CD-based title system generates its own revenue

A new property records system offers county clerks’ and recorders’ offices a winning combination of rapid access to documents and equally swift system payback.

CD-ROM technology is revolutionizing document management in many industries, including the handling of all documents relating to real property ownership. CD-based property records systems enable citizens or county officials to retrieve and view documents in seconds from networked PCs and CD arrays. Laser prints can be generated at the push of a button.

Where appropriate, invoices for this service can be automatically generated to expedite the cashiering function.

Previous electronic records management systems have been out of reach of the lean budgets of most county clerks’ and recorders’ offices. Today’s CD-based systems are not only affordable, they can actually pay for themselves in one year to three years by generating revenue from customers.

Documents are scanned into random access memory on a PC. They are subsequently written to a networked file server. Documents can be indexed individually as they are scanned in batches throughout the day. One of the advantages of this system is that images are available immediately after scanning to system users.

When the cached document images reach 650 megabytes (about 12,000 documents to 15,000 documents), the images are written to a compact disc using high-speed writers. The document index and retrieval software resides on the network for rapid searches by any user.

While larger counties can justify the equipment to create and duplicate CDs on-site, smaller counties can retain a service bureau to generate CDs from magnetic tape or DAT tape.

County officials or citizens can view images from networked PCs. Desired documents can be displayed in as little as three seconds with CD array technology or hard drive storage. CD jukeboxes with up to 100 CDs or 150 CDs offer 15-second to 45-second response times.

Copies of displayed images can be created from a networked printer at the viewing station or from a centralized printing area. Software can provide the capability to simultaneously generate invoices while the documents are being reprinted. This automated billing function speeds lines at public counters.

County offices can generate revenue from their new electronic records management system because title insurance and abstract companies also want the benefits of electronic storage and access. Title insurance and abstract companies are willing to pay to access index and image files over a phone line connection, or county offices can supply subscribing companies with daily updates of both image and index on digital tape or CDs.

Modular software design provides a full-featured system that can be installed gradually, if desired. For example, cashiering and indexing software may be installed separately from the imaging software.

Cashiering software will assign sequence numbers to documents while it calculates filing fees. The system can produce an audit trail and allow reconciliation of each cash drawer separately. Records indexing software provides easy access to the system’s full document index. Searches can be initiated in the grantor/grantee database to locate a desired document when all or only a portion of the party name is known. Indexes can also incorporate exact legal descriptions of individual parcels or entire subdivisions.

As county officers evaluate CD-based imaging systems, they should look for a system that provides an easy-to-use, menu-driven interface and a structure that expedites workflow. The records management system should facilitate operations, not require that the entire workplace be redesigned.

Some manufacturers, such as Eastman Kodak Co., Rochester, N.Y., choose to develop an image-based records management system by working with software developers experienced in the specific requirements of property records.

The Digital Science property records system was developed by this type of collaboration with Gabriel Systems, Utopia, Tex.

The first generation of CD-based records management systems are designed for use on 486-based workstations with MS-DOS operating systems. Novell NetWare is the preferred networking software. A basic system configuration would consist of cashiering station, document scan and data index station, database file server, one or more retrieval/view stations, an archive station, an image/CD media server and a print server.

The price of each system is determined by the volume of documents handled by the county clerk’s or recorders’ office and the number of retrieval workstations needed. Smaller counties with volumes of up to 40 real property documents a day could install a fully featured system for as little as $40,000. Larger counties with 400 documents to 500 documents a day would spend about $320,000 to $500,000.

At these rates, CD-based systems are 10 percent to 20 percent more cost effective than optical disk-based systems.