Florida Courts Technology Commission

Florida Courts TechnologyCommission Overview

Effective October 19, 2021Prepared by OSCA-OIT Governance Staff

Florida Courts Technology Commission (FCTC)

• The FCTC was established in Rule 2.236 as a standing Supreme Court commission

in 2010. The purpose of the FCTC is to oversee, manage, and direct the

development and use of technology within the judicial branch under the direction of

the Florida Supreme Court.

• One of the key responsibilities of the Commission is to promote public trust and

confidence in the judicial branch by delivering timely, consistent, and useful

information through traditional and innovative communication methods, as well as

utilizing compatible technology infrastructures to improve case management to

meet the needs of the judicial branch and court users.

• The FCTC shall coordinate and review recommendations regarding all court policy

matters relating to the use of technology in support of the effective administration of

justice.

FCTC (continued)• The subcommittees or workgroups that may be established shall adhere to technology

policies and standards adopted by the Commission, shall regularly report the progress

of their work to the Commission and shall recommend any action that the Commission

should take as the result of their work.

• The Commission shall prepare for each calendar year a report which it will submit to

the Supreme Court by April 1 of the following calendar year.

• The FCTC membership will consists of 25 members and include the following: (2)

district court judges; (5) circuit court judges, including one chief judge; (2) county court

judges; (3) court administrators; (3) court technology officers; (4) clerks of court,

including one appellate court clerk; (4) Florida Bar members, including one Board of

Governors member; and (2) members of the public at large.

FCTC Members

Jon Lin, TCA, 5th Judicial Circuit

Stevan Northcutt, Appellate Judge, 2nd DCA

Terence Perkins, Circuit Judge, 7th Judicial Circuit

Leslie Powell-Boudreaux, Florida Bar, Tallahassee

Karen Rushing, Clerk of Court, Sarasota County

Paul Silverman, TCA, 8th Judicial Circuit

Murray Silverstein, Florida Bar, Tampa

Mike Smith, CTO, 4th Judicial Circuit

Bertila Soto, Circuit Judge, 11th Judicial Circuit

John Stewart, Florida Bar, Vero Beach

Craig Van Brussel, CTO, 1st Judicial Circuit

Lonn Weissblum, Appellate Clerk of Court, 4th DCA

Robert Adelardi, CTO, 11th Judicial Circuit

Martin Bidwill, Circuit Judge, 17th Judicial Circuit

Mike Bridenback, Public Member, Wesley Chapel

Hunter Carroll, Circuit Judge, 12th Judicial Circuit

Angel Colonneso, Clerk of Court, Manatee County

Robyn Gable, TCA, 14th Judicial Circuit

Josephine Gagliardi, County Judge, Lee County

Tara Green, Clerk of Court, Clay County

Robert Hilliard, County Judge, Santa Rosa County

Paul Jones, Public Member, West Palm Beach

Jeffrey Kuntz, Appellate Judge, 4th DCA

Laird Lile, Florida Bar Board of Governors, Naples

Chief Judge Lisa Taylor Munyon, Circuit Judge, 9th Judicial Circuit (Chair)

Florida Courts Technology CommissionChief Judge Lisa T. Munyon - Chair

Technical Standards Subcommittee

Mike Smith

Certification Subcommittee

Judge Terence Perkins

Appellate Courts

Technology Committee

Judge Stevan Northcutt

Access Governance Board

Judge Robert Hilliard

FCTC Committee Structure

FDC Joint WorkgroupJudge Martin Bidwill

Cybersecurity Subcommittee Robert Adelardi

Active FCTC Subcommittee/Workgroups - October 2021

eWarrant Workgroup

Judge Martin Bidwill

Portal Subcommittee


RJA Joint WorkgroupJudge Gagliardi

CMS Standards Subcommittee

Judge Josephine Gagliardi

Cyber-Education & Outreach Workgroup

Jeff Forsythe

Chief Information Officer - OSCA Lead Staff

Roosevelt Sawyer, Jr.

