I am pretty sure that I have written a couple of blogs (many years ago) giving my opinion on this -- the people that make the software have no idea how the title industry uses it.  They probably get a great overview of the bureaucratic function it serves, e.g. put file stamps on the documents, record receipts, image the document, add it to a database, etc.  But, they never talk to the title examiners who have to use it to understand how and why the data is used.  

I don't even think the bureaucrats who buy the software and tell the software engineers what it needs to do, really understand it.  They think their job function is to record documents - and they have lost sight of purpose for which they are recorded.   

It is sad because if it had been done right it would have been much better - the data integrity, and usefulness of the systems would be far superior.  For example, arbitrarily created field sizes have limited, in some cases, the information that was put into the database.  A notation to "see record" severely limits the usefulness of the index.  But... I'll bet they can tell you exactly how much money XYZ title company paid in filing fees in 2001, or how many deeds were recorded last Tuesday.  

Thanks for bringing the topic up - it is worthy of discussion.

Best,
Robert A. Franco
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