TitleSCAN Web 2007 R1.0

TitleSCAN Web 2007 R1 is a major release that incorporates an entirely new software foundation and a substantial number of product enhancements and improvements.  The Two Highlights sections below summarize the new features and are followed by two Highlights Detail sections that provide more detailed information on each enhancement.

 

Release Highlights

Title Searching and Management Highlights

Release Highlights Detail

TitleSCAN Web 2007 was rewritten as a .NET 2.0 application.  This ground-up, multi-year software development effort was undertaken to ensure that TitleSCAN Web has the advanced technical foundation required by Web 2.0 applications.  This development effort represented a very substantial financial investment in the product that will provide TitleSCAN Web users with a high-performance, state-of-the-art software product that incorporates the latest software capabilities and features.

Centralized user activity monitoring and reporting is now available as an optional component.  Selected user activities through both Remote Portals and the Master Portal are recorded in a centralized SQL database.  A User Activity and Billing Reporting component is also available to generate PDF reports.

The new Suspend and Resume Portal feature allows administrators to Suspend a TitleSCAN Web Master Portal and all attached Remote Portals or to Resume a Master Portal and all attached Remote Portals.  When Suspended using this feature, TitleSCAN Web remains responsive to users attempting to log-in and displays a standard or custom message indicating the current status of the portal.  However, when a site is suspended, users are prevented from initiating any functions involving back-end database operations so that database backup and other similar operations can be safely performed when TitleSCAN Web is suspended.  Sites that are suspended remain suspended through reboots and IIS restarts.  To see on-line Help describing this new capability in detail, log-in with an account with administrative privileges and go to the Help menu item and select System Administration.  To perform a suspend or resume, log-in with an administrative account and select the Administration/Suspend or Resume Portal menu item.

Although it will continue to be included in the next few releases, the Master Service Administrator program is no longer required.  Sites currently using the Master Service Administrator directly or in scripts should no longer do so and should replace its use with the new Suspend - Release included in this release.

TitleSCAN Web now includes a new feature enabling system administrators to send messages to users.  This new feature is also included in the Suspend - Release Portal feature described above so that messages regarding suspends and resumes can be automatically sent.  To see on-line Help describing this new capability in detail, log-in with an account with administrative privileges and go to the Help menu item and select System Administration.  To send messages to users, log-in with an administrative account and select the Administration/Send Message to Users menu item.

TitleSCAN Web 2007 provides a number of performance improvements that substantially increase its speed and responsiveness.

System administrators wishing to see the current status of the site can now select the Administration/Show Portal Status menu item, which will display the current status of the site in detail.  To see on-line Help describing this new capability in detail, log-in with an account with administrative privileges and go to the Help menu item and select System Administration.  

TitleSCAN Web now supports two different color schemes that can be selected by users.  To select a color scheme, click on the Change Your Color Scheme QuickLink button on the TitleSCAN Web home page.

Title Searching and Management Highlights Detail

Running as a Windows scheduled task, the new Posting Manager initiates batch posting, automatically posts all pending starters, and performs all pending edits of posted documents.  Upon the completion of posting, it automatically updates the PI and GI Plant Dates for all counties in the plant.  It creates an event log that can be displayed or printed, in addition to the standard posting logs created during manual posting.

Running as a Windows scheduled task, the new Fallout Manager initiates and oversees the after-hours production of all Fallout Reports.  The Fallout Production rules for each company and each county can be configured independently. Fallout is automatically produced from the ending date plus one day after the prior fallout report through the current plant date for the county, which can be manually set or set automatically by the Posting Manager.  Manual date overrides allow you to optionally produce Fallout Reports over a date range of your choosing.  A Fallout Report Event Log can be displayed or printed at any later time.  This log shows significant Fallout statistics, including the number of orders with hits, the date range of the report, and other useful statistics.

Entry, locating and verification production statistics can be reported for each operator on your system.  These statistics can be summarized for any date range.  You can also drill down to transaction detail to see when individual documents were entered into the system.

