Orange County Superior Court Modernizes Case Management Systems Data to Better Serve Community

The Orange County Superior Court (OCSC) unified data from its disparate case management systems to improve operational efficiency and effectiveness and introduce better data-driven decision making. For more than one hundred years, OCSC managed its case files manually, accumulating more than 70 million critical documents that required physical storage and transport. In 2018, OCSC unified its three disparate case managements systems into a singular data warehouse. With this unified solution, OCSC can leverage data to deliver solutions and explore new opportunities on Microsoft Azure to be a pioneer in modernizing court operations.

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Located just southeast of Los Angeles, the Orange County Superior Court (OCSC) is the fifth largest trial court in the US. Supporting a population of 3.2 million people, the court’s 144 judges preside over hundreds of cases each day. Previously, the court processed its vast caseload manually-storing and maintaining 70 million paper files that required physical transport across the often-gridlocked highways of Southern California for filings and appearances.

“We have in our court three different case management systems. They were developed at different times, using different technologies, and they didn’t talk to one another. What we had to do was put that information into a singular environment,” says David Yamasaki, Court Executive Officer of OCSC.

In 2018, OCSC embarked on a digital transformation journey with the goal of bringing its disparate case management systems into a single data warehouse. Because of this transformation, OCSC was one of the first courts to safely resume operations after the start of the pandemic, shifting to virtual options like remote hearings and online dispute resolution to maintain its commitment to due process.

“We’re willing to take risks in this court. We want to be the most effective, efficient court possible,” says Adriaan Ayers, Chief Operations Officer of OCSC.

Now that its case data has been unified, OCSC can generate Power BI dashboards and apply analytics to better understand and manage its resources. The court’s 1500 employees take pride in supporting the community as a digital pioneer in the criminal justice system.

“We’ve really centralized around data, and data drives everything that we do. It really helps us be more confident in making our decisions,” says Darren Dang, Chief Financial & Administrative Officer of OCSC.

“We have in our court three different case management systems. They were developed at different times, using different technologies, and they didn’t talk to one another. What we had to do was put all of that information into a singular environment.”

David Yamasaki, Court Executive Officer, Orange County Superior Court