Case Study $($applCase Study $($applicable question $3)$:

The Ministry of Justice has requested that Internal Audit & Advisory Services conduct a review of the court transcript processes employed by the Criminal Branch and the Court Branch. The ministry's mission is to lead in justice innovation through continuous improvement of civil, criminal, and administrative justice processes to increase the effectiveness of the justice system.

The Criminal Branch provides for the operation of Crown Counsel services for the conduct of criminal prosecutions. The Court Branch provides trial support to the judiciary $($presiding judges$)$ of the Provincial Court, Supreme Court, and Court of Appeal.

The Court Branch ensures that all court proceedings in the province are recorded as audio files and saved on USB flash drives, to be transcribed at a later date through the transcription services provided by $30$ contracted agencies. The agencies provide transcription services to $100$ court registry locations across the province by fulfilling transcript order requests from Crown Counsel, Provincial Court judgicable question $3)$:

The Ministry of Justice has requested that Internal Audit & Advisory Services conduct a review of the court transcript processes employed by the Criminal Branch and the Court Branch. The ministry's mission is to lead in justice innovation through continuous improvement of civil, criminal, and administrative justice processes to increase the effectiveness of the justice system.

The Criminal Branch provides for the operation of Crown Counsel services for the conduct of criminal prosecutions. The Court Branch provides trial support to the judiciary $($presiding judges$)$ of the Provincial Court, Supreme Court, and Court of Appeal.

The Court Branch ensures that all court proceedings in the province are recorded as audio files and saved on USB flash drives, to be transcribed at a later date through the transcription services provided by $30$ contracted agencies. The agencies provide transcription services to $100$ court registry locations across the province by fulfilling transcript order requests from Crown Counsel, Provincial Court judges, Supreme Court judges and Court of Appeal justices. The Court Branch manages the service agreements of the agencies over the ordering and receiving processes. The agencies, in the tendering process, propose methods of delivering services and as such, the methods are referenced in the service agreements.

The service agreements with the agencies provide for payment according to a tiered fee structure prescribed by regulation and based on the following:

$$ the number of pages transcribed $($prescribed format$)$; and

$$ the timing of transcription services $($including urgent overnight service, expediated service $($within $1$ week$),$ and regular service $($within $1$ month$).$

Currently, transcript order requests by all parties are forwarded to the Court Branch registries for processing. At the end of each court day, court clerks drop the USB drives containing the audio files into a secure bin at the respective court registries for appropriate storage. Upon receipt of orders, registry staff email the requests to the agencies by region and transfer the relevant audio files to the agency using a secure file transfer program. The agencies transcribe from the audio files utilizing equipment authorized in their contracts and deliver the transcripts once completed. The timeliness in this process is key for overnight service, i$.$e$.,$ the agencies must transcribe through the night to deliver for court the next day. As such, the overnight rate is very costly in comparison to the regular rate.

The agencies invoice the Court Branch registries for the number of pages transcribed at the required service rate $($overnight$,$ expediated or regular$).$ The Court Branch registries are to verify the accuracy of the invoices prior to payment.

The agencies have made the following complaints:

$$ transcript request forms are not completed properly;

$$ the number of overnight service requests is unsustainable while the judiciary and Crown Counsel requests continue to increase in frequency, particularly those with shorter timelines;

$$ the audio files are of poor quality and incorrect audio files are sometimes received;

$$ court clerk log notes are inconsistent i$.$e$.,$ missing audio file and counter numbers and speakers not identified, causing considerable time delays in locating the relevant testimony in the audio file;

$$ each court registry follows different procedures; and

$$ the contracted rates are too low to cover the high costs of transcription.

In addition, due to the Covid$-19$ pandemic, Court Branch registry staff have expressed some concern over the physical handling of USB drives.

The transcript process has not been previously reviewed, and the contracts allow the ministry to perform agency audits.

Required:

a$)$ Please provide at least $5$ potential weaknesses, implications, and recommendations to the current process.