Regional Information and Communication Technology (ICT)
Delay and backlog reduction has been identified as the top priorities for reform. The establishment of appropriate information and communication technologies (ICT) is critical to this and many other of the reform initiatives to be undertaken.
Customer needs will be the primary driver of process design which will in turn drive information technology (IT) systems and organization design. Other key drivers are information needs and the requirements of judicial officers. Technology will be a key element in service transformation, enabling new rules, and re-designed case management processes to be implemented. These drivers will all be informed by a gender-sensitive customer-oriented approach to service delivery.
Many of the regional judiciaries use the Judicial Enforcement Management System (JEMS) to varying degrees for their IT needs, and many issues have been identified with this system including the cost of software licenses, support for the product and the inability of the system to address all of the needs. Product obsolescence has become a critical issue and it is almost certain that support will be discontinued in the short term (one-two years) exposing many courts to significant operational risk.
This component will deliver regional IT systems that can be used by all of the Courts or as many as desire to use it. The component will deal primarily with software systems development and, implementation, however hardware and other infrastructure requirements shall be documented and sourced where necessary. The functional requirements of the system depend critically on outputs from other components of the project including performance standards, business process reengineering, and statistical requirements.
Outside of the systems development, other key subcomponents include training and the development of an organizational structure and revenue model to support and sustain the Case Management System (CMS) on behalf of the regional courts. Also key are systems to support internal operations of the courts such as finance, procurement and human resource management.
Registrars and Chief Justices will be expected to sign-off on functional requirement specifications. Court administration staff and judicial officers will need to be intimately involved in development of functional specifications.
The ultimate beneficiaries would be users of the court system who can expect more efficient and quality services. Other beneficiaries would include court staff, court administrators and judicial officers who would have access to efficient technologies, timely access to quality information both about cases and about performance.
