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Strategic Planning, Process Improvement & Budgets - Theory and Practice in the Family Court of Australia

    By Andrew Phelan, General Manager, Corporate Services, Family Court of Australia, 27th March 2000

     

The Family Court of Australia ("FCA") is the largest superior court in Australia.  Its 50 judges, 200 professional lawyers and mediators and 600 other staff provide litigation, mediation and information services for 250,000 new customers each year through 22 significant locations and a large number of circuit locations throughout Australia (except for Western Australia, which has its own family court operating under the same federal legislation).  The FCA, as with other federal courts, is completely self-managed and its appropriated revenues are around $110 million per year.  It is increasingly delivering services through electronic channels.

The FCA operates in a rapidly changing societal (and family) environment.  Always, therefore, controversial, it has to deal with high levels of personal conflict and the emotions of family separation, while at the same time dealing with changing and (and often poorly defined) stakeholder requirements. As a Commonwealth budget funded agency, it has embraced all of the management, accountability, financial and employment framework changes introduced by successive governments.

The FCA is undergoing fundamental change – in its planning regime, in its core and support processes, in its infrastructure and, most importantly, in its people and culture. This paper outlines the theory embraced by the Court and details the initiatives which have flowed from it.

Resource Management in the FCA – The Theory

Resource management refers to the organisation, direction and control of available resources to achieve defined outcomes. In the case of Commonwealth budget-funded agencies, there are Constitutional rules governing the source of funds and treatment of revenues, with fairly strong, accountability lines from agency heads to Parliament for the delivery of outputs efficiently and effectively.  There are, in addition, particular laws and policies covering formal requirements and guidelines for the management of financial and human resources.  Moreover , the FCA has special governance and accountability provisions for the Chief Justice and CEO contained in the Family Law Act, 1975.

The FCA position is that best practice resource management needs to comprise a comprehensive and cohesive set of management practices which are both:

  • supportive of the strategic directions of the Court; and
  • integrated within the core processes through which the Court operates its business.

For Commonwealth budget funded agencies there are imperatives for their resource management regimes to show clear links between Parliamentary expectations in the delivery of outputs, actual appropriations and organisational performance in the delivery of those outcomes. These imply the need for agencies to have strategies which embrace:

  • establishment of the output (volume and quality) basis for which they receive funding;
  • development, maintenance and use of information on (full, accrual) costs and values created in the delivery of outputs;
  • responsibility for the management of resources; and
  • accountability to Parliament and other stakeholders for the agency's performance in the delivery of outputs.

Where external forces drive volumes of outputs, a needs-based resource model should be included in the basis for funding. The FCA currently has a legacy input-based funding model, operating at the margins of funding only but is awaiting a change to output pricing. This latter will come with a joint review with the federal Department of Finance and Administration ("DoFA"), expected in the next year or so. While agency heads will retain the flexibility to move resources between components of their agency to meet overall output expectations, agencies will need to have processes to demonstrate efficient and effective use of resources in each output category and in total.

Organisations are increasingly focusing on output-driven management of resources against predefined and agreed performance measures and targets for time, cost and quality. Commonwealth budget-funded agencies are embracing this change in focus as part of the move to accrual budgeting. To achieve this focus and fully understand organisational impacts, resource models are being integrated into appropriate budgeting and costing models of organisations within refocussed strategic planning processes.

The critical step in moving to effective resource management has been to transform the Court so its culture embraces best practice rather than being constrained by existing practices and mindsets. 

This can be expressed in the following steps:

