Integrated Electronic Litigation System
The Integrated Electronic Litigation Systems (iELS) is an initiative by the Singapore Judiciary to replace the existing Electronic Filing System (EFS). EFS was conceived and developed in the mid- to late-1990s, and iELS represents the second phase in implementing technology to enhance the litigation process in Singapore.[1][2][3]
Upon its rollout in 2011, iELS will be the world's first properly "paperless" electronic court platform.
Key functionalities and improvements
iELS is designed to deliver a modern ICT platform for the integration of ICT systems of the Judiciary, the legal profession and litigants. It integrates workflow and electronic forms seamlessly using the content management system as the presentation layer for electronic filing.
With its functional implementation scheduled sometime in 2011, iELS is slated to be the world's first "paperless" electronic court filing system. Traditional paper forms and documents will be traded in for electronic forms, which emphasise data capture over mere document capture.[1]
Key functionalities of iELS include:
- Streamlining and re-engineering of high volume litigation processes – With truly paperless filing, the filing process will enjoy greater efficiency
- Information-based filing – Data capture (e.g. via XML and electronic forms) instead of only paper capture (e.g. document scanning), enabling the flexible re-employment of information as and when required
- Active case management – Courts will be able to pro-actively track and manage pending matters
- Litigation process management – Alerts and triggers will be designated to ensure that litigants do not miss critical deadlines
- Electronic case file for lawyers – Lawyers will have access to all relevant documents at any time and any place with an Internet connection, for the duration of each case
- Integrated due diligence checks – Due diligence checks to be integrated with the electronic filing process, doing away with the need for subsequent back-room reconciliation
- Court calendaring – Optimal assignation of court hearing days to be achieved with the syndication of date/scheduling information captured via information-based filing
- Access via SingPass – Convenient access to iELS for litigants via the Singapore government-wide Singapore Personal Access authentication system
Key improvements over EFS include:
- Integration with IT systems of other government agencies that interact with the Judiciary
- The move away from electronic paper-equivalence (in particular, from the present PDF format for documents to a wide variety of electronic data containers in their native format)
- The use of open standards to ensure inter-operability of systems and ease of future maintenance
- The automation of many processes, presently handled by staff, through an enabling structured information workflow
References
See also
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