Title: efiletexas.gov Statewide e-filing System. Category: Cross-Boundary Collaboration and Partnerships

Transcription

1 Title: efiletexas.gov Statewide e-filing System Category: Cross-Boundary Collaboration and Partnerships Contact: Casey Kennedy Director, Information Services Office of Court Administration State: Texas Project Dates: Initiation - February 1, 2012 Completion - December 1, 2013 Page 1 of 6

2 1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Background - In the court system, cases flow through the system in the form of paper documents in the form of pleadings motions and other items. In 2002, The Judicial Committee on Information Technology (JCIT) implemented an electronic version of this process, where paper documents could be sent to the court as PDF documents. The original efiling solution was in place for more than 10 years with no major upgrades. Texas courts efiling solution was showing its age. The vendor was losing money and no longer wanted to provide the service. Counties that had been using the system needed to transition to a new solution. It was important that efiling continue and that the transition to a new system be as seamless as possible. Attorneys, clerks, service providers and case management vendors would all need to cooperate to come to a workable solution. The system needed to be scalable to handle filing volume statewide with a 99.99% up-time. The Solution - The Office of Court Administration (OCA) the administrative agency of the judicial branch, selected File and Serve from Tyler Technologies. Working with this new vendor, OCA engaged the service providers and clerks to ensure a smooth transition from the old system to the new. The service providers and clerks also worked with OCA to develop a publicity and training program to ensure a smooth transition for attorneys. The system went online June 6, 2013 and currently handles more than 15,500 documents daily and has upwards of 67,000 users including almost half of the attorneys in Texas. Funding for the system was provided in such a way as to level the playing field, making the cost to file electronically the same as filing with paper. Significance - The efiling system offers advanced integration, allowing local counties to integrate easily with their existing systems at a low cost. Increased access to justice was also obtained with filers having the ability to file 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at no additional cost to the filer. We have also seen many innovations from our third-party service providers. These value added services allow filers to pick and choose services they want. Finally, the new system allows for large bulk filers, including the Attorney General s Office and tax attorneys to file directly from their internal systems. Benefits - The new system reduces the system cost of filing by more than 57%. By selecting an established efiling vendor, OCA was able to reduce the risk to the vendor which in turn lowered the overall cost of the system. The system also impacts local counties by reducing the amount of storage space needed for paper files. In some places, rooms filled with case files can be repurposed as additional office space or court rooms. The 24x7 nature of efiling expands user access to the court system as well. Filers no longer need to get to the court by 5pm. Finally, having documents flow electronically allows judges and clerks to employ new techniques to speed documents through court processes more efficiently. Page 2 of 6

3 2 DESCRIPTION OF THE BUSINESS PROBLEM AND SOLUTION 2.1 BACKGROUND Texas has been successfully engaged with electronic filing of court documents since This service allows attorneys to file PDF documents to the court through a secure website. The court clerk can then either accept the document or return it for correction and ask for it to be resubmitted. The attorney can also provide payment to file the document online as well. Attorneys file with an Electronic Filing Service Provider (EFSP), a standalone commercial company that interfaces with the state s efiling system. The EFSP provides front line attorney support, such as monthly billing, fax filing, and mobile apps. The counties employ the services of an Electronic Filing Manager (EFM) which is the heart of the system and is controlled by the state. The EFM serves as a web portal clearing house enabling clerks to accept and reject documents and payments. Once a document is accepted by the clerk, it is transmitted to the local county for processing into its local case management system (CMS). Because local control is a driving force in Texas state government the judicial branch, from its inception, has been decentralized. Keeping with the theme of local control, Texas efiling system allows attorneys to choose which EFSP to use and the local counties can choose which CMS to use. To facilitate choice, OCA required the EFM to employ a national standard so that any EFSP or county CMS could communicate with the system. 2.2 THE PROBLEM In early 2012, the efiling vendor who had been providing service for 9 years notified OCA that they could no longer run the system. The amount of revenue generated through the system was insufficient to sustain upgrades or support. Since the system was more than 10years old it was in need of reprogramming and hardware upgrades. Additional volume required to raise sufficient revenue could not be brought online because of the software and infrastructure problems. This meant that an entirely new system was needed to continue efiling in Texas. The challenges associated with implementing a new system were immense. In order to achieve a smooth transition, OCA had to collaborate with attorneys, local counties on the current system, EFSPs and CMS vendors. All stakeholders agreed that efiling must remain available at all times throughout the transition. The stakeholders also expressed the need for additional upgrades and services that had been long requested, but not available on the current system. Additionally, the new system would need to be implemented with all existing counties transitioned no later than November 30, This meant the timeline from procurement, to implementation, to transition, would need to be less than 18 months. Page 3 of 6