  • "assessing and defining the vision" – the strategic plan is critical as it sets the overall direction of the Court. Once this was established and agreed the processes which support the plan could be defined.  If the strategic plan had not been firmly entrenched within the Court there would have been a high risk that the processes which underpin it would be inefficient or focus on achieving the wrong outputs.  This situation does not promote effective resource management.
  • process design and evaluation – core Court processes should be based on, and appropriately reflect, the strategic plan. The process design and evaluation must ensure that value-added content of operations is maximised and that non-value added activities are minimised.  In some instances this means complete redefinition and redesign of current core processes based on the guiding principles agreed as part of the strategic plan, best practice information and outcomes desired by the Court. In this stage key drivers of the process would be defined to understand how and where cost/resource requirements could be impacted by changes.
  • determining resource requirements – a third step in the approach to maximising resource management capabilities has been to identify infrastructure requirements other than staffing necessary to support the new processes and build a resourcing model to quantify human resource needs. In this phase a model has been built which captures information about critical activities of the core processes.
  • achieving continuous improvement in resource management – once resource requirements are determined from the model, outcomes achieved with the defined resources must be monitored to ensure performance levels are achieved.
    • - This implies useful means of capturing and using relevant management information preferably automated.

      - It also requires appropriate incentives to reward performance rather than simply monitoring costs. Key performance indicators must be defined to measure performance and output on which funding can be based. 

      - With result-oriented measures (covering a balance of measures), the emphasis will be on the organisation being the service provider rather than a resource consumer and the incentive would be to improve performance including overall resource management. Funding based on output measures rather than workload projections will promote the idea of providing value for money.

As discussed below, the Court has developed, with intensive customer involvement, a strategic plan which is informing the definition of outputs agreed with government (through DoFA) as the basis for recurrent revenues through appropriations.

The FCA's position is that critical factors must exist for costing and budgeting models to deliver true value as resource management tools for the Court:

  • core processes must be appropriately defined and re-engineered where necessary to reflect the Court's client service strategies;
  • cost drivers must be understood by the Court and information against those drivers collected; and
  • performance objectives must be established and understood in each business unit.

Best practice organisations often approach the development of these critical factors in three phases:

  • positioning – understanding the current position of the organisation by identifying:
    • - areas of best and worst practice;

      - areas of over and under funding; and

      - critical success factors of the organisation;

  • transformation – process re-engineering, rationalisation of services, business rules and service channels, identification and implementation of enabling technology and reshaping behaviour;
  • continuous improvement – implementation of measurements and control systems (accountability and key performance indicators), development of service culture, implementation of incentive based reward system.

Critical to the Court's achievement of this has been the purchasing-in of appropriate skill and expertise. For example, an early step was to engage KPMG to map core service processes - to obtain a better understanding of current processes, resource utilisation rates and causes and effects and, hence, to inform debate about efficiency and effectiveness of processes and then allow some internal benchmarks to be established.  Importantly, it was seen as a threshold step towards transforming processes and establishing resourcing and performance baselines for that purpose.

The Court has also recognised that there needs to be a parallel process through which the Court visibly moves to maximise the deployment of resources into customer service (true outputs). This process of agreeing priorities for resource deployment in the Court has meant, essentially:

  • all people working in the Court coming to recognise the productivity pressures on the Court (an internal communications and, perhaps, "complacency reduction", issue):
    • - better customer service;

      - rewarding and investing in staff;

      - meeting efficiency dividends; and

      - investing in the Court's future;

  • corporate agreement to deploy resources into the maximisation of customer service.  This has embraced strategies to reduce (or perhaps get better value from) overheads (management and "back office") and internal service costs, using external benchmarks and competitive tendering and contracting;
  • corporately agreeing a menu of tools for improving productivity at the unit level, while allowing discretion where it matters to deploy resources at the local level to meet customer needs (through local Client Service Improvement Plans);
  • agreeing a priority list of mission critical projects requiring corporate investment (such as major infrastructure developments) under business case arrangements;
  • agreeing "productivity dividends" needed at all levels to generate funds to invest in mission critical projects; and
  • formally aligning budgets with priorities.

These processes are being facilitated by the introduction of appropriate financial and human resource management information systems.

Finally, any resource management strategy must ensure that within the Court there is a management-practices framework which promotes innovation and process improvement, develops and maintains management skills and ensures managers have appropriate levels of authority and responsibility over resources.   In this context, the Court's Certified Agreement, all AWAs, the framework of formal financial and personnel delegations and the structure of internal budgets have been aligned with the strategic plan.

