you find the information you need regarding GJXDM/NIEM by searching on the topic of your interest. 
Pennsylvania`s Jusitice Information Network (JNET). (September 2008). IJIS Institute Case Study The purpose of this case study is to highlight the successful development of a NIEM 2.0-conformant Information Exchange Package Document (IEPD) for Pennsylvania’s Court Case Event. 
Texas Justice Exchange Model Project (TJIEM). Texas Integrated Justice Information Systems Advisory Committee Most information systems operated by Texas criminal justice agencies are discrete, and are often incapable of exchanging information effectively. Virtually all aspects of justice information systems are constrained by a lack of interoperability.

Funding

Funding Justice Information Sharing. (May 2005). National Conference of State Legislatures and U.S. Bureau of Justice Assistance A report that highlights states’ approaches to funding crime information systems and sharing.
Juvenile Justice XML Report. (July 2005). The IJIS Institute The IJIS Institute received a grant from the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) to initiate the first effort in Extensible Markup Language (XML) development in the juvenile justice community
Six States to Receive Grants for Technology Integration. (February 2005). National Governors Association (NGA) Center for Best Practices News Release detailing the awarding of grants to six states (Colorado, Kansas, Kentucky, Nebraska, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin) for the development of GJXDM pilot projects.

Leadership

Technology and the Courts 2008 Survey. (October 2008). Division of Information Technology, Ohio Supreme Court This biennial survey provides a snapshot of the status of court technology in Ohio.
Robust IT Program Benefits Courts and Public: An Interview with Judge Thomas Vanaskie. (November 2006). The Third Branch As a U.S. District Court Judge in Pennsylvania, the Honorable Vanaskie discusses his role as chair of the Judicial Conference Committee on Information Technology and the goals of the committee.  
Carlson, Alan and Martha Wade Steketee. Public Access to Court Records: Implementing the CCJ/COSCA Guidelines. (October 2005). Justice Management Institute and National Center for State Courts This report continues the work initiated under SJI project SJI-01-N-054 and SJI-02-N-007, which produced the CCJ/COSCA Guidelines to facilitate policy development by state courts in the area of public access to court records that were endorsed by CCJ and COSCA on August 1, 2002 and finalized in October 2002.
Olson, Travis, Esq. et al. Model Rules for Electronic Filing and Services. (August 2003). LexisNexis File & Serve The purpose of this white paper is two-fold: (1) To provide a practical guide for judges, attorneys, court administrators, rules committee members and legislators to develop rules of procedure for electronic filing and service projects; and (2)To provide a basis for standardization of uniform electronic filing and service rules for state courts to adopt.
Court Technology Model Request for Proposal. (2000). Joint Technology Committee of the Conference of State Court Administrators and the National Association for Court Management This model RFP document has been prepared to assist court administrators and court technologists with technology acquisition.
Court Technology Framework (CTF). (September 2009). NCSC and Joint Technology Committee.

The CTF is being developed as a tool to provide context for existing, and identification of possible new, technology standards initiatives for the courts community.
Technology Standards. COSCA/NACM Joint Technology Committee of the Consortium for National Case Management Automation Functional Standards Project Standards will define the standard functionality needed by all courts in their case management applications and should spur the development of sophisticated software applications supplying the defined functionality. Courts may use the functionality standards in procuring new or enhanced automated applications, supplementing them as necessary to define unique local needs.
The Center for Legal and Court Technology and the Courtroom 21 Project. William and Mary School of Law and The National Center for State Courts. Williamsburg, VA. Courtroom 21, unveiled in August, 1993, is the most technologically advanced courtroom in the world.  The courtroom is a joint project of the William and Mary School of Law and The National Center for State Courts. 
Core Competencies - Information Technology Management. The National Association for Court Management Curriculum Guidelines to define Core Competencies for presiding and supervising judges, court managers and court administrative staff.  The ten core competencies include information technology management. 