4 2.3 THE SOLUTION In March of 2012, OCA, collaborated with the Judicial Committee on Information Technology (JCIT), a committee appointed by the Supreme Court of Texas comprised of attorneys, local county clerks, and judges, to create a Request for Offer (RFO) for a new statewide efiling system. Through the normal procurement process, OCA awarded the contract to Tyler Technologies. Tyler s Odyssey File and Serve product would be used and rebranded to efiletexas.gov efiletexas.gov is cloud-based and scalable to handle onboarding all the counties of the existing system as well as the ability to onboard additional counties. The system is also replicated in near real-time to a datacenter located out of state to facilitate fault tolerance and provide disaster recovery. In the contract, OCA stipulated that the interfaces be written to comply with the Electronic Case File (ECF) national standard so that the EFSPs and CMS vendors had a standard that could be programmed against. This preserved the openness of the system to other front end and back end vendors of the document flow. As part of the transition process, Tyler set up a project team for each individual county to customize the transition. This included configuring the system to meet local practices as well as setting up payment accounts to continue acceptance of credit cards. Members of each team not only included Tyler personnel, but county IT staff, county and district clerks and county auditors. OCA worked with Tyler and local counties to involve local bar associations to provide training for filers. EFSP Fairs were held locally to allow attorneys to sample the EFSPs and value added services that are available. This also allowed local attorneys and clerks to ask questions to OCA and Tyler about the system, its local configuration, and any changes proposed at the state level. The local counties also reached out to the filing community through the local media as well as created informational flyers and mail outs to inform stakeholders of the system change. The efiletexas.gov system went online June 6, 2013 and transitioned all counties from the old system to the new system on November 15, Throughout the system implementation, OCA oversaw the contract and used a standard project management approach to monitor and mitigate risks and ensure timelines were met. Once live, OCA convened several customer groups including EFSPs, Clerks and Filers to make suggestions of system improvements. These were prioritized by the groups and OCA directed the vendor to make appropriate changes to facilitate a better experience for all. One issue all groups observed was that the filer experience differed depending on the county that an attorney filed. Working with OCA, JCIT and local counties, the Supreme Court adopted Technology Standards that standardized the different types of Page 4 of 6

5 documents that users can file as well as the reasons that clerks can return documents for further correction. This resulted in a much more consistent user experience statewide. 3 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PROJECT TO THE IMPROVEMENT OF GOVERNMENT efiletexas.gov has improved the delivery of government at both the state and local level. It has revolutionized the court experience by providing for advanced systems integration, an increased access to justice, innovation by third party collaborators and direct access by bulk filers. 3.1 ADVANCED SYSTEMS INTEGRATION Many of the courts on the efiling system are leveraging integration components. For those jurisdictions leveraging the one-way integration, the EFM transmits the PDF document along with the XML metadata in the ECF standard to the court. The court can then leverage the standard XML and PDF document for processing into the local CMS. Most jurisdictions leverage the two-way integration. This not only allows for the EFM to transmit documents to the CMS, but also provides for the CMS to communicate back to the EFM to acknowledge receipt. The two-way integration also allows for filers to verify that the case they re filing into is correct. The system also proved to be more robust than the previous system. Since the initial production system went live, OCA has experienced less than one hour of system down time, well within the acceptable limits set forth in the contract. 3.2 INCREASED ACCESS TO JUSTICE Government delivery has improved through the use of the free state-provided EFSP. Per contract, OCA required Tyler to provide a free EFSP for use by filers that elect not to pay for any value added services. Tyler also staffs the call center for filers to call in and ask questions. The free portal combined with the 24x7 nature of the portal, allows for greater access to the courts by all filing parties. 3.3 INNOVATION BY THIRD PARTY COLLABORATORS The 11 commercial EFSPs are now providing innovative services that can not be funded by the state. For example, many of the EFSPs provide monthly billing and escrow services so that filers do not have to pay at each filing. In one case, an EFSP set up a fax service, where filers could fax a document and have it converted to a searchable PDF and then filed. This same EFSP allows filers to check the status of their filings via an iphone app. Another EFSP provides electronic returns of service, allowing private process servers to file affidavits of service directly from their mobile device, saving them time and gas associated with a trip to the court house. Page 5 of 6

6 3.4 DIRECT ACCESS BY BULK FILERS Several large law firms have leveraged the direct connection to the EFM, bypassing commercial EFSPs. Typically, these are tax suit law firms that file cases such as tax foreclosure suits in bulk with counties. The attorney general s office is also planning on integrating their new case management system with efiling so that the office can file in bulk, directly from its internal system. 4 BENEFITS OF THE PROJECT efiletexas.gov provides benefits to attorneys, local counties and the state through cost savings and more efficient staff deployments. The system is currently handling more than 15,500 PDF files daily across 58 counties, the 14 intermediate appellate courts as well as the Supreme Court of Texas and the Court of Criminal Appeals. This represents a more than 400% increase of documents over the previous system. By 2016, OCA expects the system to handle more than 6,000,000 documents annually. 4.1 PRICE REDUCTION Under the old system, the increased filing volume would have had the vendor charging filers approximately $41 million annually. Under the new system, the state pays about $18 million that is collected through a case filing fee (a 57% reduction in system cost). 4.2 PAPER SAVINGS With filings arriving electronically, local counties no longer need to store and process paper files. Based on page counts of submitted PDFs, the system saves approximately 24 million pieces of paper annually. This amount of paper stacked, is more than six times as tall as the Empire State Building. 4.3 EXPANDED ACCESS TO COURTS Traditionally, the clerk s office is open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday and is closed on holidays. With the new system, filers can file documents to the court 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Attorneys also can file documents from anywhere in the world if they can connect to the Internet. 4.4 MORE EFFICIENT JUSTICE With efiling, once the clerk accepts the document, within minutes, the Judge has access to the document and can take action. In the appellate courts, this has resulted in faster rulings for litigants. A motion that once took days to resolve, now takes hours. Current system statistics show that clerks accept or return 80% of all documents within four business hours. Page 6 of 6