The Court's Experience Described

The FCA has embraced a purposeful planning regime that aims to maximise the effectiveness and efficiency of resources available to be deployed to meet client needs. The Court's planning regime therefore recognises the need for:

  • a range of strategic processes to help focus the efforts of those who are working in the Court (including Judges);
  • ways to develop and integrate the mechanisms needed to support achievement of the Court's goals (support mechanisms ); and
  • ways to ensure commitment to delivering the required outcomes at the operational level (operational components).

The FCA's planning regime comprises a wide range of activities, all integrated but operating at and between these different levels.

Strategic elements

At the strategic level, the major activities have been:

  • development and implementation of the Court Strategic Plan and Client Service Charter;
  • development of a "balanced scorecard" to enable the Court's Executive to monitor performance in terms of the Court's strategic objectives;
  • negotiation of the Court's Certified Agreement covering all non-senior executive staff and Australian Workplace Agreements covering key staff, integrating the performance of staff with the newly developed strategic themes.

Support elements

Support mechanisms include the range of policies, strategies and plans, together with national initiatives and structural changes, needed to translate the Court's strategic intentions into action. Recent activities have included:

  • process design and improvement projects, in particular:
  • 1. trial management initiatives;
  • 2. mapping and improving the Court's core (case management) processes;
  • 3. reforming and reorganising key functional elements (eg, the legal stream, covering Registrars and Deputy Registrars);
  • 4. re-engineering information management (including library) services;
  • 5. assessing support and other functions for contracting-out; and
  • 6. investing in new technologies; and
  • the development and implementation of a new resource management framework (facilitating improved resource deployment and implementation of the whole-of-government accrual budgeting initiative). As part of this new approach, initial benchmarks for key events have been established, and processes are being re-engineered to outperform these benchmarks.

Operational elements

The Court's culture is placing greater emphasis on teamwork in the delivery of services. The key elements for translating the Court's strategic objectives into better local service are Client Service Improvement Plans (CSIPs) prepared by each Registry and support unit. These Plans each incorporate at least five initiatives for improving services to Court clients and Court productivity and have been developed with close consultation with local clients (including legal representatives), community groups and other support organisations. All 11 Registries have been implementing CSIPs since early 1999.

Details

The Court's new Strategic Plan and Client Service Charter were launched in April 1999, following intensive assessment of client needs and priorities. This client value assessment was in itself innovative and comprehensive, involving value creation workshops between clients, staff and Judges, and was backed by surveys and discussions with support organisations. These involved, among other things, Judges and senior management sitting down with users of Court Services, including members of the public, in a structured context designed to obtain maximum feedback as to ways in which the Court could better structure and deliver its services.

The Court needs to change fundamentally the way in which it measures and publishes its performance. KPMG are working with the Court to re-engineer management information processes with the intention of changing measures and performance standards by the start of the 2000/2001 financial year.  A balanced scorecard is also being developed, to enable the Court's management to assess regularly whether the Court is achieving the goals it has set for itself in its strategic plan.

The Court has engaged The Value Creation Group to facilitate the planned revision and updating of the Strategic Plan, timed for early 2000. This will focus on updating the Key Result Areas and Strategies in the Plan. This revision, among other things, will incorporate more input from ethnic groups, including focus groups between clients, Judges and staff conducted in foreign languages. A feature of this revision will be a review of arrangements for community/client input to the Court's operations at local and national levels.  Staff perception workshops are planned for the end of March 2000 while partnership Value Creation Workshops are planned for mid-April.  The revision to the plan will be workshopped in May 2000 by around 25 judges and staff from across the Court, with the intention of securing endorsement by judges in July 2000.

Strategy Development

At the operational level, the Court has invested in the following strategy development and planning processes:

  • The Court has engaged KPMG to facilitate scenario planning sessions, in late-1999, to enable the development of "rich picture" options for future service delivery (including refinement of integrated client service strategies and the Court's IT plans);
  • The Court has been working with Knight Frank Price Waterhouse (the Court's provider of outsourced real estate services) to develop property strategies, covering:
    • 1. locational strategies;

      2. accommodation standards conducive to improved service delivery (a further consultancy has also been entered into with a facilities manager/architect to work with the Court in implementing new business processes); and

      3. more efficient use of property resources.

