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