- Rolled out to 110 Texas counties within 12 months and all 254 counties in 2016
- Registered more than 90,000 users in the first year
- Eliminated nearly 27,000,000 pages of paper in the first year
- Processed 4.2 million filings in the first year
- Integrated with 17 Electronic Filing Service Providers (EFSPs) and 10 case management systems
Rolled Out to 254 Counties, Nine Months Ahead of Schedule
The Texas Office of Court Administration (OCA) implemented Tyler’s e-filing platform, Odyssey File & Serve™, starting in January 2014 by making e-filing mandatory for civil cases in the 10 largest Texas counties. These 10 counties represented a population of 14.6 million (58 percent of the state). This became the largest e-filing implementation in the country and it was successfully rolled out within 12 months of the Supreme Court mandate to a total of 110 counties through a sophisticated approach using no shortcuts.
eFileTexas has expanded to include criminal case e-filing. It also includes e-filing for self-represented litigants (SRLs) through an innovative, web-based program, Odyssey Guide & File™, that guides SRLs through the process of filing court documents.
E-filing done right — there’s nothing more important to the public image of your court
An e-filing portal is more than just a website — it’s a complex e-commerce solution. As the new front door to the court, e-filing is highly visible and is essentially the first step in the process for civil cases and for creating a paperless court system. It has a tremendous impact on the reputation of the court, so it is particularly important to do it well.
eFileTexas was successful because a complex process — e-filing — was simplified, allowing the court system to operate more efficiently and, at the same time, providing digital access to the court that is convenient and effective. Texas isn’t the first state to implement e-filing. In fact, Tyler has helped 18 other states deploy e-filing. However, the statewide rollout of mandatory e-filing in Texas is the largest, as well as one of the fastest and best executed examples of a mandatory e-filing implementation in the country.
Strong governance led to an extraordinary project
Implementing eFileTexas was a true collaborative effort between all constituents — the OCA, Supreme Court, legislature and county clerks — who shared a unified vision. Court constituents benefited from an effective communications plan that shared information about e-filing and its impact with county clerks, the bar and other justice partners. The OCA and Tyler stuck to a broad reaching plan spanning several years, and have seen the process through without cutting corners or missing project deadlines. Best practices, including technical and other standards for electronic court filing business processes, were put in place to help courts optimize their own unique processes. The Judicial Committee on Information Technology (JCIT) played a critical role. They recommended rules for e-filing, as well as created and developed standards leveraged throughout the state. An effective governance strategy was also important to the successful integration of 14 commercial Electronic Filing Service Providers and 10 case management systems.
