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Leveraging Oregon eCourt Technology

The Oregon eCourt implementation supports OJD goals to modernize court operations;
improve access to the courts; promote public trust; provide quality, timely case resolution; engage fully with justice partners to meet the needs of our communities; and use best practices and principles in all aspects of court business. Furthermore, Oregon eCourt technology is not a static system — it has given OJD the capacity to expand its goals and services in response to the changing needs of Oregonians far into the future. 

OJD has leveraged Oregon eCourt technology to improve access to the courts, develop court efficiencies, and share real-time data with our justice partners.  By moving from a case-based data system to a person-based data system judges have access to legal histories of persons who come before them in court — allowing judges to make decisions that could address solutions to criminal behavior that occurs as the result of drugs, mental illness, domestic and family issues, and behavior that affects public safety. Specific improvements are listed in the sections below:

 
  • Electronic workflows have replaced cumbersome and time-consuming paper-intensive workflows
  • Court business processes, coding, and most court forms have been overhauled, updated, and standardized promoting consistency statewide
  • Courthouses have updated computer hardware, electrical system wiring, and internet bandwidth to accomodate Oregon eCourt's larger data transfer capacity
  • OJD developed an electronic help system (Alt+F1) for court staff to reference as they were learning to use Oregon eCourt. It contains current, new, and updated business processes and has been adopted as a living, permanent tool for staff.
  • Updates were made to OJD's data security and data recovery capability systems
  • Data integrations with public safety partners has allowed court staff and judges to access the latest person-specific data on arrests, outstanding warrants, restraining orders, probation violations, and judgments; as well as electronic data exchange with the Oregon Department of Human Services for our juvenile and family court programs
  • A reporting system assists the decision-making of court management, administrators, and judges through access to statistics and other court performance information drawn from the integrated court database
  • Judges have streamlined access to case data, dockets, and their calendars in or out of the courtroom through SessionWorks Judge Edition - an Oregon eCourt component 
  • Joint-Jurisdictional efficiencies: Allows judges and staff to access electronic case files from different court locations; in combination with video conferencing, allows judges to hear cases remotely in judicial resource sharing situations and cuts down on traveling time for rural and multi-county judicial district judges
  • Shorter lines at customer service counters and fewer phone calls, freeing up court staff to handle more complex issues for court customers
  • A centralized statewide financial management system with the ability to see and collect a person's case or victim-related debts without having to search across case files
  • ePayment has resulted in more timely payments and a rise in dollar amounts collected by OJD's central accounting system
  • Interactive interview-based forms available to the public in our online Guide & File service produce forms with the proper information required by the court, reducing the number of returned forms that are filled out incorrectly resulting in court delays for self-represented litigants
  • Online services for the public include:
    • ePayment: public can make payments on tickets and some cases 24/7 from any computer 
    • eFiling
    • Computer access to court calendars 
    • Free computer access for the public to search online case information
    • The person-based system allows the public to search and find all cases related to a person's name
    • Guide & File iForms (interactive, interview-based forms for self-represented filers, legal assistance agencies, and businesses) can be eFiled from Guide & File or printed and taken to courthouse. There is no charge to use the Guide & File system - only the usual filing fee when form is filed with the court. Current iForms include the forms that are used most often by the public (family law, restraining order, landlord-tenant, small claims, and satisfaction of money judgment). Additional iForms will continue to be developed into the future.
    • Courthouse computer kiosks were established in all but a few smaller courthouses
    • Ability to access OJD's online services with mobile devices
  • Online services geared to the legal community, law enforcement, adult and juvenile corrections, human service and other government agencies, and private sector organizations (news media, data brokers, private investigators, and title companies) include:
    • Oregon Judicial Case Information Network (OJCIN) - a paid subscription service provides remote access to public case records and case documents available 24/7 to Bar members, government users, and other authorized users. (Statutorily confidential cases are not available to the public.) 
    • File & Serve - 24/7 eFiling is mandatory statewide for all active members of the Oregon State Bar
    • The OJD Website has been redesigned to accommodate access through mobile devices as well as desktop computers