Team 6 - Copy

Information System Principles IS - 677 - 002

Article Integration 1 - Legal

Team 1: Tafari Walker, Trivikram Kulkarni, Reynold Educula Class: IS 677-002

Spring 2009 Professor: Richard W. Egan

Table of Contents Overview of the Functional Area.......................................................................2 Implementing e-Processes................................................................................... ...........................9 Conclusion....................................................................................................................... .............10 References........................................................................................................... .........................11

Overview of the Functional Area Times have changed we are living in Information Era or Digital Era. Information systems are an integral part of government and business operations today. Information systems are changing the way we do business and interact as a society. Information systems are driving a reengineering of business processes in all sectors including defense, healthcare, manufacturing, financial services, and Legal systems. Information systems are driving a transition from a paper-based society to a digital society

What is Law? Law is a system of rules and regulations. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as the foremost social mediator in relations between people. Laws have been there since ancient civilizations. In those days laws were carved on stones and walls. As the World turned into golden and industrial era, those laws were written down on a paper. Nowadays, in Digital era, everything is computerized. Even our Laws and legal departments have changed to keep up with a rapid changing world with full of competitors. Basic software’s which are being used in legal dept. on day-to-day basis are Microsoft products, such as MS Word, MS Project, etc. Email clients, such as MS outlook; web browser. As for the hardware technologies, Computer, printer, fax machine, scanner, Digital Camera, Fingerprint Reader. One of the realities that legal department, have to deal with is that companies all have some sort of underlying IT infrastructure. It can range from nothing but a basic network to a sophisticated system incorporating such elements as project management groupware, databases, document management, scanning, integrated messaging, electronic fax management, intranets, and extranets. Security We are living in an era in which we routinely deal with issues such as privacy, digital security, identity theft, spyware, phishing and spam. Guarding customer, employee and corporate information has always been a priority for companies, but recent developments on the legal, regulatory and legislative fronts are turning the protection of data privacy from best practices into legal

requirements. Law personnel, who previously encouraged their clients to institute solid information security practices as a good way to earn their customers trust and protect their employees, now advice clients that they may be held accountable for information misuse when data confidentiality is compromised. Companies must be aware that there could be serious consequences for those that do not follow this advice. Personal Information refers to information about a person that identifies or describes an individual, it can include, but is not limited to, name, social security number, physical description, home address, telephone number, education, financial matters, and medical and employment history. This piece of information readily identifies the specific individual. To minimize the legal risks, companies should implement an information security program following approach. Designate responsible employees, assess risks, implement safeguards and revise program. Designate employees responsible for the program, a company’s first step is to assemble a team, which can be a multi-disciplinary task force with a stake in the company’s success., to be responsible for information security. Implementing safeguards, Based on the findings from risk assessment, the company should institute specific safeguards that address the risks and monitors and enforces those policies on outbound traffic with an Information Leak Prevention solution. Perform risk assessments regularly, Companies need to perform a risk assessment to learn and map their data floes, both within the organization and with vendors. Revise the program through constant learning process; Rather than approaching it as a one-time project. Rationale for Article Selection 1

There several reasons for selection of the article, which include analyzing the ways in which technology has played a part in enhancing the legal system and the problems it may face. Technology has made the legal system more effective and efficient by including video conferencing, digital data where it is easier to do researches and give more precise results. On the other hand there are issues that come with introducing technology to the legal system. Some key problems faced in regards to how technology plays a part in legal are for example video conferencing. Not all the necessary parties may have the required hardware to make the necessary connection. The hardware required may include computer, webcam, mic, high speed internet and a monitor. Even though high speed internet is becoming increasingly popular not everyone has it, especially in rural areas. This is a drawback that is faced with users of video conferencing. If high speed inst used then the video feed may have a huge delay or the picture and sound quality maybe distorted. The sound and video is very important, because they are the most essential part to make such a technology occur. Article Integration 1 In today’s technological society Information technology has found its ways in pretty much every area of our lives. Another such is the legal system. Information Technology has been assisting the court system and lawyers to be more effective and efficient. One such way in which Information Technology has aided the legal system is through video conferencing. This form of technology has helped the

courts and tax payers saved a lot of money. It has also helped in saving time because it is done from a remote location. According to Wikipedia.com, videoconferencing is defined as a set of interactive telecommunication technologies which allow two or more locations to interact via two-way video and audio transmissions simultaneously. One of the most important uses of video conferencing is the reduction in cost involved for all. Attorneys or legal aid that are often scrambling for time can use this technology to interview their clients who maybe in different locations. This in essence also saves time since travelling isn’t necessary. Prosecution has also used this technology to interview witnesses who may reside in different states. The only drawback faced in this situation is that not all parties may have the required hardware needed to perform such transactions. Not everyone may have the required webcam or high-speed internet. People living in rural areas may be faced with this difficulty. With regards to the court system, it is a form of technology that is becoming increasingly popular especially in regards to the overcrowding of jails. It is most popular used for arraignments where the accused enter the plea prior to the court date. This is known as video arraignment. Video arraignment via videoconferencing remains one of the most cost effective uses of the technology. Not only are the transportation and security costs of the usual arraignment procedures dismissed by a videoconference, unnecessary paperwork is eliminated. Today videoconferencing is used by the legal system in a multitude of ways. Take for instance the arraignment procedure where a defendant enters

