MINUTES
| Members Present Judge Allan Schmalenberger, Chair Doug Johnson Penny Miller Judge David Nelson Justice Dale Sandstrom Ted Smith | Members participating via conference call Becky Absey Judge Lawrence Leclerc Judge Joel Medd Staff |
The Chair called the meeting to order.
The minutes of the December 2000 meeting were approved with corrections on pages 2 and 3.
Help desk statistics
Kurt provided 2 reports from the help desk call tracking system (HEAT). The reports are for informational purposes only and indicate the volume of calls being received, types of calls being received and which districts they are received from.
The chair pointed out that the addition of a new program such as JCMS has a clear and visible impact on the volume of calls received.
NO ACTION WAS REQUIRED BY THE COMMITTEE
Legislative update regarding IT budget
The legislative action to date regarding the Judicial Budget was discussed. In summary, the budget is through the Senate and is now being reviewed by the House. The only substantial technology related cut is in the enhanced records management project where approximately one half of the project's funds were deferred to next biennium.
NO ACTION WAS REQUIRED BY THE COMMITTEE
Criminal Justice Information System Initiatives
Kurt provided background about new Criminal Justice Information System (CJIS) initiatives being coordinated by ITD. Federal money is available through the Governor's Office and groups/committees have been formed to review integration possibilities.
Kurt stated that the initiatives, although "new" are not really new to the Judicial Branch. Several of the tasks mentioned are projects the Judicial Branch has been working towards or discussing.
NO ACTION WAS REQUIRED BY THE COMMITTEE
Health Department integration (reports of divorce, separation and annulment)
Kurt provided an update about this current initiative. The development work is basically complete and final testing is now underway. The project should be complete within weeks.
Kurt mentioned that the Health Department has already approached him with 2 additional items that they would like to review for potential integration and data sharing. These items will be reviewed in the upcoming months.
NO ACTION WAS REQUIRED BY THE COMMITTEE
Data warehouse initiative
Kurt discussed the data warehouse project. It is on proceeding as expected, within time and budget constraints. It is expected to be complete by the end of the biennium.
Kurt reiterated that this project has 3 specific deliverables: 1) Statistical reports to the web; 2) Court calendars to the web; 3) Web-based graphical inquiry screen. The project is being kept small in scope to achieve measurable success while building a solid foundation for growth.
NO ACTION WAS REQUIRED BY THE COMMITTEE
Grand Forks, SAMS and UCIS update
Kurt discussed current activities regarding efforts to maintain the data sharing between SAMS and UCIS while they reside on separate AS400 computers. Tests are underway to achieve this using a product called Transformation Server from Data Mirror. Preliminary tests are promising. Within the next few weeks to months, the testing should be complete and if successful, the product purchased.
Kurt also mentioned that other issues exist, such as UCIS "add on" programs that the Grand Forks County computer personnel have created specifically for Grand Forks Clerks of Court. How these programs are addressed has not yet been decided. They will be reviewed once the testing is completed successfully.
NO ACTION WAS REQUIRED BY THE COMMITTEE
Municipality Update
The programming changes necessary for integration are complete and 2 of the 4 municipalities currently using UCIS have been integrated into the single UCIS database.
The remaining 2 municipalities need cable installed to allow an ethernet network connection. However, the pipe that the cable needs to be installed through is filled with water and frozen. These remaining municipalities will be completed as soon as weather allows the installation of the needed cable.
It was asked that, for those municipalities converted, does an inquiry into UCIS yield data from both the municipalities and the districts? Kurt stated it does and that an inquiry by district court personnel would yield results from both the municipalities and districts.
PCSS and UCIS integration update
Kurt stated that $350,000 that was expected to be expended in the current biennium for the purposes of integrating PCSS and UCIS was 'rolled over' into the upcoming biennium and assuming it is not removed by the legislature, work towards integration would resume sometime after the legislative session is completed.
Currently, no efforts towards integration are proceeding. Agreement on how to best proceed with the integration has not been reached.
NO ACTION WAS REQUIRED BY THE COMMITTEE
ITV Project
Kurt stated that a working group has been assembled to implement an interactive television solution between the Stutsman County courthouse and the State Hospital in Jamestown. This solution would allow patients at the hospital to appear in court via ITV and allow doctors at the hospital to testify at other courthouses with ITV capabilities.
Also mentioned was the fact that the budget for next biennium currently includes money to implement an ITV system in the East Central Judicial District. This project has not yet begun.
NO ACTION WAS REQUIRED BY THE COMMITTEE
Thin Client Initiative
Kurt updated the committee regarding the thin client initiative being conducted.. A Citrix-based solution will be installed in early April.
There are several groups of users being considered as the 'best candidates' for the thin client devices. They include personnel that extensively use a limited number of applications; personnel who travel and desire access to their information wherever they are located; personnel using the jury software (for consistency of word processors and to facilitate easy software updates); "counter" PCs and "public terminals"; and visiting judges chambers.
It was stated that not everyone is a good candidate for a thin client device and that the judicial branch will most likely never have a 100% Citrix-based computing platform.
NO ACTION WAS REQUIRED BY THE COMMITTEE
UCIS email to the Department of Corrections
Kurt pointed out on attachment 4, Ted Gladden's statement "In regard to supervised probation, we will work on a process whereby if a defendant falls into arrears notice will be given to probation/parole from UCIS..." It is expected that this "notice" will be given via an email to the appropriate probation office.
Kurt and the development staff will be working on this project in the next several months.
NO ACTION WAS REQUIRED BY THE COMMITTEE
CTC 7 attendance
Kurt mentioned that initial information about CTC 7 has been distributed. There are price reductions for groups of 10 or more. Ted Smith volunteered too coordinate the registration.
IF YOU ARE PLANNING TO ATTEND CTC 7, PLEASE NOTIFY TED SMITH.
For the good of the order
The next meeting is scheduled for June 15, 2001 at the Radisson Inn in Fargo.
The chair mentioned correspondence he received from an individual from "Justice Technology" in which Dave Parker volunteered to serve on the Court Technology Committee.
The committee agreed that individuals from private corporations should not be added to the committee.
The chair mentioned a sales call he received regarding telephone conferencing. A company was interested in facilitating the phone conferences for the courts.
The committee did not feel these services were necessary.
The committee asked if Kurt could look into better equipment for phone conferencing at the committee meetings.
Kurt will review options.
The meeting adjourned.