  • The Court has linked remuneration to the implementation of the Court's Strategic Plan and improved local client service. Around 200 Australian Workplace Agreements are now in place, largely covering key staff. Human Resource Management strategies are being developed, with consultants, to facilitate the deployment of client service competencies and the teaming of resources to better manage caseflows. Negotiation on the next certified agreement will commence shortly.
  • Ernst & Young conducted a comprehensive review of information and library services for the Court in 1998 and the recommendations are being steadily implemented. The Court is now building on these reforms by developing an Information Management Plan to integrate and facilitate information flows between the Court and its clients and within the Court.  An Information Management Committee has recently been established to overview and integrate information management strategies.

Projects

Future Directions Committee

In late-1998, the Chief Justice established the "Future Directions" Committee to steer improvements to case management processes suggested by the Court's Strategic Plan. Since then, and with the assistance of consultants as required, the Committee has considered a large number of process improvement initiatives (the main ones of which are outlined below), and has continued to consult with Legal Aid and Community Legal Services and other community/non-government groups. 

"Early Intervention" Project

The Court has been working with KPMG to re-engineer the core business processes for managing cases prior to hearing. This major project embraces all aspects of case management, working from client feedback, and including:

  • principles;
  • activities;
  • roles and responsibilities;
  • infrastructure impacts;
  • system requirements;
  • costs/benefits assessment; and
  • rollout in early 2000.

The project has seen the development of two families of jobs – Caseflow Management and Client services – built around the new processes. The Hay Group has developed competencies for these and the Court intends to recruit to the new jobs in the near future.

Litigants in person

The Court, jointly with Professor Dewar (Griffith University) has conducted a major survey of the needs of litigants in person, together with Court impacts. A local project to improve services for litigants in person has been under way at the Dandenong Registry since November 1999.  The Court is developing an action plan to better tailor services to the special needs of litigants in person.

Reform of the Court's legal structure

The Court has undertaken major reform of its legal functions and structure to facilitate enhanced availability of judicial officers for defended hearings, reduce hearing delays and improve client access to Court services. This has included:

  • the recruitment of Senior Registrars to exercise extended judicial delegations;
  • the recruitment of Deputy Registrars with "judicial capacity" to exercise quasi-judicial powers, especially on circuits;
  • reform of the Family Law Rules to streamline processes and enable more personalised service (eg, directions hearings in chambers).

Reform of primary dispute resolution

While the Court is already a world leader in court annexed (alternative or primary ) dispute resolution, it has moved to improve client access to these services. Mediation services have been extended, with further appointments and enhanced training processes. Internal benchmarking processes are being used to improve productivity and the quality of services provided.

A major FCA review of PDR services will commence shortly with the involvement of the Federal department of Family and Community Services and the Attorney General's Department.

Initiatives for improving services to special groups, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders and ethnic groups

The Court has been active with ATSI and ethnic groups in identifying special needs and has developed innovative means of improving services to those groups. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Family Consultants have been employed in northern Australia and outreach activities (including by video, radio and visits to communities) have improved rates of access by target groups to Court services.

The Court recently employed Chinese and Vietnamese ethnic consultants in Victoria who can between them communicate in English, Mandarin, Cantonese and Vietnamese. It is planning value creation workshops (between clients, Judges and staff) in various languages to enhance awareness of client needs and to facilitate service planning. The Court is developing a partnership with ethnic groups in NSW to improve community awareness and access to Court services.

Improved information for clients

The Court has surveyed client needs and will continue to review client information needs. Following the Ernst & Young review (referred to above), the Court has appointed a Manager Family Law Information Services to integrate and improve the provision of information, by both electronic and hard copy means. Options for the introduction of a call centre (in early 2001) are being developed. The development of the Court's web site is outlined below.

The Court's comprehensive booklet on family law was launched recently, with 40 ,000 copies expected to reach the public this financial year.

A comprehensive review of forms is under way.

Information Technology

Over the past two years the Family Court of Australia has built a reasonably robust Wide Area Network linking all registries and around 1,000 computers (PCs and laptops). All Judges and staff have modern computers (most of Pentium II standard) with Windows 95/98, Office 97 and Lotus Notes software. Remote access from circuits through laptops and mobile phones or landlines is now routine.

