Encl (1) to COMDTINST 5230.53
LEGAL AUTOMATED WORKSTATION DATABASE POLICY & PROCEDURES
I.
INTRODUCTION.
A.
Historical Background.
1.
The LAWS Database was originally conceived as part of the "Legal
Automated Workstation" (LAWS) project, which in turn had its genesis in the
loss of clerical personnel upon Coast Guard realignment in 1987. From the
beginning of the development of LAWS, the Legal Program recognized that
there was a need in the field, as well as in Headquarters, to track cases, work
load, and results at the individual attorney and unit/program levels. The Legal
Program initially identified a commercial software product known as
"Paperchaser" to provide case and time tracking; however, the developer went
out of business shortly after developing a Beta (test) version of the application
for the Coast Guard. This turn of events, together with the overall
unsatisfactory nature of Paperchaser, led to the demise of the original database
effort.
2.
The need to track cases and time did not disappear, however, and so a decision
was made at the 1990 Legal Officers Conference to revalidate the Program's
requirements and to determine whether" the Paperchaser code (now owned by
the Coast Guard) could meet those needs or whether a new data base would
have to be developed. A system analyst, hired to compare legal program
requirements against Paperchaser's functionality, met With representatives
from the Headquarters divisions, the MLC's and two district legal staffs in the
Spring of 1991. As a result of this data modeling effort, Paperchaser was
deemed unsuitable and the contractor was hired to build a prototype data base
to validate the Program needs.
3.
The prototype was demonstrated at the 1992 Legal Officers Conference, and
the Chief Counsel decided to move forward with development of the
application for Program-wide implementation. The Beta version of LAWS-db
was delivered in Summer 1992 and was installed in two Headquarters
divisions for initial testing and evaluation. Input from these divisions led to
further improvements and a follow-on contract to develop a production
version.
4.
The Beta version next was tested in several district legal offices, whose input
led to a
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