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81 changes: 48 additions & 33 deletions docs/get_started/development_roadmap.md
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
@@ -1,18 +1,14 @@
---
id: development_roadmap
title: Development roadmap for the Document Assembly Line
sidebar_label: Development roadmap
title: Document Assembly Line roadmap
sidebar_label: Roadmap
slug: development_roadmap
---

The Document Assembly Line is under continuous development, based on input from the courts and legal aid organizations that use it and participate in the [community](intro.md#join-the-community). This roadmap contains the master plan and current development priorities, which are made possible by our [partners](/#partners).
The Document Assembly Line is under continuous development, based on input from the courts, legal aid organizations, and other [community](intro.md#join-the-community) members. This roadmap contains the master plan and current development priorities, which are made possible by our [partners](/#partners).

To raise an issue or make a suggestion, you can:
We hold an annual roadmapping meeting for the community to discuss and vote on priorities distilled from ideas and feedback we receive from the community. We post [updates on the LIT Blog](https://suffolklitlab.org/tag/alupdates/) after our quarterly governance meetings.

* Attend the weekly community meetings
* Post in the online discussion forum
* Create an issue in an appropriate [GitHub repository](#releases)
* [Email the LIT Lab](mailto:litlab@suffolk.edu)

## Master plan

Expand All @@ -23,35 +19,54 @@ Our ambitious, long-term goals for the Document Assembly Line are:

## Current priorities

### Grant-funded deliverables
Here are our current priorities, from our February 2026 roadmapping meeting:

In partnership with Legal Services Vermont, funded by a Technology Initiative Grant from the Legal Services Corporation, the LIT Lab is working on the following:
### Admin

* **Complete:** Manage Docassemble hosting for at least three jurisdictions, including Vermont, by January 2025
* Create a flexible, general-purpose e-filing tool that allows e-filing documents prepared outside of Docassemble interviews, by September 2025
* Expand e-filing beyond Massachusetts and Illinois to new jurisdictions, including Vermont, by September 2025
* Support our existing e-filing code and staying current with third-party changes. Planned updates include:
* ECF 5 compliance
* Make it possible to separate e-filing configuration code from Docassemble interview code
- DAL project coordination/admin
- Outreach and promotion
- Contract negotiation and admin

### Additional priorities
### Community software, support, and training

* Update this website to better serve Document Assembly Line users and the project's needs
* Expand the Document Assembly Line community
* Offer regular interview builder trainings
- AssemblyLine maintenance and upgrades
- Community coordination/management
- PDF accessibility improvements
- Documentation task force, including some specific priorities:
- Security best practices
- Accessibility best practices
- Seasoned dev best practices
- ALIncome
- AL code examples
- Review screen code examples
- Improve authoring tools to encourage accessibility
- Error troubleshooting, log investigation tool
- Deeper automated testing support
- Guided coding editor
- Tools for managing large interview libraries and users
- Volunteer coordination
- API access to interview snapshot data

## Releases
### Docassemble hosting

Software versions and release notes can be found in the Document Assembly Line GitHub repositories:
- Docassemble hosting infrastructure upgrades
- Docassemble hosting support
- New DevOps engineer onboarding

* [AssemblyLine](https://github.com/SuffolkLITLab/docassemble-AssemblyLine/releases)
* [courtformsonline.org](https://github.com/SuffolkLITLab/courtformsonline.org/pulls?q=is%3Apr) (no formal releases)
* [ALWeaver](https://github.com/SuffolkLITLab/docassemble-ALWeaver/releases)
* [ALToolbox](https://github.com/SuffolkLITLab/docassemble-ALToolbox/releases)
* [ALRecipes](https://github.com/SuffolkLITLab/docassemble-ALRecipes/pulls?q=is%3Apr) (no formal releases)
* [PovertyScale](https://github.com/SuffolkLITLab/docassemble-PovertyScale/releases)
* [GitHubFeedbackForm](https://github.com/SuffolkLITLab/docassemble-GithubFeedbackForm/releases)
* [ALDashboard](https://github.com/SuffolkLITLab/docassemble-ALDashboard/releases)
* [InterviewStats](https://github.com/SuffolkLITLab/docassemble-InterviewStats/releases)
* [EFSPIntegration](https://github.com/SuffolkLITLab/docassemble-EFSPIntegration/releases)
* [EFileProxyServer](https://github.com/SuffolkLITLab/EfileProxyServer/releases)
### E-filing

- E-filing infrastructure upgrades
- E-filing maintenance and upgrades
- EFSP support
- LITEfile, including some potential priorities (TBD during beta testing):
- Off-ramp to get help from a filing clerk
- ODR UX research RE user trust
- Plug-and-play-ability
- TrueFiling integration
- ECF 5
- Improved e-filing error reporting

### Interview building and maintenance

- Student project coordination
- Interview maintenance
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