CMIS - THE NECESSARY BUILDING STEPS Director General of NCA, Mr Sven Marius Urke

1. CMIS - THE NECESSARY BUILDING STEPS Director General of NCA, Mr Sven Marius Urke

2. Scope of visit? • Case Management and Information System for Courts and Prosecutor’s Offices. Objectives? • Support the top management of the judiciary in increased CMS awareness and understanding: CMS and judicial functioning Institutional requirements

3. CMS and digitalization is nothing more or less thanthenewfunctionalplatform in society and in thejudiciary • The CMIS IS CHANNELING JUSTICE • Hence - wewill not be discussinghair-splitting technicaldetails

4. CMS – for what purpose? • Efficiency at court/case level • Uniformityofprocedures • Better qualityof data processed • Access to courtdecisions • Planning ofbudget and resources • Efficiency • Quality • Trust • Independence

5. Building CMS – lessonslearned • European level • CMS is even more an organizational reform than a ICT reform • Regional WB level? • How wastheculturalimpactof and on CMS assessed during design stage?

6. Building CMS – lessonslearned • European level • CMS at thecrossroadsbetweenlaw and technology • Regional WB level? • How is CMS developmentrooted in internal and externalusers?

7. Building CMS – lessonslearned • European level • Strive for simplicityinsteadofbeingtooambitious • Regional WB level? • Mass userexpectations? • Judiciaryvsprosecutors? • Experiences from Kosovo?

8. Building CMS – lessonslearned • European level • Antecipatingfuturedevelopment • Regional WB level? • Future legal procedural reforms ( proceduralinstability)

9. Building CMS – lessonslearned • European level • Sustainablefundingof CMS maintenance • Regional WB level? • National budgets, how to prioritize ? • International support?

10. Building CMS – lessonslearned • European level • Organization and integrationof CMS in overall judiciary– brilliance in fundingprocesses • Regional WB level? • International donor coordination?

11. The softwaresupplier- pointofview

12. The purpose of the report • Assess the status of the implementation • Assess whether changes to the scope is needed • Assess whether additional founding is needed • Outline the content of a possible follow up project • Provide an estimate of the long term annual costs for the operations, maintenance and further development of the CMIS

13. The Main findings • There is a delay in the development of the software • There is a shortfall of funds for critical equipment • Due to the delays it will not be possible to roll out CMIS in the Pristina region in this phase of the project • The institutions signing the MoU of September 2013 – the Ministry of Justice, the KJC and the KPC – has not fully realized the long term budgetary and organizational consequences of the project

14. Main recommendations • Additional funding for the communication equipment should be provided • The scope of the project should be reduced by excluding roll out of the CMIS in the Pristina and Mitrovica regions • Legislative drafting should be speeded up • A follow up project should be drafted • The CMIS should become a high national sector priority • A plan for full transition to national institutions during the next project phase should be prepared

15. CMIS - what and why? New way of registering and processing cases which has several important and positive effects: • Information is registered only once and it is reused automatically is subsequent operations - facilitates efficiency and accuracy • Easy access to information for many at the same time - facilitates transparency, production of statistics and management • Standardization of working procedures - ensures efficiency and quality

16. Previous attempt and why it failed The first CMIS for courts and prosecutors offices in Kosovo was financed by EU and implemented during 2002 – 2007 Why did it fail? • Inadequate organization of the project: lack of local ownership, not sufficiently focused on the “human factor” • Institutional immaturity – Kosovo was not ready • Financial framework not in place

17. What is different this time? • Everything! (I hope ………) • KJC and KPC are more mature institutions • The general level of IT-maturity among judges, prosecutors and support staff is higher • The implementation methodology is based on local ownership. The project is implemented by the KJC and KPC. • The international community is in a supporting position • Both the Government and the implementing institutions have committed themselves to support the project – MoU of September 2013

18. The project is still high risk! • All advanced ICT-project are demanding and risky! • Particularly in environments where the use of a information technology equires a change of culture • And where management, maintenance and further development of the CMIS require financial prioritization that are hard to make

19. Software development - status • In the report we concluded that the software development was at least 2 months delayed • Since then further delays have occurred • The delay has consequences for the training programme and the roll out of the system • Action taken/to be taken (Fatmir: we must fill in here on Wednesday)

20. Main message

21. Purchase of equipment - status • Due to significantly increased costs for software development, the budget for equipment was reduced • At his stage of the project the most critical issue is the funding of the communication equipment (LAN/WAN) of 560.000 Euro) • Fatmir: has this been sorted out?

