North Carolina Embraces a Shifting Technological Era
Organization Profile
- Location: North Carolina
- Population: 10.6 million
- Number of Employees: 7,000
- Tyler Client Since: 2018
- TEA Winner Category: Operational Efficiency
North Carolina Administrative Office of the Courts’ Strategic Decision to Embrace a Shifting Technological Era
55 years. This is the combined court system experience for Anthony Whitmore, chief technology officer, and Brad Fowler, chief business officer, both with North Carolina Administrative Office of the Courts (NC AOC). Their tenure and expertise have contributed to their common mindset on justice: improving operations is not about technology by itself but about creating a connected environment that honors access to justice. “A dusty shelf somewhere in the courthouse is not where justice happens. Unified, transparent technology enables us to accomplish access to justice. It’s a bold vision, but a necessary one,” Fowler proclaimed.
It was this mindset that earned North Carolina Administrative Office of the Courts a 2024 Tyler Excellence Award for Operational Efficiency.
The Challenge: Outgrowing the Mainframe
Whitmore joined NC AOC after the first case management mainframe was purchased and the first application was added in the 1990s. From there, he and his team grew and supported an in-house case management system (CMS) with over 40 applications.
Passing the torch to start his retirement in 2017, Whitmore gave his recommendations for the future: embrace directional change for consolidated, comprehensive technology not only on the infrastructure side but also the application side, adding that “applications had been developed over a 30-year period; some newer applications had no integrations with older ones.” Though he spent his career on the mainframe, he recognized they had outgrown it, having reached the point of it no longer being maintainable. With the declining market for mainframe developers, Whitmore also added there would come a time when qualified staff to support the mainframe wouldn’t be attainable.
Fowler also noted budget as a concern. “There were so many silos of applications to pour money into. We may be able to update screens for the criminal system or improve workflow processes in the civil system, but we were never going to have the funding to keep up with them all, let alone meet public expectations.”
Six months into Whitmore’s retirement, he received a call from NC AOC’s director at the time, posing the option of coming back to help with the strategic decision of transitioning to a vendor-hosted CMS. “The first question he asked was, ‘are you going to be up for the challenge – decommissioning the technology that took 30 years to put in place?’ And the answer was, ‘yes sir, without a doubt,’” Whitmore recalled.
The Solution: Embracing Modern, Proven Technology
Having planted the seed before retiring, Whitmore was in unison with NC AOC’s objective: a truly integrated and supported database through a vendor-hosted Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud platform. “One application, multiple integrations,” emphasized Whitmore. Not only was this move in the best interest of resources, support, and cost long-term, but there was a clear opportunity to enhance operational efficiency.
With a vision to create a paperless court system from inception through disposition, NC AOC embraced a statewide, interconnected case management system for court staff, attorneys, and the public to access and interact with court case information anytime, anywhere, without being tied to a physical folder. Since implementation of Tyler Technologies' Enterprise Justice solutions, NC AOC has saved over 4 million sheets of paper and accepted more than 1.2 million electronic filings.
The result is a connected justice system, unified institutionally under data and a single source of truth. Courts and agencies sync together with access to information in real-time, providing a more seamless integration between the Executive Branch, Department of Justice, Treasurer’s Office, IT, law enforcement agencies, and more. NC AOC has established a more connected environment supporting more than 100 integrations.
Fowler shared a cross-department example. “Our judges rotate for Superior Court; they travel a fair distance at times. Just recently, a judge was holding court for an important trial away from his home court, but he was still able to sign a corrected order for miscalculated jail credits, queuing it back to the jail so the individual could be released on time. We have greater access to share information without the geographical barriers.”
These benefits also extend to the public. In the modern age, it’s about convenience. NC AOC acknowledged the need for change, conducting a study after receiving over 1 million phone calls annually. Fowler summarized the top reason, “to find out their court date.” Accessible access to information, whether it be court files or court dates, has transformed how the public interacts with the system. NC AOC is now experiencing significantly less phone inquiries and as a result, more than 1.5 million online searches to case events and court dates every month – freeing up their staff to focus on value-driven work.
With Tyler Technologies' hosted CMS, Enterprise Justice, their near-paperless court has added a layer of efficiency and cost-savings they did not have before.
The Result: Honorable Achievements
The pride that Whitmore and Fowler have in their work, in their outcomes, and in serving the public sector is undeniable. Whitmore’s team managed the mainframe; Fowler’s team supported its applications. But together, they embraced change with an unwavering commitment to excellence. “Migrating our data to a scalable, cloud-based environment, as part of our broader eCourts project, has proven to significantly impact how we align Judicial Branch technology with twenty-first century procedures for administering justice,” Whitmore proudly declared.
Their momentum is strong, and their innovative approach is bigger than transformation. It’s commemorative. For Fowler, he advised, “Listen to your staff, listen to your users. Work shoulder to shoulder and be clear about your vision.”
To enhance efficiency and increase access to justice, learn more about streamlined, cost-effective courts and justice solutions.