Real Estate Title Insurer Doubles Productivity with ...



Overview

Country: United States

Industry: Real Estate/Insurance

Customer Profile

Title First Agency is a market-leading title insurance agency and real estate information company based in Columbus, Ohio, with offices throughout Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Michigan, and West Virginia.

Business Situation

A business modeling process demonstrated that Title First was not operating with optimal efficiency. The company’s data was not consolidated and its systems did not adequately fit its business model.

Solution

Title First and Software Architects (SARK) used the Microsoft® .NET Framework and Microsoft Visual Studio® .NET 2003 to build a state-of-the-art, fully integrated business application.

Benefits

■ Productivity up 25-100 percent

■ Claims losses down 50 percent

■ Increased banking security

■ Corporate sales projected to double

■ Added revenue potential

| | |“Now that we have a state-of-the-art system in place, it gives us the potential for continually increasing our efficiency, as well as establishing beneficial new integrations and partnerships,”

George Henry, CEO, Title First Agency

| |

| | | |As an information-intensive business, Title First Agency realized that its profitability depended in |

| | | |large part on the efficiency and accuracy of its data processing. But the company could not find an |

| | | |off-the-shelf title processing system that truly fit its business model. So Title First teamed up |

| | | |with Software Architects (SARK), a Microsoft® Gold Certified Partner, to build a state-of-the-art |

| | | |business application based on the Microsoft .NET Framework. The solution has consolidated the data of|

| | | |Title First’s 10 subsidiaries, integrated all of the company’s mission-critical systems, and |

| | | |established avenues for rapidly exchanging data with partners. As a result, Title First expects to |

| | | |increase its productivity as much as 100 percent, cut its claims losses by half, and double its |

| | | |corporate sales within a year. |

| | | | |

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Situation

Anyone who has ever bought or sold a house in the United States is familiar with the huge bulk of paperwork generated in the process. Title First Agency is in the business of managing much of the information involved in a real estate transaction and issuing policies to insure that a property can change hands without unacceptable outstanding restrictions or liens. It has operations in five states, with approximately 10 distinct companies under its corporate umbrella.

“Ours is an information business,” says George Henry, CEO of Title First. “We gather data from various sources—county and state courts, lenders, attorneys, realtors, and individuals—synthesize it, and then redistribute it in the proper format to the people who need it. The measure of our productivity is how fast that information is moving through our systems. And, as a title insurer, if our information is inaccurate, it creates liability and we pay claims. Therefore, accuracy is very dear to our hearts.”

Concerned with making the business as productive as possible, several years ago Title First undertook an in-depth business modeling process using IBM Rational tools. “We locked ourselves in a room for three days straight, then continued for several weeks after that,” recalls Henry. “Our business model ran up to 1,100 pages. We were amazed ourselves to see how inefficient we were.”

During this self-evaluation, Title First realized that the information systems it was using were not meeting its needs for accuracy and efficiency. The company was processing its title orders with an off-the-shelf application, which each of Title First’s subsidiaries operated on a stand-alone basis. Therefore, the company’s information was held in more than 10 different data stores that did not interact with each other, and there was no way to view consolidated data without building complex, custom reports. “We did not know on a moment-to-moment basis who was doing what to whom at each branch,” recalls Henry. And, because it was difficult to integrate the system with other applications, such as the company’s document management, escrow, and accounting systems, the same data was often being rekeyed.

Title First also found that the system’s data format was too inflexible for its needs. For example, the company was restricted to denoting only two types of services—owner policy and loan policy—when it really offered 32 different services. As a result of these constraints, Title First could not tell from its reports exactly what it had sold, which prevented the company from accurately targeting its marketing efforts.

Realizing it needed a new title processing system, Title First looked at what was currently on the market, but found nothing that met its needs for efficiency, flexibility, and integration. Therefore the company decided to create its own application to manage the entire life cycle of a real estate title order. “It really boils down to a simple theme: we wanted all the information, everywhere, all the time,” states Henry. It would require a substantial investment, but the business modeling process had shown Title First that it would pay off in terms of productivity gains. And, the company believed that the application was something it could potentially market to other title agencies.

Solution

Title First determined from the start that it would develop this application using the Microsoft® .NET Framework. “We opted to use Microsoft development tools for two reasons: first, because the Microsoft Visual Studio® .NET 2003 development system was tightly integrated with a suite of software tools we were already using; and second, because Microsoft technologies were our area of core competency,” remarks Andrew Houser, Vice President of Operations for Scimus Information Systems. Scimus, Title First’s IT development arm, is a Microsoft Certified Solution Provider, and the company runs its mission-critical applications on Microsoft Windows Server System™ integrated server software. “Also, from a cost-benefit analysis, the Microsoft solution was the best fit for us,” Houser continues. “No other development system was even on our radar screen.”

