The Arizona Supreme Court makes extensive use of HP ProLiant Blade Servers. The Court provides operations for 150 courts in 14 of the 15 Arizona counties out of this building. This case study outlines the approach the it department took in moving to blade servers.
The Arizona Supreme Court makes extensive use of HP ProLiant Blade Servers. The Court provides operations for 150 courts in 14 of the 15 Arizona counties out of this building. This case study outlines the approach the it department took in moving to blade servers.
The Arizona Supreme Court makes extensive use of HP ProLiant Blade Servers. The Court provides operations for 150 courts in 14 of the 15 Arizona counties out of this building. This case study outlines the approach the it department took in moving to blade servers.
HP Blade Servers power Arizona Supreme Courts innovative applications
The Arizona Supreme Court makes extensive use of HP ProLiant Blade Servers, a solution that conserves valuable data center space and promotes server consolidation. The Court is housed in a beautiful, majestic building, but its architects had no idea wed be doing statewide automation when they built it. The data center was designed to support the Supreme Court. Now we provide operations for 150 courts in 14 of the 15 Arizona counties out of this building. Karl Heckart, CIO for the Arizona Judicial Branch Case Study: Blade Servers Power Arizona Supreme Court's Innovative Applications To access this document, please complete all fields below and click 'Read Document'. By completing this form, you agree to the collection, use, disclosure and transfer of the profile information collected herein by TechTarget and the owner of the document. Based on the information provided, you may receive updates from the TechTarget network of IT-specific websites (and/or the document owner) to inform you of the latest White Paper, product, and content launches as they relate to your informational needs. Once registration is complete, you will have access to all similar documents without having to fill out additional forms. First Name: Last Name: Email Address: Job Title: Business Phone: Company: Address 1: Address 2: City: State/Province: -- Select One -- Zip/Postal Code: Country: UNITED STATES # of Employees: -- Select # of employees -- Department: -- Select your department -- Industry: -- Select your industry -- Abstract: Learn about the challenges and inefficiencies faced by the Arizona Supreme Court in regards to multiple servers in multiple locations. This case study outlines the approach the IT department took in moving to Blade Servers to conserve valuable data center space and promote server consolidation leading to more processing power in less rack space. Learn how Blade Servers: Increase availability Increase scalability Drop total cost of ownership Greater efficiency and simplicity Enhance productivity of employees Read Document Cancel Information entered on this page and other data about your use of the attached document will be stored in a file on your computer and transmitted to TechTarget over the Internet. TechTarget may provide this information to the owners of the document and either party may use this data to contact you and/or track your use of the document. In consideration of access to the attached document, you agree to such storage and uses as more fully described in the TechTarget Privacy Policy. 2 After struggling with early, one-size-fits-all court automation products, the Arizona Supreme Court took matters into its own hands. The court is using advanced technologiessuch as XML standards and object-oriented programming tools that dissect complex applications into reusable components to create a series of enterprise automation systems closely tailored to its complex needs. These new systems will run on efficient HP servers and reliable HP desktops. We needed more agility. Everybody oversimplifies the court process, said Karl Heckart, CIO for the Arizona Judicial Branch. They assume you bring in a piece of paper, process it and spit it out on the other side. But the judicial process really is 80 percent exception and 20 percent rote, he said. You take every case as it comes and decide how to apply justice. That means mas- sive exception processing, which really wreaks havoc on most automated systems. Therefore, the court opted to design its own applications to support the busy Judicial Branch, which oversees trial and appellate court operations throughout the state, as well as adult and juvenile probation. The court recently built one of the nations most advanced adult probation systems, which is being deployed statewide. On the heels of that success, the court is developing juvenile probation and trial court case management applications. The multipronged automation initiative will improve public safety, boost court efficiency, and give legal practitioners and citizens easier access to court resources. And the component-based approach reduces the development workload. We effectively have three enterprise development projects going on at once, but each system is reusing parts of the others, said Heckart. We have three discrete teams building a common component set, using a common architecture. Building blocks The adult probation system ultimately will track some 50,000 probationers throughout Arizona. Its currently operating in Maricopa County, which includes the sprawling city of Phoenix, and several other counties. The court will deploy the system across the entire state over the next year and a half. Some software components created for the adult proba- tion system will find their way into a juvenile probation system the court is building to replace a 20-year-old mainframe application. The 30-month juvenile probation project is broken into six phases designed to deliver new functions every six months or so. The first deliverable, a detention and visitation application, is scheduled for February. The court took a similar approach to its case management project, which consists of two related systems: one for general jurisdiction courts that decide criminal and significant civil matters, another for limited jurisdiction courts that handle citations, misdemeanors, small-claims cases and other disputes. Instead of building one system that tries to shoehorn them all into one mold, we decided to specialize, Heckart said. But I didnt want to completely rebuild them because they share 60 percent to 70 percent of the business practice. So, the systems will share many components, but Heckarts team will reshuffle the pieces to meet the distinct needs of the two trial court levels. Like Lego blocks, they can be restructured so that work flows differently to meet volume needs or processing requirements. To access this document, please return to page 1 to complete the form. By completing this form once, you will have access to all similar documents without needing to register again. 