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DuPage County Circuit Court, the 18th Judicial Circuit Court of the State of Illinois, is being catapulted into the new millennium with a Java-based Court Management System designed for the e-business of the Circuit Court Clerk, Joel A. Kagann.

Organization: DuPage County Circuit Court Clerk
Location: Wheaton, Illinois
Industry: Government
URL: http://www.co.dupage.il.us/dpcix.html


The Circuit Court Clerk’s Office is an integral part of the judicial system, serving as the Keeper of Records, Files and the Seal of the Court. Responsible for day-to-day court activities--such as attorney registration, automatic status dates, certified copy of judgments, document legibility, fees, filing by mail, jury demand, legal services, probate publication, and record searches--the DuPage County Circuit Court Clerk’s Office handles more than 6.2 million documents each year.

Supporting a new case load of more than 300,000 filings, and with approximately 850,000 cases conducted by the court annually, the DuPage County Circuit Court needed to consolidate its automated record keeping process and contend with the upcoming new millennium date change.

The New Millennium--Trying Times for IT
Year 2000 compliancy has been an increasingly important concern for both government agencies and the private sector--with the new century beginning in almost 24 months. At issue, are a number of mission critical computer applications, primarily written in COBOL, that do not recognize four-character numeric fields that pertain to the calendar year. Computer programs used a two-digit notation to save valuable storage space and data entry time. Although this practice was common, it can lead to incorrect results whenever computer software performs arithmetic operations, comparisons, or data field sorting involving years later than 1999.

The Court Management Solution
The DuPage County Circuit Court Clerk has engaged IBM Services to build a Java application asset, tailored to its specific needs. The DuPage County Circuit Court Clerk Management System is the next generation of court management, leveraging and enhancing the capabilities of the current system. The new application will draw upon the commonality of case management concepts--across criminal/traffic, civil, support, periodic imprisonment, general ledger, judges information system, account reconciliation, image interfaces, external agency interfaces and register subsystems--presenting them as a unified, consistent, user-friendly, and highly maintainable system.

The DuPage County Circuit Court Clerk required a solution that maintains the current excellent level of service while also providing more flexibility in operations. The client/server architecture, which consists of AS/400s and PS/2 desktop systems running OS/2 and Windows NT, offers unprecedented flexibility in the application configurations. Support is provided to run the application as a true client/server system, as a stand-alone implementation (for activities such as off-site court), and as a semi-isolated implementation, like a cash register.

Significant productivity gains are expected to be realized as a result of the new application and its now common user interface--as it makes it easier, faster, and more efficient to perform data entry, record retrieval, and analysis. The flexibility of the solution will help the Court handle an increased volume of case filings as well as make it easier to adopt legislative changes.

History of DuPage County Circuit Court
The State of Illinois is a unified court system with 22 Circuit Courts serving the 102 Counties. The Circuit Court is the Court of Original Jurisdiction. In 1964, the Illinois Constitution was amended by the voters to consolidate the court system in the state. As a result of this consolidation, there are three levels of courts: Supreme Court, Appellate Court, and Circuit Court.

For more information on DuPage County Circuit Courts please consult their Web site at: http://www.co.dupage.il.us/dpcix.html



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