This episode of the Tyler Tech Podcast, recorded live at Tyler Connect 2026 in Las Vegas, features a conversation with Kristie Landon, programs manager for trial court operations at the Vermont Judiciary, on how improved access to data is helping courts operate more efficiently. Kristie shares how her team transitioned from a time-consuming manual reporting process to an analytics-driven approach that delivers insights in minutes rather than hours. The discussion explores how modern reporting tools support better decision-making, increase visibility into operational performance, and help court leaders identify trends, optimize resources, improve training strategies, and better serve court users.
In this Tyler Tech Podcast episode, recorded live at Tyler Connect 2026 in Las Vegas, Kristie Landon, programs manager for trial court operations at the Vermont Judiciary, discusses how improved access to data is transforming court operations. Kristie shares how her team moved from a highly manual reporting process that required hours of spreadsheet consolidation each month to an analytics-driven approach that delivers the same insights in minutes. The conversation explores how modern reporting tools have helped the Vermont Judiciary improve efficiency, increase visibility into operational performance, and free up time to focus on deeper analysis and continuous improvement.
The discussion highlights how timely, accessible data can drive better decision-making across an organization. Kristie explains how analytics have helped identify training opportunities, optimize cross-training strategies, improve queue management, and provide more accurate information to both leadership and court users. By shifting from gathering data to actively using it, her team has been able to uncover trends, respond more effectively to stakeholder requests, and make better-informed decisions about workload distribution and resource allocation.
The episode also features the debut of the Tyler Tech Podcast’s new “Day in the Life” segment, where Phillip Pilkenton explores how Tyler Drive supports school bus drivers throughout their day, from pre-trip inspections and route navigation to student tracking and parent communication. While transportation and court operations serve different functions, both stories illustrate a common theme: when organizations give employees access to timely, actionable information, they can work more efficiently, respond more confidently, and create a stronger foundation for better service delivery.
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Kristie Landon: Prior to using eFile Analytics, which has been a game changer for me, when I had to do it by spreadsheets, it would take me an average of six to eight hours. So basically, an entire day to get this information. Now that I have eFile Analytics and I timed myself last month, took me seven minutes and 21 seconds to do the report.
Josh Henderson: From Tyler Technologies, this is the Tyler Tech Podcast. I’m your host, Josh Henderson. Today’s episode explores how better access to data can transform public sector operations.
While organizations collect more information than ever before, the real challenge is turning that data into actionable insights that improve efficiency, inform decision-making, and support better outcomes for staff and residents.
Recorded live at Tyler Connect 2026 in Las Vegas, my guest is Kristie Landon, programs manager for trial court operations at the State of Vermont Judiciary. Kristie oversees Vermont’s centralized electronic filing review team and has played a key role in modernizing how the judiciary accesses, analyzes, and uses operational e-filing data. In this conversation, we discussed the impact these efforts have had on efficiency, leadership decision making, workforce training, and customer service, and why access to timely data has become a critical part of continuous improvement.
Then, after my conversation with Kristie, we’re introducing a new Tyler Tech Podcast feature called “Day in the Life.” In our first installment, Phillip Pilkington walks us through a typical day for a school bus driver using Tyler Drive and how technology helps streamline everything from inspections, routing, and student tracking. So, stay tuned for that.
There’s a lot to learn from both conversations, so let’s dive right in.
Alright. Kristie, welcome to the podcast. It’s so great to have you here.
Kristie Landon: Thank you for having me.
Josh Henderson: Among this, amazing welcome reception here at Tyler Connect in in Las Vegas.
There are lot of people in here right now. So, to start, let’s go back to the original process. What did reporting on e-filing data look like before, and what were some of the biggest challenges your team was dealing with?
Kristie Landon: Okay. So, every month, I do a report to provide to the supreme court and the court administrator’s office with data points on what we’ve had for filings by division and how long it takes to process those filings.
I have in the past and currently still do receive daily reports from Tyler that breaks down all of the filings that were processed for the day.
So, at the end of the month, I would have to take all of those spreadsheets and combine them and then use pivot tables to break them down to divisions and then find the queue wait times. What’s unique about the state of Vermont is that we have a centralized review team.
So, I supervise a team of nine people who process, their entire job is processing electronic filings.
So, they don’t process all types of filings, they process a select type of filing which means that there are still some in-house staff that are processing filings. Now, I say that, but the central review team does process an average of 74% of all filings each month. So in addition to seeing how many filings are done by division and how many filings take x number of minutes to process or hours, we break it down even further than that to see how is the central review timeframe and quantity of filings processed compared to the processing times and quantities that are done by in-house staff, which gives us a good idea considering the in-house staff also has the interruptions of the public coming in and assisting with hearings and such.
