The District Clerk
Criminal Courts Digital
Project
The Criminal Courts Digital Project
is Vital for More Efficient Records
Management and Retrieval
• The District Clerk
manages more than two
million records at three
locations and a
warehouse. Paper
records are expensive to
maintain, easily lost and
damaged, and slow to
retrieve complicating the
integrity of both open
and closed cases.
Digital Courts Vision
• Judicial process in the Dallas
county criminal courts will be
substantially paperless.
• Imaging systems will replace
paper-based filing system.
• The judiciary will be able to
modify documents electronically
from the bench.
• Remote access to criminal case
records for the judiciary,
criminal bar and the District
Attorney.
• Instantaneous electronic
retrieval of case documents and
production of copies for the
public.
The Electronic Document
Mangement System
• Judges, the criminal bar and the public will be using a sophisticated
electronic document management system called OnBase
• OnBase will queue criminal court documents to the processing areas
within the district clerk’s office and the court.
• Until electronic document preparation is perfected in AIS, case records
beginning with the indictment and PCA, bond information, pleadings
and motions are scanned as they are filed.
• Docket entries will be perfected through the use of OnBase E-Form
and queuing utilities.
• E-signatures will be developed and perfected for complete paperless
processing.
Additional OnBase Benefits
• Will provide attorneys
remote access to the
electronic case record
from their offices with
a subscription service
in development.
Additional OnBase Benefits
• Provides for enhanced
and timely public and
media access to court
records.
Additional OnBase Benefits
• Provides for central
document control of
records and reduces the
incidence of failed
expungement and nondisclosure by
eliminating multiple
paper copies within the
county.
Tentative Schedule for
Digital Conversion
• The pilot court, the
283rd Judicial District
Court, Judge Richard
Magnis, is go live as
a fully paperless
court after all
pending case files
weree imaged during
the weekend of
August 17, 2009.
Tentative schedule for digital
conversion
• Analysis and deployment of ‘E-Form’ function and
implementation of clerk/court e-business process.
• Additional hardware to be briefed for the Dallas county
commissioners court by September 30th.
• Training for affected non-court and clerk staff to be
effected through November 2009.
• Simultaneous conversion of remaining 16 criminal courts
and the Drug Court by January 1, 2010 depending on the
availability of hardware and success of the training
program.
What to Expect
• Business will be
conducted as usual
but there will no
longer be a paper
court file.
• A computer will be
available in each court
for attorneys in the
defense workroom,
hallway, and clerk’s
counter.
What to Expect
• Judges will have access to
OnBase from the bench
and the Assistant D.A.’s
from their offices at the
courts.
• Current paper-flow
procedures and processes
will remain the same, just
result in an imaged
document as the
permanent Court record.
What to Expect
• The clerks will image all
incoming documents to
their court and attach to
the electronic case file.
• Pass-slips will continue
to be handled through
the coordinators.
• Magistrate Court
procedures will be
converted to paperless
processing.
How will this benefit you?
• No more waiting around
while the clerk tries to
find your file
• No more waiting around
in the Records
department when you
need conformed copies.
• No more missing or
misplaced documents
and delays.
How will this benefit you?
• Judges, the District
Attorney and probation
officers will be able to
access electronic records
from their offices, enabling
“pop-in” assistance.
• Remote off-site access to
case records will become
available to judges, the
criminal bar and the
District Attorney.
Time for
Q & A