Is your new judge or commissioner in JIS?


If your court has a new judge or commissioner who has begun work with your court, it is important to establish an Official/Organization (OFO) record for the judicial officer in the Judicial Information System (JIS).  Your court can then use the OFO record in JIS to document the judicial officer's participation on a case.  For example:

  • Who signed a protection-type order?
  • Who made a sentencing decision?
  • Whose decision is being appealed?
  • Who needs to be able to access JABS? 


The JIS Web applications also depend on OFO records.   For example, the Web-based application for appellate courts (ACORDS) imports data from a trial court case, including the trial court judge name from the OFO record.  This data is displayed both to court staff and to the public as background information for an appellate court case.


OFO records for judges and commissioners provide the most benefit when they are complete with name, mailing address, and appropriate official sub-type (e.g., commissioner, pro tem, or presiding).  The Officials and Organizations section of the JIS Online Manual includes instructions on how to create and update an OFO record, it also has a demonstration on how to create an OFO record.


Courts should periodically review their judicial officer OFO records and add or update the records.  This will ensure that all judicial officers are available for case documentation both in the legacy mainframe-based JIS applications and in the Web-based JIS applications. 


If you have questions or need assistance, please contact the Washington State Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) Customer Services and select Topic 3. Case Management, or call (800) 442-2169, Option 3.


For more information on court official maintenance, review both the Court Contact Information and Security/Authority sections of RN id: Year-End Check List for all court levels. 


See also: 



RN id: 1074