Supreme Court takes charge of its own IT with £60k Microsoft Dynamics CRM rollout

Deployment has streamlined access to justice, says ICT head Paul Brigland

The UK Supreme Court has seized control of its own IT by separating from the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) network and going it alone with a streamlined Microsoft Dynamics CRM installation to handle its critical case management systems.

Working with public-sector CRM consultancy Optevia, ICT chief Paul Brigland and his small IT team has replaced an aging case management system developed by Logica that was essentially "tacked on to" the MoJ's infrastructure.

"What [Logica] came up with - while I'm sure it's a very good system - wasn't very good for us, basically," Brigland says.

"It wasn't easy to adapt, or to get statistical reports written without a lot of trouble or a lot of expense. It wasn't easy to adapt to changing needs."

Using the G-Cloud procurement system, Brigland searched for a replacement and subsequently signed a £60,000 deal with Optevia to implement a solution comprising 90 Microsoft Dynamics licences.

"We identified fairly early on that we were going to stick with Microsoft because we wanted to keep things fairly familiar and still be able to use Outlook, Excel and all the stuff end users were used to using, and Dynamics allowed that," Brigland says.

Initial setup and coding was carried out by Optevia in collaboration with Brigland's three-strong IT team and end users.

"Another problem with the old system was it had been designed and presented to users without their consultation, and we were keen to avoid that this time by giving them a say about how the new system worked and functioned - it was a joint effort," says Brigland.

Meanwhile, Brigland initiated a review into the kind of system security the court would need following its move away from the MoJ's IT infrastructure.

There was more good news in taking control of its own IT, as Brigland realised a cloud rollout was easily possible across the Supreme Court, as an IT overhaul also meant a re-examination of how secure data needed to be now it was parting company with the Ministry of Justice.

"[Within the MoJ] we worked within IL3 [the G-Cloud's highest security level], but I wasn't convinced it was what we needed; it's not defence-related cases that we deal with - it's dealing with things that have already been filmed and broadcast," explains Brigland.

"We had business information assurance people coming in and doing assessment, but they said the stuff we had was somewhere between IL0 and IL2 - and that was a game changer for us. It's much easier to do. So what we have now isn't, of course, an open system, but equally you don't need to go through anything like the same processes as with IL3."

In the two years since rollout began, Dynamics has had a big impact on the court's processes.

"Dynamics is letting us look at making available online filing of cases," says Brigland.

"So instead of people coming to the court and paying their fee, they can look at it online, pay their fee on there, and if it's accepted, prepare it remotely and submit the papers online.

"Justices are also now increasingly taking their laptops into the court with them. And that cuts down our storage of paper, which is very expensive, as well as creating a better experience for a court user.

"Anything that makes it easier to use the court and get access to justice is a huge advantage," says Brigland.

"For us, it's about having a system we control, that meets our needs, but that we can adapt to do everything ourselves."