One advantage to a heavy local adaptation of the new software is that it cuts down on costs, Orange says.
"For example, when Deloitte responded with a $700K quote to build a multi-document viewing tool in CCMS (that OC would have to pay for), we respectfully declined and built it ourselves at a fraction of the cost," the court adds. "We are able to do this because we had complete access to our data, and a competent engineering staff made up of court employees."
On a closely related issue, both Los Angeles and Orange reject the uniformity being pushed by the central administrators in San Francisco.
"County voters are the public to whom superior court judges are accountable," Los Angeles writes. "It is a fruitless hope that one size will fit all, or that one can create one system with a myriad features. A better strategy is to create the capacity within local courts to modify their own case management systems as needed."
Orange says it believes in the "vision" of a common core system statewide that would allow innovation and variation at the local court level. That belief comes with a big dose of doubt.
"We are not particularly sanguine about the AOC's ability to execute the vision. The AOC's current stance is one of overly centralized control and relatively little support for innovation at a local level. On numerous occasions our Court has been asked to 'slow down' to let CCMS 'catch up'."
From there, Orange goes down a list and methodically rips the central bureaucrats on accountability, cost, scope, governance and leadership.
On accountability: "The AOC has a problematic track record in managing CCMS development and achieving delivery dates. They directed courts to stop investing in their legacy case management systems because they were going to rollout a statewide solution in 2008, then 2009, then 2010, then then 2011, then 2012, then 2014, then 2015, then 20??. They have forced courts into using an inferior product (Sustain) in a manner that gives the local trial courts virtually no real-time access to THEIR data."
"They are fixated on a single solution, using overly complex and expensive technology (Tibco, the non data-base parts of Oracle)," said the writer, providing an earful on accountability. "They have not once demonstrated the ability to operate and modify the software without the assistance of Deloitte."
On cost: "The cost of the project has skyrocketed and they continue to march on. CCMS is very expensive. The numbers are more plausible now that they started identifying the true cost of the project." However, local costs tied to data entry and conversion are still not included.
On governance: "CCMS is supposed to be the primary tool that trial courts use to effectively and efficiently administer justice - their core business. The new governance structure seems to assume this has been delivered, yet the system [referring to fourth and supposedly final version of the software] is not working yet in a single court."
On perhaps the most significant item on the list -- leadership -- Orange tells a story.
"In the zeal to centrally control things, project management bristles at any notion of trial court innovation. In 2008, OC advocated for opening up CCMS ever so slightly so that on any CCMS screen a court controlled web-site could be invoked to allow local innovation. This was referred to as the 'magic button.' The AOC's response was emphatically 'no.'"
The writer recounts that the presiding judge and the chief technical officer traveled to San Francisco to argue with the bureaucrats for the ability to make local adaptations to the main software.
"When OC sent the PJ and the CTO up to San Francisco to request these extensions, the response was something to the effect of 'We know OC will be able to innovate and optimize for YOUR purpose but we have to build a solution that has all 58 counties working the same way.' Ironically, at this stage, the AOC regularly refers courts to OC's experience in an effort to show that CCMS could do, and what life could be like after CCMS is running everywhere."
A frequent trial-court criticism of administrative office and Judicial Council officials is to describe them as "dreamers" who do not know the reality of running a trial court. That clash of mindsets let to a "revolt" in 2008 by the local courts, according to Orange, and the central officials backed down.
"There have been examples of the lack of AOC understanding about what actually occurs in a trial court and what functionality is needed," Orange said. "When the trial courts were insisting on functional changes, we were met with resistance until we all revolted in April of 2008. At that point, concessions were made to allow the system to be modified in ways that were beneficial to the trial courts. It should never have come to this."
The surprisingly expansive writer for Orange also gives vivid expression to a frustration in other courts with what they describe as the arrogance of bureaucrats who ignore expertise developed at the local level.
"From a pure technical point of view, the AOC is not fully tapping into their most valuable resource - local court IT and operations professionals. Those folks have a wealth of knowledge on how to make things happen. The AOC has made clear that the local CIO's have NO DECISION MAKING authority in technical decisions. For a while they held 'CIO Briefings' for the lead courts, but these were quickly stopped when it was clear that the tough questions were being asked."
Using the survey as a messenger, both Los Angeles and Orange chose the opportunity to deliver a dire warning.
"The AOC's plan has been overly ambitious," the Los Angeles writer said. "This costly project has not wanted for calls for team spirit and idealism. Nor recently has it wanted for that we must continue because CCMS is too big to fail."
"What CCMS has lacked and continues to lack above all is a mature underlying product and program management strategy and a corresponding sold business case and resource model to ensure its achievement," Los Angeles said.
"In the absence of these," the Los Angeles writer concludes, "risk is extreme."
But Orange County again manages to top L.A., with brisk writing and a more broad and powerful warning.
"The decision makers appear to lack the sophistication and experience to run a program of this size and scale," the Orange County writer says. "Yet, they manipulate the message to imply that everything is great and they are quick to deflect blame onto the trial courts when the system does not operate correctly."
On the final page of its answer, Orange says the central bureaucracy is not fixing the problems but is instead now making them worse. The bureaucrats remain focused on a monolithic system with a single server, and they are now catering to law-enforcement agencies at the expense of the trial courts.
On the final line of the final page, the writer warns: "The Administrative Office of the Courts remains singularly focused on a solution that may cripple the judicial branch."
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