Process Innovation — Teranet Land Information Services
Process Innovation | Teranet
Sector: Provincial agency
Timeframe: 1992 to 1993
Affiliation: Peat Marwick Stevenson & Kellogg
Simplified the process for conversion and automation of Ontario property registration records for Teranet Land Information Services. Working under urgent time constraints, developed significant short term cycle time improvements and cost reductions for conversion and automation.
Subsequently, in pursuit of even greater gains, led a multi-vendor consulting team in establishing the feasibility of an image-based, paper record-independent approach to POLARIS implementation.
BACKGROUND
The Province of Ontario created the POLARIS system to manage land records and related information. The Province also created the public-private-partnership corporation Teranet to complete POLARIS implementation and develop new products.
Historically, Ontario land records existed under one of two legal systems: Land Registry, and Land Titles. Land Registry is a depository system holding documents applying to an area of land, from which lawyers provide a title opinion after completing a 40 year search of title in the full area. Land Titles is an authoritative system recording all information applicable to an individual parcel of land.
Parcels of land under Land Titles were readily automated into POLARIS. However, each parcel under Land Registry first had to be title searched in order to establish and substantiate the data be automated.
PAIN POINTS
- Implementation was behind the required pace
- Teranet needed productivity improvements embracing the established principles of conversion and implementation
OUTCOMES
- The recommendations provided the implementation improvements needed
- Teranet achieved its implementation goals
CONSULTING RESPONSE
Under urgent time constraints, and with specific improvement objectives, led a consulting team from Peat Marwick Stevenson & Kellogg:
- Developed innovative ways to restructure implementation work and the supporting technology environment
- Created and applied a comprehensive cost-benefit model to evaluate the relative merits of multiple scenarios
After Teranet commenced implementation of the recommended short term improvements, developed an image-based, paper records-independent approach to POLARIS implementation. Leading a multi-vendor consulting team:
- Employed process engineering to further reduce the costs of conversion and automation
- Established the broad feasibility of various alternative scenarios for improving throughput while increasing public accessibility to paper records during the implementation process
- Articulated the business case for the use of document imaging for both abstracts and title documents
Michael's skill in successfully combining the expertise of experts from several vendors was noted, and eventually led to the opportunity to prepare bid to reengineer the land management system in South Korea in advance of automation.