Josh Henderson: Now beyond the time that it took in those initial stages or before the implementation, how did those manual processes limit your ability to access and use data in an in an effective way?
Kristie Landon: So, prior to using eFile Analytics, which has been a game changer for me, when I had to do it by spreadsheets, it would take me an average of six to eight hours. So basically, an entire day to get this information. Now that I have eFile Analytics and I timed myself last month, took me seven minutes and 21 seconds to do the report. So that’s a significant change.
It has helped in multiple ways. One of the ways being that now that I have freed up all that additional time, it allows me time to dig deeper into the data and see where we may be needing more assistance. Is it taking longer in one division than another? Is there a certain time of the month where it’s taking longer? So, I have the time now to dig deeper into the data.
So that has been a big help with freeing up all the time.
Josh Henderson: That’s great. And now a big part of this transformation is about shifting from manual work to real time insight. What did that transition look like, and how did you approach integrating analytics into that workflow?
Kristie Landon: So, when we were implementing the program, I had multiple one on one meetings with the program director, manager project manager, I think is what she was called, who was developing eFile Analytics. And she was extremely helpful in the fact that we had multiple one on ones where we were able to screen share, and she could show me exactly how to do it. Now following a manual would be helpful, following a guide would be helpful, but having somebody live right there to help me implement it where I could ask a question, or I could get a little bit more in-depth information when I was implementing the use of the tool was extremely helpful, and I feel that that’s why we were able to implement this tool so quickly.
Josh Henderson: It’s really, really great. Now you mentioned the time savings in that initial question. It’s pretty significant.
You know, you can’t you can’t shy away from that. But can you talk about what it means to go from hours of work to just minutes and how that changes the way a team operates. Like, what does that mean for you in your day-to-day job?
Kristie Landon: For starters, it freed up a day for me because now I can do it in just, you know, before I finish my cup of coffee.
Josh Henderson: What do I use the rest of this time to do now?
Kristie Landon: Well, I have transitioned into using that time to, like I said, dig deeper into the data. And when I’ve done that, I have been able to discover areas where we may just need a little bit additional training or even just refreshers on how we need to do things to make sure that we’re staying standardized.
And being able to identify those because I have the additional time to look into that has been very helpful to the team as well. It’s reduced the stress for them because it may be something that they just didn’t even realize, and we can talk about it, and we can make sure that everybody’s on the same page.
Josh Henderson: That’s excellent. Beyond efficiency though, like, how has having that near real time access to data improved visibility for leadership and for decision making across the board?
Kristie Landon: It’s helped with identifying where cross training would be best utilized because we do notice that there are certain times of the month that one division has higher filing volume than another. And it’s been able to help us figure out how many people we may need extra to take the stress and the burden off of those that are assigned to one specific division. So, we have adjusted where we’re cross training so that we do have the people available for things like that. So, it’s really been helpful with deciding as leaders where the cross training would be most beneficial.
It’s also helped us with identifying the queue wait times and how long it’s taking to process things so that we can provide a more confident response time when someone is saying, If I file this, I know I’m going to get that filing date, but how long before I could expect it to be processed? And we can look at the data now to see how long does it take on average for that to happen and be able to give a confident answer when we’re asked that question.
Josh Henderson: That’s fantastic. It seems to me that just with the ability to free up the time for yourself, it’s created sort of a scenario where you’re then able to kind of, like, rethink everything else that’s happening around you.
And what a what an interesting way to understand it as, like, an efficiency gain.
That’s really fantastic. There’s also an agility component to all of this. So how has this improved your ability to respond to unexpected or time sensitive data requests?
Kristie Landon: It’s made it possible. Just straight up. It’s made it possible. We couldn’t do we couldn’t provide the information that we’re providing now in a quick way that we can do it now. There were times that we just can’t get that data because it would take an entire day to get those spreadsheets together, and we just didn’t have the bandwidth to do that. Now we can get that information. So, in short, it’s just made it possible.
Josh Henderson: Another interesting aspect is how this data is being used internally.
How have analytics helped bring more consistency and clarity to things like performance evaluation and training?
Kristie Landon: So, one thing that I did focus on when I was looking at my staff in particular was rejections, and I really love that the tool broke down not only how many rejections we’re seeing by division, but how often certain rejection reasons are being used. So, we can break it down to acceptance versus rejection, but then we can get deeper. What’s being rejected? What are the reasons being used?
And I was able to identify by looking at those details a little deeper that there are things that were being rejected that didn’t need to be because staff just didn’t know that they could simply make a change to a filing and then just tell the filer in the comments, I fixed this. Next time, just do it this way. So, it has cut down on what we’re rejecting because it has brought to light just a simple training that needed to be. Simple training. Just a five minute, hey, you can do this.