With all staff and Judges now having Internet e-mail access (from August 1999), the Court has been moving to implement business rules for electronic communications between the Court, legal representatives and clients and will likely trial Internet filing of documents (other than applications) over the next few months.

Using Lotus Notes, the Court has developed a number of knowledge management applications for Judges and Registrars and is piloting its Intranet now. The Court's website (www.familycourt.gov.au) has developed into a heavily used resource for the provision of family law and court information (including forms) and the publication of court lists in all States and Territories.

Following signing of a $6.6 million contract with Oracle Corporation in June 1999 , the Family Court is completing specifications for its new electronic case management system ("Casetrack") for piloting in July 2000 and full implementation by early 2001. In the meantime, a number of management information systems have been developed for later integration into Casetrack.

Following the review of its information services, the Court has appointed an acting Chief Information Officer, at Senior Executive Service level, to help lead the implementation of integrated IT and information management initiatives.

Specific IT initiatives include the following:

    Remote Access

    The Citrix remote access service is implemented in four sites: Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne and Canberra. The remote access service provides mobile users with the ability to log-on and access data and applications from their 'home' servers securely. This is particularly useful for circuits.  Citrix infrastructure also facilitates remote access to home registries for judges and staff travelling to other registries.

    Around 50 users (some judicial officers, registrars and senior managers) currently have this facility, using IBM Thinkpad laptops. The Court is in the Process of replacing existing Dell Pentium I laptops (issued to judges and some senior managers) with Compaq Pentium III laptops.

    Casetrack

    The Court has contracted Oracle Corporation to design, develop, supply and implement a purpose-built computerised case management system across the Family Court and the Family Court of Western Australia. The contract also incorporates the contractors training Court staff in how to operate the system. The project is scheduled for completion in early 2001. This system replaces the Court's present Blackstone system.

    Oracle has sub-contracted some of this work to a Perth-based company, Justice Systems Technology (JST), which has had recent experience in designing and implementing the Genisys Case Management System for the Western Australian Magistrates Court. However, Casetrack is a new system being built to the Family Court's unique requirements.

    Casetrack will provide the following client and user benefits from its implementation in November 2000:

    • integrated case management, providing a common repository of information about clients and matters;
    • improved functionality over existing systems, so that it more effectively and efficiently supports the case management processes of the Court;
    • integrated diaries, providing clients with a more efficient services and the Court with more efficient deployment of resources by allowing the setting and viewing of times for both legal and counselling appointments;
    • automated calendaring, scheduling and rostering, providing a means of improving the management of the allocation of Judges and staff to hearings and other events;
    • provision of management information, to assist both the day to day running of the Court and the strategic planning and budgeting for the Court;
    • improved mobile/remote support for Judges and staff working away from their home Registry using web browser functionality; and
    • improved file/records management.

    From late-2001, Casetrack will also enable:

    • full electronic filing, to facilitate the lodgement of applications and other documents by legal representatives (and perhaps clients), as well as other electronic communications (possibly including limited client browsing facilities);
    • electronic storage of records; and
    • provision of interfaces with relevant agencies, such as the Child Support Agency.

    By the end of 2001, Casetrack will be integrated with the Court's financial management and human resources management systems, providing comprehensive information to aid management of the Court's resources.

    Casetrack is intended to allow full client electronic access to records by mid-2002.

    Other applications developed for later integration with Casetrack include:

    1. Defended Hearing Statistics (DHS)

    The DHS system has been fully implemented in all registries from July 1998, providing comprehensive information on defended hearings.

    2. Interim Miscellaneous Procedural Summary Statistics (IMPSS)

    The IMPSS system is designed to collect data on all work undertaken by judicial officers and registrars other than divorces and that collected by the defended hearing statistics. The system was fully implemented in all registries by the end of August 1999.

    Knowledge systems

    Over the past twelve months, the Court has developed and implemented a number of Lotus Notes based systems, including the Judicial BenchBook, the Administrative Guidebook, the Orders database and the Contracts database.

