Timeline revised for expansion of centralized case management system

TOPEKA—The Kansas judicial branch plan to launch a new centralized case management system in the 18th Judicial District has been delayed, but neighboring courts in the 13th Judicial District are expected to begin using the new system in February.

While the centralized case management system is operational in eight judicial districts, there remain some technical refinements to be addressed.

Because these unresolved issues require manual intervention, it is currently impractical to add substantial volume to the system. This especially applies to the 18th Judicial District, which is Sedgwick County.

The installation timeline is being revised, and the judicial branch is working in partnership with the vendor to promptly address these issues.

The 18th Judicial District now has been moved to a group of seven judicial districts in central and southwest Kansas known as Track 6 in the Kansas eCourt Statewide Rollout Plan. The schedule for implementing the centralized case management system for Track 6 is under review.

The 18th Judicial District had been grouped in Track 2 with the 13th Judicial District, composed of Butler, Elk, and Greenwood counties.

These judicial districts are using the centralized case management system:

• 4th Judicial District (Anderson, Coffey, Franklin, and Osage counties);

• 6th Judicial District (Bourbon, Linn, and Miami counties);

• 8th Judicial District (Dickinson, Geary, Marion, and Morris counties);

• 11th Judicial District (Cherokee, Crawford, and Labette counties);

• 14th Judicial District (Chautauqua and Montgomery counties);

• 19th Judicial District (Cowley County);

• 21st Judicial District (Clay and Riley counties); and

• 31st Judicial District (Allen, Neosho, Wilson, and Woodson counties).

Installation of the centralized case management system is a key component in the Supreme Court's eCourt plan. It will allow all district and appellate case data to reside on a single web-based platform, transforming the way the state court system serves the people of Kansas.

The judicial branch entered into a contract with Tyler Technologies of Plano, Texas, to customize and use its Odyssey Case Manager™ system. It will be paid for with docket fees earmarked by the Kansas Legislature for the project.

The primary goals of the centralized case management system implementation are to:

• improve case processing in the district and appellate courts;

• enable work sharing between district courts, primarily among clerks and court services officers;  

• enable web-based sharing of public information;

• increase the efficiency of information delivery to district and appellate court judges;

• increase operational efficiency and effectiveness through automating certain activities and streamlining other operations;

• improve data quality and integrity;

• improve performance measurement, analysis, and reporting through enhanced information collection, storage, retrieval, and analysis;

• enable data sharing between various governmental entities based on information security requirements, contribution to the effective administration of justice, and need; and

• maintain and improve the ability to process electronic payments.