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The National Consortium on State Court Automation Standards was conceived in December of 1998 and began work on the development of national standards for court case management information systems (CMIS) in January of 1999.  The Consortium is a joint effort of the Conference of State Court Administrators (COSCA) and the National Association for Court Management (NACM).  The activity of the Consortium is a key component of the strategic vision and three-year plan of the COSCA/NACM Joint Technology Committee, which provides general oversight and direction for its work.  Staff and marketing support for the effort are provided by the National Center for State Courts.  The standards development effort is financed by contributions from state and trial courts, as well as federal grants.

The work of the Consortium is focused on developing, not data element nor technical standards, but functional requirements or standards which define the capabilities of and information to be produced by case management information systems.  These functional specifications are being defined comprehensively in terms of the operational case management functions and sub functions courts are generally required to perform.  Ultimately, they will be available for civil, domestic relations, criminal, juvenile delinquency and dependency, probate (including guardianship and mental health) and traffic.

The purpose of the functional standards is to provide state trial courts with a comprehensive, consensus set of specifications or system requirements which may be used to evaluate and upgrade existing systems or develop/procure new systems.  They are designed to enable courts to cut the costs of and time required for the development, procurement or upgrade of court case management information systems.  They are to serve as a template courts can use to examine the range of functionality such systems should be capable of providing.

 History and Purpose of the Consortium Initiative

1. The Consortium grew out of several meetings of state court management information systems (MIS) directors and the COSCA/NACM Joint Technology Committee, during summer and fall of 1998.  There was consensus on the need for a national effort to develop a comprehensive inventory of the functional requirements/specifications for court case management information systems in terms of: The operational court and case management functions and sub functions which should be supported and made more efficient by the software applications, e.g., case initiation, indexing, docketing, record keeping, scheduling, document generation (notices, summons, forms, etc.), calendar management, hearings, accounting, state and federal reporting, management reporting.

2. The general types of data and data sets that should be included in the system (not specific data element definitions).

3.  The manner in which the application should support the coordination or integration of various functions and sub functions performed by court personnel.

4. The nature of integration of applications software for one case type or module with the applications for others (for instance, linking the systems for criminal, family law and civil to ensure coordinated handling of cases involving domestic violence).

5. Necessary external interfaces or levels of integration, within and outside of the court system, e.g., the appellate courts; reporting to the Supreme Court/Judicial Council or other state entities; and integration with prosecution, defense, corrections, juvenile justice, child support or protective services authorities; and providing access to the public.

6. The manner in which the CMIS application should support/be integrated with new technologies such as electronic filing, document management, imaging, Internet/Intranet, video, and teleconferencing, electronic funds transfer, voice response systems, kiosks and courtroom technology. 

Again, the focus of the standards is on functionality rather than on specific data element definitions, which must often be tailored to each jurisdiction, or technical standards, which may change rapidly as new technologies emerge.  Being defined in terms of functional requirements, the standards are expected to be less subject to change.  The intent is to develop, enhance and maintain them as a dynamic resource with the following benefits:

1. To provide thorough specifications for a full range of the functional capabilities and features deemed desirable in a case management information system, based on state of the art systems, thereby reducing the cost and time associated with the systems design and requirements analysis phases of court automation projects.

2. To serve as a starting point for the definition of data standards for those courts that do not already have them.

3. To provide a framework for improved sharing of data and information with other courts and justice agencies.

4.  To guide the incorporation of new technologies in existing or planned systems.

5.  To be used as an input for reexamining and reengineering existing business processes, thereby contributing to increased efficiency in court operations.

6. To provide vendors with consensus specifications which may be incorporated in their products.  This should yield software products that are more functional and universally beneficial.  It should also reduce vendor costs and, therefore, the cost of products for the consumer.

 Activity to Date  

Since January of 1999, much of the work of the Consortium has been devoted to development of the functional standards for the civil module.  This inaugural effort was to produce not only the first set of standards, but enable the development and refinement of a template for the form and content of the standards for the other component modules. 

The development of the civil standards also provided the Consortium and the National Center for State Courts staff the opportunity to experiment with and refine the process by which the standards are produced.  The civil standards development process included:  an assessment and synthesis of the best functional elements of several of the better civil case management applications in the country, including selected vendor products; several iterations of review and comment by a Joint Systems Development Team (JSDT) comprised of front-line court operations and information technology professionals; input from the vendor community; review and comment from selected court consultants who specialize in case flow management; publication for comment via the NCSC website; and review by a technical editor.  The civil standards required approximately a year for substantial completion.  Only minor technical edits are required before final publication.   

The experience with and lessons learned from the civil standards have enabled a rapid start on those for domestic relations.  Two drafts of the domestic relations standards have been completed and the initial JSDT meeting is to be held in early August of 2000.  These standards are scheduled for completion in mid to late fall of 2000. 

