Case Management System Comparison

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Case Management System Comparison

Comprehensive comparison of Case Management systems that are currently being used by various Public Defense Divisions. This

document will be updated regularly by the NAPD IT Committee. If you would like your Case Management system added to this

comparison or have additional questions about this document please contact NAPD IT Committee. To ask questions regarding

specific case management systems listed here please use the information below. Additional comments by authors are included at

the end of the graph.

Authors:

Issac Merkle at [email protected] – Knox County (TN) Community Law Office, NAPD IT Committee Co-Chair - Defender Data

Melanie Oberlander at [email protected] - King County (WA) Department of Public Defense, NAPD IT Committee Co-Chair - Legal Files Scott Bell at [email protected] – Missouri State Public Defender, NAPD IT Committee member - Lotus Case Management

Damon Preston at [email protected] - Kentucky Department of Public Advocacy , NAPD Member – JustWare Defender Brian Brock at [email protected] - Birmingham Bar Volunteer Lawyers, NAPD IT Committee Member – Legal Server

Darlene Dollard at [email protected] - New York State Defenders Association, NAPD Member - Public Defense Case Management System (PDCMS) Key:

System does this feature well with little or no Vendor or IT support

System does this feature in a limited capacity or with Vendor or IT Support System does not support or requires full Vendor or IT knowledge

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Defender

Data

via Knox County Community Law Office (CLO) - Knoxville, TN

Legal Files

via King County Department of Public Defense - Seattle, WA

Lotus Case

Management

via Missouri State Public Defender

JustWare

Defender

via Kentucky Department of Public Advocacy

Legal Server

via Birmingham Bar Volunteer Lawyers Program (via Brian Brock at Jefferson County Public Defender's

Office)

PDCMS

via New York State Defenders Association

General Information

Web or Server Based Web interface available; currently suitable for most attorney, investigator, and social work purposes; not adequate for clerical use

Web Based program with additional Client Server for design and administration. Does require Internet Explorer as browser

Server Based Aside from its mobile app, which is early in its development, JustWare runs only through the desktop client, accessing data from central servers

Web based, no local servers

needed or used Database is stored on servers but that data can be accessed from within the office (client/server) or remotely from any computer with an internet connection (through remote desktop protocol PDCMS.rdp).

Software Structure

(LocalServersorCloud)

Default configuration is cloud-based; both database server and SFTP server (for attached documents) are hosted and maintained by JusticeWorks. Offices can choose to store data in their own, local Microsoft SQL Server / SFTP server if they prefer, however, which reduces latency and, arguably, increases security

Locally stored Data Run on Local Servers with Classic Server - Client architecture

JustWare runs only through

the desktop client Web Based Structure; it’s all browser access at the BBVLP

Data is stored on sites‘ servers

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Defender

Data

Legal Files

Lotus Case

Management

via Missouri State Public Defender

JustWare

Defender

Legal Server

via Birmingham Bar Volunteer Lawyers Program (via Brian Brock at Jefferson County Public

Defender's Office)

PDCMS

General Information Client vs Case

Structure

Though clients (and other people) are fully-fledged, relational records in the database, the case object is primary in both the user interface and the general approach

Web Based program with additional Client Server for design and administration. Does require Internet Explorer as browser

We have a mostly flat file system so using the word relational for us would be limited. I don't know if they are referring to their case management system being centered around the client vs the cases and the clients they contain

Both, JustWare has name records with name information and case records with case

information Each person – client, attorney,

investigator, expert, judge, etc. – has a single name record that is associated (through Involvements) with every case record in which that person is involved. Likewise, each case record lists all persons involved in the case with links to their name record information.

The main identifier is the case ID. Multiple clients can be combined under one case ID, where applicable

Mainly case, meaning each client can have multiple cases. Each case will have its own events, disposition, sentence, co-defendant, memos, etc. But on most reports we can count the number of clients as well as the number of cases found.

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Defender

Data

Legal Files

Lotus Case

Management

via Missouri State Public Defender

JustWare

Defender

Legal Server

Defender's Office)

PDCMS

General Information Team Based Approach

(Multiple Users access same information)

Standard, in-built team features which are most closely akin to user groups. Used for addressing of internal messages, scheduling of events, and access control. Through developer's customizations, add the concept of case-specific teams which are used to facilitate both custom workflows and event scheduling

Customized teams can be built to add to files as well as all users work from the same electronic file for sharing of documents, resources etc

I think here they are just talking about people having the ability to create a group (similar to active directory) that is just a temporary group for working on a case. e.g. Attorney Tom and Karen and Investigator Bill are put into a group to work on the Jones Case. When the case is over the group is removed