To ensure that examiners are immediately aware of any search alert messages, all such messages are now automatically displayed in a prominent, red-bordered window.  Clicking the "Alerts" button is no longer required.

If a single legal document is posted more than once, TitleSCAN Web now displays these as a single document, which can greatly reduce the number of documents appearing in the chain.  For example, a single document posted three times to lots 1, 2, and 3 will now appear only once in the chain posted to lots "1 to 3."  

Examiners can now search halves of sections, quarter sections, quarter-quarter sections, quarter-quarter-quarter sections and halves of halves.   This is done by typing the number "2" or the letter "H" (or lowercase "h").  

For example, a search of the north-half of section 25 in Township 1N and Range 5E will be entered as "N2/25/1N/5E."   Since the examiner can use the letter "H" instead of the number "2", this search can also be specified as "NH/25/1N/5E."  Halves of halves can be specified as well so that a search of the north-half of the north-half of the southwest quarter of section 25 in Township 1N and Range 5E can be entered as "N2/N2/SW/25/1N/5E."

In the example immediately above, the "N2/N2/SW" that appears to the left of the section number, "25", are referred to as Parts, and there are three parts in that example.  A maximum of four Parts of any kind can be entered.  For example, a search of "N2/SW/SW/NE" is permitted since that search has four Parts.  However, a search of the "N2/N2/N2/SW/NE" is not permitted, since that search contains five Parts.

When search results are returned and displayed or printed, halves are shown using the number "2" even though the examiner might have specified the search using the letter "H."

When this new option is activated, the corresponding data entry portions are also activated so that data entry operators can enter halves.  

Customers who use arbitrary numbers to specify individual acreage parcels can now check each component of the Arb Number for validity.  Arb Numbers are simply a string of numbers that typically include the parcel's Section/Township/Range plus an arbitrary number portion.  Each part of the number, such as the Section, is now called a Field.  TitleSCAN can now check the validity of each individual field for extra characters, missing delimiters, invalid numeric values, and so forth.  Searching invalid Arb Numbers and entering Order Properties with invalid Arb Numbers are trapped and not permitted.  Each County can be configured independently from others.  

When this new option is activated, the corresponding data entry, acreage definition entry, acreage definitions reports, and PI postings legal analysis functions also validate Arb Numbers.

When orders containing new property search specifications are stored, starters for these properties are automatically created.  These starters are normally posted into the Property Index during the next post cycle.  In the intervening time these starters did not appear in any property searches.  TitleSCAN Web now finds and displays these "unposted" starters during order searches.  All matches display at the beginning of the search, with the notation “{Unposted}” appearing in comments.

This new option is of interest only to those users who have posted General Index Satisfactions and similar documents to the Assignment & Release System.  Many of these users have converted from other software systems such as DMS.  When this new option is activated, General Index searches retrieve documents from the General Index in the normal manner.  As each GI document is retrieved, the General Index search will use one or more document numbers from the retrieved document to search the Assignment & Release system for Satisfactions that may have been posted there.  Any documents that are found in the A & R system will appear immediately after the original document retrieved from the General Index itself.

The Document Number search will now search both the Property Index and the General Index for any documents with the specified document number (or book and page).   

This modification is of interest only to those companies that have placed all of their General Index documents into a single "Individual" category, normally referred to as "All Parties."

The TitleSCAN Web General Index has traditionally distinguished between "Individuals" and "Companies."   This permitted the General Index to apply different searching rules for Individuals than for Companies.  For example, the Nickname Table (also known as the Alternative Given Name Table) is used with Individual names but not with Company names.

