MINUTES
COURT TECHNOLOGY COMMITTEE
February 6, 2009
Members Participating
Dale Sandstrom, Chair
Becky Absey
Lee Ann Barnhardt
Rita Fischer
William Herauf
Sally Holewa
Doug Mattson
Joel Medd
Penny Miller
Daniel Narum
Frank Racek
Donna Wunderlich
Guests
Jim Gienger, Project Manager for UCIS Replacement Project
Brandi Fagerland, Large Project Oversight Analyst for ITD
Rod Olson, Member of the Operations Oversight Group
Dorothy Howard, Member of the Operations Oversight Group
Staff
Larry Zubke, Director of Technology
Todd Becker, Network Analyst
The meeting was called to order by Chair Sandstrom.
Approval of minutes
Minutes from December 12, 2008 were reviewed. Judge Herauf moved/Rita Fischer seconded that the minutes be approved. Motion carried.
Term Limits for the Court Technology Committee
Justice Sandstrom indicated that the Supreme Court placed a moratorium on the term limit rule for court technology committee members until after the UCIS replacement project was completed. It was felt that it was in the best interest of the courts to keep the current members intact until the project was completed. No other comments were raised concerning this decision.
Update - UCIS Replacement Project
Jim Gienger reported that the project is still in the planning phase, but will soon be moving into the execution phase of the project. In January, an organization analysis workshop was held to gain a better understanding of what the Odyssey core product provides. Close to 50 attendees attended the four-day workshop. Tyler and the courts used the workshop to look for potential gaps between what the Odyssey application could provide today and what changes would need to be added. Approximately 50 gaps were identified of which approximately 25 had no-cost solutions. The remaining gaps are being analyzed by Tyler. Once Tyler has completed their analysis, they will provide Concept Project Design (CPD) documents to the courts. The CPD's will include their fixed price estimates to customize the Odyssey product to the court's needs. At that time, the Operations Oversight Group will make decisions on which CPD's to accept and which ones to decline.
Jim also indicated that the Project Plan is still being developed, however the current schedule calls for deploying Odyssey within the pilot counties of Cass and Traill in October 2009. The initial pilot rollout will include the document imaging component, the interactive voice response (IVR) component and the interactive web response (IWR) component. The e-filing component will be deployed within the pilot in January 2010 and the e-signature component will follow in March 2010. The rollout to finish Unit 2 and its respective municipal courts will occur in the second and third quarters of 2010. The rollout for Unit 1 and its respective municipal courts will occur in the third and fourth quarters of 2010. Units 3 and 4 will be completed in the first and second quarters of 2011.
Future Tyler meetings and workshops include:
February 16 - Tyler to install a test system
February 18 - Workshop to discuss reports
February 23 - Workshop for System configuration and set up
March 9 - Interface / Integration meeting
March - Data conversion workshop (actual date yet to be determined)
April 2 - Demo for municipal courts
Sally Holewa indicated that she is pleased with the Tyler staff and their responsiveness to questions and concerns. Justice Sandstrom indicated that he is also impressed with the knowledge that the Tyler staff has shown. He feels that the product is going to be a good fit for the courts and should be easy for all to learn.
Judge Medd asked if interfaces were being developed to interface with other state agencies. Jim Gienger responded that several discussions have occurred including a workshop to discuss the interfaces that are currently in place with UCIS and which interfaces will be added in the near future.
Judge Racek requested that the Operations Oversight Group be more proactive in communicating and involving other state agencies with the system replacement planning. Judge Recek feels that these discussions need to start immediately in order to get these agencies to accept the new system. Judge Racek indicated that he is willing to start these discussions in the pilot counties that he is involved with. Justice Sandstrom indicated that the Operations Oversight Group will discuss this at their next meeting.
Larry Zubke indicated that the Odyssey system uses an application called Biztalk. Biztalk is used to simplify the process of exchanging data with other agencies. Having Biztalk will enable the courts to development interfaces much quicker than was possible with the current UCIS system.
Judge Medd asked if the Odyssey system will have more flexibility when it comes to customizing forms. Jim Gienger responded that Odyssey uses Microsoft Word to create forms and the Odyssey system will be very flexible for the end users.
Brandi Fagerland indicated that she has been working with Jim Gienger to develop the project plan and schedule. She reiterated that the plan needs to be thorough and include all of the required resources, interfaces, and data conversion requirements. Once the planning phase is completed, a Startup Report will need to be submitted to the ITD Large Project Oversight group prior to starting the execution phase. During the execution phase, she will be monitoring for variances related to time and budget.
Update - Wireless Pilot Project in New Rockford and Jamestown
Larry Zubke reported that the installation of the equipment was completed in June 2008. Wireless antennas were configured for court employee access, state employee access, and public access. The cost to install the system in Jamestown was $3,000. The cost to install the system in New Rockford was $1,500. Judge Bekken was contacted regarding the effectiveness of the pilot and he indicated that overall it has worked well and he feels that it should be installed in other court houses.
Roll-out schedule for IVN and Digital Audio installations this biennium
Todd Becker reported the following roll-out schedule for new digital recording equipment:
February - Bowman (Completed already)
March - Supreme Court, Minnewauken, Ramsey LEC
April - Crosby, Watford City, Stanley, Bowbells All are awaiting new microphones to be installed by AVI.
The following sites are scheduled for upgrades in mid to late summer this year:
Devils Lake
Valley City
Jamestown
Grafton
Wahpeton
Judge Mattson asked about a new site for Minot.
Penny Miller mentioned video transmission of Supreme Court video.
Miscellaneous items for the Good of the Order
Justice Sandstrom indicated that the budget request is still wending its way through the Senate with no decisions at this point. Judge Medd asked about investing remaining funds in additional technology such as additional video conferencing equipment. Sally Holewa responded that the video conferencing vendor AVI is not capable of installing additional equipment before the end of the biennium.
Dates for future meetings:
The committee will continue to meet every other month in order to monitor the progress of the UCIS replacement project. Meetings will be scheduled on Fridays, at 9:15 a.m. central time.
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned.
The next meeting will be on April 3, 2009, at 9:15 a.m. central time, in the Supreme Court Front Conference Room.
Respectfully submitted,
Larry Zubke
2009 Meeting Dates - Court Technology Committee
Note: All meetings are scheduled for the Front Conference Room, Supreme Court, Bismarck, and begin at 9:15 a.m. Central Time. Members may choose to participate through IVN or telephone by making arrangements through Renee Barnaby, at e-mail address: rbarnarby@ndcourts.com
February 6
April 3
June 19
August 14 - (Note this is a new date for this month's meeting)
October 16
December 18