Scanned Portal Filings Workgroup

Murray Silverstein

Cyber-Review Workgroup

Robert Adelardi


Judge Robert Hilliard (Chair)

Robert Adelardi

Noel Chessman

Clerk Angel Colonneso

Melvin Cox

Mike Smith

Jean Sperbeck

Jeff Taylor


Mike Smith (Chair)

Robert Adelardi (Co-Chair)

Noel Chessman

Melvin Cox

Judge Robert Hilliard

Sunny Nemade


Terry Rodgers

Steve Shaw

Sarwar Siddiqui

Jeff Taylor

Craig Van Brussel

FCTCSubcommittee/WorkgroupMembers

CMS Standards Subcommittee

Judge Josephine Gagliardi (Chair)

Judge Paul Alessandroni

Doug Bakke

Amy Borman

Judge Hunter Carroll

Noel Chessman

David Isaacson

Sunny Nemade


Clerk Karen Rushing

Paul Silverman

Mike Smith

Jean Sperbeck

PJ Stockdale (OSCA)

Judge William Stone

OSCA STAFF: Lakisha Hall, Roosevelt Sawyer, Jr., Alan Neubauer, and Hetal Patel


OSCA STAFF: Lakisha Hall, Roosevelt Sawyer, Jr., Alan Neubauer, and Hetal Patel

FCTC/RJA Joint Workgroup

Judge Josephine Gagliardi (Chair)

Tom Hall

Murray Silverstein

Mike Smith


Judge Terence Perkins (Chair)

Robert Adelardi


Kevin Bowen

Noel Chessman

Jon Lin

Yanitza Madrigal

Mike Smith

Craig Van Brussel

Portal Subcommittee

Judge Martin Bidwill (Chair)

Robert Adelardi

Fernando Cabrera

Noel Chessman

Melvin Cox

Rex Dimmig

Judge Josephine Gagliardi

Laird Lile

Yanitza Madrigal

Thomas Morris

Sunny Nemade

Leslie Powell-Boudreaux

Terry Rodgers

Murray Silverstein

John Stewart

Jeff Taylor

Craig Van Brussel

Carolyn Weber

Clerk Lonn Weissblum


FDC Joint Workgroup



Robert Adelardi

Doug Bakke

Chief Laura Bedard

Melvin Cox

Rex Dimmig

Tom Hall

Justin Horan

Aaron Hubbard

Tony Landry

Wendy Ling

Thomas Morris

Lance Neff

Shannon Peters

Clerk Karen Rushing

Clerk John Tomasino

Carolyn Weber

Clerk Lonn Weissblum

Joe Winkler

OSCA STAFF: Jeannine Moore, Roosevelt Sawyer, Jr., Alan Neubauer, and Hetal Patel

Cybersecurity Subcommittee

Robert Adelardi (Chair)

Judge Steve Berlin

Kevin Bowen

Judge Hunter Carroll

Chris Corzine

Jeffrey Forsythe

Brian Franza

Craig Galley

Gary Hagan

Richard Haney

Jon Lin

Craig McLean

Emeka Okammor

Terry Rodgers

Al Saikali

Steve Shaw

Paul Silverman

Mike Smith

Craig Van Brussel

Carolyn Weber

Gavin Green (OSCA)


Ewarrant Workgroup


Fernando Cabrera

William “Bill” Cail

Clerk Tara Green

Tony Landry

Terry Rodgers

John Rundgren

Craig Van Brussel

Carolyn Weber

OSCA STAFF: Jeannine Moore, Roosevelt Sawyer, Jr., Alan Neubauer, and Hetal Patel

Scanned PDF Portal Filings Workgroup

Murray Silverstein (Chair)


Laird Lile

Leslie Powell-Boudreaux

Mike Smith

John Stewart

Carolyn Weber

The Portal Subcommittee was established to work with the Florida Court Clerks &

Comptrollers (FCCC) on the development of and modifications to the Portal and serve as a

liaison group between the FCTC and the Florida Courts E-FilingAuthority.

