Invitation to Comment on Proposed Data Integration and Electronic Filing Standards

["Smith, Christopher" <Christopher.Smith@jud.ca.gov>]

Title: Invitation to Comment on Proposed Data Integration and Electronic Filing Standards

The California Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) invites you to review and comment on two sets of proposed standards for exchanging data electronically with the California trial courts. The AOC has coordinated two efforts to develop statewide data integration standards.

• The Technical Standards for Data Exchange project developed data exchange standards for use with justice partners for a selected set of criminal forms and data exchanges.
• The Second Generation Electronic Filing Specification (2GEFS) project has developed draft specifications for the electronic filing and requesting of information. 

Background
In 2002, the AOC initiated both projects to simplify the processes for constructing and implementing integration tools and electronic filing systems. At that time, XML schema had been established as the standard for creating communication tools that allow the flexibility needed in complex technical environments. To take advantage of the benefits of XML schema, the federal Office of Justice Programs had initiated the creation of a Justice XML Data Dictionary (JXDD) to normalize the methods for electronically sharing information between justice agencies. Because of its initial focus on criminal elements, JXDD provided a good basis for developing the Technical Standards for Data Exchange.

At the same time, the 2GEFS project was initiated to standardize how electronic filings for all case types would be handled. Again, XML schema was the basis for the specifications but since JXDD did not meet the needs for all case types, the 2GEFS were developed on a separate schema methodology that had been tested in the Georgia courts electronic filing system. The branch expects to reconcile these two methodologies by examining the lessons learned from each project. The AOC is also working with the courts to identify tools that can be used to exchange information.

The Data Exchange Standards Working Group, appointed by the Court Executive Advisory Committee, has carefully reviewed both sets of standards to ensure they meet court business needs. This group consists of court staff from the Superior Courts of Alameda, Contra Costa, Orange, Sacramento, Santa Barbara, San Bernardino, and Ventura Counties. By comparing the lessons learned from both projects, the working group will be in a position to understand the best features of each methodology. The branch also continues to follow the development of the JXDD (now known as the Global Justice XML Data Dictionary or GJXDD and Global Justice XML Data Model or GJXDM) and plans to contribute its lessons learned from both projects to enhance the national standards. 

Technical Standards for Data Exchange
The first set of proposed statewide standards in the Technical Standards for Data Exchange includes six high value exchanges between the court and justice partners. These six exchanges are the first step in developing a comprehensive set of standards, initially focusing on criminal exchanges.

• Arrest and Bench Warrants-issuance of arrest and bench warrants by the court
• California Highway Patrol (CHP) Citations-receipt of citation data into the court from law enforcement, using the CHP citation as a starting point
• Court Calendar-publishing adult criminal and traffic court calendar data to justice partners and the public
• Criminal Complaint-filing of a criminal complaint from the district attorney to the court
• Judgment and Sentence Order-provision of court judgment and sentence information to local justice partners
• Register of Actions-publishing adult criminal and traffic court registers of action (case event history) data for public and justice partner access

Electronic Filing Standards
The other set of proposed standards come out of the Second Generation Electronic Filing Specification (2GEFS) project. The objective of the 2GEFS project has been to develop statewide specifications that allow any California court to receive and respond to electronic filings from any compliant provider of e-filing services. As stated above, these proposed standards would provide a new and coherent set of XML schema and related specifications for court electronic filing.  The 2GEFS specifications include four major elements:

• Court Filing 2.0 defines an electronic envelope for transporting documents to and from court systems (Filings and Confirmations);
• Court Policy 2.0 defines how details about individual courts or their divisions can be expressed such that computer programs can understand them without human intervention;
• Request/Response 2.0 defines how information and documents can be queried and retrieved from court databases; and
• CMS API 2.0 is an application program interface (API) for standardizing the means for getting data and documents into and out of court case management systems.

To review the complete proposed standards and provide comments, please go to www.courtinfo.ca.gov/invitationstocomment/. Please provide all comments by May 14, 2004.  For more information, please contact Christopher Smith, Business Systems Analyst, at the information below.

Sincerely,

Christopher Smith
Business Systems Analyst
Information Services
Administrative Office of the Courts
415/865-7416
christopher.smith@jud.ca.gov
.