Creating a business application of this magnitude was a major undertaking, and Title First had to find the right partner—one with experience in creating large systems and expertise in Microsoft development tools. The company put the solution out for bid and considered several providers, but found the right fit in Software Architects (SARK), a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner.

“SARK distinguished itself in this geography as the lead consulting firm that could work with component-based architecture and distributed architecture in general,” says Houser. “That was of very strong appeal to us.”

Development and Architecture

Title First and SARK worked together to produce the solution, which they entitled IDEA (Integrated Document and Escrow Application). Development on the system proceeded through several well-defined steps. The team’s business analysts and technical architect designed the back-end objects using IBM Rational Rose, a unified modeling language (UML) tool. Meanwhile, Scimus’s Vice President of Product Development and chief architect, Michael Sawczyn, built a custom plug-in to automatically generate Microsoft Visual C#® .NET 2003 development tool code stubs for back-end development. Developers wrote their code into the stubs, which already had data persistence, logging, and exception handling built-in during the automated generation. Sawczyn regenerated the code every day to accommodate changes requested by developers. In this way, the team built a service-oriented architecture (SOA) back end in a very short amount of time. “They actually wrote a million and a half lines of code in six months,” remarks Henry.

SARK managed the project through six fast-paced iterations that included:

■ Analyzing business requirements to produce over 200 detailed use cases.

■ Designing an object-oriented SOA that implemented over 400 unique objects.

■ Implementing an XML scripting language to transform data throughout the object model into sets of cohesive legal documents.

■ Developing a custom load-balancing system for clients to connect to back-end services through remoting over CORBA IIOP.

■ Building multiple secure Web portals for Title First’s partners with Microsoft .

This effort took place over 12 months, with an average of 25 to 30 developers. The team used Microsoft Project Server 2002, part of Microsoft Windows Server System integrated server software, for developing the project plans and for enterprise-wide scheduling, including task assignments and status report updates.

The IDEA system runs on the Microsoft Windows Server™ 2003 operating system and Microsoft SQL Server™ 2000, both part of Microsoft Windows Server System integrated server software. It is fully integrated with Title First’s accounting system, Microsoft Business Solutions–Great Plains® software (now part of Microsoft Dynamics™). The IDEA system is also integrated with Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 communication and collaboration server, part of Microsoft Windows Server System integrated server software, to enable users to seamlessly schedule closings and signings directly from IDEA to their Microsoft Office Outlook® 2003 messaging and collaboration client calendars.

Features

As an end-to-end solution for Title First’s business model, IDEA includes many innovative features, including:

■ Workflow engine. Each order that Title First processes involves more than 70 discrete tasks. IDEA proactively manages this workflow and ensures accountability by continually checking that the tasks are being completed according to established business rules.

■ Automatic document generation. IDEA can create a wide range of real estate documents at the push of a button, filling in the necessary data fields automatically.

■ Transaction center. IDEA includes a Web-based service that enables customers to access their order information and status online. It is also fully configurable, so Title First’s partner companies can customize the design and content of their order forms.

■ Imaging solution. Any document that comes in by fax, mail, or e-mail can be uploaded into the system and attached to an order electronically, eliminating the need for paper files and associated storage costs.

■ Check-Smart. The application also includes a positive pay and bank reconciliation suite that gives Title First real-time control over its bank transaction data, and dramatically increases its banking security.

■ Title*Link. Finally, IDEA offers a convenient way to exchange data with partner companies using Web services. This makes Title First much more attractive as a service provider for large enterprises.

Benefits

Title First launched IDEA in January 2005 and is rapidly beginning to reap substantial rewards.

Up to 100 Percent Increase in Productivity

Grown out of a comprehensive business modeling process, the IDEA system is designed to make Title First operate as efficiently as possible, eliminating literally hundreds of manual tasks. “We aren’t just implementing a new software package; we’re instituting an entirely new business model,” comments Henry. “The solution has enabled us to centralize our processes and break down work functions so that staffing and training are more manageable.” According to Title First’s calculations, implementing the IDEA system will give the company a 100 percent increase in productivity in its title production process and a 25 percent boost in the document and escrow parts of its business. “The application will pay for itself every 18 months in labor savings alone,” Henry calculates. “And, it has improved our efficiency at transferring funds, which will make us additional money.”

Fifty Percent Reduction in Claims Losses

By automating the transmission of data between systems and minimizing key entry, IDEA has substantially decreased the opportunity for human error in the course of Title First’s business. The application also automatically checks each order as it moves through the system, further eliminating errors. Due to the resulting increase in the accuracy and integrity of its data, Title First has forecast a 50 percent reduction in the title insurance claims it pays.

