Technology
continues to change around us. For the last six years, the OJCC has advocated
and supported the leveraging of technology. The benefits of technology are
obvious, in terms of cost and time savings. Technology makes us more productive
and efficient. Most compensation professionals are leveraging technology,
and relate to us that they are using far less paper than ever. They recognize
that the cost of storing paper, alone, is a strong motivation to minimize paper
use and maximize portable document (PDF) images.
Likewise,
electronic filing leverages technology. This platform has dramatically reduced
the cost of transmitting documents to the Office of Judges of Compensation
Claims. As of June 2012, the e-JCC platform has saved practitioners at least
$1,269,726, and has saved the OJCC at least $1,981,452, a total of
$3,251,178. This is inspiring and gratifying in itself. It is only more
inspiring when you know that the total OJCC investment in e-filing is less than
$1,000,000.
E-filing was
voluntary for several years following the initial deployment of the platform in
2005. Effective October 31, 2010, e-filing became mandatory by rule.
In the eight months after that rule became effective, the OJCC
averaged 38,475 e-filings per month. On July 1, 2011, e-filing
became mandatory by statute. In the 11 months July 2011 to May 2012, the OJCC
averaged 38,352.27 per month. Enforcement of the mandatory e-filing was
deferred following these mandates, as the e-JCC platform was upgraded to permit
such enforcement. When the statutory mandate became effective (see the
April 19, 2012 blog), there were factual situations, such as out-of-state
accidents, for which the e-filing platform was not optimal.
Why has the
average monthly volume of filings decreased slightly following the statutory
mandate? The easy answer is likely the continuing decline in rates of
“new case” and petition filings.
This illustrates,
however, that the electronic image (PCF) paradigm is now entrenched and
accepted. A consistent complaint about this paradigm, however, has been the
difficulty of accessing these PDF documents, the case docket, case management
systems, and electronic mail from the OJCC District Offices. Certainly, the
public is greatly benefited by the ability to access the internet from our
offices.
When this idea
was initially proposed years ago by practitioners including Ricardo Morales
(MIA), Craig Gibbs (JAX), and Brian Carter (PNS)(and others). The difficulty we
have had has been financial and logistical. Logistically, the OJCC is obligated
to assure that WIFI access in our office is appropriate both in terms of
content and bandwidth use. All OJCC office internet traffic is routed through
the Department of Management Services, and inappropriate internet use in our
offices could be attributed to our staff or agency. Further, allowing public
access to our internet could inadvertently allow access to confidential
information. The alternative, stand-alone DSL wireless access option
represented a significant monthly expense (think of what you spend for access
at home and multiply those phone line and DSL charges by 17 offices and twelve
months per year and you will find that this alternative would have cost about
$10,000.00 annually), in addition to about $2,000 in hardware investment.
The solution came
through evolution of technology. In the winter of 2012 our IT department
identified a wireless solution that allows public access to a limited sector of
the bandwidth already in our District Offices, protects privacy by precluding
access to confidential information, and allows us to monitor the use by our
customers and guests. The hardware investment to accommodate this use was
costly, almost $20,000. However, this hardware solves all the issues above, and
allows us to limit the volume of bandwidth guests in our offices may use. This
prevents guest internet use from slowing the ability of our staff to process
their (your) work. We will recover the cost in about two years, and thereafter
face only the minimal maintenance expense to provide this service.
The equipment is
operational in Pensacola, Panama City, and Tallahassee. It will become
operational in coming weeks in each office. Your WIFI device should
identify both the “DOAH-OJCC_guest” and “DOAH_staff” networks. Only
the “DOAH-OJCC_guest” network is accessible to guests, and you
will find the other (““DOAH_staff”) network locked. The public WIFI
access utilizes the same internet connection that allows our OJCC staff to
upload orders and notices, and which staff uses for database changes including
scheduling your trials and mediations. Therefore, the volume of bandwidth
for “DOAH-OJCC_guest” use is limited. The WIFI access should be
sufficient for email, accessing documents from the OJCC Docket or an attorney’s
case management portal or “cloud.” The bandwidth is not sufficient for
downloading music, video or large files such as photographs. Please do not
attempt to use the WIFI for these purposes.
We are hopeful
this service is of assistance to you, and that it enhances your experience at
this Office of Judges of Compensation Claims District Office.