MCP Turns Around Ohio County’s Justice-Technology Upgrade Project

Lucas County is in the northwestern corner of Ohio, bordered by Lake Erie to the north and the Maumee River to the southeast. It has a population of about 43,000. The county seat and largest city is Toledo, which is known for its minor-league baseball team, the University of Toledo, and two automotive assembly plants.

County officials determined that it needed technology and process upgrades to better support the Court of Common Pleas and Clerk of Court, as well as the county’s integrated justice services (IJS) division, and its information-technology (IT) organization, which supports numerous county agencies. Through no fault of the county’s, the project soon went awry. Consequently, county officials hired Mission Critical Partners to get the project moving again in the right direction.

The Challenge

The project primarily involved implementation of an integrated case-management system (CMS), an electronic-filing (e-filing) system, and IJS applications . Another vendor was leading the project, but the county found that the vendor was not meeting its obligations, so a change was necessary.

What MCP Did

In addition to providing critical subject-matter expertise regarding implementation of the CMS and related applications, the e-filing system, and the IJS applications, MCP also provided much-needed project management. Specific tasks performed by the firm include the following:

• Assisted in amicably terminating the contract with the underperforming vendor
• Defined technical requirements and specifications
• Provided procurement assistance, including evaluation of prospective vendors and contract negotiation with the selected vendor
• Facilitated organizational change management to ease the transition of users to the new technology

The Results

Lucas County has deployed a new CMS and related applications used by court personnel, prosecutors, and the community-supervision system. It also has in place a new e-filing system. With completion of this phase, MCP has transitioned to a second phase that involves providing strategic-planning, procurement, and project-management services to the IJS division related to implementation of its applications over the next several years.

The Benefits

The new state-of-the-art case-management system is enhancing data acquisition, storage and sharing across the county’s entire justice ecosystem while also streamlining operations and reducing errors. The e-filing system is improving how the citizenry interacts with the justice ecosystem, resulting in better customer service and fairer outcomes.