Case Manager

Case Manager is an essential, top-tier component of a court case management system (CMS). Along with the Case Participant Manager, it forms the foundation for a fully-functional, componentized CMS. The Case Manager is case-based, while the Case Participant Manager is person-based.

Within the CMS, Case Manager supports the capture, maintenance, management, and reporting of data that constitute a court case record. Since Case Manager relies on other components for certain case information (e.g., e-filings, participants, schedules, evidence, documents, and other resources) it may also serve as the “traffic cop” to handle interactions among components that get data from or supply data to court cases.

In most circumstances, Case Manager will be the main component for recording and consuming information about the facts and activities of a case. Work performed by other components will be captured in or accessible from Case Manager as needed to support efficient administration, management, and resolution of cases. Case Manager will handle general and limited jurisdiction cases of all types and/or appellate case types. Differences in process and procedure are accommodated through configuration within Case Manager and other components (e.g., workflow, business rules).

Case Manager is not tasked with handling or storing every process, transaction, or data element that affects a case. For example, while Case Manager will contain a complete Register of Actions (ROA) for each case, multiple other components may create or update ROA entries if supported by Case Manager interfaces. Likewise, Case Manager may assign case-specific roles to participants even though the participant details and history are maintained by the Participant Manager component.