TJSP becomes more accessible, digital, and productive using Microsoft Teams

Considered the world’s largest court by volume of proceedings, the São Paulo Court of Justice brings together 25% of the total ongoing proceedings in justice across the country. The Court is also the one that brings together the largest workforce, with 2,500 magistrates and approximately 40,000 servers in 320 districts throughout the state of São Paulo.

First step in the gradual migration of services to the cloud: Microsoft 365

The advising judge of the Civil Office, Dr. Fernando Antonio Tasso, states that an evolution strategy of services was outlined leveraging the implementation of the cloud and the sophistication of the system with a gradual migration of the services in 2015. To achieve this goal, the Microsoft 365 cloud collaboration and productivity suite of applications was chosen.

“The implementation of Microsoft 365 brought us an always-updated product, the possibility of knowing applications that did not exist in previous licenses and demonstrated great importance in the performance of the daily tasks we have in justice,” he said.

Among the applications available in Microsoft 365, the Court’s email system was leveraged with ample mailbox space, with Microsoft Outlook and OneDrive enabling easy, secure, and accessible management from anywhere. Other services have also been incorporated, such as Microsoft Forms, which are used in implementing the General Data Protection Law (LGPD) and prospecting inputs for the Court’s strategic planning.

Microsoft Teams empowering the Court to go further

For administrative hearings or meetings, Microsoft Teams has become the Court’s platform for communicating with its audience—internally and externally.

“The versatility of using these cloud office tools was what allowed magistrates and servers to work from home computers and use everything they already had indoors, such as an email server, messenger application, and cloud storage. This has made it faster and less traumatic to transition from face-to-face operation to remote model,” explains Dr. Fernando.

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, the TJ-SP had signed a term with the Executive Branch to increase the conduct of remote hearings, which accounted for approximately 7% of hearings at the time. Approximately one and a half years after the pandemic began, nearly 100% of sessions are held by Microsoft Teams, with a considerable increase in the volume of audiences held in 2021 compared to the same period in 2019 and 2020.

Another essential fact in this process was the use of Microsoft Teams by the Court's Special Body, made up of the Court's most senior judges and 12 others elected by their peers, who held the first fully digital session. “We are dealing with a public that is apparently refractory to technology and has proven to be absolutely permeable to the introduction of this new work model,” comments Dr. Fernando.

TJ-SP Schools of Justice, such as the Paulista School of Magistratura and the Judicial School of Servers, also migrated their meetings online, allowing them to bring speakers from all over the world without the cost, adding accessibility and economy to learning.

One more step with Microsoft Bookings

Edivaldo Antonio Sartor, IT Secretary of TJ-SP, assesses that the implementation of Microsoft Teams provided a good part of the Court’s operation. However, with the easing of social isolation in June 2020, it was necessary to seek a way to allow the scheduling of some procedures responsibly.

“Teams continued to work very well for online interaction. But how can you keep your schedule, avoid crowds, and be sure of service on the other side? In this universe, Microsoft Bookings came in because we did not have all the employees to serve at this stage,” he said.

Accessibility on the agenda with Azure Bot Service

Accessibility is a non-negotiable agenda for the TJ-SP, which even has compliances coming from the National Council of Justice. “It’s an ongoing job that doesn’t end up in Microsoft 365 capabilities, but all the help for this team that demands accessibility is very important,” Edivaldo explained.

Fabiano Batista de Lima, technical judiciary clerk of the Court, works with the backup portion of databases and analyzes the opening of calls. With the requisition number, he accesses this portal and can check the status or even change the assignment of those responsible.

Fabiano has a visual impairment and uses a screen reader to perform his job, which would go through 100 or 150 taps of the tab key or keyboard arrows—which took about four minutes. “With Bot and a few keys in Teams, I can refer to the ticket, check its progress, the status, and even change that status and assign it to someone else. Today, I do this work in less than a minute, and with five or six taps, I can already get the information,” he said.

Microsoft tools provided accessibility features, and Fabiano could access the tools he needed to carry out his work on his home computer or even his cell phone.

“What I’d like to stress is the importance of not creating a segregated solution—something specific to a particular difficulty—but rather a tool that provides everyone with the same accessibility so we can work together with the same resources,” Fabiano exclaimed.

The satisfaction of a lasting partnership

Edivaldo analyzes the partnership as very beneficial to TJ-SP, a proximity that greatly helped the agency a lot not only in times of pandemic.

“The partnership is paramount; in times of pandemic or not, Microsoft has undoubtedly collaborated a lot for this online transition. It really helps that we have a history with the company,” he said.

Dr. Fernando highlights the support received with Premier support. “The rapid intervention provided by Premier support is what makes all these already established solutions worthy of a reliability that leaves the public manager confident in the fast and efficient resolution of incidents of every nature,” he celebrated.

With everything generated in the partnership between Microsoft and TJ-SP, Dr. Fernando assesses that the Court’s public managers gain peace of mind and perceive a lasting encounter.

“Microsoft is a solutions-oriented company ready for permanent alignment between its professionals and the technicians on our team. With all this, this partnership, which is already consolidated, has everything it needs to be long-lasting,” he concludes.