Not an entire day, pull the whole group together training.
Josh Henderson: Stay tuned. We’ll be right back with more of the Tyler Tech Podcast.
Every day, government leaders are being asked to do more with less, manage growing workloads, meet rising expectations, and address staffing and budget challenges.
Jade Champion: And while efficiency is a priority for nearly every organization, today’s challenges require a different approach. It’s not just about improving individual processes; it’s about expanding capacity without adding resources.
Josh Henderson: That means connecting systems, simplifying workflows, reducing manual work, and giving staff more time to focus on the services that matter most.
Jade Champion: Across the country, public sector agencies are improving operations through automation, artificial intelligence, integrated systems, and smarter ways of working.
Josh Henderson: Discover how agencies are reducing complexity, freeing up staff time, and creating more capacity to serve their communities. Visit the link in our show notes and download our free eBook, How Governments Build Efficiency at Scale, to learn from real-world examples, client stories, and expert insights.
Jade Champion: Now let’s get back to the Tyler Tech Podcast.
Josh Henderson: Now I wanted to touch a little bit on the workforce within your organization itself. So how what kind of feedback have you received since the implementation?
Kristie Landon: We have been receiving really positive feedback from state agencies, the media, even, has given us positive feedback about how quickly we turn around requests and how quickly things are being processed. And that’s all happening because we were able to identify, you know, I feel like I’m saying the same thing, but it all goes back to that. Were able to identify where our staff would be best utilized, which improved our processes, and we’re getting positive feedback from the media and other state agencies about the improvements in the times.
Josh Henderson: That’s great. We love to hear that.
How has this ever changed the way your organization thinks about data and its role in operations? Has it completely changed the game for you all, or is it is it still a work in progress?
Kristie Landon: So, because of the information that is provided in the eFile Analytics tool, we have kind of kept this a little bit contained.
So, we’re not making it available to everyone. It’s simply available to management because you can break down into detail who’s doing what, and we don’t want that information to be available to everybody.
But because the information is there and people are aware that we can get them answers when they ask certain questions, they’re starting to ask those questions that they weren’t asking before because they know now, they can get an answer.
And they can get an answer without it being simply last month, they can ask, compared to last year, how are we looking this month? Are our numbers up? Is the time still following suit, or is it taking longer, taking less? So, they’re able to ask different questions and get answers.
Josh Henderson: That’s great. Now to sort of wrap things up really nicely here, this has been a really wonderful conversation. I’m glad things are going so well in Vermont, my fellow New England state that I love so much. For other organizations that may still be relying on manual reporting processes, what advice would you give them as they start to think about modernizing their processes?
Kristie Landon: So, I would say that if they haven’t explored eFile Analytics yet, they definitely should.
I am still everyday learning more that it does that I didn’t even realize it did when I was such a fan of it in the very beginning. And then the judiciary became, you know, intrigued and we implemented it. And I am very pleased with the extensive information that can be gathered from there.
I’ll give you an example. We are currently transitioning from the H5P filing site to EFSP. And our CSAM, who’s been wonderful, was sending us reports, you know, when we’d ask for them and say, how are our numbers looking? How many people are using EFSP?
Because we have both sites available right now.
I jumped into Tyler Community one day just curious and said, is there any information that I can get without having to ask the CSAM? And I was quickly directed to eFile Analytics. Genius. I already have that tool. Where do I go?
I never dreamed that that would be information that I could get from there, but I can break it down now, or anybody that has access to our tool can break it down and see how many filings are made on H5 versus EFSP. That wasn’t information I thought I could get. So, I’m still, and we’ve been using it for a year, I’m still learning more things that are available. So, anybody who is out there considering it, I really encourage them to give it a test drive.
Josh Henderson: Nice little shout out to Tyler Community as well for all the great work that they do.
Well, we’re so glad that things are going as well as they are in Vermont, and we really appreciate you taking the time to answer some questions for us.
Kristie Landon: Thank you for having me. I appreciate it.
Josh Henderson: Before we wrap up today’s episode, it’s time for our new Tyler Tech Podcast feature, “Day in the Life,” where we explore how technology supports public sector professionals in their everyday work.
In this first installment, Phillip Pilkenton walks us through a typical day for a school bus driver using Tyler Drive from pre-trip inspections to route navigation and student ridership tracking. Let’s take a listen.
So, let’s start right at the beginning. You know, let’s say I’m a driver starting my day.
What does the first interaction with Tyler Drive look like when I get on the bus, and what’s different compared to how this used to be done?
Phillip Pilkenton: So, prior to working for Tyler, I used to work in a school district, and I had school bus drivers. And the way it used to be done is drivers would have to come in to see me to get their assignment, come in, hit a time clock in the office, and then go get a paper pre trip form and fill that out. Well, now they can go straight to the bus, get clock in, do their pre-trip, and see all their assignments for the day right there on the tablet.
