The
purpose of this measure is to determine how well the court handles the flow
of legal documents from the time that they are executed or filed until they
are placed in the individual case file. Are the documents processed within
expected timeframes or do bottlenecks impede document flow? The measure
involves recording data from case file documents.
Planning/Preparation.
Discussions with court officials will indicate the nature
of the system for handling documents from the point when a paper is filed at
the clerk of court’s office counter or when a judge executes an order in
court or chambers.
The
design of the data collection form will reflect the level of measurement
detail the court chooses to pursue. Refer to Form
3.6.5, Illustrative Data Collection Form For Reliability of Document
Processing. It represents an approach that would apply to most courts.
Data
Collection. Data
should be collected for documents related to the following categories of
cases: criminal, civil, domestic relations, and juvenile. Depending on the
volume of paperwork processed by the clerk of court’s office in a day, one
or more days should be chosen for data collection. The days should be
selected to avoid abnormal conditions (unusually high or low volume or
special projects in the court). On one of these days, samples should be
taken from the place where papers await distribution to case file jackets.
Data
Analysis and Report Preparation. The
information obtained from the data collection form includes the date an
order is executed, the time the document is filed/stamped, and the date the
sample was taken. An analysis of the average and the range of processing
times will reveal how well the court is meeting its objectives for document
processing. Are all documents processed expeditiously? Do documents for
particular types of cases take longer than is desirable? There are two
interrelated criteria of acceptable performance for this measure. First, 90
percent or more of all documents should be processed within 5 working days
from the date that it is filed/stamped at the clerk of court’s office
counter or the date that it is ordered/signed by the judge. Second, 100
percent of the documents should be processed within 10 working days.