Improved Business Intelligence

IDEA has finally given Title First a data configuration that truly fits its business, and expeditious ways to access and analyze that information. “IDEA is meeting our objective of ‘all the information, everywhere, all the time,’ ” comments Henry. “Its detailed data and analysis tools will allow us to really see what’s happening with our business, so, for example, we can better measure the profitability of our joint ventures and make more informed purchasing decisions.” IDEA’s integration with Microsoft Great Plains has further enhanced Title First’s business analysis capabilities. “Because of the integration with Microsoft Great Plains, we will be able to accelerate the production of our financials from three weeks to one week,” Henry says. “This enables us to make better, more timely business decisions.”

Expanded Corporate Sales Opportunities

Since implementing online access to customer accounts, Title First has seen a sharp increase in orders from large corporations, garnering new accounts with banks, national mortgage operations, and national real estate developers. “The more these companies can have access to their customers’ information, the more they want to do business with us,” explains Henry. Based on current trends, Title First expects to more than double its revenue stream from corporate customers in the next year.

Quicker Time-to-Market

IDEA was designed with optimal flexibility, so that Title First can add a new branch or product through a simple data-entry process, with no extra coding. “Because IDEA is a compartmentalized system, we can add products and services much more easily,” comments Henry. “We can now open an office in any state or locality as soon as we have communication. We can literally do it overnight and be fully operational.”

Potential for Added Revenue Stream

Finally, Title First now owns an application that is better suited to real estate title processing than anything currently on the market, which leads the company to believe that it may have the potential to sell IDEA to other companies in its industry. “The application will be a great investment even if we don’t sell it,” comments Henry. “But it has the potential to generate even more revenue for us.”

Once rollout is completed on the first generation of IDEA, Title First will begin working on further enhancements to the application. Phase II will include more advanced features, such as “Virtual Abstractor,” which will enable courthouse searchers to enter data into tablet PCs and upload it automatically into the IDEA system. “Now that we have a state-of-the-art system in place, it gives us the potential for continually increasing our efficiency, as well as establishing beneficial new integrations and partnerships,” concludes Henry.

Microsoft Windows Server System

Microsoft Windows Server System integrated server infrastructure software is designed to support end-to-end solutions built on Windows Server 2003. It creates an infrastructure based on integrated innovation, Microsoft’s holistic approach to building products and solutions that are intrinsically designed to work together and interact seamlessly with other data and applications across your IT environment. This allows you to reduce the costs of ongoing operations; deliver a more secure and reliable IT infrastructure; and drive valuable new capabilities for the future growth of your business.

For more information about Windows Server System, go to:

‌windowsserversystem

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| |Software and Services

Microsoft Visual C# .NET

Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2003

Microsoft Exchange Server 2003

Microsoft Project Server 2002

■ Microsoft SQL Server 2000

■ Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition

■ Microsoft Dynamics

− Microsoft Business Solutions–Great Plains |

■ Technologies

− Microsoft .NET Framework

− Microsoft

Hardware

■ 6 Dell 1655MC servers

■ 1 Dell 6600 server

Partners

■ Software Architects

■ Scimus Information Systems | |

“The application will pay for itself every 18 months in labor savings alone. And, it has improved our efficiency at transferring funds, which will make us additional money.”

George Henry, CEO, Title First Agency

| |

© 2005 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY. Microsoft, Active Directory, Great Plains, Microsoft Dynamics, Outlook, Visual C#, Visual Studio, Windows, the Windows logo, Windows Server, and Windows Server System are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.

Document published June 2005 | | |

For More Information

For more information about Microsoft products and services, call the Microsoft Sales Information Center at (800) 426-9400. In Canada, call the Microsoft Canada Information Centre at (877) 568-2495. Customers who are deaf or hard-of-hearing can reach Microsoft text telephone (TTY/TDD) services at (800) 892-5234 in the United States or (905) 568-9641 in Canada. Outside the 50 United States and Canada, please contact your local Microsoft subsidiary. To access information using the World Wide Web, go to:

For more information about Software Architects products and services, call (708) 876-8200 or visit the Web site at:

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For more information about Scimus Information Systems products and services, call (877) 572-4687 or visit the Web site at:

For more information about Title First Agency products and services, call (614) 224-9207 or visit the Web site at:

“SARK distinguished itself in this geography as the lead consulting firm that could work with component-based architecture and distributed architecture in general. That was of very strong appeal to us.”

Andrew Houser, Vice President of Operations, Scimus Information Systems

| |

“As a title insurer, if our information is inaccurate, it creates liability and we pay claims. Therefore, accuracy is very dear to our hearts.”

George Henry, CEO, Title First Agency

| |

“Because of the integration with Microsoft Great Plains, we will be able to accelerate the production of our financials from three weeks to one week. This enables us to make better, more timely business decisions.”

George Henry, CEO, Title First Agency

| |

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