The Challenge
The Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) is responsible for providing
leadership and guidance to the courts at all levels within the State of Tennessee. As part
of this mandate, the AOC assists in facilitating the case management function for the
Tennessee Appellate Courts and Tennessee Supreme Court. The AOC required a
centralized information system to record and track all aspects of court case management,
including document filing, event tracking, diary notification, case consolidation, tracking
of entities that interact with the courts, and tracking of records such as briefs, notices,
resolutions, and costs.
Third Day's Solution
In an effort to enable the Appellate Courts to become more efficient through the use of
technology, Third Day Solutions, in conjunction with the AOC, developed and deployed
an Appellate Court Case management system. The AOC has successfully used the Justice
Information Tracking System (JITS) to facilitate the needs of the Appellate Courts for a
number of years. Third Day Solutions continues to provide production support and
enhancements to this system to meet the ongoing needs of the AOC.
The JITS application is a client/server system developed using the Delphi Rapid
Application Development (RAD) tool with Oracle as the Relational Database
Management System. JITS utilizes Crystal Reports 9.0 reporting software and Oracle 9(i)
database.
JITS is rule-based and table-driven. This allows the system administrator to define
events that will keep all case information consistent, yet is flexible enough that it can be
accommodated to meet the specific needs of any jurisdiction. Some of the key core case
management functions of JITS include:
Case Tracking: JITS includes functionality to uniquely identify cases. Using JITS, users
can create cases and identify the necessary filing information for each case.
Card File: JITS provides the ability to assign litigants, intervening parties and other
entities that interact with the appellate court.
Document Filing Management: JITS allows users to enter, view and track the various
filings that will occur in the life of the case.
Diary Notifications: JITS provides tickle `message' to designated users regarding the
tracking of Case History events. The "tickles" (messages) alert users to initiate or follow
up on the required filing or action.
Event Tracking: JITS events are stored in user-defined tables. Because they are user-
defined, the events can be defined differently from those events that may occur at the trial
court level. Each event code can be assigned a notice to be sent went the event occurs, a
diary "tickler", a priority, and a cost code.
Extensive Search Capability: Cases may be searched by year, case number, case status,
case type, consolidation status, court, division, docket date, first filing date, attorney
name, party name, and trial court case number.
Robust Case Consolidation: JITS accommodates three types of case consolidation. The
simplest is consolidation for Oral Argument, which ensures that any number of cases will
be argued at the same time but keeps the two cases distinct for all other purposes. The
second is record consolidation, which combines the appellate records of any number of
cases. The third method is full case consolidation, which combines the entire case
history, cost bill, attorneys, parties, and trial court information of any number of cases
into one case.
Notices: JITS can create notices automatically upon occurrence of a particular event.
Court Resolution Tracking: JITS allows users to create information on the case
disposition related to case filings and other matters before the court.
Security: JITS allows the user to customize different security roles as needed. Each role
can be granted Create, Update, Read, and/or Delete rights on a screen by screen basis.
TDS continues to provide ongoing support and enhancements for this system. Among
the enhancements TDS has provided over the years:
- Modifications to the accounting software to accommodate changes in Tennessee
tax penalty laws.
- Automated invoicing of litigation tax and fax-filed cases.
- Upgraded JITS to support Oracle 9(i), Delphi 7.0, and Crystal Reports 9.0.
- Integrated document imaging capability, which allows Tennessee to capture
digital images of orders, bonds, and judgments.
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