• In 2010, the Florida Courts Portal was developed and began accepting electronic

filings on January 1, 2011. The Portal is designed to be a delivery method to local

case management systems;

• The Florida Courts Efiling Authority has exclusive jurisdiction over the Portal and the

Portal Subcommittee is an advisory group to the Board of Directors regarding Portal

enhancements;

• Review revisions, provide input, and endorse recommendations on Portal

modifications from the Portal Change Advisory Board (CAB) for scheduled releases;

and

• Continue to review Portal functionality for uniform progressions.

Portal Subcommittee

The Florida Department of Corrections (FDC) Joint Workgroup was established as a joint

effort between the Courts, FDC, the Clerks, and law enforcement agencies to improve

dialogue on matters of mutual concern in the criminal justice process.

• Established a proposed warrant process for electronically filing VOP warrants to the

Court;

• Provide input to the Criminal Court Steering Committee on FDC’s digitized Criminal

Punishment Code Scoresheet process;

• Assist FDC with expanding the electronic filing of VOP documents to the Court,

electronic delivery of prison commitment packets to the reception centers from local

counties, and an electronic process for orders of supervision;

• Coordinate efforts on a virtual courtroom initiative that would allow inmates to appear

remotely for certain court proceedings; and

• Assist FDC with expanding options on a vendor tablet solution to

access/receive/storage of inmate mail for court documents

FDC Joint Workgroup

The Cybersecurity Subcommittee was established to recommend minimum security

standards and education training protocols for the judicial branch.

• Created the Cyber-Review Subgroup to review and establish security standards and

build a framework to define and recommend initial minimum-security measures that

can be applied statewide;

• Reviewed security concerns regarding hyperlinks in court filed documents via the

Portal and provided recommendation to the FCTC;

• Established the Cyber-Education and Outreach Subgroup to determine

recommendations on education and training protocols for court users that can be

applied statewide; and

• Assist with surveying circuits on current court cybersecurity processes, priorities, and

resource needs to provide report and recommendations for consideration to the

Supreme Court.

Cybersecurity Subcommittee

The ewarrant workgroup was established to research an electronic standardized

process for generating electronic warrants through the Portal.

• Performed survey of current circuit electronic processes to analyze objective;

• Demonstrated the 12th Circuit’s ewarrant solution for possible circuit utility; and

• Assisted with research for possible cross-jurisdictional support for a statewide

ewarrant solution from OSCA.

Ewarrant Workgroup

The scanned PDF Portal filings workgroup was established to research and

identify educational opportunities for deterring scanned filings submitted through

the Portal.

• Provided statistics on number of PDF filings that are searchable and non-

searchable;

• Researched feasibility of pilot within counties currently accepting and storing

PDFs in their case maintenance system (CMS); and

• Included clerk participation in discussion for interest in pilot.

Scanned PDF Portal Filings Workgroup

The Access Governance Board was established to develop an access security matrix;

develop a reference guide for high level overview of the access and associated policies;

and develop a web catalog of the security matrix for application developers. The

purpose was to facilitate a uniform statewide approach to providing carefully managed,

secure access to electronic court records.

• Updated the Standards for Access to Electronic Court Records, which

establishes technical and operational requirements for electronic access to court

records by the public, special user groups, judges, and court and clerk’s office

personnel, and the Access Security Matrix, which defines levels of access for

specific user groups based upon applicable court rules, statutes, and

administrative policies, and graphically displays the level of access permitted to

specific user groups;

▪ Working with agencies to update the Standards and Matrix after the

implementation of the Matrix in the clerk’s Comprehensive Case

Information System (CCIS).


• Overseeing the Clerks of Court online electronic records access pilot programs;

Access Governance Board (continued)

The CMS Functional Standards Subcommittee was established to develop functional

standards for clerks’ Case Maintenance Systems (CMS) to assure that such system

meet the needs of the judiciary and OSCA for the clerk’s court-related functions, the

Florida Bar, and other partners.

