Office of Public Prosecutions – Digital Transformation Program – Amicus

The ongoing shift from paper-based processes, exacerbated during the pandemic, significantly increased administrative duties for OPP staff. OPP metrics showed a 29-hour workload increase per-matter, 21% longer resolution times and 16% more briefs and hearings. This heavy workload and the natural inclination to focus on legal outcomes over process redesign led to a situation where process accreted over time without due consideration to strategic outcomes. We recognised the impact of increased workload to justice outcomes and purposefully sought to explore variations to OPP operations to support the protection of staff wellbeing and improved work efficiency.

Our approach to digital transformation was anchored by a robust, user-friendly technology platform. Integral to fostering a user-centric culture was incorporating legal professionals and support staff into our team full-time, creating a dynamic interdisciplinary environment. Co-design workshops with end-users cultivated ownership and engagement. We adopted a low-code platform approach, enabling ‘citizen developers’ to collaborate with software engineers on workflow customisation without requiring coding skills. This strategy empowered our team and encouraged curiosity and innovation, emphasising best-practice user experience rarely seen in government agencies. The result is a solution that is intuitive, accessible, and efficient.

Amicus provides a single-pane-of-glass experience that simplifies complex processes and ensures easy access to case information, improving collaboration, eliminating errors, and reducing administrative tasks. This allows prosecutors to focus on meaningful work. Currently, manual processes contribute to approximately 66,500 hours of low-level administrative work annually. The introduction of Amicus has drastically cut down case management time, boosting productivity while paving the way for advanced solutions like AI. Implementing enhancements in a scalable way reduces long-term costs while promoting responsiveness, and a more responsive OPP allows for faster resolutions of criminal matters, better victim experiences, and increased community confidence.

In deploying Amicus, we have created a platform that seamlessly integrates multiple OPP functionalities into a single, user-friendly interface for efficient document management, reporting, and other tasks. A key feature is the Indictment Builder, which allows users to create indictments using an integrated wizard. The platform also offers automated sentence calculations for offenders sentenced on multiple charges. The Record of Decision Builder enables users to request approvals and advice from Crown Prosecutors directly within the system, adhering to a pre-designed workflow for consistency and accuracy. Future features include a Police Portal for uploading evidence and a Victim App for correspondence and updates. A notable innovation is our generative AI tool, the first of its kind in the sector. This tool is designed to process and analyse police briefs, generating detailed charts of evidence with references to Victorian legislation and includes interactive, clickable footnotes for enhanced accuracy. Integrating this tool with Amicus will provide each user with a turbocharged assistance on their matters. Finally, Amicus can integrate with the wider Victorian criminal justice system, currently stymied by siloes. This will enhance collaboration and ensure access to accurate, up-to-date information, further establishing Amicus as a transformative solution in the criminal justice system.