However, in recent years, some TitleSCAN users have abandoned this approach and have grouped all names into the single Individual category, which was commonly called All Parties.  This was done for two primary reasons.  First, some companies had converted from older plant systems, which did not distinguish between Individuals and Companies. Since their data lacked this distinction, it was placed in the single Individual category when it was converted to TitleSCAN.  Second, there was a growing concern in some companies that entry operators keying the General Index data might fail to properly categorize documents into the correct Individual and Company categories.  The solution for these companies was to abandon the two category approach and place all GI documents in the Individual category.

However, placing all GI documents into the single Individual category meant that TitleSCAN Web was no longer able to apply different searching rules when searching for company names.  To resolve this problem, TitleSCAN Web has been modified to enable the examiner to specify the type of search that should be performed even though the documents in the GI database are not segmented into Company and Individual categories.

The "All Parties" option has been eliminated and has been replaced by the original two choices of "Individual" and "Company."  When searching a Company name, the examiner will specify "Company," and TitleSCAN Web will apply the searching rules appropriate for Company name searching including the use of the new Alternative Company Names Table described below.  However, unlike the traditional Company search that searched only documents marked as "Company", this new search will search through all documents in the GI database.

Similarly, when searching an Individual name, the examiner will specify "Individual," and the searching rules for Individual name searching will be applied including the use of the enhanced Alternative Given Names Table (popularly known as the Nickname Table) described below.

The General Index now provides two alternative Soundex methods for the searching of Company names.  These cannot be chosen on a "per search" basis, since they involve restructuring of certain parts of the General Index database.

TitleSCAN Web sites where documents in the General Index are categorized as Individuals or Companies can chose either method, although until this option became available, all were using Method Two.  Sites where all General Index documents are placed in a single "Individual" or "All Parties" category use Method One automatically and cannot change to Method Two.

Since the Alternative Company Name Table can be used only in conjunction with Method One, TitleSCAN Web sites using a GI that distinguishes between Company and Individual names may wish to consider switching to that method to take advantage of the new Alternative Company Names feature.  

Method One:  This is a new method that has been added to support the use of the General Index Alternative Company Names feature described immediately below.  When this Method is used, only the first word of the Company name that is entered by the examiner is Soundexed.  Additional words in the Company name entered by the examiner are tested against the Alternative Company Names Table described below, and any alternative names found in that table are automatically substituted and searched.

Method Two:  This is the default and standard Soundex method for Company names that most TitleSCAN customers use that have a General Index that distinguishes between Individuals and Companies.  When this Method is used, the General Index Soundexes as much of the Company name as possible.

To enhance the General Index searching of company names, a new Alternative Company Names Table has been added.  This new table is applied to Company names and operates in a manner similar to the Alternative Given Names Table, also called the Nickname Table, which is used when the names of Individuals are searched.

This new Alternative Company Names Table includes alternative spellings and abbreviations of common Company names.  When a Company name is searched, this table is consulted, and any alternative spellings and abbreviations found in the table are also searched.  For example, a search of Greenhaven Mortgage Corporation will search the name as entered as well as variations such as Greenhaven Mrtge Corp, Greenhaven Mtg Inc, and so forth.  

The Alternative Company Names Table that is included with this new release is extensive and includes a substantial number of common alternative spellings and abbreviations that sometimes appear on legal documents or which may be used by data entry operators intent upon speeding entry.

This Alternative Company Name Table can only be used in conjunction with the Company name Soundex Method One described above.  

The GI Nickname Table that has been included with all prior releases has been replaced by a greatly improved and expanded table that is based on the most popular given names of the past several decades as compiled by the Social Security Administration.  It includes not only nicknames but also alternative spellings of given names as well as a new section of Arabic names.  When the names of Individuals are searched, this table is consulted, and alternative spellings and nicknames found in the table are also searched.

In order to provide a smooth transition from the older table to the new, all of the names included in the older table are also included in the new table including a handful of name variations of questionable value.  This was done to ensure that searches run with the new table produce all of the same results or more than searches run with prior versions of TitleSCAN Web that operated with the older table.

If you have modified or expanded the older Nickname Table, you may have to make the same changes to the new table unless the changes you have made are already included in the new table.