All data is housed on central servers so multiple users can access the information at any time. The program contains tools for sending reminders to other users through emails or in-program popup boxes. JustWare allows security (or data

partitioning) to be set up based on Agencies (allowing everyone in an office to see the cases in their office) or

Involvement (allowing only persons listed as Involved in a case to see the case)

Multiple users can access the same information. It uses the typical first to access has read/write, others accessing an already opened file have read-only access. But, one person can print a file that another person has open for editing simultaneously

Multiple users can access the same screen and record at the same time and records can be updated by any user based on latest entry measured in milliseconds. Also, in addition to attorneys, team members (Investigator, Social Worker, Paralegal, etc.) can be assigned to a case and reports can be run to find team members' caseload as well as attorneys' caseload.

Pricing Structure

(per user, per case etc)

Fixed, negotiated price per case opened/initiated in the system.

Additional fixed cost per case if alternative front-ends (eg, mobile and/or phone) are enabled. Very modest initial implementation cost with data conversion services included as standard

Fixed price per User, however users can be inactivated and re-used. Conversion is separate cost. Maintenance and support annually is a lower per user price.

Per machine/user license with yearly maintenance fee structured

Our pricing structure included a purchase price per license and a

negotiated price for installation and training services (which included multiple on-site training sessions) and includes per-license yearly

maintenance fees going forward.

Pricing structure seems to

be per case/client There is no charge for the application but there are onetime costs for application and database licenses, data conversion, installation and on-site training. Annual support fees are based on number of licenses (concurrent users).

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Defender

Data

Legal Files

Lotus Case

Management

JustWare

Defender

Legal Server

Defender's Office

PDCMS

Queries and Reporting

Query any field

Save queries Ability to create

templates/reports from any fields without

vendor support

Supports user-defined fields

Data not Supplied

Integration

Integration with

Outlook email/calendar

Unknown Ability to export data in

multiple formats Interfaces with

different court record system

Integration with Microsoft Word/Excel

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Defender

Data

Legal Files

via King County Department of Public Defense – Seattle, WA

Lotus Case

Management

JustWare

Defender

Legal Server

PDCMS

Document Management

Batch process documents Link to stored documents on network drive Supports user-generated document templates/forms Supports print-preview and saving of documents

Data Entry

Update Multiple Records at once Identifying Conflicts Time Tracking Address Verification and/or links to other web sites

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Defender

Data

Legal Files

via King County Department of Public Defense – Seattle, WA

Lotus Case

Management

JustWare

Defender

Legal Server

PDCMS

User Customization

User added document

Templates/Forms Supports user-defined fields Manually Adding/Deleting records Customizing Views Updating Multiple records at once File Tracking with Bar Code Scanning

Security

Security Levels

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Additional Information

Query any field

Defender Data: Search can be customized to incorporate virtually any field, but customization must be performed by developer ahead of time

Legal Files: System has a several "canned" queries that allow you to search from virtually any field including a "Custom Window Query" that allows any custom windows that have been built as well to be queried upon

Lotus: System has self designed queries that can be added or deleted as needed

JustWare: Any field can be queried easily through SQL, for those with SQL knowledge. Within the application, there are many canned reports and an "Advanced Search" report that queries practically any field

Legal Server: Comes with canned reports that are user customizable; also users can create new reports

PDCMS: Any field can be queried easily through the Report Builder option that allows users to quickly build their own reports by

picking any field they'd like to see.

Save queries

Defender Data: Yes

Legal Files: Yes, Default settings can be saved as well as specific queries

Lotus: Users are allowed to create their own views (queries) and folders but IT tries to limit the amount in use

JustWare: Other than running search reports, users have no ability to create queries within the application. SQL queries can be saved outside the application

Legal Server: Yes, reports can be saved or saved as templates

PDCMS: Yes, reports can be saved as templates. Sites also have the ability to allow users to create reports that only they will see

(Personal reports) in addition to the reports shared by all (Office reports).

Ability to create templates /reports from any fields without vendor support

Defender Data: No

Legal Files: Very customizable from the User standpoint. Can easily change or add new custom windows Lotus: No. The fields are part of the application or database. They must be added by development

JustWare: Limited. All dropdown menus (code tables) are customizable, but additional fields can generally not be added unless they are already available and hidden in the program

Legal Server: Yes, can create reports from any field; just a matter of taking time to do so

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Additional Information

Supports user-defined fields

Defender Data: Very customizable, but customizations must be made by Vendor

Legal Files: Very customizable and all can be done by Administrator. Vendor not required to add or change Lotus: Users can request fields but they must be added by a developer

JustWare: Very customizable and can be done easily by any member of our CMS Management Team (including non-IT members) Legal Server: Some things are customizable

PDCMS: Users can request fields but they must be added by a developer.

