ECF GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

The Clerk has established the following fundamental objectives for ECF:

Accept filings from lawyers or parties in electronic form over the world wide web
Accept filings (such as orders and notices) from judges and court staff electronically
Accept payment of filing fees electronically
Integrate with the existing document management system so that electronically filed documents can be stored and archived in electronic format
Allow lawyers, parties, judges, and court staff to view and print documents associated with an electronically filed case
Provide for notification of electronic filing to case participants when paper filed documents are scanned on cases that were filed electronically so that the entire case file is available electronically
Electronically notify other parties and attorneys in the case when documents are filed
Accept draft orders for review and issuance by a judge
Incorporate security features to authenticate users and limit access to confidential documents
Incorporate automated validation processes to insure completeness, accuracy and integrity of data required to properly file electronic documents
Integrate with the existing case maintenance system so that no user interaction is required to update case information
Implement an e-filing solution that allows the Clerk to host and administer the system
Employ use of court filing XML standards to facilitate integration with back-end systems as well as future plans for web services to allow integration with external systems