Iowa County Recorders Association
INCODE and IMAGETek
Conference Call Meeting
Summary
September 21, 2004
Participants
Recorders served by INCODE/CMS and IMAGETek
Phil Dunshee, Enterprise MidAmerica
Lisa Sinclair, Enterprise MidAmerica
Steve Erickson, ABC Virtual
Ted Kruzan, IMAGETek, Inc.
Scott Williams, Marshall County ICIT
Marv McElvain, Tyler Technologies- INCODE/CMS
Jerry Ross, Tyler Technologies- INCODE/CMS
Dan Lehman, Tyler Technologies- INCODE/CMS
Megan Clyman, Davis County Deputy Recorder
Welcome
Participants were welcomed and encouraged to ask questions throughout the conference call. The agenda includes the project status report, the project plans and policy issues.
Project Status
Hosting
Participants were thanked for making payments toward an ABCV invoice for making a down payment on server equipment which will be arriving soon. IMAGETek has received its equipment. The hosting environment and development is on schedule and should be operational by the end of October. Counties which may have not remitted payment were encouraged to do so as soon as possible.
Service Providers
The service providers are working with ABC Virtual to design the database with PRIA standards in the specified XML format. Some service providers have completed business negotiations with the Project Team while others are still finalizing their contracts. Service providers, the Project Team and ABCV are collaborating to develop a messaging application which will allow counties to communicate with the portal. INCODE and IMAGETek were thanked for their professional approach, work ethic and problem-solving attitude.
Database Design
It was noted that input from participants and other Recorders has helped guide the design of the portal. The database search design is continually changing and is more organized and professional-looking than before. Members of the Association may view the improved next generation of design at the October 12th Task Force Meeting. An operational demonstration with real web pages and real data will be presented at Fall school. Please note that this will not be the final version of the portal design.
Project Plans
The template for the project plans was reviewed and discussed by the participants and it was noted that all counties should be preparing to finalize their plans with their service providers very soon.
Standard Project Plan
The standard project plan was reviewed for the participants. The following elements are included within the standard plan.
1. Service provider development of a file transfer module to be incorporated into the local indexing system so it can communicate with the portal.
2. Maintenance and licensing agreements which are applicable for three years. It is anticipated that the Task Force and Association will discuss these agreements with the service providers before they expire. Cost for extending the agreements should be reasonable and should decline in future years.
3. Installation of the module in each county.
4. Transferring current data from the county system to the portal. Recorders must review the data before it is uploaded and this could be time-consuming. Some counties may want assistance with this task which may involve an added expense.
INCODE is developing a utility for validation to be used during the conversion process. It is assumed that 75-80% of the data will be correct therefore only 20-25% will need to be inspected and corrected. A date range will be used to generate a spreadsheet for the Recorder to review. INCODE will update the corrections into the local system and then into the portal.
Each Recorder should take the necessary steps to parse names otherwise the value of the CLRIS search engine will be diminished. Some standards, such as parsing, are necessary for the good of the Association and the portal.
Some INCODE users will be installed on the portal by the end of 2004. Others will be scheduled to join between January 3, and June 30, 2005.
Annotations
The INCODE File Magic system cannot annotate according to the project specifications. INCODE is looking for a solution and exploring different options. This may be a supplemental expense for counties using File Magic.
Expenses
Recorders may elect to spend their electronic recording funds in the following, optional ways:
· Assistance with data transfer review
· Purchasing other project-related equipment
· Upgrading equipment
· Historical indexing and/or imaging
Participants were reminded to document their expenditures.
Recorders may save and carry-over the project money but are encouraged to use the resources during this period of development.
Annual Fall Meeting
The INCODE User Group Annual Fall Meeting will be on Friday, October 8th in Ames. Phil Dunshee will update users on the overall project and status of individual counties. Participants were encouraged to ask questions and suggest activities they want incorporated into the portal.
The Project Team and INCODE representatives will hold day-long conference calls on October 19th and 26th. These calls will afford each county a 15 to 30 minute block of time to talk one-on-one about how to specifically finalize their project plans.
Policy Issues
The following issues are a preview of what will be discussed in detail at Fall School. The Electronic Submission Service and fees are two issues that have an impact on portal design decisions.
Merchant Account Service Provider/Fees
An RFQ was released on September 17th and the proposal deadline is September 24th. The Task Force needed to give assumptions concerning possible fees to merchant account service providers in order for them to prepare proposals. The six possible merchants are US Bank, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Iowa Interactive, EDS and VeriSign. A subcommittee, including Joan McCalmant, Joyce Jensen and Mary Miller, has been formed to evaluate the proposals. The goal is to select a merchant by mid-October.
Following are the services carrying a fee:
· viewing and printing
· submitting a document electronically for recording (also has a service fee)
· exporting data to a user
· ordering a certified copy
· ordering a document that has been indexed but not imaged
· monitoring documents
A user will be charged one time at the end of their session so that there will be only one credit card transaction per session. The Task Force determined that a cost of $0.50 per page for viewing and printing be used as the assumption to be used for evaluating merchant account proposals.
Electronic Submission Service
The Project Team has made greater progress than expected on the development of the Electronic Submission Service. This application may be operational sometime between January 3, and June 30, 2005. The “CLRIS Electronic Submission Service” document was reviewed. Participants were walked through the work flow using the diagram on page seven. It was reiterated that the Recorders are the only ones doing recording and that this is not a separate recording system. A document will not be ready for public viewing until acted upon and accepted by a Recorder. An accepted document will be placed on the local indexing and imaging system first and the portal second. Then it will be possible for a user to view.
When other county offices need to take action upon a submitted document, all parties involved must agree to the methodology and the acceptance or rejection of the document. The business rules pertaining to this process are now being developed.
Closing
The documents discussed and reviewed at today’s meeting are posted on the CLRIS web site and may be disseminated by participants to their customers and constituents.
The Project Team has held meetings with some stakeholder groups and auditors to discuss current policy issues and the status of the project.
INCODE and IMAGETek representatives thanked the participants for calling-in today and encouraged them to keep asking questions. Participants felt this call worked well and the Team agreed, noting it may hold similar calls in the future.
Again, INCODE, IMAGETek and ABCV were thanked for their professionalism and hard work.
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