Integration with Outlook email/calendar

Defender Data: not as far as I know; CLO developed custom code to sync calendars to iPads

Legal Files: System already has plug ins that sync with Office including Outlook that allows users to sync their Legal Files calendar to their Outlook Calendar

Lotus: No, All interface is exclusively through Lotus Notes

JustWare: Notifications can be sent through emails that are pushed to default email client, including Outlook. Events can be pushed to Outlook calendar. Calendars can also be pulled from Outlook, though this is unavailable in our secure state network Legal Server: unknown - VLP doesn't use the calendar in this program for other reasons

PDCMS: Not currently available but we've been considering adding this functionality.

Ability to export data in multiple formats

Defender Data: Not as far as I know

Legal Files: Canned reports can be copied and pasted into Excel or other programs

Lotus: Data can be exported into Excel and other formats with conversions through DB II and other programs

JustWare: All data can be exported either through SQL or from any report, all of which can be exported to Excel, Word, XML, or CSV Legal Server: Data is exportable into Excel

PDCMS: Data can be exported to CSV or Excel.

Interfaces with different court record system

Defender Data: Yes, possible via custom development

Legal Files: With Vendor help and dependent on the courts system Lotus: No, courts is closed system

JustWare: Yes, available through API development. We are in the process of implementing this now with help of third-party vendor Legal Server: Alabama has a closed information system; nothing interfaces directly with it

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Additional Information

Integration with Microsoft Word/Excel

Defender Data: No

Legal Files: Yes, plug in ’s allow Office documents to be saved directly to case management system Lotus: No

JustWare: : JustWare outputs reports to Word and Excel and permits the saving of Word and Excel documents within the program Server: Unknown

PDCMS: The PDCMS produces canned letters by integrating with MS Word and can output most reports to Excel.

Batch process documents

Defender Data: Can queue multiple documents for upload into virtual filesystem

Legal Files: Our IT support created the ability to run file labels, pleadings and such into a streamlined report

Lotus: There are mail tools that allow users to create mailing labels and envelopes based on a selection of cases or experts

JustWare: Batch processes are available through a "Business Rules" manager. This can include documents, calendar events, tasks, case record entries, or other functions

Legal Server: Can upload multiple files

PDCMS: Can queue labels, intake forms and conflict reports for newly entered cases and print them all at once at a later time.

Link to stored documents on network drive

Defender Data: Yes, though documents are (re)stored on FTP server

Legal Files: Yes, documents are stored on a File Server but able to be accessed remotely. Documents can also include audio files, video files etc.

Lotus: Yes. E-folders is a feature that allows a network folder to be automatically created and maintained through Lotus Notes JustWare: Documents available for automation are available within JustWare. Each case has a Filing Cabinet for any types of files, including documents or A/V files. No links to any common network destinations

Legal Server: Yes, size limits not known but saved on Legal Server's server

PDCMS: Yes, the PDCMS permits saving of all types of files (doc, xls, jpg, pdf, etc.) in one file folder for each case so all documents are easily accessible by all users on the client's main screen.

Supports user-generated document templates/forms

Defender Data: Yes Legal Files: Yes

Lotus: Yes. Possible by using the Phrases, Forms and Lists application

JustWare: Yes, but adding templates requires advanced skills that most users do not have Legal Server: Yes

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Additional Information

Supports print-preview and saving of documents

Legal Files: Yes, created with Microsoft Office Plug-ins so you can save a document directly from any Office application. Hot print buttons available in every window

Lotus: Print preview is available. Saving documents can be done through the e-folders actions

JustWare: Printing is accomplished through Windows print settings, which includes a Print Layout preview. All documents can be saved in JustWare or to the hard drive of user

Legal Server: Yes

PDCMS: Yes, print preview is available and documents can be saved.

Update Multiple Records at once

Defender Data: Yes, via “Multi-Edit” feature – CLO customized to expedite certain workflows

Legal Files: Notes can be entered into Multilple files at once as well as reassignment of cases can be done in batches

Lotus: Partial. There is the ability to create mutiple documents (such as court dates) for multiple cases through on set of actions. Client information is also updated on open cases if user chooses the option to do so

JustWare: Case Records and Name Records exist independently so an update to a Name Record automatically updates the information available through each associated Case Record. But generally each record is updated individually

Legal Server: Generally a one-by-one process

PDCMS: Yes, for criminal cases, events, memos and event notes can be copied to other open cases for that client. For attorney for children cases, that information can be copied to all siblings with similar cases

Identifying Conflicts

Defender Data: Excellent built-in conflict detection and flagging system

Legal Files: Yes, a built in Conflict check Wizard that allow you to view or check on multiple fields

Lotus: Yes. Using the built-in features of Lotus Notes. Notification of conflicts is sometimes handled by scheduled tasks JustWare: Conflict Check report exists, showing a person's Case Involvements and relationships. No notification tool and no automatic check

Legal Server: Yes, some built in wizards

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Additional Information

Time Tracking

Defender Data: Yes, built in and customizable.