Lessons Learned and Feedback on the Standards

Development of the standards for the civil module resulted in numerous enhancements in both the process by which the functional requirements were derived and their organization and content.  Process development steps involving solicitation of vendor and case management consultant input were added after work was well under way.  Likewise, the use of a technical writer improved the organization, flow and consistency of content.  Thus, the civil standards have yielded a vision of the development methodology necessary to expedite the drafting of standards for the other modules, and ensure high quality products, as intended.

Preliminary feedback on the civil standards themselves, as well as the general effort to focus on functional standards has been very favorable.  A number of members of the civil JSDT commented that this effort was long overdue and they wished they had had such standards when their systems were being developed.  Vendors who participated in the review process under the auspices of the Forum for the Advancement of Court Technology (FACT), were most supportive of the effort, and wish to be more actively involved in development of the standards for the remaining modules.  Other comments received as the civil standards were more widely circulated included:

"We have just concluded an RFP process for a civil/family system . . . and your document would have been a valuable and time-saving addition to the lengthy process."

"My staff and I were extremely impressed with the product.  It’s clear and well written.  There’s tons of detail but organized very well.  It’s a major contribution."

"This is a wonderful document.  I can see how it will help the courts define what the needs are, but still leave them the independence to buy whatever system they want.  It is very comprehensive and nothing seems to have been left out."

"We are very pleased with these standards and are even more anxious to see the criminal/juvenile as we are in the midst of creating a new integrated system." 

In sum, the civil standards development process has been extremely beneficial as a learning experience.  This first set of standards will serve as the framework for future work.  Notwithstanding the favorable feedback thus far, the civil CMIS standards will need to be expanded and refined over time.  They should be evaluated and the feedback should be used to maintain them as a dynamic inventory.

 Financial Status of the Project

The Consortium initiative is dependent on 1) contributions (in-kind and cash) from participating states and 2) federal grants.  Over the past 18 months, representatives of the COSCA/NACM Joint Technology Committee, Consortium and NCSC also focused on development of the financial base for future project activities by encouraging states to join the Consortium and make monetary or in-kind contributions to underwrite the development of the standards and associated administrative costs of the Consortium’s work.  Grant applications were also developed and submitted to funding authorities for the criminal and juvenile modules.

The states of Texas, Maryland, Florida, California, Missouri, Connecticut, Arkansas, Ohio, Nevada, Kansas and Washington are contributing members.  Virginia, and Minnesota have made a commitment to join the Consortium.  Colorado, New Mexico and Delaware have committed in-kind resources.  These resources have underwritten work on the civil and domestic relations standards and should provide a reserve for standards work for which federal funds may not be available.

The National Center for State Courts was recently awarded approximately $500,000 by the Office of Justice Assistance of the Department of Justice to support the development of criminal standards.  The Consortium is optimistic that federal funds may be awarded this fall for the juvenile module.

Priority Activities and Issues for 2000-2001

Work on the Domestic Relations standards will continue with completion scheduled for late fall.  Work on the Criminal standards will begin in August of 2000.  Contingent upon the award of a federal grant, work on the juvenile standards will begin in late 2000 or early 2001.

As the criminal standards are being developed, the Consortium will put heavy emphasis on defining the functional requirements for ensuring that court criminal case management information systems are fully capable of being effectively integrated with other case management applications within the court, as well as the larger justice community.  Thus, it is contemplated that, in addition to reliance on a JSDT of court operations and information technology professionals, the standards development process will include input through a variety of means from other criminal justice entities (local, state and national).

The juvenile standards development process is expected to draw heavily on the criminal standards.  It, too, will involve a variety of steps to elicit input from the range of state and local entities which are involved in the juvenile delinquency and dependency systems.

In the coming months, the administrative infrastructure that supports the work of the Consortium will be re-examined and revised.  The process for recommending and gaining approval of each set of standards by COSCA and NACM has been formalized.  The role of the steering committee, which guides the various project activities on behalf of the Consortium members, will be clarified.  Due to the turnover among the COSCA and NACM representatives, the number of modules for which standards will be under development and the substantial growth in Consortium member states, the steering committee will likely be expanded.  Formal agreements for Consortium membership will be developed with participating states.  Finally, the steering committee and the National Center for State Courts staff will develop a plan for effectively staffing the significant future standards development work, as well as the maintenance, marketing and update of each module over time.

Kenneth R. Palmer II, is the Florida State Courts Administrator.  He has worked in the justice system for 29 years, 25 of which were in the Office of the State Courts Administrator.  He is the Chairman of the National Consortium on State Court Automation Standards.  He can be reached at: (850) 922-5081, or osca@flcourts.org.