Please note that these materials are provided for historical purposes only. The information presented is out of date and may be neither accurate nor useful. External hyperlinks may no longer be valid. For current court technology information, please see the new Court Technology Bulletin.
September/October 1995 Volume 7 Number 5
Document Imaging
How many courthouses have you seen with file cabinets occupying every inch of wall space? How many of those courthouses have basements filled with boxes of decaying records? Although the paperless courthouse and other high-technology solutions are becoming available, courts still have all those records.
Most courts use computer case-processing systems to perform their docketing, indexing, calendaring, notice generation, and financial operations. Courts supplement these systems with word processing to produce orders, letters, and other documents. Some have integrated these capabilities. While these systems have addressed basic case-processing needs, they have not solved the recordkeeping problem.
The solution to the recordkeeping problem is multifaceted. Imaging may be one part of the solution for your court. With funding from the State Justice Institute, the National Center for State Courts (NCSC) has just completed the Court Technology Reports Volume 5 series - Document Imaging. This report provides a comprehensive survey of imaging as we know it today and gives examples of imaging in courts and other organizations. The report is based on a wide selection of imaging reports, articles, and other publications, as well as visits to six imaging sites. These sites represent a variety of court, state agency, and corporate organizations and a cross-section of imaging objectives and capabilities.
The report provides valuable information when deciding whether to use imaging. The decision to use imaging should not be made lightly. Even though its costs are declining, imaging is still expensive. To evaluate whether imaging is the correct solution to your problems, you must know:
- What you are trying to accomplish with imaging and how it fits into your organization;
- What technology you need, how and from whom you are going to obtain it, and how the imaging acquisition and implementation project will proceed;
- How imaging will affect the organization in terms of operations, equipment and software, staffing, and cost;
- How the implementation of imaging will affect your overall work environment, morale, and existing systems; and
- Which of the advantages and disadvantages listed below apply and whether, after considering them, imaging represents a net advantage or disadvantage.
These considerations cannot be left to chance or passed off to someone else. You should address them explicitly. If imaging appears to be the right solution, you should identify the specific requirements to be satisfied by imaging, develop a detailed plan for the imaging project, and proceed carefully and systematically through acquisition and implementation of the system.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of imaging?
Advantages
- Improved service to people who need information and records
- Better control of documents and the work done on them
- Reduced costs and increased efficiency
Disadvantages
- Potentially costly and complex technology that may be difficult to implement and maintain and may consume excessive computer resources
- Difficulty in reading and using imaged documents
- Potential staff increases because of the need for a separate unit to scan documents
- Potential for the entire operation to be immobilized by system failures.
For an in-depth look at imaging - the technology and its use in the courts - there is an electronic version of Document Imaging at http://www.ncsc.dni.us/ncsc/ctr/ctr.htm (This link is no longer valid. The text of the link remains for historical reference.).
Carter C. Cowles is a court information systems consultant and the former Director of Judicial Information Systems for the State of Illinois.
Court Technology Reports Volume 5 - Document Imaging is now available from NCSC.
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