Inventory of Reforms

Ontario Court Case Tracking System (FRANK)

Description	Ontario Court Services' case tracking system.
Status	Permanent Implementation
Jurisdiction	Ontario
Court	Civil, Family, Small Claims, Divisional Court and Superior Court of Justice
Body responsible	Court Services Division
Subjects	information and communication technologies litigation management Ontario Court Services Ontario Courts
Timeline
2004	Province-wide phased implementation initiated
April 2005	Province-wide electronic data collection available
2007/2008	All court sites province wide converted to FRANK, except Toronto
2008/2009	Anticipated finalization of province-wide phased implementation of FRANK

Publications
Coulter A. Osborne, Civil Justice Reform Project: Summary of findings & recommendations [Osborne report] (Toronto, Ontario: Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General, 2007). [CJRP] Ontario Ministry of Attorney General Court Services Division: Annual report 2007-2008 (Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General, 2008).
Development
Provincial case tracking system (FRANK) was developed to address management information and operational needs of Ontario's courts and to provide extensive data about case processing. Province-wide phased implementation was initiated in 2004 and is almost complete, with only one site, Toronto, remaining unconverted. It is anticipated that this site will be converted by 2009, completing the province-wide implementation and standardizing the use of a single court application to track all civil, family, Small Claims, Divisional Court and Superior Court of Justice Criminal Court cases. A key element of CSD's future plan is to add document management functionality to FRANK in 2008-09, which will then permit the re-introduction of electronic filing of documents in the civil justice system. Once in place, the capacity to file documents electronically will be a major advance. CJRP at 124
Purpose
To more effectively manage court cases, collect data and facilitate tracking activity.
Description of reforms
FRANK provides a single, centrally managed case tracking system for use by court staff in civil, family, small claims and Divisional Court cases as well as Superior Court criminal cases. It automatically monitors regulated time periods for individual cases as prescribed by the rules; provides an automated index of cases; generates many required forms, notices and court lists; and also provides a calendaring and scheduling tool for trial schedulers. CJRP at 123 FRANK allows statistical data about court activity to be extracted for the purpose of reporting. This has replaced the manual collection of data previously in place. Electronic case tracking also permits continuous monitoring of case volumes, case flow and dispositions.
Revision History
This summary was created on 2009-09-23 It was last reviewed to ensure currency on 2009-09-23

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If you have updates, changes, or additional information regarding this reform, please contact our Librarian, Brad Albrecht, at balbrecht@cfcj-fcjc.org.

URL

http://cfcj-fcjc.org/inventory/reform.php?id=150

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