When I arrived at the 6th Circuit, everyone in IT had RSAT tools installed on their desktops and all had the ability to edit Active Directory. This is technically called having too many cooks in the kitchen. We found almost all of them were simply using it to look up machine names for remote assistance, and to unlock accounts. My solution was to provide them only the tools they need. Couldn't find an off the shelf product to do this, so I wrote one instead. This application queries LDAP data and makes the data searchable. From here IT staff can access remote assistance, remote desktop, remote explorer, event logs, various PSTools used from gathering information to restarting a PC, send Wake On Lan packets, etc. I included an unlocking user account feature. This eliminated the need for RSAT tools for all but a select few.

The court was streaming barrix audio to an XP machine running shoutcast. As a precaution for accidentally not recording in the courtroom, 4 PC's were setup to run the streams and to record to handheld devices. This was unacceptable and very labor intensive for our staff. I built an Icecast server and using screamripper, AT scripts and querying our calendar created an automated backup recording system. There is also an interface for scheduling recordings for ad hoc items like mock trials. We have pulled courtroom recordings from this system every courtweek since. (note: We provide courtroom audio of our cases at the end of each day, so the turn arround time for corrected audio needed to work efficiently. This provides just that.)

Case assignment provides a system of evenly distributing Case opening and assignment to Case managers. Provides statitics on case assignments. Notice Cart is a re-write of the CM notice cart allowing groups to see notices in each other notice carts. Individuals could claim items, comment, delete and recover deleted items within this cart. New case assignments and QC tickets are also listed in the cart, making it a one stop shop for case management.

This website provides Chambers staff with Records on cases. These records used to be shipped on media to chambers and distributed when needed. This proved difficult to deal with during Covid. This site not only allows controlled access to records from anywhere, but saves shipping costs and loss of media. Trained FIRM to update records and IT staff to administer the system and I haven't needed to do anything on the system since.

All reports for the 6th circuit were generated the day before with extraction scripts and used access for display. There are 25+ access reporting tools scattered around on desktops and these required that each PC include an ODBC connection to the CM Server. This project is still in progress, but we have converted many of the reports to a web reporting service using realtime data. The reporting server has been designed to allow our QC staff to administer and build reports for themselves and other departments.

We needed a collaborative area for our BAP panel who only meet face to face once a year. This includes links to all the documents in cm they would need to decide a case. It also allows our Bap Administrator to upload new documents, create links to lower court documents. Chambers staff can upload proposed orders and work on them directly on the server or download and re-upload when complete. A version control system is in place to keep copies of changes and reviewing a previous version is simple. Comments can be made per case bases and there are several different views for the data. Basically, this replicates much of Sharepoint’s functionality (without using Sharepoint) but adds CM-ECF data to the mix. Eventually would probably move entirely to Sharepoint online.

Other Development Work CA6:

Web Applications from TNED

System for requesting items to be purchased. This system basically follows the workflow of the purchase request keeping logs of each step for auditing purposes and streamlining the request process. The requester can monitor the requests status via emailed links or visiting the application page. All processing is done via special email links, there is little interaction with the website, and no logging in requirement. Typical project write up: Purchase Request Requirements

System for requesting modifications for all locally developed and AO applications.
The system also keeps up with modification requests and their status.
Requesters can view status changes via web and emails are generated for each change in the request.

Web based checklist for staff leaving the court. All done via emailed links, so minimal effort on the staff.

Web based document creation, when ECF forms are not elegant enough to produce a document we create them in Quicker Forms. This application builds a simple case file from ECF data and produces Word Documents or PDF documents. Some of the forms created: Scheduling order J & C forms Amended and Revocation included Order on IFP Change of Plea

Means of sharing documents with Probation. Files are placed on servers, scripts check to see if anything is new and email notification (w or w/o attachement) are sent to correct parties, based on file location and file naming convention The configuration of this system is completely web based and Managed by those who need to manage the system.

Scours directories looking for files with specific terminating digits displays them, copies file location to clipboard, archives file, view copy of a document instead of the actual document *Self updates

Application sits in the notification area in the taskbar. It replaces keystrokes with text or launches applications. ie: typing "no doc" would expand to "This entry constitutes the complete order of the Court. There is no document to this entry." or: hitting Ctrl+Shift+s would add your signature block to a document. Works in every application ECF, word, cmd lines *Self updates

Systems Administration

Primary