a plea prior to court date. In the past a defendant had to be transported from the jail to the courthouse, which often cost the local government transportation costs as well as security fees. Now a video arraignment system can be installed in the jail and prisoners can make their first appearances before a judge without ever leaving the facility. Rationale for article selection 2 The legal information concerned with the automation of legal analysis in all functional area of our society. The practical goal of work in the field is the implementation and deployment of computer systems capable of doing useful legal computations, such as compliance checking, legal planning, and so on. The key areas where we can see the use of legal systems are financial organizations, medical, governmental and technological fields. Although there are significant challenges to using the technology in all areas of the institutions which are for fast and reliable services. Moreover, as the technology comes to be used, it have to follows rules and regulations so the regulators may need to implement more rules and limit the standards, thus increasing the range of implementation of the technology. The ultimate goal is "legal technology" to benefit all areas in our legal system. Ethical Issues in Information Systems Ethics include right choices made by individuals in relation to the rest of the society. These standards of acceptable activities and rules governing members of a profession also consider. The broad issues relating to electronic information systems include control of and access to information, privacy and mishandling of data, and international considerations. All of these extend to

electronic networks, electronic databases, and more specifically to the common area of the geographic information systems. Specific problems within each of these areas however, need slightly different kinds of ethical decisions. The growing dependence on computers to store medical records creates liability issues about a patient's right to privacy. Federal and state law has overwhelmingly supported an individual's right to keep medical records confidential, yet advancing technology has significantly increased threats to limited access. Health care providers need to establish security systems which include constantly changing passwords, monitoring activities, restriction of shared access, and user confidentiality statements. Article Integration The standardized on a basic content service (BCS) in Pfizer Company contributing in their work environment with a robust enterprise content management (ECM) platform that deals with Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorized content applications. Pfizer dealt with governance issues, migration from legacy systems and the costs of maintaining these solutions. Pfizer uses multiple content management systems (CMS) in their system resulting in expensive maintenance fees, hurdle on support and development resources, and soloed content. Pfizer standardized on two platforms for extensively outline tasks, it can eliminate servers and support for their legacy systems. As a result, it has solid business case, implementing a effective governance policy and balancing with third party solutions where it is essential and setting up a methodology for recouping the matter of cost.

Company adopted a self-service system for new site stipulation that is able to customizable sited wizard. The consolidating the legacy content management system in their work processes the firm have made long term investment in EMC documentum which officials chose it widely suitable for enterprise standard for regulated documents and corporate records. EMC’s Centera solution can benefits for long term archive for inactive documents and records. In its collaborative and workforce essential, the company chose to build an enterprise collaboration platforms on Microsoft office SharePoint server. The architectures and planning that they consider on SharePoint as a strategic basic content service allow them to place to store, find and distribute documents and other content that affiliated with their project related activities. When it the content is considered as final and needed to be kept long term they would be migrated to their EMC systems. As a result, the company has increased their active SharePoint users to 41,000 with thousand of top level cross business unit sites and almost 7000 active team sites. It will also support secured external collaboration sites that can accessible to authorized non-Pfizer staffs. The installation of the SharePoint in their four date centers can supports all their divisions and their departments as well. By mean, approximately 42% of team sites are open to all company employees rather than limited to their access for their group before. This affects the company information sharing and collaboration within.

Pfizer holds a tight governance policy and guidelines for usage of ECF and documentum. There is vital demand for improvement of the tools and for deeper expertise among the consulting services providers. They ended up having to write some of their own scripts to analyze documents and information in legacy systems to minimize unwanted data. But the implementing SharePoint it is easy to break links to documents if a team site needs to move to a completely new or renamed path hierarchy. Implementing Electronic Processes The today’s demand of electronic commerce offers organizations and agencies exciting opportunities to convert or redesign existing data processes. However, creating a more accessible and efficient government systems requires us to maintain public confidence in the security and reliability of the government's electronic transactions, processes, and systems. Thus, in developing electronic systems, organizations and agencies should ensure that essential data are available and handled properly when need and that the data and the fundamental processes are legally sufficient, reliable and in compliance with all applicable legal requirements. All information resources, whether it owned by natural persons, legal entities or government agencies, create the potential for encroachment on the information rights of the persons who use them, particularly through the collection of information about the users. Conclusion

Having technology implemented in any business, can improve the company’s network/connections, can improve better workplace environment, and can improve workflow. And Most importantly it can make jobs easier.

References http://www.crime-research.org/articles/Golubev_nov/ http://www.hhs.gov/healthit/privacy/theft.html http://www.ittig.cnr.it/LawViaTheInternet/templates/lawviatheinternet/slides/Tr aunmuller.pdf http://www.unctad.org/sections/wcmu/docs/webecbprog1_en.pdf http://www.ftc.gov/sentinel/

http://www.idtheftcenter.org/artman2/publish/law_communicate/Fact_Sheet_3 01Enhancing_Law_Enforcement.shtml http://mediaproducts.gartner.com/reprints/microsoft/vol6/article8/article8.htm l