Legal Files: Yes, built in and can be separated by Tasks and Activities. We set up so attorneys use Activities and staff use task and have different pick lists for each. Also available is Batch time Entry

Lotus: Designed in house time tracking system in the form of another Lotus Domino Database

JustWare: Time tracking exists in the desktop client, including customizable categories. Time tracking not available at this time through any mobile device

Legal Server: Yes, manual entry and built in timer

PDCMS: PDCMS users have not requested a time tracking capability in the application, but one can be developed.

Address Verification and/or links to other web sites

Defender Data: could probably be accomplished with custom development

Legal Files: There is a link to Google Maps on every address on a name card. Not sure if that would work for verification though. There is the ability to have shortcuts to any other websites right on the home page by user

Lotus: Not available

JustWare: No address verification function

Legal Server: Yes, zip codes auto populate the county

PDCMS: We don't have address verification but we do have links to other websites on our main menu.

File Tracking with Bar Code Scanning

Defender Data: Not that I know of

Legal Files: You can add a bar code number to a custom window but does not have a tracking system Lotus: Yes. We do have in place options to store the archive box number. But there is no barcode options

JustWare: There is a "Physical Location" function to track where files are stored and Bar Code scanning is supported Legal Server: Unknown - likely not

PDCMS: System can create scannable barcode label for physical file and we have system to track file location

User added document Templates/Forms

Defender Data: Yes Legal Files: Yes

Lotus: Yes. Possible by using the Phrases, Forms and Lists application JustWare: Yes, but adding templates requires advanced skills

Legal Server: Yes

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Additional Information

Manually Adding/Deleting records

Legal Files: Yes, although we limit deletion rights Lotus: Yes. With limited deletion rights

JustWare: Yes, but rights to delete records are restricted to our management team Legal Server: Yes

PDCMS: Yes, designated users can have security rights to delete various types of information

Customizing Views

Defender Data:. Customizable by Justice Works developers

Legal Files: Limited but yes. The exception is Custom Windows that can be customized design

Lotus: Provided views are typically not customizable. Users can create their own or IT can create them upon request

JustWare: Custom views created by developer with limited ability to customize by CMS team. All users can adjust parts of views, like column widths and column layouts, and such settings are saved individually

Legal Server: Limited, done via filters

PDCMS: Users can view data in any order they want when building Report Builder reports and can adjust column widths, page breaks, add Totals to subsections, adjust size for legal paper, etc

Key Person Repository

Defender Data:. DefenderData tracks all people associated with cases (eg, DA, victim, judge, witness, expert, etc) via flexible roles system

Legal Files:LegalFiles tracks anyone you want to track as long as they have a name card. Any involvements they have in a case are included in their name card

Lotus: There is an application that holds the names of office individuals. There is also an application that holds the experts and their information

JustWare: Name records exist for all persons who are involved in a case Legal Server: Yes, can be added in where not present

PDCMS: All people associated with a case (Co-Defendant, Respondent, Complainant, etc.) or Client (Son, Mother, Stepdaughter, etc.) can be entered as Players and seen on both the main screen for that client/case and on Name Search screen when you search for that person by name.

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Additional Information

Security Levels

Defender Data:. Yes; flexible security model Legal Files: Yes, and can be set by administrator

Lotus: Yes, set through Lotus Administration as well as AD

JustWare: Yes. Agency-based security and/or involvement-based security. Can be adjusted by CMS management team. Legal Server: Yes, different access levels

PDCMS: Yes, flexible security offers different access levels.

Auditing Capabilities

Defender Data:. Limited built-in auditing

Legal Files: Limited - last modified user and date is automatic

Lotus: Auditing could be perform through custom views if the current management and statistics views would not work.

JustWare: Yes, there are complete audit trails, both within the application and through database logs. All activities are logged so I can see every case or name record that a person viewed, created, updated, or deleted including specifically what was changed, if necessary

Legal Server: Limited

PDCMS: Audit logs are available that track who first opened the case and who entered and/or modified Disposition and Sentence information.