Courthouse JMS Tips and Tricks -
How to prepare for System "Go-Live"
by Par Johal-Anand
Support Manager, Courthouse Technologies
The climax of the weeks and months of implementation and preparation of your new jury management system comes down to one day, the system "go-live" day. That's the day you first have jurors actually in the courthouse to attend with your new system. And it's, by far, the most stressful day you'll have in your whole implementation. You'll wish for luck to be on your side on this day. But as Louis Pasteur once said, "Chance favors the prepared mind". The secret to a successful go-live comes down to preparation. Making sure everyone and everything is ready for the first day is essential.
Here are a number of tips I can suggest to help you get ready and to ease your mind a little.
By following the eight steps below, you're system go-live will go with ease:
1. Review the Training Material. A few days prior to the system go-live, ensure that you review the training materials thoroughly. Go through all the steps outlined in the Quick Reference Guide and ask for clarification if needed. Watch the videos again if you think it will help.
2. Verify the System. Make sure the most current release of the JMS is installed and be sure to have tested it prior to the scheduled go-live date. You can check with your I.T. department to make sure all servers and databases are up to date.
3. Plan Your Go-Live Date Appropriately. Try to plan your go-live date (to the best of your ability) around the court calendar. You don't want your first live day with the new system to coincide with "the trial of the century" if you can help it. I've actually been through this with one customer, and while everything went precisely as planned, the media attention added an enormous amount of additional stress that might otherwise have been avoided with more careful planning.
4. Advise Your Judiciary. I've had a few customers overlook the importance of communicating with their judiciary about their go-live date. In my experience, it's better to let everyone at the court, including the jurors, know that it is the first day of using a new software application. Hiccups may happen and things may take a bit longer than usual as you get accustomed to using the new software.
Ask everyone to be patient for the first week or two while you get comfortable with the system. You'll be surprised at how much slack everyone cuts you. And if there aren't any hiccups or initial slowdowns, you'll be a hero, because you set expectations appropriately.
5. Process all Outstanding Requests, Before the Go-Live Day. Ensure that all requests are up to date. Jurors want to know that someone's at least looked at their request to be excused or deferred before they turn up for service. To access the requests page, go into Edit -> Pool -> Request Maintenance or by going to the Requests tab in the Dashboard.
6. Print out Daily Attendance List. The Daily Attendance List is an alphabetical list of all candidates that are scheduled to report for any given day. I strongly advise that you print out this list the day before you have candidates reporting. The report is crucial to have just in case there are any unforeseen circumstances, you will at least have a list that will allow you to check people off as they walk through the door and then attend them in the system at a later time. To access the Daily Attendance List go into Reports -> Attendance -> Daily Attendance.
7. Know who to contact for help and how to contact them. Most important, users should know who to contact when problems do arise. This is true both for your I.T. department and Courthouse Technologies. You can contact Courthouse Technologies by phone, email, and by opening a support case directly in Courthouse JMS. But if you're at all unclear about the support procedures to follow, contact us before your go-live date to clarify.
8. Stay Calm! As hard as it may be, it is very important that you stay calm. It's a new system and it will take a while until you are completely comfortable with it. There will be a representative from Courthouse Technologies there on the system go-live day. This is to help you with the nerves and guide you through the first day. If you have elected not to have a CHT represntative there please ensure that you have the contact number for the support department and to call if you are unsure of any process. We are here to help you!
