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Vol. 71, No. 2, February
1998
CCAP is Making Headway
Despite the impasse over the 1993-95 Biennium's lapsing mechanism, the
Circuit Court Automation Project (CCAP) is making headway. According to
Denis Moran, director of state courts, almost all of Wisconsin's 72 counties
have implemented at least some features of CCAP. For example, at least 60
county courthouses are using CCAP's case management system for automated
tracking of case events. Approximately 2,700 court employees use CCAP, and
Moran expects the number to reach 3,000 during 1998.
Rick Godfrey, the director of court automation, observed that while Wisconsin
counties are not required to participate in CCAP, all but three or four
have joined the program. Walworth and Outagamie counties are two that opted
out. They had already developed and implemented their own computer systems,
which satisfied their needs.
Meanwhile, Moran and Godfrey anticipate that the courts will finish installing
the basic components of CCAP during 1998. Of the seven or eight remaining
counties, Milwaukee County poses the biggest challenge. "The Milwaukee
County courthouse processes an enormous volume of cases, and its existing
computer system is different from the one employed by CCAP. This forces
CCAP programmers to spend a lot of time working through conversion problems,"
Godfrey explained. As a result, Milwaukee County will be one of the last
to fully implement CCAP.
Nevertheless, Moran and Godfrey believe that Wisconsin is far ahead of
its peers. In some states, courthouses have installed such features as automated
clerks or kiosks. Others states have struggled to link the computer systems
that their county courts created independently. Wisconsin, on the other
hand, will soon have implemented the most basic automation features - jury,
case and financial management - using compatible hardware and software,
in virtually all of its county courthouses.
Lawyers and other court users may not immediately sense CCAP's presence.
The project's initial goals are to reduce the recordkeeping burdens that
plague court clerks, judges and registers of probate and to enable the courts
across the state to process cases consistent with one another. Once this
is accomplished, CCAP coordinators hope to employ computers in ways that
will assist lawyers and other courthouse users, by providing such options
as the means to file pleadings electronically.
Without significantly more funding, Wisconsin's courthouse of the future
may be a dream. "Right now CCAP employs 39 people, but we need at least
10 more to service the higher-than-expected number of users," Moran
said. Currently, the state spends $6 million per year on the project, and
most of that funding is needed to maintain CCAP's computer infrastructure.
Godfrey agreed that budget restrictions will prevent CCAP coordinators
from installing cutting-edge computer enhancements at Wisconsin courthouses
anytime soon. However, he added, since the dispute over the 1993-95 Biennium,
the judicial branch and the Department of Administration have been working
hard to accommodate each other's needs. In fact, the 1997-99 Biennium added
a funding mechanism that will generate an additional $800,000 per year for
CCAP.
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