1. Delaware Courts
  2. Administrative Office of the Courts

Judicial Information Center


Mission

The mission of the Judicial Information Center is to provide strategic IT vision, leadership, and enterprise solutions to the Judicial Branch and its customers, ensuring efficient operations and secure, reliable, and timely access to information.


Organization

The Judicial Information Center (JIC) consists of the following units:


A/V Telecom Team

The primary responsibilities of the A/V Telecom Team consist of supporting the audio/video, videoconference and telecom needs of the Courts. The audio/video includes all evidence presentation equipment in approximately 70 courtrooms throughout all three counties. This equipment includes sound systems, document cameras, DVD players, large screen monitors, jury box monitors, annotation capabilities and laptop connectivity for displaying on all of those monitors. The Judicial Branch has a combination of Polycom and Tandberg videoconferencing systems in all three counties. These systems are utilized for in-state usage as well as interstate and international calls.

Telecom support entails an Avaya platform that connects all three major courthouses in Delaware. New Castle County, Kent County and Sussex County are all tied together via our wide area network and we support all day to day telephony needs such as moves, adds and changes. It is the responsibility of the A/V Telecom Team to keep us positioned to meet the future needs of the Courts.

Business Solutions and Training Team

It is the role of the Business Solutions and Training Team to evaluate technology requests, identify solutions that ensure the Courts continual operation, and support the implementation of these solutions through education and communication. The Team also provides application support. The Business Solutions and Training Team act as the core of the organization's System Development Life Cycle (SDLC) which ensures that the deliverables for each project are dependable and in line with the Court's needs.

The Business Solutions component of this team consists of Business Analysts who engage the Courts to identify how they currently operate, how they would like to operate, and how a particular technology request can help the Court reach their operational goals. The Business Analysts keep thorough project documentation and ensure that communication with the Courts, vendors and other stakeholders is maintained throughout each project.

The Training component of this team consists of Trainers who develop training courses and materials based on the Court's needs. Training courses often coincide with new or modified functionality in the various systems JIC supports. Training methods engaged by JIC include computer based training, live training, and webinars.

Development Team

The Development Team is involved with the design, development, testing, implementation and maintenance of custom software used by the Delaware Judiciary. The team services the Justice of the Peace Court, Court of Common Pleas, Family Court, Superior Court, Court of Chancery, Supreme Court, the arms of the Courts, the Administrative Office of the Courts and its departments, and any other agency applications that interface with the previously mentioned courts.

The Development Team delivers client-server systems, web applications, web sites, mobile web sites and interfaces within the Judicial Internet and intranet.

Helpdesk/Technical Support Group

The JIC Helpdesk provides support services by phone and in person to resolve computer hardware and software, printing, networking, telephone and courtroom technology issues to all court facilities. Technical staff are stationed throughout the state to quickly respond to issues and requests as they occur. The Helpdesk provides additional services including user access requests*, purchasing support for technology equipment, and planning assistance for court projects related to end user computing.

* User Access Requests are accepted only through the Court's Information Security Officer.

Information Security

The JIC Information Security unit provides leadership in the areas of Information Security and Disaster Recovery. This unit is responsible for working with Data Owners/Data Stewards and designated organization ISOs on the protection of the Judicial Branch information and information technology assets.

  • Driving Judicial Branch security awareness.
  • Developing and implementing a comprehensive security plan.
  • Reviewing and approving security systems.
  • Reviewing and proactively addressing vulnerabilities.
  • Performing periodic security audits and ensuring continuous monitoring and awareness.
  • Ensuring physical and logical security of the Judicial Branch information technology and systems.
  • Ensuring user accounts are provisioned and managed according to policies and procedures.
  • Maintaining and updating documentation as required in accordance with security policies, standards, and best practices.
  • Understanding and ensuring compliance with State and Federal Laws regarding confidentiality and privacy.
  • Reporting IT security incidents (including computer viruses not contained by antivirus software) in accordance with established policies and procedures; security incidents not involving IT resources to the appropriate security office; and providing input to appropriate IT security personnel for preparation of reports to internal and external authorities.
  • Collaborating with project teams to ensure that system security requirements are identified, documented, constructed and validated throughout the project lifecycle.

Operations Team

The JIC Operations team manages and supports the infrastructure and all application environments used to provide Information Technology services and solutions to the Delaware Judicial Branch. The JIC Operations team is comprised of network technologists, database administrators, system administrators, and configuration management (e.g., promotion to production) resources.

Operational support activities include lifecycle management of all hardware (i.e., servers, switches, data storage, etc.), operating system maintenance and security patches, continuous monitoring and managing software, network connectivity, and infrastructure metrics and health checks, maintenance and support of database structures and schemas, and maintaining data integrity and data security. The JIC Operations team also provides advice and makes recommendations for the JIC technology roadmap to ensure the infrastructure and application environments meet the needs of the Delaware Judiciary while driving towards industry standards.