Submit your data to the Court Statistics Project

Step 1. Fill out the matrix

CSP staff will issue a "call for data" by email with appellate and trial court matrices attached.

• Appellate court data specialists will fill out a separate appellate court matrix for each appellate court.
• Trial court data specialists in two-tiered states will fill out two trial court matrices –  one for general jurisdiction courts, and one for limited jurisdiction courts.
• Trial court data specialists in single-tiered states will fill out one trial court matrix.

Links to matrix resources

State Court Guide to Statistical Reporting: Refer to the guide for case type definitions, counting rules, and publishing guidelines. More detailed instructions for filling out the matrix can be found in the appendix A (trial) and appendix B (appellate) of the guide.

Aggregation document: See the aggregation document to determine how to aggregate your trial courts for the purposes of national caseload reporting.

Matrix training videos: Matrix training videos provide an introduction to the matrix and explain the process for filling it out.

• Introduction to the matrix
• Introduction to the CSP codes ID 1251
• "Other" case types ID 1252

State court structures: Explore the key features and case type jurisdictions of each state's court structure.

Trial coding decision tree: A flowchart to assist you in determining how to code your data as NJ, ND, P or NP for the trial court matrix. ID 1253

FAQs and mapping guidance: Answers to frequently asked questions and mapping guidance for trial court data.

2. Download the matrix XML add-in

These add-ins run logic checks and translate the Excel matrix data into XML code that can be uploaded to CSP.

We recommend that you wait until you are ready to submit the matrix(ces) before downloading or updating the add-ins; this will ensure that you have the most recent version available.

If at any point you experience difficulty with this process, please let CSP staff know so we can assist you with submission.

There are separate add-ins for the appellate and trial matrices. Please be sure you are installing the right one. 

• Appellate workbook plug-in download
• Trial workbook plug-in download

3. Run the XML add-in

After your matrix is complete, run the XML add-in from your tool bar in Excel. 

Be certain to choose the correct version of the add-in if you have both installed.

Running the add-in will start a logic check that creates a list of errors that must be resolved before the matrix can be submitted.

Some common errors are:

1. Reporting unit code is missing or incorrect.
The reporting unit code is used to identify your court in the data. This must be correct in order for your data to be submitted. Scroll down to the bottom of the spreadsheet to find a list of the reporting unit codes and the courts to which they correspond.

2. A row marked as "NJ" or "ND" in column B has other data in the row.
Having any other values in the row will create this error in ND or NJ rows. This includes "0"s. Check the row indicated by the error message for any extra data or publish codes.

3. There is no publish code provided. 

4. Upload the data to CSP

Once all errors have been resolved, the add-in will successfully translate the Excel Matrix to XML format. 

Look in the folder where you saved your Excel Matrix - you should see a file with the same name as your Excel Matrix, but with the file extension ".xml". That is the file you will submit.

Only the data year that was requested in the most recent "Call for Data" email is eligible for online submission. If you would like to submit data for other years, please contact CSP staff.

The XML files are submitted on CSP upload pages. As with the XML add-in there are separate pages for Appellate and Trial submission.

Select the appropriate icon below to access the upload page.

5. Receive and respond to feedback

CSP staff members will contact you once your data has been received and may ask about issues identified during a cursory review. 

You will also receive a caseload comparison report comparing new data with the previous year's data. Be sure to review this report to identify questionable changes in the year-to-year data or other errors.