2023-2024 Accomplishments & Year-end Report
“The key to the ability to change is a changeless sense of who you are, what you are about, and what you value.” —Stephen Covey, author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
In a decade defined by change, FY 2024 was no different for the Clerks' Authority, with the new calendar year bringing new leadership to the team, a restructuring of departments, and the addition of a few new faces. A smooth transition through these changes was certainly made easier by the wealth of experience of senior management and their collaborative, team-focused approach. But equally important, as titles and offices shifted, one critical ingredient never changed: the Authority's primary mission of supporting Superior Court clerks in the operation of their offices.
As Stephen Covey's quote advocates, the key to successfully managing change is remaining focused on who you are, what you are about, and what you value. The Georgia Superior Court Clerks' Cooperative Authority was created by clerks, for clerks. It was born out of the recognition that a collaborative and unified effort was necessary to address the challenges faced by Superior Court clerks across the state. That was true in 1993 when the Authority was created and that remains true today. While the Authority may be constantly growing, changing, and evolving, it continues to remain laser-focused on anticipating and meeting the evolving needs of Superior Court clerks and leveraging technology to provide them with the tools to be successful in serving their communities.
With this mission always front-of-mind, the Authority saw this time of transition as an opportunity to proactively effect additional changes to strengthen its products and services moving forward. With the goal of improving collaboration, streamlining processes, and ultimately enhancing product quality, a restructuring of the IT team took place in early 2024 that brought about the formation of the Product Management Group (PMG). The PMG integrates the Authority's development and quality assurance groups to form a new, unified team that now oversees the development, implementation, and support of Authority products and services throughout their entire product lifecycle. This single team approach provides for end-to-end accountability, allows for a more holistic view of each product, and makes certain the focus remains on understanding and meeting the needs of Superior Court clerks and ensuring products and services are designed and developed with the end user in mind.
The Authority's dedicated team—comprised of long-standing members who have worked side-by-side with clerks for decades, along with new hires who are bringing fresh perspectives—remains committed to the mission. For three decades, this consistent and unchanging understanding of our identity and core principles has been the foundation of our strength and the thread that ties Superior Court clerks and Authority staff together. As we conclude another strong fiscal year, we celebrate our enduring partnership with and dedicated service to Georgia's Superior Court clerks. Our shared success underscores the power of unity, collaboration, and a clear understanding of our identity and mission.
From the beginning and rooted to its core, innovation, collaboration and vision have defined the Authority. Although the culture remains the same, the GSCCCA is a very different organization today than the one that opened its doors in 1995. Since its inception, the Authority has not only fulfilled its original purpose of establishing a statewide system for the indexing of UCC documents, but has successfully developed and implemented, at no cost to the state, a variety of other successful projects. Effective collaboration with other state agencies and numerous not-for-profit groups for the benefit of the State of Georgia and its citizens has become one of the hallmarks of the Authority’s success and why it is respected both locally and nationally for its progressive, innovative and effective approach to problem solving.
For nearly three decades, the Authority has been an innovator within the public records arena and has led the State of Georgia to the forefront of court technology. Using a mix of old-fashioned cooperation and state-of-the-art technology, the GSCCCA has taken abstract ideas — often thought impossible — to the concrete world of implementation, and, in so doing, has changed the way many do business and made life easier for those accessing real estate records, financing statements, criminal case data, and other court documents.
Click here to read more in our 2023-2024 Accomplishments & Year-end Report.
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