The Future of CMECF Less Is More

<p>In 2001, the federal
judiciary began implementing the Case Management/ Electronic Case Filing
(CM/ECF) system in the bankruptcy courts. CM/ECF offers many improvements
to both bankruptcy courts and the bar, including electronic filing and
access to court documents 24 hours a day. According to the Administrative
Office of the U.S. Courts, more than 100,000 attorneys and others have
filed documents using CM/ECF since the initial rollout. While this is a
tremendous success, the next generation of CM/ECF may well prove that less
is more as the future of CM/ECF will mean less data input screens, fewer
filing errors and less staff time and resources required to transmit more
data for many electronic filers.

</p><p>There are several reasons for this optimistic view.
First, the promise of the eXtensible Markup Language (XML) format is
slowly becoming a reality within CM/ ECF. This common data format allows
documents to be created and exchanged between electronic systems that were
incompatible in the past. The advancement of XML and enhancements to the
CM/ECF software will allow many filers to transmit and receive case data
more easily. Second, individual courts have taken the lead in researching
and developing enhancements to the CM/ECF system. As we will see, they have
actively partnered with electronic filers to make the system easier to use
and less labor-intensive.

</p><p>Early on, some bankruptcy courts and high-volume
filers began developing more streamlined ways of transmitting case data to
CM/ECF. Many petition preparation programs now include a case upload
feature that directly imports new case information, attaches the PDF images
and uploads creditor information directly into CM/ECF without having to
navigate through the multiple input screens. The Southern District of
California recognized the potential of case uploading and developed an
interface to handle the incoming files. This enhancement proved so
beneficial to electronic filers and the courts that it was included in a
subsequent national release of CM/ECF. While it certainly provided a
shortcut to the numerous data input screens required to open a new case,
the case-upload method represented only the first wave of electronic data
interchange.

</p><p>Bankruptcy courts also collaborated with chapter 13
trustees who consume large volumes of information captured by the courts to
develop interface specifications for downloads of new case and transaction
information. Software vendors such as EPIQ and Bankruptcy Software
Specialists (BSS) have written add-on programs to their trustee
applications to accept the download files and automatically load
information into their database. This eliminates re-keying and results in
faster access to more accurate information. The use of such interfaces is
rapidly expanding: Courts freely share the software to extract the data,
and panel trustees freely share their knowledge and experience with each
other.

</p><blockquote><blockquote>
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<big><i><center>
The long-term benefits of electronic data interchange
are not only for chapter 13 trustees. Other filers...may find value in
transmitting data to CM/ECF using the ADI applications.
</center></i></big>
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</blockquote></blockquote>

<p>For example, in April 2002, the Western District of
Texas implemented a trustee data-extraction application. This application
provides chapter 7 and chapter 13 trustees with detailed information about
new cases as well as descriptive information and PDF images of all
documents filed in any cases assigned to them. Panel trustees are able to
automatically upload new case information into their databases with the
click of a mouse. This type of collaborative development is not new, but
the tools to accomplish this task have become more sophisticated with the
development of CM/ECF.

</p><p>The most recent of these tools is the Automatic
Docketing Interface (ADI) module, which was included in the latest version
of CM/ECF. ADI provides the means for courts to accept transactions in high
volumes from users such as panel trustees and high-volume creditors. The
court and electronic filer must collaborate in order to use this
capability. The court tells the user what transactions are allowed and the
XML formats they must be in. The user develops the software to create these
transactions. Once the formats and protocols have been designed, a large
volume of data can then be exported from one system and automatically
imported into CM/ECF.

</p><p>The Western District of Texas is developing a trustee
interface using the ADI module, which will allow chapter 13 trustees to
automate batch filings. Until the most recent version of CM/ECF, panel
trustee batch filings provided only limited savings in time and staff
resources. Now, with the ADI module, real efficiencies can be gained.
Here's how ADI can work: The trustee uses a third-party software
product running on his or her system to automatically create a data file in
XML format that contains the information needed to complete the docketing
of the CM/ECF docket entry. One XML file is required for each docketing
transaction. The trustee then creates a batch of these data files that are
then "zipped" (compressed) into a single file. This file is
submitted to the court, and then processed by the CM/ECF server. Each data
file is checked to ensure that the CM/ECF docket transaction is allowed and
all of the data elements required to docket a specific docket event are
present. If the submission is accurate, a docket entry is automatically
created.

</p><p>Both the end user and the court benefit from using
the ADI interface. In the Texas example, the trustee interface application
will significantly reduce the amount of time and the number of errors
associated with trustee docketing. It will also indirectly benefit other
users since this high volume of docket transactions will be processed at
off-peak hours, thereby allowing CM/ECF to operate faster during normal
business hours. In addition, because the format and content of the
transactions to be processed can be automatically checked for accuracy and
completeness, the quality of transactions are significantly improved.

</p><p>The long-term benefits of electronic data interchange
are not only for chapter 13 trustees. Other filers, such as high-volume
creditors and debtor practitioners, may find value in transmitting data to
CM/ECF using the ADI applications. The key to unlocking these benefits is
an ongoing partnership between the bankruptcy courts, software vendors and
practitioners. Working together, courts and electronic filers can enhance
and extend ADI applications so that data is exchanged more efficiently and
with fewer errors. This will result in more accurate court dockets and with
less time and resources required for all involved.

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