Major Indiana court software project on hold

Computerworld - Management, usability and performance issues have delayed the implementation of a $93 million software automation project for the Indiana state court system, leaving some of the state's individual courts unsure about how to proceed.
The project, whose prime contractor is software maker Computer Associates International Inc., involves a core case management system (CMS) from CA and a linked financials module. Launched in 2002, the overhaul was slated to be ready for user acceptance testing late last year, with parts of it up and running by now. The project is being overseen by the Indiana Supreme Court Judicial Technology and Automation Committee (JTAC),
Largely because of problems in the financial system that were discovered during testing, the JTAC project team delayed the implementation for further study. In addition, the state has suspended payments to CA, and seven members of the team have been laid off.
"The first release for a subset of statewide functionality was targeted to enter user acceptance testing in the final quarter of 2004," said Mary DePrez, new director of the case management system for the JTAC. "A 'go live' date was to be scheduled after the successful completion of user acceptance testing. We were fortunate enough to identify a few problems early, and we are working closely with all our partners to address them."
She said the state and CA are in a "concentrated re-evaluation" that, although "not planned for, is not entirely unexpected at this early stage of a project of this magnitude." During the next four to six months, the JTAC team will decide what, if any, additional requirements are needed. Then it can determine when the project will be completed, she said.
The largest challenges came from the financial module, Masterpiece, which clerks and court officials will use to process fines and perform other duties. Masterpiece is now part of ERP software vendor SSA Global Technologies Inc.'s portfolio. When first sold to JTAC, it was part of CA's business applications suite.
"Following the assessment of the application that had been delivered to JTAC from CA during the month of December, we had a collective gasp ... as to what we had and what we needed," said Mark Renner, the Marion County court administrator and a member of the governing board under the JTAC. Marion County was one of the initial testers of the system in December.
Although Masterpiece works well in the private sector, it's too sophisticated for clerks and other users in the court, Renner said.
A CA spokesman acknowledged that "there was