legalxml-sc — archive

A Vote ~ LegalXML Budget Request from ECF TC

From: George Knecht <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
Date: Tue, 31 Aug 2010 17:00:00 -0000

Hi Scott,
Thanks for the phone discussion this morning. Very informative for me.

I wanted to follow up quickly on this particular budget request, I was just got off the phone with fellow TC members.

The purpose of the request IS indeed to provide assistance or education about the committee draft specification so that the implementors fully understand it. It is not to help them develop anything. By assisting and allowing them to implement, the ECF TC looks forward to the feedback the implementor can provide on what works, does not work, and what needs to be addressed further. In the past, we've provided this kind of assistance (specfically for ECF 3.0) which is a large reason the specification evolved to a 4.0 version.

In terms of Jim Cabral providing the assistance, this is really only primarily due to his expertise on the subject and his ability to actually provide it. This hadn't been a problem in the past, and we don't expect it will in the future. In all honestly, we would love to have additional resources to provide this assistance but at this point they don't seem to exist.

Finally, as I suggested on the phone the ECF TC is very interested in having NACM (National Association of Court Management) and COSCA (Conference of State Court Administrators) endorse our committee draft as a standard for courts around the country ... and secondarily will move to make the spec an OASIS standard. The endorsement by these organizations is important to us because it will increase interest in the spec both among courts and vendors who provide software/services to courts which will increase implentors and thus feedback to assure that any specification we put forth as a OASIS standard is as inclusive as possible.

With all this said, and a unanimous vote of the remaining SC members (myself, Monica, and Robert) we do approve of this budget request for TA to Arizona. Please let me know right away if there is any additional issue with this so that we can inform the ECF TC and Arizona of the final status of this request.

Thanks again,

George W. Knecht
PC Intellect LLC
602.380.8049

On Mon, Aug 30, 2010 at 10:44 AM, Scott McGrath <[email protected]> wrote:

George, all,,

First, the bad news - Rolly's membership representing the ABA ended a few weeks ago, as the ABA decided to not renew. We should schedule a discussion regarding the ABA's decision to stop supporting the work of LegalXML. And, how do we get Rolly back engaged???

Second, more (not great) news. In fairness to all the members of LegalXML, I need to better understand this project and how it serves that broader membership. Can we schedule a call to discuss this?

Some of my concerns:

- How does funding an implementation of a Committee Draft serve/conflict the Standards process?
- How does this implementation serve the broader community outside of Arizona and the contractor?
- How was the contractor selected? Was this contract posted publicly? Were all members of the LegalXML community made aware of either this revenue opportunity or this expense of their dues.

Obviously we want to have these answers available so all members can know the value this use of their dues has for them and the development and adoption of legalXML Standards as a whole. Otherwise, misperceptions can prove to be a real challenge.

as for scheduling a call, I can be available to you through Wednesday this week, and generally available anytime after Labor Day. Only the occasional Board Committee call would supersede your schedule.

Thanks,

Scott...

On Wed, Aug 18, 2010 at 2:53 PM, George W. Knecht <[email protected]> wrote:

Good Day All,
Since were did not have a quorum on our regularly scheduled conference call today, and I've got a more urgent budget request from the ECF TC, I'd like to make a proposal via email for the TC's consideration and vote. I'm proposing the following, and ask for the following and ask for an email response from each member with one of the follow options by Monday, August 23rd:

Approve
Disapprove
Request Further Clarification / Schedule Emergency Meeting for Vot

If I receive 3 Approves, we'll consider it approved. If one Request for Clarification occurs, we'll schedule a meeting to discuss and hold vote on phone. Does this sound fair to everyone?

Here goes then ....

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The Budget Request: The ECF TC has submitted a request for the SC's approval of a budget to provide Technical Assistance to the State of Arizona Administrative Office of the Courts on implementing the Electronic Court Filing Standard, Version 4.0 (ECF 4.0). Attached is an Excel spreadsheet outlining the items where Arizona has requested assistance, and associated costs.

Some Background: At the last SC meeting, I explained to the group that the ECF TC may be making this request for assistance to Arizona, and that it will exceed what had been previously budgeted for ECF TA. At that time, the request was not formal and I mentioned I will follow up with the ECF TC to see if they would be formalizing the request. I have indeed followed up with the TC, and they are formally requesting that the SC approve of a budget request to provide this TA to Arizona, and has submitted the attached spreadsheet for the SC's consideration. The ECF TC, however, recognizes that the figures here far exceed the original budget for TA, and as such asks the SC to approve up to an amount we find acceptable, whereby the ECF TC will then contact Arizona and have them prioritize the areas they'd like to spend this money ... and give them the option to pay for the remaining balance (if they opted for assistance on all items) on their own.

The Proposal: In light of the request and background described above, I would submit that it would be reasonable at this point, given no other requests for TA have been submitted, that we approve of the full amount previously allocated for TA to be utilized in Arizona, which is $6800. Arizona can choose how they'd like to use that money for TA (based on attached spreadsheet) and opt to pay for any additional assistance on their own. By doing this, we are supporting the ECF TC and the ECF Implementer (Arizona) in full based on previously allocated funds, and at the same time not committing any additional funds we have that could be used for TA in the future if requested by another implementer.

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Thanks so much for your time and consideration.

--
George W. Knecht
PC Intellect LLC
602.380.8049

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--
George W. Knecht
PC Intellect LLC
602.380.8049