Law Times

Page 2 NEWS January 7, 2013 Law Times • AG's court technology plans falter yet again Despite many efforts and plenty of spending, province still has no comprehensive electronic system BY GLENN KAUTH Law Times P rovincial plans for a comprehensive electronic system for Ontario's courts are once again up in the air as the government takes another stab at reviewing "all our information technology needs and priorities." User training for the Court Information Management System — which one document claims will "fundamentally alter internal and public access to the courts" — was to begin in spring 2012 under a phased implementation plan. But according to Ministry of the Attorney General spokesman Jason Gennaro, it hasn't yet happened as the government once again looks to determine an implementation date. "As with all projects, it is necessary to periodically review the status to ensure we are meeting our goals," he said. ences to the issue. "We've engaged exIn 2010, a followup ternal specialists to resection in the auditor view the progress made general's report conon CIMS to date and taining a previous exprovide us with advice amination of technology about where we should services noted the mingo from here." istry's vow to have a first The development version of CIMS, a sysis only the latest in a tem aimed at integrating long series of struggles existing programs with at the ministry to get a enhanced functionality, comprehensive court While there have been some tentative steps, Ontario still has no ready by spring 2012. technology system off comprehensive electronic system in its courts. Illustration: Gail J. Cohen The 2010 report folthe ground that would lowed an examination allow for enhancements such as on CIMS is $9.9 million, which ac- in 2008 that noted the ministry electronic document filing. In the cording to Gennaro is the amount had obtained cabinet approval meantime, the government has the government budgeted. four years earlier for "essential upBut while the spending contin- grades" to ICON and FRANK in been spending lots of money on its various technology efforts. Ac- ues, numerous documents show order to position them for future cording to ministry spokesman the ministry's repeated difficulties integration into a planned single Brendan Crawley, spending over in getting a comprehensive system case-management system. At the the last six years on the existing that allows electronic document time, the target date for a single systems that mainly provide case- filing and retrieval off the ground. case-management system was Auditor general's reports 2009-10. tracking and scheduling functions — ICON, FRANK, and Estates — from the last decade, for examIn 2005, another followup from was $13.8 million. 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The report also reiterated the need for "timely implementation of new technologies." In response, the ministry said it was working on FRANK, a program that provides case tracking but doesn't provide access to court documents themselves. Besides the auditor general's reports, documents on the various court technology programs tried by the government over the years and obtained by Law Times through a freedom of information request indicate some of the long-standing struggles with the software. A 2001 threat assessment for the ICON program, for example, noted ICON had no intrusion-detection or antivirus software installed on it. "This creates the possibility that, should an unauthorized access of the ICON system occur, it may go undetected for 24 hours," the threat assessment stated. In addition, the threat assessment pointed to problems related to high attrition and increased workloads and the need for user-education sessions for employees. It also called for the implementation of a security policy. Asked why the government has had so much difficulty getting a more comprehensive system off the ground over the years, Gennaro pointed to the complexity of the task. "Ontario is one of the largest court jurisdictions in North America with extensive criminal, family, civil, small claims, and provincial offences operations," he said. "In such a complex environment, modernizing the support systems is a large undertaking." For former Ontario attorney general Charles Harnick, the time has come to see real progress. "I think it goes without saying that it's long overdue," said Harnick, who was auditor general in the late 1990s when the Integrated Justice Project began and now works as a mediator and arbitrator in Toronto. Harnick doesn't fault anyone for those problems and echoes Gennaro's comments about the difficulty in integrating a system as complex as Ontario's. "There are so many other day-to-day things that people are worried about," he said, noting the need for a "champion" within the government to move the issue forward. LT

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