COURT TECHNOLOGY COMMITTEE Members Present Staff Judge Schmalenberger called the meeting to order. Judge Medd moved that the minutes from the March 1999 meeting be approved as distributed. Ted Gladden second the motion. The motion passed. Systems Analysis Report Kurt provided a brief overview of the systems analysis report provided by Justice Served, including plans to implement a data warehouse, enhance UCIS and migrate ECJD from PCSS to UCIS. Judge Leclerc felt that the analysis was incorrect by stating that ECJD should immediately migrate to UCIS. Rather, he felt ECJD should continue with PCSS until a replacement to UCIS is implemented. At that time, ECJD would move to the replacement system. He felt this would reduce the training burden for ECJD. After substantial discussion, the committee felt the approach discussed in the Justice Served report was the best course of action. That is, first consolidate to a single case management system before migration to the next generation of case management systems. It was stated that any migration of PCSS to UCIS would have to be done without loss of functionality to current PCSS users. Judge Medd questioned whether money should be spent to enhance UCIS if it is going to be replaced. The committee felt that since a replacement is 3 to 6 years away, continual maintenance and enhancements are necessary to keep the system functional. The committee directed Kurt to develop project plans and the IT plan to reflect the analysis by Justice Served. Juvenile System Update Kurt provided an update on the implementation of the Juvenile Case Management System. The server hardware and software are installed and operational; Training for the trainers was completed the week of September 13; modifications have been identified and are being implemented by the developer; other tasks as necessary are ongoing. Overall, things are on track for final implementation by 12/21/99. No action was required by the committee Digital Audio Recording An update on the Digital Audio Recording Project in SWJD was presented. The system is installed and operational; training is scheduled. So far, things look very promising. UCIS Remote Access Kurt discussed steps being taken to provide non-judicial entities, such as State's Attorneys and Law Enforcement, with access to UCIS. A method was implemented, using software called Host On Demand, which allows the courts to provide inquiry access with minimal impact on support personnel. There were concerns about costs to the judiciary to provide this access. It was pointed out that although there is a minimal cost, there are other real benefits to the judiciary such as reduced foot-traffic and fewer inquiries to the clerks. No action was required by the committee Word Processing Standards Due to lack of time available, discussion of word processing standards was minimal. Kurt stated that he was unable to find 'official minutes' of the Technology Committee's previous decision. The issue appeared on several agendas in early 1996 then appeared the Judicial District Master Automation Plan (July, 1996) with WordPerfect as the recommended word processing software to purchase. It was asked, why the juvenile system is using Word instead of WordPerfect. The developers told Kurt that Word provides functionality that, at present, WordPerfect does not. For example, from within the Juvenile system, the developer can open Word and issue commands within Word from the juvenile system. WordPerfect, only allows itself to be opened from the juvenile program. Once opened, control of the computer is given to WordPerfect. Commands within WordPerfect cannot be issued by the juvenile system at that time. The issue is to be discussed at a future meeting. Y2K update Kurt provided an update to the Y2K testing and compliance efforts. All machines have been tested. Fixes/patches for the appropriate computers will be sent out in the near future. Assistance from the Trial Court Administrative staff and/or contractors will be needed to update all the required computers. Other Business Server maintenance There was discussion about the maintenance of judicial servers. Kurt mentioned that the servers and network are continually become more tightly integrated and more "mission-critical". One server failure can impact the entire judiciary. He voiced concerns about a lack of consistency between the districts with regards to maintenance and upkeep of the servers. The committee directed Kurt to review the issue, develop a proposal and draft policy for maintenance and operation of the judicial servers. Interactive Television (ITV) Project Ted provided an introduction to the ITV pilot project. The project seeks to install ITV in several counties within the SCJD. Time lines and project plans are currently being established . A committee comprised of people from interested entities has been formed and has completed their first meeting. At that meeting, several subcommittees were established. No action was required by the committee UCIS expansion plans Judge Medd relayed an appeal from Judge Kleven to allow Nelson County Access to UCIS. It was mentioned that Kurt is currently looking at the non-UCIS counties and developing a plans for providing access and support to those counties. It was also mentioned that plans need to be formulated for providing UCIS to counties beyond the 29 counties currently approved for UCIS. The meeting was adjourned by the chair. The next meeting is scheduled for December 10, 1999.
Meeting Minutes from September 24, 1999
Judge Allan Schmalenberger, Chair
Rebecca Absey
Mr. Ted Gladden
Judge Lawrence Leclerc
Judge Joel Medd
Judge David Nelson
Justice Dale Sandstrom
Mr. Ted Smith
Kurt T. Schmidt