Public Notice Detail

ST. PAUL, MN (July 23, 2002) – The State Judicial Branch has signed a contract to implement the Minnesota Court Information System (MNCIS), a new computer system that will link court records across the state and bring the judiciary into the 21st century technologically.

MNCIS is a large and essential component of CriMNet, a criminal justice computer network that will connect all 1,100 criminal justice organizations across the state.

“Every single person in the criminal justice system relies on information to do his or her job.  Therefore, the quality of the decisions made is based in large part on the quality of information we have,” said Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice Kathleen A. Blatz.  “MNCIS will transform our outdated information systems so that we have the reliable and up-to-date information we need to do our jobs well.”

Under the $11 million contract, the Minnesota Judicial Branch and Tyler Technologies of Dallas, Texas will implement the Odyssey Case Management System.  Odyssey is a new, web-based system that will consolidate the judiciary’s case processing and tracking functions.

“This contract is a quantum leap forward for MNCIS and the state court system,” said District Court Judge Thomas G. McCarthy, an executive sponsor on the project.  “Working with Tyler Technologies means that Minnesota’s courts don’t have to build and test a new case management system from scratch.  Tyler has already spent millions of dollars and hours developing Odyssey, which will lessen the judiciary’s risks and costs while significantly improving the collection, storage, retrieval, tracking and sharing of court information.”

In January 2003, Carver County District Court will unveil the Odyssey Case Management System and put it to use.  It will then be implemented in five additional pilot counties, including Hennepin County.  Eventually, all 87 counties in the state will use the system to link their court records.

Planning for MNCIS began in 2000, when the State Legislature passed “Katie’s Law,” launched CriMNet and provided funding to rebuild the court system’s information databases.  The current system is out-of-date, poorly integrated and hard to use.  It was built to warehouse, not to retrieve data, so it is difficult to get information back out of it for policy evaluations or public requests.  Effective scheduling, electronic filing and critical judicial support are not possible under the current system.

Since 2000, a statewide team of judges, court officials and information technology experts has assessed the court system’s needs, developed designs for MNCIS, and evaluated vendors.  The team will continue to oversee the MNCIS project until it is implemented statewide by Tyler Technologies.

Tyler Technologies has worked with nearly 6,000 local government offices in 49 states, Canada and Puerto Rico to help them use technology to become more accessible to the public, more responsive to citizens’ needs and more efficient.

Visit http://criminal.justice.state.mn.us/mncis/home/default.htm for more information about the MNCIS project.