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Vol. 35, Number 11—November 2003 CM/ECF Troubleshooters: Support Branch Staff Ready to Help Courts The Support Branch of the Systems Deployment and Support Division (SDSD) helps federal courts make the move from their old case management software to the Case Management/Electronic Case Files (CM/ECF) application, but don't ask for cookie-cutter answers about assisting the "typical court." "Every court is different, and our approach differs accordingly," said Steve Moore, a supervisory IT specialist who leads the CM/ECF Implementation Team at the SDSD Support Branch in San Antonio. The customized attention is appreciated. "We could not have done it without them," said Chris Matras, automation manager for the District of South Carolina Bankruptcy Court. "Ninety-six percent of the time they had the answers we needed, and the other 4 percent they knew where to go to get the answers." Matras, whose court went "live" with CM/ECF in January 2003, said the implementation team "was critical in our learning, developing, migrating, and going live." Jorgette Chaco, the CM/ECF coordinator for the Southern District of California Bankruptcy Court, who helped her prototype court through implementation, agrees. "My experience with the AO implementation team has been a great one," she said. "They are professional, knowledgeable, and always available to assist. They are one of the key components in the success of CM/ECF." It takes most courts about 10 months from the time they begin CM/ECF implementation activities until the time they go live. In the first few months, a court's system is ordered, installed, and configured. Meanwhile, key court staff members receive training in San Antonio from the SDSD Training Branch. "The idea is they send their key staff here; they are trained, and they go home with a plan to train their staff, as well as outside users, (attorneys, bankruptcy trustees, and others)," Moore said. Three months into a court's implementation, members of Moore's team and others from the Administrative Office pay a kickoff visit that usually lasts four or five days. "We're part of an implementation team that consists of SDSD, and people from the Office of Court Administration and Defender Services (OCADS), and the Office of Judges Programs," Moore said. "The site visit itself is customized for that particular court, depending on its needs." "We acquaint the court's implementation team with their assigned AO implementation team, review the work the court already has done, help organize for the upcoming months, and work with the court on any issue they want us to," Moore said. "That's why it's customized. "Sometimes, we plan sessions specifically for a court's judges. Sometimes we meet with their bar association. Sometimes, we roll up our sleeves and help their systems staff configure the application. Every court is different, and with the mix of individuals on our implementation teams we are ready for just about anything." After the site visit, most of a court's contacts with Moore's team are telephonic. "We sometimes use video conferencing, and sometimes it is necessary to send some implementation team members back to the court to work on specific issues," Moore said. "If a court is having difficulties meeting some of its deadlines or completing some tasks, we may go onsite to help them. Several times we've gone onsite to troubleshoot system-performance issues—configuration issues or training issues." Implementation team members occasionally visit a court to assist with conversion testing or when it goes live. "But most times a court is so prepared that our being there would be more of a distraction than a benefit," Moore said. Once a court has gone live with CM/ECF, court staff members regularly confer with AO staff. "We don't transition the court to our Help Desk for support until the court's staff has worked through all implementation issues and are ready for the transition," Moore said. A court usually is ready for that transition within two months of going live. Problems that arise thereafter become the concern of the CM/ECF Help Desk Team, led by Supervisory IT Specialist Tom Barnard. Thom Baribeau, chief of the SDSD Support Branch under the AO's Office of Information Technology, reports that the implementation and support team has plenty of backup. "We work constantly with the AO-OIT-Infrastructure Management Division, the AO-OCADS Software Development Division, the SDSD Training Branch, hardware vendor, operating system vendor, database vendor, and the service subcontractor," he said. "Overall, we have few hardware failures. The systems are solid and reliable."

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