United States - Washington, D.C. Recorder of Deeds Automation

Stewart has automated the Washington, D. C. Recorder of Deeds (RoD) office with a complete digital filing solution. This document image scanning project includes the automation of a land registration system, cashiering, indexing, and imaging of the public records, archiving historical documents for preservation, integration with the existing computer assisted mass appraisal system (CAMA) and process flow re-engineering. This project included:

• Data conversion from legacy system (images and indexes)
• Installation of hardware
• Installation of software modules including cashiering, imaging, indexing, and public search/retrieval
• Installation of Internet access/data warehousing
• Training on all software modules
• Software support/maintenance
• Electronic recording

Stewart's state-of-the-art, touch-screen system automates the recording process of documents from the time that they are presented for recording all the way through the retrieval of the documents by the public via the Public Access module. In 1999, before the implementation, the RoD office was over eight months behind in their registrations; employee moral was low and the historic building which housed the RoD office since the 1920's was in need of an upgrade.

To begin the process, Stewart first had to analyze the current recordation process by performing a business process re-engineering. Modifications were made to the business process in order to eliminate redundancies, improve efficiency and reorganize the workflow to take advantage of the new technology. All land records and images from 1973 to present have been scanned and indexed. Today the RoD can record documents within a few days or just a few seconds if completed on-line, allowing instant electronic recording of these documents.

This system has helped move the District from near receivership to an A-rating by Fitch Ratings, a leading global financial rating agency, in less than 8-years. In 2003 the RoD generated almost $200 million USD with operating costs of $2.5 million USD per year. Today, the RoD handles more than 175,000 filings per year. Beginning in 2004 the RoD office began charging a subscriber's fee so that title companies, lawyers, bankers and others could perform searches from the convenience of their own computers. The internet subscription fee generated nearly $500,000 USD in new revenue for 2004.