Integrated Electronic Litigation System
Encyclopedia
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.
Upon its rollout in 2011, iELS will be the world's first properly "paperless" electronic court platform.
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.
Key functionalities of iELS include:
Key improvements over EFS include:
Judicial system of Singapore
The full Judicial power in Singapore is vested in the Supreme Court as well as subordinate courts by the Constitution of Singapore. The Supreme Court consists of the Court of Appeal and the High Court. The Court of Appeal exercises appellate criminal and civil jurisdiction, while the High Court...
to replace the existing Electronic Filing System
Electronic Filing System
The Electronic Filing System is the Singapore Judiciary's electronic platform for filing and service of documents within the litigation process. In addition, it provides the registries of the Supreme Court and the Subordinate Courts with an electronic registry and workflow system; and an...
(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.
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 ICTInformation and communication technologies
Information and communications technology or information and communication technology, usually abbreviated as ICT, is often used as an extended synonym for information technology , but is usually a more general term that stresses the role of unified communications and the integration of...
platform for the integration of ICT systems of the Judiciary, the legal profession and litigants. It integrates workflow
Workflow
A workflow consists of a sequence of connected steps. It is a depiction of a sequence of operations, declared as work of a person, a group of persons, an organization of staff, or one or more simple or complex mechanisms. Workflow may be seen as any abstraction of real work...
and electronic forms seamlessly using the content management system
Content management system
A content management system is a system providing a collection of procedures used to manage work flow in a collaborative environment. These procedures can be manual or computer-based...
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.
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 XMLXMLExtensible Markup Language is a set of rules for encoding documents in machine-readable form. It is defined in the XML 1.0 Specification produced by the W3C, and several other related specifications, all gratis open standards....
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 diligenceDue diligence"Due diligence" is a term used for a number of concepts involving either an investigation of a business or person prior to signing a contract, or an act with a certain standard of care. It can be a legal obligation, but the term will more commonly apply to voluntary investigations...
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 formatNative and foreign formatA native format, in the context of software applications, refers to the file format which the application works with during creation, edition or publication of a file...
) - 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