Josh Henderson: How does Tyler Drive support drivers with pre-trip inspections? And furthermore, how does it help ensure nothing is missed? And where does the information end up when it’s completed?
Phillip Pilkenton: Tyler can actually take your pre-trip inspection, or the client can build it out themself directly into the tablet. They can break it out into different areas, and each area will have different tasks for the driver to do. So, it kind of guides the driver through their inspection. If a driver tries to submit an inspection prematurely, they’ll get an alert, letting them know they missed an item.
And the information goes straight to Student Transportation and the tablet. So, if a driver needs that information on the road, they can see a thirty-day history. And if they need any more information than that, they can pull that directly out of Student Transportation.
And items that they fail within the pre-trip can create a work order that goes straight to the mechanic, so they don’t even need to have a paperwork order anymore.
Josh Henderson: Now we’re at the point where we’re ready to start the route. We’re ready to start the day. What does navigation look like for a driver using Tyler Drive? What type of guidance is it providing?
And is it similar to using something like a GPS in a car? Something that we’re all familiar with at this point.
Phillip Pilkenton: You can see your route path where you’re supposed to go is a solid blue line. And if the driver deviates, it will recalculate and give them a blue line with a white dash letting them know they’re on a system calculated route path. They can get audible directions if needed, or they can glance down at the screen and see a map with the next turns.
Josh Henderson: We’re on our route. We’re picking up students at this point. What does the driver see at each stop when it comes to student information? What is required of both the driver and the student in that interaction?
Phillip Pilkenton: So, when a driver comes up to a stop, a stop card comes down. They’ll tell the driver how many pickups they have or drop offs. If the district has the picture uploaded, they can get a picture of the student with a load button or an unload button depending on what we’re doing, or the student can hit a reader to load or unload as well.
Josh Henderson: If something unexpected comes up during a route, how does Tyler Drive help the driver respond? Whether that’s, you know, a road closure, a missed stop, maybe a student, you know, accidentally doesn’t get picked up, something like that. What happens then?
Phillip Pilkenton: If a driver needs to deviate, maybe there’s train on the track or something like that, they can definitely make a turn. The tablet will reroute to get to the student. And if, you know, if the stop is labeled as a right-side pickup, it’ll try to get them back on the right side. And it’ll update the parent on the ETA as well that this driver has deviated.
Josh Henderson: How does Tyler Drive simplify things like timekeeping for drivers and for the staff?
Phillip Pilkenton: As drivers are clocking in and clocking out right on the tablet, all the information gets fed into student transportation.
So, drivers don’t have to fill out a paper card anymore or bring in paperwork. It’s just automatically coming through to the software.
Josh Henderson: What does the end of a day look like for a driver using Tyler Drive?
So once a driver has picked up and made all their stops, they’ll get a run summary. They can go back through and do a post trip and then clock out for the day. Or they can go back in and pick a different run and maybe sub for a run that didn’t have a driver that day. The reassurance that a tablet gives drivers that they’re going in the right place, picking up the right students is just invaluable, especially when you’re covering a run that you’ve never done before.
Josh Henderson: Lots of really good precautions in place to ensure that those students are getting from point A to point B safely, securely. Really, really great. Well, this has been really enlightening. Thank you so much, Phillip. Really appreciate you taking the time to run us through that.
Phillip Pilkenton: Thank you so much.
Josh Henderson: Thanks to Phillip for that walkthrough of a school bus driver’s day with Tyler Drive. While student transportation and court operations serve very different functions, both stories underscore the value of providing staff with timely, actionable information that helps them work more efficiently and make better decisions.
As we heard today, modernization isn’t just about implementing new technology. It’s about creating better ways to access information, make decisions, and continuously improve operations.
Kristie shared how the Vermont judiciary transformed a time consuming manual reporting process into a streamlined analytics driven approach that delivers actionable insights in minutes rather than hours.
Those efficiency gains have enabled her team to spend less time gathering data and more time using it, whether that means identifying training opportunities, improving cross training strategies, responding to stakeholder requests faster, or providing leadership with greater visibility into operational performance.
By focusing on timely, reliable information, organizations can create a stronger foundation for continuous improvement and better service delivery. And if you’d like to learn more about what we covered in this episode, be sure to check out the show notes for additional resources. We’d also love to hear your feedback. Fill out the listener survey linked in the notes or reach out anytime at podcast@tylertech.com, and be sure to subscribe, rate, and review the show so you never miss an episode.
For Tyler Technologies, I’m Josh Henderson. Thanks for listening to the Tyler Tech Podcast.