“Ukraine is on the threshold of large-scale digital transformation in the field of justice. The implementation of the Unified Judicial Information and Telecommunication System (EUTS) promises to change approaches to the work of courts, making them more transparent, accessible and convenient for all participants in the process.”, — write: www.pravda.com.ua
Ukraine is on the threshold of large-scale digital transformation in the field of justice. The implementation of the Unified Judicial Information and Telecommunication System (EUTS) promises to change approaches to the work of courts, making them more transparent, accessible and convenient for all participants in the process. How does it happen in practice and why is the digitalization of the judiciary more than just a technical project?
ESITS: the key to modernization of courtsThe unified judicial information and telecommunication system is a large-scale platform designed to automate the work of courts and make the justice process more efficient. In 2023 alone, Ukrainian courts considered more than 3 million cases. It is clear that processing such a large number of documents manually or without integrated digital tools creates a huge burden on the system.
EUITS allows judges, lawyers and citizens to quickly access case materials, participate in meetings online and provides information exchange with other state registers. For example, in 2023, almost 904 thousand court sessions were held online, which became especially important during the martial law period.
Modernization of ECITS is not only the development of new technical solutions. It involves the introduction of new data security standards, improvement of business processes and creation of convenient services for users. But the main thing is transparency and accountability, which are the basis of the reform.
It is also the fulfillment of Ukraine’s international obligations as a candidate country for joining the European Union. Digitization of the judiciary is part of the judicial reform within the framework of the EU initiative for Ukraine — Ukraine Facility Plan.
Managing change: How digital justice is createdDigitization of judicial proceedings is the gradual transformation of all judicial processes into electronic services, which requires a clear strategy, coordination and involvement of all interested parties. For this purpose, a Project Office was created at the State Judicial Administration of Ukraine.
The project office uses the approaches of international project management practice, in particular the standards of the Project Management Institute (PMI). His main task is to ensure that all stages of projects are structured, controlled and effective. In our case, the Project Office of the State Judicial Administration deals with issues of digital development, transformations and digitization.
This approach helps to avoid chaos, dispersion of efforts and duplication of work. The project office controls all aspects of the modernization of the Unified Judicial Information and Telecommunication System: from the development of technical documentation to the implementation of new solutions, testing and coordination of work with various stakeholders.
It is interesting that the practice of creating Project offices in state bodies is already working successfully in Ukraine. Similar offices function in the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Reconstruction and other departments. They help coordinate large-scale initiatives, such as launching digital services, modernizing transport infrastructure or reforming procurement systems.
Thus, the Project Office is not just “another” management structure, but an important tool for the systematic implementation of any large-scale transformations. What is called “change management” in the language of project managers.
It is important that these changes are taking place with the assistance of international partners, in particular the project “Supporting Digital Transformation” (DTA), funded by USAID and UK Dev.
The key document that cements this partnership is the Memorandum of Cooperation between the Ukrainian State Security Agency, the Eurasia Fund, and the Eastern Europe Fund. This allows for resources, expert assistance and international best practices.
OKR: a new approach to strategic planningIn order to achieve the goals, the DSA team of Ukraine uses the OKR (Objectives and Key Results) approach, which allows defining clear tasks and evaluating their implementation.
Again, OKR is an innovative approach that has already become part of the work of several state bodies of Ukraine. For example, the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption (NACP) implemented OKR in its activities as early as 2021, and the Ministry of Statistics started using this methodology in 2024.
As Mykhailo Fedorov, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Transformation, noted at the recent Forbes Tech 2024 forum, “thanks to the method of setting and implementing OKR goals, the Ministry of Digital has increased the efficiency of nine areas of the body’s work tenfold over the past six months.”
The DSA team of Ukraine has already convinced itself of the effectiveness of the method by its own example. The approach ensures transparency at all levels: each employee knows what other teams are working on and how their work relates to the overall goals. This coordination of actions promotes synergy and efficiency.
Challenges and prospectsThe DSA team of Ukraine faces ambitious challenges that require a systematic approach and coordinated efforts. One of the key tasks provided for in the framework of the Ukraine Facility Plan is the development of a roadmap for the modernization of EUITS and its full implementation by the end of 2027.
An important stage of this process is the integration of EUITS with other state databases, the introduction of centralized automated distribution of court cases, improvement of the mechanism of remote court hearings and compliance with the highest standards of information protection.
Coordinated cooperation and communication between all stakeholders, including the Supreme Council of Justice, the Supreme Court, the Ministry of Digital Transformation, the Committee of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on Legal Policy, international partners and, of course, EUITS users, play a key role in achieving these goals. The total number of EUITS users, taking into account the scale of court proceedings, reaches several million.
We aim to create a system that will cover all court processes and become a convenient service aimed at different categories of users: judges, court employees, citizens and businesses. Our priorities are automation of work processes, simplification of access to court services. By the end of 2030, thanks to the development of digital court services, we aim to achieve that 90% of court applications are submitted online.
The level of trust in the judiciary is determined not only by the quality of court decisions, but also by the transparency and efficiency of all processes in the system. The digital transformation of justice is designed to be the foundation for these changes.
Leonid SapelnikovDeputy Head of the State Judicial Administration of Ukraine for issues of digital development, digital transformations and digitalization