the process

The eFlex Electronic Filing Process Explained
The Tybera Electronic File Exchange (eFlex) product provides the electronic filing, electronic service, and processing framework. This includes the web access for all user accounts, loading documents, digitally signing documents, e-notification, email distributions, and workflow logic that moves the documents through the system.

eFlex provides the Electronic Filing Service Provider (EFSP) component, the Electronic Filing Manager (EFM) component, electronic workflow processing, and two-way communication and automation for installations outside the court. The patent-pending distributed management features allow multiple installations to communicate using unique authentication features, process, and then respond to external systems.

The EFSP service for efiling is licensed to the court to support an unlimited number of users. The EFSP represents the ability of the court efiling system to support external installations such as software installed at law firms, the prosecuting attorney, other state agencies and third-party EFSPs.

The interface uses a standard HTTPS post process from external EFSP communications. The external support includes the authentication of the external locations that submit information to the courts as well as the verification of integrity of the submission content.

eFlex is designed to support the OASIS LegalXML Electronic Court Filing Standard Version 1.1 (ECF 1.1) envelope.

The design of eFlex is such that it can be modified to meet the future needs of new or additional envelope definitions. For example, the OASIS LegalXML Technical Committee has already begun the process of defining the next generation of court filing standards. It is anticipated at this time that the envelope will change, but it is unclear what communication and messaging interfaces will be recommended.

Tybera will continue to enhance eFlex to support new envelopes and additional communication interfaces while still maintaining backward compatibility. This is especially important where external applications are concerned. Without backward compatibility those contemplating the development or installation of external products that work with the court would be very hesitant in doing so if the external systems could be rendered non-functioning in a short period of time because of changing envelopes.

Tybera anticipates that within a few years it will be necessary for a court to support multiple communication methods and multiple envelopes. It is also anticipated that Electronic Business XML (ebXML) as well as Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) will be recommended methods of communications with ECF future standards. We also anticipate that these communication methods could impact and change the content of the OASIS LegalXML Electronic Court Filing Standard "Blue" envelope (ECF Blue). eFlex is positioned to expand and include the new envelopes and communication methods.

Control for System Access and Use
The eFlex user account administration is based on organizations and users. It has been our experience that organizations need to be able to manage and control their users. Frequently, attorneys prepare and submit documents to the court on behalf of an organization. Because of such behavior there are times when the organization needs to manage user accounts. This may occur when an attorney changes employment.

eFlex can support the automatic creation of Logon ID and password. Our current configuration allows the court to set up administrative accounts for an organization so that the organization can manage the users within their organization.

Document Life Cycle
Following is a description of the life cycle of the efiling process from the document creation and filing process. The process begins at the attorney's location where they create the documents for filing.

Stage 1: Attorney Preparation
The attorney must provide two types of information for the electronic filing process:

· The automation information and,
· The non-automation data.

The automation information represents the data that is frequently found on a coversheet for case initiation. This data may include defendants' names, plaintiff's names, and so forth. This data is collected and mapped into an XML structure in Stage 2 and later mapped into the LegalXML envelope in Stage 3. The coversheet data or automation data can be created using Web forms, XML editors, or special templates created in Word or WordPerfect that can be downloaded from the court server.

The system provides coversheets in MS Word and WordPerfect so that the attorney can create the automation data off-line. eFlex then converts the Word and WordPerfect template data into an XML format. This is a great benefit for attorneys that want to prepare their filings when they are not connected to the Internet, or 'off-line'. This also reduces the load on the web server at the courts.

There are times when the amount of information needed to file a document is very minimal. These conditions warrant the use of a web interface (web forms) to collect the data rather than using a Word or WordPerfect coversheet.

The non-automated data includes the complaints, the pleadings, motions, and so forth. Additional non-automated data includes scanned data such as bad checks, mortgages, contracts, and other items that the attorney needs to submit to the court as evidence in the case. These documents are created in the standard word processor of the filer, or they are scanned in by the filer.

Stage 2: Translate and Authorize
In Stage 2 the special coversheets are translated to an XML format. This data is then mapped into the XML envelope in Stage 3. eFlex allows for Word, WordPerfect, PDF, and TIFF images to be submitted for the complaints, pleadings, motions, and so forth.

The automation data and the non-automation data are ready to be inserted into the XML envelope. eFlex currently recommends Electronic CourtFiling 1.1 (ECF 1.1) for courts that conform to the COSCA and NACM standards. If a court wants to include individual digital signatures, those signatures must be collected at this point.

Many courts have decided not to force attorneys or other filers to use digital signatures. Instead they have decided to use the User Logon/Password process to authenticate the filer, and use the login name and time as the implied signature of the filer.

The information that identifies the user that has logged into the system, the time the envelope was created, the time the envelope was submitted, and the service provider the filer used to create the submission, are all aspects of an implied signature and are inserted into the LegalXML envelope.

Stage 3: Envelope Preparation and Digital Locking
In Stage 3, eFlex embeds all the documents, attachments, and digital signatures into the ECF 1.1 XML envelope. In addition, the automation information is mapped into the proper fields of the ECF 1.1 element fields.

Once all the ECF XML envelope fields are populated and the documents are embedded with any individual digital signatures, eFlex applies a digital lock to the envelope. This digital lock binds all the information together so that nothing can be altered, added, or removed from the submission.