A "short surname" is defined as a surname with a Soundex code that ends in the number zero, which occurs whenever there are insufficient characters in the surname to produce a full four-character Soundex code.  

When this occurs, the General Index appends the letter "S" to the surname unless the surname already ends in "S."  If an "S" is appended, the Soundex code for the new plural form of the name is generated, and that Soundex code is searched as well.

For example, if the surname entered is "MULLIN," the Soundex code is M450.  The addition of the letter "S" results in "MULLINS" and a Soundex code of M452.  Both Soundex codes are now automatically searched.

With longer surnames, such as "JOHNSON," a full four-character Soundex code is produced.  The plural form will have the same Soundex code.  Because of this, the plural form of these longer names will normally be retrieved by the General Index search as long as the Percentage Match Option is not set overly high.  Although you should experiment with this, a setting of 85% or less will normally cause the plural forms of longer surnames to be retrieved.

Name searches now, optionally, exclude special characters, such as the apostrophe character, and specified words, such as the word "THE", when performing searches.  This change applies to all name searches including General Index searches, Property Index Grantee/Grantor searches, and Order Searches by name.

When this option is enabled, these special characters and specified words are ignored during searches even though they may be in the TitleSCAN Web database as the result of data conversions, imports from other sources, or direct data entry.  For example, a document referencing a restaurant called "The Home Plate" will now be found by searching for "HOME PLATE" if the word "THE" is on the list of specified words, called Skip Words.

Similarly, special characters that may be in the TitleSCAN Web database as the result of conversions, imports, or data entry are ignored as well.  For example, a General Index search of OLEARY will retrieve documents in the TitleSCAN Web database that are stored as O'Leary.   The company name of "TOYS *R* US" will be found by searching for "TOYS-R-US."

Finally, any characters inside bracket or parenthesis characters in the TitleSCAN Web database are ignored as well.  For example, a General Index document keyed with the name "SMITH; JOHN (ETUX)" will be found by searching for "SMITH; JOHN," since the "ETUX" enclosed within parenthesis is ignored.

Prior to this change, the Grantee/Grantor search results always displayed in ascending date order.  They now display in the date order specified for all other Property search results.

In prior versions of TitleSCAN Web, Section/Township/Range search results were sometimes displayed with embedded spaces.  For example, a search that returned documents posted against the SW of section 25 in Township 1N and Range 5E would display "SW/25/  1N/  5E" with a space prior to the "1" and a space prior to the "5."  Users who attempted to copy this information into another search screen received a "Format Error" message since embedded spaces are not permitted when specifying searches.  This has been changed, and all embedded spaces are now removed from Section/Township/Range search results.

Prior versions had a limit of 99 properties.  In this release, this limit has been increased to 500 properties in a single order.

If a batch becomes full during data entry, the system will now detect that and allow the entry operator to expand the batch and return immediately to data entry.

A new Grantor code field has been added that references the lender table used with the Grantee field.

Data entry operators can now rapidly swap the contents of the Grantor and Grantee fields with a single key sequence.

When a new batch is created, operators can optionally enter the Recording Date and the County for the batch.  If the County is entered, it cannot be changed for that batch.  If the Recording Date is entered, it becomes the default date during data entry.  Pressing the TAB key when in the Date field will default the date to the Recording Date.  All batch status displays and printouts display these new fields.

A new Print Batch option has been added to enable the printing of only Not Located (NOL) documents.

TitleSCAN Batch data can be exported as XML to exchange with third-party systems or in the native TitleSCAN format.

Batches are now grouped by the county code if entered.  Operators and managers can scroll forward and backward through the batch list, the batch list can also be printed, and operators and managers can select to display or print only Ready to Post batches.

Image batches can be displayed showing only Assigned Batches, only Batches that have been assigned to data entry batches, only Unassigned Batches, or only image Batches that have not yet been assigned to data entry batches.  All of these optional displays can be printed.