Planning

Doerner, John and Lawrence Webster. Michigan Court of Appeals Assessment of Operations & Technology: final report. (July 2011). National Center for State Courts, Court Consulting Services.

This report gives the findings of an assessment on the Michigan Court of Appeals' case management system.
Holmes. Barbara Importance of Business Analysis in Development and Implementation of Court Systems. (September 2007). Technology Experience Bulletin, TEB: 2007-04. Court Information Technology Officers Consortium Knowledgeable business analysts play a key role in development and implementation of new systems or in acquisition of case management software.
Wentland, Penelope, John Douglas, Edward Papps, and Willet Willis. Technology Needs and Feasibility Study, the Municipal Court of Seattle. (December 2000). 205 pages. Court Services Division.

This report addresses the technology supporting the court's business operations and its readiness for enhanced automated support of operations and integration with the city and the State of Washington.
Webster, Lawrence. Automating Court Systems. (1996). 187 pages.

The perfect guide to all the steps essential to automating courts: planning, acquisition, development, and implementation. Publication is available for purchase through the NCSC Publications Catalog.

 
Pre-RFP Tool-Kit Online. IJIS Institute The Pre-RFP Toolkit is a collection of original writings, referenced works, forms, templates, and tools to assist integrated justice managers and practitioners in determining overall readiness to issue a Request for Proposal (RFP).

Standards

Court Technology Framework (CTF). (2009). NCSC and Joint Technology Committee.

The CTF is being developed as a tool to provide context for existing, and identification of possible new, technology standards initiatives for the courts community.
NIEM Documentation. (2006). NCSC and Tom Carlson Consulting, LLC.

NIEM Wayfarer is a tool for exploring the National Information Exchange Model (NIEM). The size and intricacies of this model make it difficult to understand. NIEM Wayfarer exists to help people understand how the various pieces of the model interrelate. of the features of NIEM Wayfarer.
Heriaz, Domingo. The Pathway to Success in Information Sharing: Where the Global Justice XML Data Model Is Today. (June 2005). Police Chief Magazine Article gives background on GJXDM, an update on its progress, and a call for widespread adoption. Domingo Heriaz is the Director of the Bureau of Justice Assistance in OJP. 
McKay, Jim. XML: Out of the Shadows. (June 2005). Government Technology Magazine The federal departments of Homeland Security and Justice recently agreed on a global data-sharing standard that could spur interoperability throughout the public safety community and beyond.
Miller, Christa. How Law Enforcement Agenices are Implemeting GJXDM. (May 2005). Law Enforcement Technology Details the experience of the Northwest Indiana Criminal Justice Project and the RISA Project (California).
Newcombe, Tod. How It Works: XML & Justice Integration. (May 2005). Government Technology Magazine Now the justice community has extensible markup language (XML) in its sights, which will allow police, prosecutors, court clerks, judges and corrections officials to exchange information in a timely manner without breaking the bank.
New U.S. Department of Justice Information Sharing Initiative. (June 2004). Government Technology Magazine Georgia Institute of Technology researchers have played a key role in developing the software foundations for a new U.S. Department of Justice initiative designed to facilitate sharing of criminal justice information among local, tribal, state, national and international agencies.
Asynchrony Solutions helps Missouri State Courts implement cutting edge data implementation program . Asynchrony Solutions, St, Louis, Missouri The GJXDM approach in Missouri has reduced the time to conversion competition by 50% and potentially saved OSCA $1,600,000 on the remaining conversion.
National Information Exchange Mode (NIEM). U.S. Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security NIEM is designed to develop, disseminate and support enterprise-wide information exchange standards and processes that can enable jurisdictions to effectively share critical information in emergency situations,
The NIEM Practical Implementer`s Course . NIEM Web site This free online course instructs participants in how to use the National Information Exchange Model (NIEM).  The course contains 17 content modules that include over 8 hours of video presentations