The server that created the envelope applies the digital lock. This digital lock is especially important to courts that do not require individual signatures. It is a way of protecting and maintaining the evidence over an extended period of time, and shows that the person that filed the information really approved or gave an implied signature to the submission.

Stage 4: Receive, Unpackage, Validate, Clerk Review
The efiling application is designed to run 24/7 for receipt and acceptance or rejection of the documents. eFlex may be customized based on court rulings that define the times when efilings can be accepted and what happens when filings cannot be received.

For example, in a previous implementation of eFlex, the court ruled that when the server was down between 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. the court would give an additional 24 hours for filings that needed to be submitted on the day the server was down. This reflected the rulings that were in place with the physical counters at the courts when they were not available due to emergency shutdown of the court.

When the court EFM in receives the submission, the envelope is checked for integrity, and to make sure all the needed information exists.

The documents are translated from Word and WordPerfect into a read-only format waiting for the clerks to review the documents.

As part of Stage 4, the clerk is provided an interface to review the submissions and accept or reject them before they are transferred to permanent storage. Many courts request in this stage the ability to electronically mark or annotate the document as "FILED", or "SEALED", with a date stamp. The interface for the clerks to review submission varies from court to court and will require some customization for each court.

The process of electronically collecting fees can also take place in Stage 4. The order in which payments are collected varies from court to court and eFlex can adjust because of the workflow and legacy Process API.

Stage 4 is also used to create a receipt that is returned to the filer. Once the clerk has accepted the filing, and the case management system has been updated, a digitally signed receipt containing court information is created. This receipt contains data such as the case number, data/time of docket, authorization codes for payments when appropriate and other items defined by the court.

The digitally signed receipt is embedded as a lead document into an ECF 1.1 envelope and returned to the filer. This receipt is indisputably linked to the original submission either by including the digital digest of the original submission or by completely embedding the original submission in with the receipt.

Stage 5: Store and Present
The documents and the entire envelope are saved in the DMS. The documents can then be viewed. The envelope is stored because it represents evidence that someone signed the submission, and provides long term evidence of what documents were submitted and when. The envelope is part of the official record of the court.

The documents that are important for the judge, clerks, or others to view are stored in PDF format.

All extracted documents are stored in the DMS with indexing, searching, and viewing. The LegalXML envelope that is stored is not useful for viewing. It simply holds the digital signatures and content as evidence.

Optional Scanning for paper filings
The ability for clerks to scan filings received in paper format can be integrated into the system. Many courts will combine the scanned documents and the efiled documents in the same repository and make them a single system.

Search and Retrieval
As the system grows in quantities of filings and documents that are accessible to the public the court should not allow external/public access directly to the official document repository. There are two reasons for this, one is a security issue, and the other is a load-balancing issue.

Internal users need access to the official court documents. External users should be required to use a mirrored system. By mirroring the documents to a second repository the court can prevent sealed documents from public access. In addition, should hackers ever breach the security of the mirror, they do not damage the official repository. The mirrored system also eliminates any undue burden on the official court repository. This is important where the court staff, clerks, and judges are depending on the DMS repository to do their work.

Case Type Support
All case types whether civil, criminal, or juvenile can be supported. Because we allow the court to license eFlex, the court can also decide whether to charge usage fees or not. This is important for courts to consider as several case types do not have payments.

Support for Interactive and Batch Processes
eFlex supports interactive acceptance and rejection of filings so that a clerk can interface with the process. This interface can be customized for each court. In addition to this interface eFlex supports direct communications to case management systems allowing complete automation for filing types that the clerk does not need to review. The direct communication process varies in the method of communication from system to system. This communication method can be customized to support batch update.

Transmittal of Filing Fees
The OASIS LegalXML envelope provides a space to include credit card information, but the technical committee did not complete this portion of the envelope. eFlex extended this field to support more credit card processing. The court establishes an Internet Merchant Account and Terminal ID. Tybera connects the payment process through a service provider and deposits the fees into the merchant account of the court. The bank supporting the merchant account will then transfer the fees over to their standard accounts.

Large Volume Filers
A unique feature of eFlex is support for external installations to communicate directly to the court electronic filing system. A two-way automation process can be established using this feature. This feature is most valuable when a law firm has a significant investment in a case management and document management system at their law firm. This feature allows law firms to purchase a small component that they can integrate into their system which supports the preparation and submission of filings on demand to the courts. Many law firms that file a high volume of filings per day find it valuable to adjust their process to automate the receipt and automatically populate their case management system with the information returned by the courts.

State agencies that file thousands of documents to the court each month find that the savings they experience in automating their processes from the returned data of the courts is worth the effort to integrate to the court system. eFlex also supports the ability for external sources to write their own code to integrate external systems with the court system.

Posting Filings for Approval
eFlex supports the ability for a legal assistant to prepare the documents for filing and then notify attorneys within their organization that there is a filing waiting for their approval. When the legal assistant posts the documents and selects who they want to approve the filing, an e-mail message is sent to the attorney indicating there is a filing waiting for approval. The attorney then logs into the system, approves the pending filings and then transmitts them to the court.

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whitepapers à
Integrating Scanning and Imaging With eFiling

Authentication of Users and Security Issues

eFiling Revolution, What's Next

Architectural Models, Business Decisions, and Interoperability Issues

Understanding the Differences of eFiling Systems