Do It Yourself

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
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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
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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.
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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.
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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:
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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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