E. Design Process

The Plan

In 2000, the Judges agreed to implement an electronic court. In an age dominated by electronic media, Ohio courts are dinosaurs. To meet the demands of modern society and meet the expectations of the court users, an electronic court is essential.

The Judges hired a Network Administrator, David Soros, in 2000 expressly for the purpose of overseeing the design and implementation of an electronic court. He first designed and put into service the Court’s website at www.ghmc.org.

The design process began in 2000 and continued through 2001 when the Ohio Supreme Court adopted Rule 26 of the Rules of Superintendence and the General Assembly modified the Civil, Criminal and Traffic Rules of Procedure to permit use of electronic media and digital signatures.

The Court is in the final stages of design and implementation. Judge Nicastro converted cases assigned to her to electronic files in October 2004 and is now operating in the electronic environment.

Equipment

The first phase was to evaluate current hardware and purchase any additional equipment that would be necessary.

Security

The second phase was to design a security plan. Two servers were installed at different locations. The court server is in the Clerk’s Office and the disaster server is at a remote location connected to the Court by fiber optic cable. This disaster server is updated automatically and in real time which mirrors the court's live server.

Police Departments and Mayor’s Courts

The next phase was to involve the seven Mayor’s Courts and nine law enforcement agencies in designing a method whereby their computer systems could transfer digital information electronically to the Court. Six Mayor’s Courts opted to participate in the design phase. The police departments are waiting to see the outcome of the Mayor’s Courts’ test.

Currently, the Mayor’s Courts send all the data contained in a traffic ticket via email to the Court where a clerk uploads it to a temporary location within the Court’s case management system. When the clerk enters the agency’s name, all electronic filings waiting for processing are displayed. The Mayor’s Courts also deliver the paper tickets to the Court. The clerk checks the electronic filing against the paper ticket. When an error between these two sources occurs, the electronic filing is rejected and the reporting agency is notified of the error(s). The agency then corrects the filing and resubmits it to the Court. Once both the paper and electronic data match, the electronic filing is assigned a court case number and admitted into the Court’s case management system. The reporting agency receives a report with the Court’s case number for future reference. The purpose of this first phase is to educate all Mayor’s Court personnel about proper submission of information; develop consistent coding; identify any design errors; and to reduce the redundancy in data entry between the Mayor’s Courts and the Court.

The next phase for the Mayor’s Court will be to add the digital image of the ticket to the data being electronically filed. When the police departments convert to E-Tickets, these interim steps will be eliminated. Instead of emailing the data and images, the police or Mayor’s Courts would upload E-tickets directly into a temporary location in the Court’s case management system through the Website. The clerk will check the images against the electronic data. When all data matches and the electronic filing is assigned a case number, the image would be electronically time stamped and linked within the case management system. The Judge’s disposition of each case will be returned electronically to the filer.

Probation Department

In 2002, the Probation Department became the test sight for the Court’s electronic records system. These are some examples of the tasks performed by the system. A probationer is required to read and sign the terms of probation from the computer. A signature pad is provided for the probationer to sign his/her name. After signing, the digital signature appears on the document and a copy is printed out for the probationer.

A Judge must approve and sign notices of probation violation and probation termination notices. The Probation officer prepares the document and electronically transfers it to the Judge. A pop-up window appears to notify the Judge when documents are waiting for her signature. The Judge affixes a digital signature to the document. It is automatically time stamped, a DjVu image is created and it is linked within the case management system. The unalterable image is returned to the Probation Officer electronically for further processing. The Probation Department is 90% paperless but continues to maintain paper files until the entire court system is converted to the electronic system.

The Probation Department regularly communicates with various treatment programs via fax. These treatment programs include batter’s intervention programs and drug treatment programs. Each program liaison faxes written reports to the Probation Officer. Faxing software, which was already in place, was re-programmed to process these faxes as “tif” images. When the fax is received, it goes directly into the Probation Department’s case management system, is time-stamped, converted to a DjVu image, is directed the Probation Department secretary, who sends it to the appropriate Probation Officer.

As of March 2004, Judge Nicastro’s Probation Officer converted a, Mark Mattern, successfully converted to and is operating completelyin the electronic environment.

E-Filing for the Civil Division

Building on the design of the probation electronic records system, the Court is now ready to receive for filing, create, maintain and preserve records electronically in the Civil Division. All systems are now in place but no litigant is permitted to file electronically until the Supreme Court’s Advisory Committee on Technology and the Courts approves Local Rules of Court. Upon receipt of approval, the following e-filing procedure will be implemented. After the system is working properly in the Civil Division, it will be implemented in the Criminal/Traffic Division.

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