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Technology Property
Editor: Gerald J. Hoenig, 8495 Caney Creek Landing, Alpharetta, GA 30005, ghoenig@mindspring.com.
Guest Editor: Mark Deal, Document & Data Solutions, LLC, 8031 Allerton Lane, Atlanta, GA, 30041, mdeal@docsol.com.
Technology—Property provides information on current technology and microcomputer software of interest in the real property area. The editors of Probate & Property welcome information and suggestions from readers.
Web Services—The Modern Rosetta Stone
Lawyers have come to rely on different computer programs to perform their daily work, and as a result they spend more and more time re-keying data from one application into other applications. Information comes into the office via e-mail, facsimile, web sites, telephone calls, and computer disks, and the lawyer frequently has to re-enter that information into some other format to complete a required task.
A payoff figure is received in an e-mail and then the information has to be cut and pasted into some other application that generates loan closing documentation. Clients call and ask for final figures to be e-mailed to them, so the closing software is fired up and the information copied into an e-mail. Payoff figures exist in the mortgage holder’s financial database, which requires a telephone call to obtain the numbers.
It does not have to be this way. A proven technology available today, web services, can be used to easily share data between disparate applications. Although this article deals with a somewhat technical subject, a little bit of knowledge can lead to a significant increase in productivity, accuracy, and communication improvements.
Web services can best be described as applications that communicate with other applications across the Internet in the same way that humans interact via e-mail. One might send an e-mail to another user requesting information about a file. The receiving user can then reply to the e-mail with a detailed status report. As such, web services can be thought of as automated processes performing repetitive tasks commonly performed by humans.
An Example
Let’s look at a real-world example of the implementation of web services and how they relate to lawyers. In a typical residential foreclosure, a law firm receives a referral from its client via an e-mail, a fax, or a telephone call that instructs the law firm to begin the foreclosure process. This information is then transcribed into the firm’s case management application by intake staff, who begin the foreclosure process. The client expects regular updates on the status of the foreclosure in the form of reports or telephone communications, and these status updates are inputted into the servicer’s internal tracking system by a staff member.
Different clients use different applications and want different reports. Some expect reports faxed to them on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. Other clients expect different reports to be e-mailed to them as spreadsheets so that they can import the data into their systems. As business grows for the law firm in question, the need for additional staff required to keep up with file intake and to respond to client needs becomes substantial. Of course, the firm’s clients have the same problem. They have to work with multiple law firms in different jurisdictions, exchange information in inconvenient formats, and re-key the information into their systems.
A third-party vendor who develops its business around servicing both parties by acting as a “traffic cop” for the communications between the parties is the technological solution. Clients can transmit referrals via a web page, by sending an e-mail, by uploading data directly, or by using web services. The vendor then transmits the referral to the appropriate law firm in the format the law firm supports. As the foreclosure process progresses, status updates can be made back to the vendor, who then transmits the data back to the appropriate client in the client’s preferred format.
Although this solution would certainly be an improvement in the process, true efficiency would come after the development of interfaces between the law firm’s case management system and the web services provided by the third-party vendor. Once this takes place, the entire process would become automated into the following steps:
1. The client initiates a foreclosure action against a homeowner by checking a box on its internal management system.
2. Automatically, the client’s system securely transmits a complete referral, including relevant documents, to the vendor’s web service.
3. Immediately, this information is securely transmitted to the law firm’s web service, which assigns an appropriate file number and creates the new matter in the practice management system. Acknowledgment of the referral is then returned to the vendor, which passes the acknowledgment to the client’s system. This entire process takes less than one minute.
4. The referral is reviewed for accuracy and completeness by a case intake specialist within the law firm, and the information is finalized in the practice management system.
5. Status updates are automatically transmitted back to the client in real time, as are notices by the client to cancel the foreclosure proceeding in the event the debtor becomes current on its payments. When a staff member of the law firm enters a note into the practice management system, that note can be automatically transmitted back to the client’s system as an update.
Implementing such a system allowed one law firm to transition five of its seven intake specialists into other areas of the firm instead of hiring additional staff. In addition, client communications became much more efficient and responsive to the client’s needs by reducing the number of employees responsible for transcribing data from reports into the firm’s servicing applications. In addition, the data that flow between the applications are not being re-keyed by human beings, only reviewed by them. The clear and immediate benefit is that the information is much more reliable, with less potential for transcription errors.
Other Uses in the Industry
A number of mortgage lenders and service providers have already jumped onto the web services bandwagon. GHR Systems (www.ghrsystems.com), based in Wayne, Pennsylvania, is taking advantage of interfaces with Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, insurance providers, and other custom solutions to provide its clients with the ability to obtain current pricing and rate information from any number of sources.
Minneapolis-based Dexma (www.dexma.com) is concentrating on helping smaller and mid-sized lenders by providing web services that allow the lenders’ clients to fill out forms on the lenders’ web sites and then upload data to underwriters for approval.
NetDirector (http://netdirector.biz), located in Tampa, Florida, has become a clearinghouse for the foreclosure industry by working with a number of law firms, service providers, and other related parties involved in the foreclosure process.
Requirements
The beauty of web services is that they can be developed in almost any development environment including Java, Visual Studio, Delphi, or even with a standard text editor like Microsoft Word. Web services developed on one platform are completely accessible by other platforms and are not married to any technology. They exist and work on every major computing platform. Obviously, because the communication between web services generally occurs across the Internet, the machine the web service is installed on should have direct access to the Internet.
Security
Because web services work by communicating across the Internet, security is certainly an issue. Thankfully, web services can support just about any security model available to web applications today. As described earlier, web services work very similarly to human beings communicating via e-mail. The messages have “envelopes” and “contents” and the envelope performs the same function as a standard business envelope. The lawyer can transmit “sealed” envelopes that cannot be opened by anyone other than the recipient, or he can elect to send a transmission similar to a postcard in which the contents are not encrypted.
When it comes to security, web services are frequently implemented by web sites that accept credit card payments online. The transmissions are virtually impossible to crack when they are implemented properly.
In addition, it is quite simple to implement a web service security system that authenticates users based on credentials that the firm defines. This process can be thought of as one machine asking for information from the firm’s web service, but before the web service can release information, a login and password are required. Properly implemented, web services today provide a secure means to electronically transmit confidential information.
The Future or the Next Buzzword?
Increasingly, business communications will be via web services. The ability of disparate computer systems to securely and reliably communicate with each other is the next evolution of the Internet. The glut of e-mails with large attachments flying around as a form of communication will slowly become a thing of the past as more businesses realize the real benefits derived from letting the computers communicate information to be used by people.
Web services have a proven track record for improving business-to-business communications. It is time to allow the machines to take over the task of keying redundant data into different systems and allow the lawyer to get back to work.