22. Drafting of regulations – status • Following the sustainability report the KJC, KPC and the IC established a working group for drafting the sub regulations needed for implementation of the CMIS in courts and prosecutors offices. It is expected to be adopted by (Fatmir???) • A package of concrete legislative changes necessary for the use of the CMIS in courts was handed over to the Ministry of Justice in June 2016. The status is unknown. (Fatmir ??)

23. ICT organization • The project organization is satisfactory • However, the transition from a project organization to a regular ICT organization financed by the regular budget must be planned and implemented gradually • Getting the ICT organization in place is the responsibility of the KJC and KPC in cooperation with the Ministry of Justice and/or the Government (MoU). There is not much progress! • Any further donor funding should be made dependent on a realistic, national transition plan

24. Next project phase? • Very much needed! • The currently agreed scope cannot be achieved – Mitrovica and Pristina regions • Delay of software development will require more time for training and roll out also in other regions • Implementation of an advanced CMIS can in any case not be completed in such a short period • KJC and KPC need time to adjust to the new reality, both financially and organizationally • But there have to be a TRANSITION PLAN

25. What should the focus of the next phase be? • Training and roll out to all regions • FURTHER EMBED the use of the CMIS in all locations • Focus on the HUMAN FACTOR, training of judges, prosecutors and staff • Refine the CMIS software but DO NOT DEVELOP NEW FANCY SOLUTIONS • Focus on really using the technology to change the way of working • Reduce the number of support staff in courts and prosecutor's offices to secure future financing of the CMIS

26. Long term costs • The CMIS system cannot be sustained over time by international donors • The system must be financed through national budgets • In most countries institutions will get funding for such systems by the Government (the one off investment costs) • But normally the costs for operations, maintenance and further development will have to be financed by reducing other budgetary costs – typically staff reductions • Is the KJC and KPC ready to do this? • If not – will the project be sustainable?

27. Future costs – staff • It is recommended that a fully centralized ICT department is established to operate and maintain the CMIS • This department should be responsible for the CMIS both for courts and prosecutor's offices. It could be placed in the KJC and provide services to the KPC. • In addition a network of regional ICT support staff must be established to assist users in courts and prosecutor's offices

28. Future costs – staff • It is recommended that a fully centralized ICT department is established to operate and maintain the CMIS • This department should be responsible for the CMIS both for courts and prosecutor's offices. It could be placed in the KJC and provide services to the KPC. • In addition a network of regional ICT support staff must be established to assist users in courts and prosecutor's offices

29. Future costs – staff • Currently the KPC has 3 IT staff financed by the budget at the HQ and the KJC has 6 • The new ICT department should have a total of 19 staff • There is a need of 36 regional IT-support staff (currently only 17 are financed from the budgets) • Total staffing costs for staff will be around 500.000 Euro (current costs are around 220.000 Euro)

30. Other long term costs • Maintenance and further development of the software – normally between 12% and 18% of the costs of what has been developed (300.000 – 450.000 Euro annually) • Licences • Equipment • Telecommunications

31. Future costs – total budget

32. Some final remarks • It is a high risk project but it is not “rocket science”, it will not fail due to uncontrollable circumstances • The project can be done as long as you understand that this is NOT about an IT-project that can be left to the IT department to deal with • It is about a transformation of the judiciary that YOU have to be in charge of! • And you must be willing to prioritize and make (unpopular) decisions

33. A big jump You have the support of the international community Success is up to you!