    The Family Court Intranet project is also under way, with implementation timed for the first half of 2000. Through the development of an Intranet, Judges and staff will have easy access to all relevant information in the Court and access to required information outside the Court. Users will have access to this information through a consistent Internet-type interface and the location of the information will be transparent to the user. For example information may be sourced:

    • internally on the Court's Wide Area Network – for example Full Court judgments, administrative and financial procedures/directions;
    • from the Court's Internet Home Page; or
    • the Internet – the Intranet will have links to the Internet but these will only be direct links and will not provide "surfing" capability, eg, links to Scale+, CCH or Butterworths.

    The benefits of the Intranet include:

    • a single point of access to Court information;
    • simple web browsing access to information;
    • information will be stored only once and accessed from that location; and
    • external information currently hard to access or costly to retrieve will be available though the Intranet.

    The Family Court Web Site

    This year the Family Court web site has consistently appeared in the listing of the top 500 Australian web sites and now ranks in the top 200. As far as can be ascertained, the Family Court is the only specific Australian court site to appear in the list.

    The web site contains comprehensive client service information, including interactive and non-interactive forms, judgments, circuit locations and schedules and general information on family law.

Increasing deployment of videoconferencing

The Court has used videoconferencing for some time to facilitate the delivery of services to regional centres and to enable evidence to be taken from witnesses who may be remote or under some threat. Currently, the Court has video facilities installed in Darwin, Brisbane, Melbourne, Hobart and Launceston. Federal Court and/or AAT facilities are also used. The Court is examining ways in which video conferencing may be used for a broader category of events such as procedural matters and possibly mediation.

The Court's videoconferencing committee is exploring options for expanding the availability of videoconferencing through partnerships with other jurisdictions and network providers across Australia with the objective of achieving more comprehensive coverage of rural and regional Australia during 2000.

Reform of resource management processes

The Court was an acknowledged pacesetter in the implementation of the whole -of-government accrual budgeting initiative. With assistance from KPMG, the Court has developed a Resource Planning Model and an internal work-effort -benchmarking regime to facilitate best practice deployment of resources to meet client needs and to improve productivity.

The Court was one of the earlier Commonwealth organisations to fully outsource its internal audit function (to Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu). Audit is being used increasingly as a strategic tool in process improvement. The Court has recently outsourced the provision of accountancy services to PriceWaterhouseCoopers.  HR processing functions will be outsourced completely from May 2000.

With the integration of the FCA's new case management and corporate systems (probably all delivered through bureau arrangements), the Court will move to introduce an Activity Based Costing regime in 2000/01. A contract has already been let with PWC to facilitate this.

Reform of corporate functions

The Court has fundamentally re-engineered its corporate services, outsourcing where appropriate.

The Court is developing a comprehensive Continuity Management Plan with assistance from Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu to better manage risks of service disruption.

Major relocation projects, including development of the Adelaide Law Courts Building, relocation of the Townsville and Darwin Registries and refurbishment of the Newcastle and Hobart Registries, are under way, building in improved accommodation standards as they are developed.

Major reviews of security strategies and needs in particular locations are being conducted.

To Summarise….

The scale and number of changes now underway in the FCA are impressive. They have flowed from a renewed sense of purpose in the Court developed through strategic planning involving customers and stakeholders.

Alignment of planning, re-engineering of core and support processes, infrastructure development and culture shift is demonstrable, with significant improvements to client service anticipated over the next two years.  While unit output costs are already low by the standards of superior courts in Australia, they will reduce further as the Court deploys more innovative services to meet workloads with declining revenues. Despite ongoing controversy (and criticisms), delays in the Court are far lower than in many other superior court in Australia and, through some of the initiatives outlined above, backlogs in most Registries have already halved over the past year.  The strategic approach to resource management adopted by the FCA has positioned the Court to deliver improved services to families in challenging times.
 

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The views expressed in the papers and reports provided this section of the site are those of the Author. The Family Court of Australia does not necessarily endorse the  views of a particular author or authenticate the accuracy of the information provided. The use a reader makes of the information provided in these papers is the reader's sole responsibility.


 

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