Impact

UYAP has reduced the administrative and communication costs which would otherwise be incurred in paper-based system. With the on-line connection of courts, expenses of bureaucracy and postal costs are removed. Judicial record database has been integrated with database of UYAP. The birth certificates, Land Registries and driver registers can also be retrieved online and instantly at every stage of the trials. Thanks to internal and external integration totaly 30.286.424 Euro is saved annually.  All cases in courts can be accessible on line by authorized judges without delay.The processes and correspondences that formerly took hours or days can now be done only in minutes through UYAP. While preparing daily, monthly or annual statistics of judiciary took hours, weeks or months, thanks to UYAP it can be done instantly by using electronic means. The UYAP system has its own custom DMS (Document Management System) which was developed in-house and workflow solution to enable the system to create and assign tasks to judges for action.The system is process driven which enhances the overall work productivity and enables top level managers to effectively manage the case load of the courts and to identify the overall productivity of staff members. Previously, all registration of cases was done in ledgers and the allocation of cases was done manually.  The system now registers and automatically assigns cases to judges based on their current workload. All bureaucratic procedures and formal writings made in the electronic environment, thereby avoiding delays and reducing mistakes, especially those related to codes of procedures, as well as ensuring some degree of transparency.

Before UYAP, judicial units used to write the forms by hand one by one. After the introduction of UYAP similar writs are being composed through template forms. Thus, the employees save time and workforce, courts and other units can do the same job with less staff. Due to template forms, all data are automatically being received from the system and transmitted into the documents. As a result, it has led to some 30 % labour force savings and provided speed and reliance. Thanks to UYAP the judicial inspections can be tackled online and remotely. Thanks to databank which provide updated legal sources verdicts has been facilitated and similar decisions can be procured about similar trials. UYAP provides a very powerful tool to combat fraud and abuse of verdicts as a most important impact of eGovernment. Prevention of corruption is achieved thanks to electronic logging of every movement in the system.Creating, intelligent warning-systems which are not available in any other justice system throughout the world, user faults have been remarkably reduced and that led to fewer serious mistakes in judicial proceedings.

Electronic filing allows all data to be stored up-to date, accurate and ready with the click of a button, for more than one person concurrently. Thanks to online connection to banks which enable electronic collection of case fees, handling of cash is unnecessary which prevents corruption and bribes. Problems associated with handling of paper are no longer a burden for the judiciary such as non-filing and misfiling of documents, loss of case files, retrieving them instantly and need for huge storage places. Overall, UYAP has enhanced the authority of the state, ensured victims to reach the justice immediately, and made easy to punish offenders as they deserved.Those mentioned developments, in terms of their consequences are progresses augmenting the confidence of the citizens for the judiciary and show that the impact is sustainable.

Track record of sharing

As John Hunter says, (Head of the IT Department of European Court of Human Rights), who examined the system in 2008 for 3 days, “UYAP is probably one of the most advanced nation-wide court justice systems in the world and an excellent example of best practice for national courts” (http://www.adalet.gov.tr/duyurular/2008/kasim08/ENExpertReportUYAP.pdf). Turkish Project team join all e-Justice Programme events and make some visits to share this good practice and exchange of experience with European and Mediterranean region. In these events UYAP has been presented to show how the efficiency of justice can be improved by updating means and tools used for justice by pointing out the importance of quality and efficiency as an essential guarantee for successful and modernised management of justice. Turkish team have been also invited to some countries to share its invaluable experience throughout its neighbours. For instance, there has been initiated a cooperation with Bosnia and Herzegovina to transfer the knowledge of Turkey in the area of e-justice (http://www.adalet.gov.tr/english/news/2009/news0/news.html). In addition we have hosted IT teams of many countries that are willing to establish collaboration in  the area of e-justice such as UK, Germany, Syria, Kazakhistan, Azerbaijan, Iran, Algeria, Egypt and so on (http://www.adalet.gov.tr/english/news/2009/news1/news.html).  Likewise we host some experts from the EU within the context of TAIEX activities in our department in order to show the innovations come with UYAP. In all these visits because of its capacity and capability UYAP has been regarded as the best model by the visitors.  As Jack Straw comments “There is much we have and continue to learn from you. For instance, in respect of the excellent IT system being used in your courts, of which a delegation from my Ministry of Justice was exceedingly jealous” (http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/+/http://www.justice.gov.uk/news/sp291107a.htm). These evaluations and comments show the potential that UYAP has for others to learn from. Our document and case management system can be easily adapted and used by other national and international institutions because of its ability to harmonize each unit. We have just started to give our document management system to some public institutions such as some municipalities and Customs Department. So not only are we ready to share our experience with domestic organisations but also with international organisations.

Lessons learnt

SAme as other innovative projects we have gained so many general experiences that can enable other administrations to learn from it. The transformation of huge organisational structure of Turkish Judiciary to the smooth functioning system is the most important lesson to be learned. Carrying out an IT project in public sector, particularly in judiciary requires overcoming too many difficulties. If the team are keen on succeeding with the utmost motivation and well-planning there is no chance for the failure. The team work sprit and motivation is the most important stimulus in this context. The motivation of the staff has been provided with some awards schemes and e-mail sharing that has been established for knowledge supply and motivation. A knowledge management strategy based on the teamwork principle rather than depending on individuals has been tried to apply in UYAP management. All judicial units has carried into contest environment for the best usage of UYAP. Another important lesson that can be learned from our case is how to overcome the resistance of the users to the new way of life coming with IT. They feel that paper is still indispensable and more secure in the legal process, due to their lack of information about how IT works. In order to overcome this problem some trainings programs, awereness campaigns, meetings and seminars were organised. They have been assured by the authentication methods such as safe identity verification of digital signatures.  At the end of 2007 all of the registry books and cartoons have been removed and started to keep in electronic environment. While the computer literacy was only 5 % before UYAP in courts, it has been increased to level of 95 % thanks to basic computer and UYAP modules trainings. In a very short time they had started to use the electronic environment in their daily works and they confessed that they wished to use that system earlier. It has been explained very well to the users that teething problems may also be encountered during the initial period, as it is a natural result of every change.  In addition there has been a strong share of know-how, consultative discussions and collaboration between ICT experts and judicial staff. it is proved in Turkey that with sufficient investment, a strong and high level of project management and determination of the policy-makers pave the way for successful implementation of e-justice.