New Year to Bring New Era of Technology
Clerk & Comptroller Sharon Bock’s Case Management System (CMS) Project Team is closer to modernizing the existing outdated system that currently houses Palm Beach County’s criminal, civil and juvenile records. The project, approved in July 2008 by Palm Beach County justice partners (including Court Administration, Public Defender, Sheriff’s Office, and State Attorney’s Office), is expected to improve the public’s access to court-related information filed, processed and maintained by the Clerk’s office. The project is on track for a fall 2010 launch of the criminal portion of the system. The civil portion of the new system is targeted to launch in summer 2011.
E-Filing Compatible
The future case management system will be able to seamlessly accommodate the Clerk’s future implementation of e-filing and meet the changing needs of the justice community. It will eliminate the ongoing need for costly changes to Palm Beach County’s current computer system—expenses that cannot be supported because of recent, severe budget cuts to the Clerk’s office. It will also erase several existing system deficiencies that have made it difficult to meet state timeliness reporting requirements.
“If there ever has been a time for increased efficiencies through technology, it is now,” said Clerk Bock.
Progress Details
Much progress has been made since the April 2009 selection of Florida-based Aptitude Solutions, Inc.’s ShowCase Case Management software following a competitive bidding process. Several meetings have taken place between justice partners to ensure that the new system, when implemented, will meet the needs of all users. Planned automated data exchanges between justice partners will eliminate many manual processes. The Clerk’s CMS Project Team has made significant progress in the conversion of case data from the existing system to ShowCase. Prior to launch, the Clerk’s office will conduct a series of integration and system testing to ensure a smooth transition to this new era of technology.