CMS Functional Standards Subcommittee

• Continuing to work on developing Case Maintenance System standards.

• Developed a document identification number (DIN) standard. All clerks of court

are required to stamp a DIN on all new filings at the time of docketing through

their CMS.

• Worked with the Civil Case Management Standards Workgroup to adopt

standardized docket codes to identify a case as general, streamlined, or

complex to comply with the civil case management standards outlined in

AOSC20-23, Amendment 12.

https://www.floridasupremecourt.org/content/download/731687/file/AOSC20-23-Amendment-12.pdf

CMS Functional Standards Subcommittee

(continued)

• Reviewed a request from the Commission on Trial Court Performance and

Accountability’s Data Quality Workgroup that included working through data

quality issues.

▪ The Office of the State Courts Administrator is working on

implementing Uniform Case Reporting (UCR). This should help with

data quality issues.

The Certification subcommittee was established to view demonstrations and certify vendors

in compliance with the Functional Requirements for Court Application Processing System

(CAPS). Any system implemented must adhere to the functional requirements, and

vendors must be certified to sell their product to any county in Florida. There are two types

of Certification:


• Full Certification is when a vendor has fully complied with all of the CAPS standards

and the current version of the Florida Supreme Court Standards for Electronic Access

to the Courts.

▪ Mentis Technologies, Pioneer Technology Group, the Eighth, Thirteenth,

Fifteenth, and Seventeenth Judicial Circuits are fully certified.

• Provisional Certification is when a vendor ’s system meets only a part of the CAPS

standards and the current version of the Florida Supreme Court Standards for

Electronic Access to the Courts. Provisional certification is for six months and may

be renewed at the discretion of the FCTC.

• Reviewed a request from Chief Justice Canady to display case status

information via CAPS.

▪ The Subcommittee is working on enhancing the case status

information that currently exist in CAPS. This includes working with

the CMS Standards Subcommittee to capture the correct data

elements and translate them accurately into the court-specific status

classifications.

• Worked with the Civil Case Management Standards Workgroup to identify

reporting functions that complies with the civil case management standards

outlined in AOSC20-23, Amendment 12.

Certification Subcommittee (continued)

https://www.floridasupremecourt.org/content/download/731687/file/AOSC20-23-Amendment-12.pdf

The FCTC/RJA Joint Workgroup was established to review technology standards and

rule sets to identify technology standards that apply to the practice of law and overlap

with rules of court.

FCTC/RJA Joint Workgroup

• Assisted members of the Florida Bar Rules of Judicial Administration

Committee Subcommittee B in the Joint-Out-of-Cycle Report of the Rules

of General Practice and Judicial Administration and the Criminal

Procedure Rules of Committees.

The Technical Standards subcommittee was established to update technical standard

documents related to court technology.


• Consolidated the technology standards into one document.

Florida Courts E-Filing Portal Standards; Standards for Access to Electronic

Court Records; Functional Requirements for Court Application Processing

Systems; Integration and Interoperability Standards; Data Exchange Standards;

Case Maintenance System Standards; and Notification by Clerk of System

Modification.

• Helped oversee the implementation of the storage of PDF/A documents in the

clerks of court CMS as outlined in AOSC19-23.

https://www.flcourts.org/content/download/527510/file/AOSC19-23%20Filing_Storing_Backingup_Electronic%20Records_Standards.pdf

• Rule 2.236 – Florida Courts Technology Commission

• Rule 2.420 – PublicAccess to and Protection of Judicial Branch Records

• Rule 2.425 – Minimization of the Filing of Sensitive Information

• Rule 2.515 – Signature and Certificates of Attorneys and Parties

• Rule 2.516 – Service of Pleadings and Documents

• Rule 2.520 – Documents

• Rule 2.525 – Electronic Filing

• Rule 3.030 – Service of Pleadings and Papers

Applicable Rules