3 Individual courts can further modify the systems by swap- ping in their own components, he added. We want to provide core systems that are available to all courts, and allow customization by courts that are capable of that. Strain relief Behind the scenes, the Arizona Supreme Court relies on an infrastructure thats every bit as advanced as its new applications. The court makes extensive use of HP ProLiant Blade Servers, a solution that conserves valuable data center space and promotes server consolidation. HP Blade Servers help relieve strains triggered by the courts growing reliance on technology, according to Heckart. The Arizona Supreme Court is housed in a beautiful, majestic building, but its architects had no idea wed be doing statewide automation when they built it, he said. The data center was designed to support the Supreme Court and its headquarters functions. Now we provide operations for 150 courts in 14 of the 15 Arizona coun- ties out of this building. At the same time, the court deployed more Windows- based servers to provide collaboration capabilities and other new functionality. Before we knew it, we had 75 of those systems running, and staff was saying, We dont have enough power, space or air conditioning to support all these processors, Heckart said. Weve started replacing all those independent servers with blade servers. Using HP Blade Servers and virtualization software, Heckart anticipates reducing the courts total number of servers by as much as two-thirds. That not only cuts hardware costs, it also reduces software license fees and eases maintenance requirements. The Arizona Supreme Court uses leasing to ensure its technology infrastructure keeps pace with evolving demands. The court intends to replace its blade servers every four years. In addition, a three-year leasing program ensures that PCs used by thousands of court employees will be regularly upgraded with new HP desktops. If we dont keep the infrastructure moving forward, then we will rapidly hit the wall. We wouldnt be able to get any more innovation because the hardware wouldnt support it, Heckart said. So one of the early things I did was push the notion that hardware is not a one-time capital investment, but a continual reinvestment. Setting standards Technology improvements also drove policy changes that help the court maximize its investment in enterprise appli- cations. For instance, the Judicial Branch needed to create a common vocabulary among courts throughout the state, so the new applications could share a common database structure. We have two statewide committees that are standardiz- ing language, data sets and business processes used by the courts, Heckart said. I know the mantra is, Never let the automated system drive your business, but the construction of new automated systems is unmasking process holes and inconsistencies. As we do the analysis for building these systems, issues are raised which the business must address. Statewide standards facilitate broader data exchange among courts. They also make it easier for citizens to access meaningful court information. School of hard knocks The Arizona Supreme Courts automation efforts benefit from some painful previous experience. The Arizona Judicial Branch was a court automation pioneer, attempting to deploy a software package in the early 1990s. The products were pretty immature at that time, said Karl Heckart, CIO for the Judicial Branch. We attempted to put it in place, and it fell flat on its face. The court turned to a second vendor, which deployed a generic automation package that was marginally useful. The company folded, forcing the court to modify and maintain the system itself. Its interesting that the first wave of automation typically isnt a good fit. But you learn a lot of things you need to know, Heckart said. For instance, he credits the difficult first experience with generating support for data and technical standards that are vital to the courts current initiative. Now were in a position to launch a set of systems that will be very interactive and useful, he said. To access this document, please return to page 1 to complete the form. By completing this form once, you will have access to all similar documents without needing to register again. Challenge Implement automated systems that are flexible and agile enough to meet the real-world demands of complex court operations. Results Solution Develop custom applications based on reusable software components. Share components among multiple applications to reduce cost and complexity of enterprise software devel- opment. Run the new applications on HP ProLiant Blade Servers to cut operating expenses and relieve data center strain. Courts receive automated systems closely matched to their requirements. Blade Servers and virtualization software cut the total number of servers needed to run court applicationspossibly by as much as two-thirds. For more information on how working with HP can benefit you, contact your local HP service representative, or visit us through the Internet at our world wide web address: http://www.hp.com 2005 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. The information contained herein is subject to change without notice. The only warranties for HP products and services are set forth in the express warranty statements accompanying such products and services. Nothing herein should be construed as constituting an additional warranty. HP shall not be liable for technical or editorial errors or omissions contained herein. 5983-2147EN, 05/2005 We put up a statewide, public-access data warehouse that allows people to look up cases online. But we couldnt get very granular with the data because of inconsistencies across the courts, said Heckart. Now, stronger standards are making that tool more useful, which reduces telephone traffic for busy court clerks. Many of those public telephone calls go away because you can find the status of your case online, he said. In addition, the new case management systems will lower the learning curve for new court employees, a critical concern for an organization that sees staff turnover rates as high as 28 percent per year. The existing system is built more like an encyclopedia than a novel, so clerks need to know which screens to bring up for the functions they want to perform, said Heckart. The new system will have intelligent workflow. It automatically will understand which steps a clerk needs to follow for a particular type of case. Bright future One of the Judicial Branchs key objectives is allowing citizens to interact electronically with Arizona courts and enabling court staff to focus on customer service instead of keying in data. I think that forces us to figure out how we take out the legal language and the technical complexity so that citizens can do business directly with us, Heckart said. He envisions electronic forms that lead citizens through the filing process, providing help when needed, then producing an electronic filing thats submitted to the court. Another possibility is services that automatically e-mail crime victims with case status and upcoming court hearings. Given its enlightened approach to automation, the Arizona Supreme Court is well positioned to deliver these and other benefits to Arizona legal professionals and citizens. 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