“Litigants—whether prosecutors or defendants—will get a better service from our department because with Microsoft Dynamics CRM our processes will link more effectively and become more transparent.”

Moriya Zisovitch, IT Manager, State Attorney Department, Ministry of Justice Israel

The Ministry of Justice Israel needed to standardize the technology used for managing legal case data and processes to improve collaboration between attorneys. It chose Microsoft Dynamics CRM customer relationship management (CRM) working with Microsoft Services for design. Administrators have a central view of court workloads, while attorneys now access relevant precedents, sentences, documents, and previous judgments at the click of a mouse.

Business NeedsThe Ministry of Justice Israel—through the State Attorney Department—is one of the central bodies governing law in Israel, and the main body representing the State of Israel in court. The ministry employs hundreds of attorneys and other professionals, who are charged with providing services to the public and the justice system. Each department had its own IT infrastructure solutions, so the ministry wanted to improve efficiency by integrating and standardizing all of its business process systems, including those of the State Attorney Department.A key requirement was for a standardized legal data and processes management system that would hold information about every prosecution or civil action in the courts. Moriya Zisovitch, IT Manager at the State Attorney Department, Ministry of Justice Israel, says: “Our previous systems differed from one district to the next, making overview of case loads and collaboration between attorneys and administrators hard to achieve. We were looking to use CRM software to help us track the progress of court cases from initial indictment or summons to trial and disposal by the magistrate or judge.”Zisovitch and her colleagues needed an experienced partner, as well as help from an IT vendor, to ensure the right design for

all six districts. They also needed to ensure that the CRM system was intuitive and user friendly. She says: “While many of our attorneys are familiar with the Microsoft Office suite of products, their knowledge of the law matters more to them than IT. Some were still using manual processes.”

SolutionThe State Attorney Department considered developing its own solution using the Microsoft .NET Framework. But Microsoft Dynamics CRM Gold Partner E4D Solutions recommended customizing Microsoft Dynamics CRM because it could provide most of the functionality out of the box.

Yaniv Arditi, Chief Technology Officer, E4D Solutions, says: “The State Attorney Department was using technology that was 20 years old. It needed a new system to integrate with its existing Documentum platform.”

Microsoft Services supported E4D during the presale and diagnostic stages, with an architecture assessment, requirement, and process review. The partner and Ministry of Justice Chief Information Officer met at Microsoft in Redmond, with a Microsoft Services solution architect being involved throughout.

Customer: Ministry of Justice IsraelWebsite: www.justice.gov.il Customer Size: 1,800Country or Region: State of IsraelIndustry: Government—Justice agenciesPartner: E4D Solutions

Customer ProfileThe Ministry of Justice Israel offers a range of legal advice and services for the government and citizens of Israel. The ministry consists of a large number of departments, all running different technologies and applications.

Software and Services Microsoft Dynamics− Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0

For more information about other Microsoft customer successes, please visit: www.microsoft.com/casestudies

Microsoft DynamicsCustomer Solution Case Study

Justice Ministry in Israel Improves Collaboration Across Districts with CRM Software

Ziva Khaiat, Dynamics Lead, Microsoft Israel, says: “Part of our job was to validate that the infrastructure met the customer’s business requirements. We also ensured that customizations were supported and aligned to future deployment of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011.”Although the presale, design, and diagnostic timeframe extended over 18 months, deployment began in early 2011 to 300 users. Another 200 people will have the solution by the end of 2011, with the remainder following by the end of 2012.

Zisovitch says: “When professionals in law enforcement can securely connect with each other and share information, business processes become more streamlined. Microsoft Dynamics CRM impressed us from the start because it offered a flexible way to connect and describe the relationships between any two entity records in the system.”

E4D has successfully handled the customization work required to integrate Microsoft Dynamics CRM with Documentum. It has extended its functionality for the justice system by using custom business logic based on Microsoft Dynamics CRM web services API. Zisovitch says: “We will upgrade to Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 in 2012 and accommodate all the E4D customization work into the next CRM infrastructure.”

BenefitsThe State Attorney Department of the Ministry of Justice has gained a better overview of its legal case load and helped ensure attorneys have all relevant information, from a single repository, relating to litigation. The six districts will complete the move to an integrated e-justice system by the end of 2012. It will help attorneys share information and support more effective monitoring of litigation. Zisovitch says: “Litigants—whether prosecutors or defendants—will get a better service from our department because with Microsoft Dynamics CRM our processes will link more effectively and become more transparent.”

Administrators centrally monitor workloads in the courts. The State Attorney Department will gain consolidated real-time information about

court workloads. Zisovitch says: “Having a single view of throughput in the courts means we have a clearer picture of cases. It will also become easier to allocate resources to the districts.”

Department values improve knowledge sharing. Microsoft Dynamics CRM will help promote teamwork and collaboration among attorneys in different districts. “The connections feature makes it easy to link records about particular offenders or offences with each other,” says Zisovitch.

Search feature makes it easier to find precedents. Previously, if attorneys wanted to alert a colleague in a different district to a precedent or previous judgment, they needed to exchange information by email. Now, all cases are stored on the same server so the search feature makes the link at the click of a mouse. Zisovitch says: “This is helping make justice more consistent and avoiding duplication.”

User-friendly toolset speeds adoption by administrators. Because most administrators and attorneys are familiar with Microsoft Office, adoption has been rapid even for those who previously used pen and paper. Zisovitch adds: “Department staff recognize the value of a seamless and easy-to-use mechanism for obtaining services.”

This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.

Document published October 2011