McLennan County Completes $2.8M Justice System Overhaul

McLennan County has gone live with a new integrated justice information system from Tyler Technologies, completing a nearly three-year, $2.8 million implementation involving about 850 employees across 34 county offices.

The county implemented Tyler Enterprise Criminal Justice across its jail, district, county and justice of the peace courts and district attorney’s office. The new systems are integrated with existing Tyler systems used for Sheriff’s Office records and citations, District Clerk jury management and constables records.

McLennan County CIO John Carter told Industry Insider — Texas that the project was prompted by limitations in the county’s previous justice system, which consisted of separate applications with individual databases.

“The county had outgrown our existing justice system,” Carter said. “Our previous system was a series of individual applications with their own databases. Often data was duplicated and many times entered incorrectly because that system allowed free text entry.”

The county wanted a unified platform that could exchange information across the justice system while standardizing data entry to reduce errors. The Tyler system is organized around individuals moving through the justice process, allowing information associated with a person to move from arrest through disposition.

One of the challenges was coordinating employees across offices, including offices led by elected officials, while continuing to operate the existing justice system. Employees had to participate in training, verify data and document business processes in addition to their regular responsibilities.

Migrating data from the previous system presented another challenge because of duplicated and incorrect information. The county conducted six test data conversions across two years before moving to the new system.

Tyler Technologies worked with the county on stakeholder coordination, legacy data migration and process changes across the 34 offices, according to the company.

“Today, integrated data flows from arrest through disposition, reducing manual entry and errors while improving efficiency and access to information for justice professionals and the public,” wrote Brian McGrath, president of Tyler’s Courts and Justice Division, in an email.

The county says the integrated system changes how information moves among law enforcement, the jail and courts.

Previously, citations were issued on paper and then manually entered into the Sheriff’s Office records system, Carter said. That system was separate from the jail system and information did not flow between the two.

Now, if someone who has received a citation is later booked into the jail, the person’s basic information is already available through the integrated Tyler system. After the person sees a magistrate, the electronic record is automatically sent to the appropriate court. A subsequent disposition then flows into the person’s record, where it can be available if that person re-enters the county justice system.

“Much of this was manual before Tyler,” Carter said.

The implementation also includes public-facing services for jury participation and court cases. The county introduced online jury registration that allows residents to qualify and reschedule without interacting directly with county staff. Jurors can receive text or email notifications and receive jury pay through a debit card issued on their first day of service.

Court services include e-File, Defendant Access and Justice Case Access.

The county also has additional enhancements planned. In November, it expects to implement eBonds, which Carter said will allow bonds to be issued and managed online rather than requiring bond companies to physically visit the jail.

Court Call is planned for next year. Carter described it as an online meeting platform built specifically for court hearings and integrated with Tyler so hearing information is available within an online proceeding.

McLennan County has also established a continual improvement group made up of subject matter experts from across county government. The group will evaluate the Tyler justice system and identify potential improvements to its configuration and county processes.