Grand Junction, Colorado
Grand Junction Municipal Court was looking for a solution that would not only support their case management goals, but would also grow with them and their community to provide long-term court solutions.
AGENCY IMPACT
Grand Junction’s previous system was not supported and was failing. “Our old system was literally on its last leg,” said Joanna Adams, Court Administrator for the Grand Junction Municipal Court. “The only remaining part to fix it was in England—yes, the country—and we already had it!” Grand Junction chose JustWare | Municipal Court to replace their legacy system.
We now have a court case management solution that works! It’s a system that will grow with us.
Joanna Adams, Court Administrator, Grand Junction Municipal Court
JustWare made an immediate impact on the Grand Junction Municipal Court. “Because our old court system was on its last leg, we needed to make a decision quickly and then jump right in and start working with the JustWare ‘boys’ and our IT department,” recalled Adams. Grand Junction staff, from top to bottom, rolled up their sleeves and pushed the JustWare installation forward. Due to their buy-in, and the skilled work of a New Dawn project management team, Grand Junction’s JustWare implementation, which even included a data conversion, took only six months from the time of purchase—which was record time for the project management team.
“We now have a court case management solution that works!” Adams celebrated. “It’s a system that will grow with us.”
COMMUNITY IMPACT
Through JustWare, Grand Junction’s financial management, including restitution, advanced payments, and reconciliation, will be greatly enhanced, creating a more friendly and efficient court for the public.
“Having the ability to tell someone what their total balance is between all of their cases is a big benefit to them and us,” said Adams. Grand Junction’s legacy system had no way of viewing all of the cases for each person; whenever someone called to ask about their balance, clerks would have to open each individual case in which they were involved and manually calculate the total. JustWare’s name centric database allows court staff to retrieve a total for each person over all of their cases, making for faster time at the court window.
JustWare’s ability to separate restitution payments will help the court effectively route money to victims. Reconciliation features also allow the court to more closely account for the funds that move through the court, overall making Grand Junction a better steward of public money.
Grand Junction will also take full advantage of JustWare’s document management features, including one-click document generation and triggered document generation through JustWare business rules. The court’s legacy system did not allow for automated documents, causing wrong documents, especially incorrect warrants, to be issued to the public. JustWare’s document management system will ensure that proper warrants and documents are directed to the correct people, creating a more positive interaction with the court.
Looking ahead to further increase efficiency, Grand Junction has purchased the JustWare API to integrate with Grand Junction Police Department’s e-ticketing system. The interface will automatically gather ticket information from police records, saving the court significant time and effort.