"With more than 1.5 million cases filed in Indiana courts each year, Hoosier law enforcement officers, lawyers, government agencies, and citizens need timely and accurate court information," said Justice Frank Sullivan, Jr., chair of the Supreme Court's Judicial Technology and Automation Committee (JTAC). "Indiana courts and court clerks must have a 21st century computer system to help them manage their caseloads and provide court information to those who need it. While many individual courts have computerized case management systems today, we believe Tyler offers us the best opportunity to equip Indiana courts with a 21st century case management system and to connect those systems with each other and with those who need and use court information."
The Court's selection of Tyler completed months of review of 14 proposals submitted by vendors from throughout the country in response to a public solicitation earlier this year. The selection process included week-long product demonstrations in Indianapolis by finalist vendors, including demonstrations open to the public. More than 175 individuals attended these public sessions. Indiana judges, clerks, and other experts also traveled to courts in Indiana and other states where finalist vendors' systems were in use.
The Court anticipates that, prior to signing a contract with Tyler to supply and install Odyssey in Indiana, Tyler and JTAC will enter into a limited contract to conduct a detailed assessment of the functions of Odyssey and the functions required by JTAC to assure that the time, effort and cost of any additional application development work needed to meet the Court's functional requirements are reasonable and acceptable. In 2002, the Supreme Court contracted with another vendor for a similar computer system. That contract, said Tyler in a release, was canceled. A factor in the cancellation was the vendor's unwillingness to perform additional application development work needed to meet the Court's functional requirements.
Tyler's proposal projects costs of approximately $13.4 million over the life of the project for software licensing, maintenance and support and for vendor provided training and deployment. The Court will now begin contract negotiations with Tyler that will also include terms for software modifications and application development the Court deems necessary.
