New municipal court computer system plods along
Over the weekend, KTRK-13 excitedly reported on a new computer system for the municipal courts:
Saturday morning, a new, state-of-the-art computer system went online at the municipal courthouse downtown.
The goal is to, one day, put all of the paper records on computers and make them easier to transmit digitally. The new computer system will manage 1.2 million records every year. The one it's replacing is 18 years old.
Eventually, the court's goal is to reduce staff and improve customer service as a result of this system.
"State-of-the-art" must not be quite as good as "world-class," because there have been some problems. Here's a more recent KTRK report:
Officials with the Houston municipal courthouse say it will take a little time to iron out the kinks in their new computer system and that means delays.
Frustrated residents were forced to wait in very long lines for hours on Monday. The new computer system replaces one that's 18 years old. Court officials say it will eventually make it easier to transmit records online.
"Until you actually get in there and work with it, you can't get real proficient," said acting cirector and chief clerk Richard Lewis. "So every day our goal is to improve the speeds in which the user performs their transactions."
The lines got so long that administrators were forced to offer free parking for those who waited.
Other media outlets were less upbeat about the problems. Here's KPRC-2's reporting:
"It's horrible. It is beyond horrible. I never had to wait this long in the courthouse before," a Houston driver said.
"They should have trained over the weekend or implemented some other kind of system to make it work," driver Joel Sanchez said.
Elizabeth Hernandez waited seven hours in a hallway with her six-month-old and 2 1/2-year-old daughters while her husband waited in court on a minor traffic violation.
"Reschedule or something. This is so ridiculous," she said. "It's just ridiculous. The babies are crying. You think they would do something to help people out and help themselves out."
City officials admitted there is a learning curve for judges, clerks and other staffers who have been handling cases another way for 18 years.
"It's probably going to take a little bit longer until they get up the learning curve and the repetition of using the new system," said Richard Lewis, the director of Information Technology.
[snip]
City officials said Monday's performance of the computer system was better than a trial run in January. They said it could take between 30 and 90 days for the system to be at full speed.
And that's supposed to make people feel better now?
Here's KHOU-11's reporting:
The $13 million system computerizing traffic ticket paperwork went online Saturday.
“This is the first real business day,” said Richard Lewis, Houston Information Technology Director. “And it’s gonna take a lot, a little while to get back to the same speed. We’ve trained them, but it really only is going to come from experience.”
City officials said this whole process will speed up once municipal courts workers become accustomed to the new computer system. But some of the attorneys who work the courthouse on a daily basis are skeptical.
Lawyers who used to pass paperwork around courtrooms said they now have to wait to get onto one of two computers.
“You’re stuck with whatever you can see on that computer,” said Cynthia Rodriguez, defense attorney. “And if there are several defense attorneys that are needing to get to that computer, then it’s even a backlog at the computer system.”
But as court workers convert their 18-year-old computer system.
“We ask for a little patience, because as every time when you change from one system to another, there is a learning curve,” Berta Mejia, Municipal courts director.
Great! I'm sure that everyone whose time is being wasted is happy to know that staff have not been adequately trained to use the new system efficiently, and instead will simply plod along and figure things out as they go along.
Mayor White frequently says the city should function like a business. This is not an example of the city functioning like a business. And the notion that we should just expect ineptitude for a while isn't very businesslike either.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 04/04/06 10:51 PM | Print |
Previous Entry | Home | Next Entry
ADVERTISING
DISCLAIMER
All content © 2004-09, blogHOUSTON and the respective authors.
blogHOUSTON.net is powered by Nucleus.
Site design and Nucleus customization are by Kevin Whited.