NECS Operations Description – Another Roadmap

NECS has published another roadmap document – here’s the link. The Roadmap is 50 pages long and does get into a lot of detail on the ins and outs of the end system.

In the introduction there are a couple of interesting bits, one is the outcomes the Banks want.The Banks pretty much hold all the cards in terms of what NECS needs to achieve as a National Electronic Settlements and Registration system

What the banks want
Banks have developed a set of business principles expressing their desired outcomes from consultation on the operation of the NECS among which are:

• common data and process standards for cross-jurisdictional application
  
• as far as possible common data rather than simply a common interface
  
• as far as possible standard templates for registrable documents
  
• common system entry and exit points
  
• deployment of open architecture to enable participants to transmit and respond to data openly as far as possible
  
• electronic settlement as a single financial settlement provider in all jurisdictions
  
• as far as possible harmonised stamp duty regimes among jurisdictions
  
• agreement between all participants on the governance and definition of consistent data and core process
  
• standards, including data configuration and data input requirements
  
• appropriate reporting standards (eg management information systems, audit and compliance, status of applications, traffic, payments, history etc).
  

I cannot see a problem with NECS accommodating the above, except getting the State Revenue Offices to provide consistency on timing and payment of transfer duty. Cutting through the rhetoric, what do the banks really want? It's really simple, a system that operates as though there is a single national titles database. One common point of entry, common data entry, common forms - as it should be.

What NECS is not about
The National Business Model again makes it clear what NECS is not about. It is worth repeating them here.

The NBM does not however encompass the whole of the conveyancing process, and in particular include any aspects of the:

• disclosures required of vendors prior to sale
  
• preparation and exchange of contracts for sale
  
• pre-settlement investigations undertaken on behalf of purchasers
  
• procurement of any insurances required by purchasers
  
• creation of loan documentation by lenders
  
• non-financial aspects of settlement
  
• processes for examining and registering instruments once lodged with a Land Registry.
  

A truly end to end digital electronic conveyancing system
will be a series of interlinked web services solutions that encompass -

1. digital vendor disclosure
   
2. exchange of electronic contracts
   
3. pre-settlement investigations
   
4. digital mortgage and loan documentation
   
5. NECS electronic settlements & registration
   

247Legal is working on its own roadmap and we believe the starting point from its perspective is digital vendor disclosure. Beta testing for the Victorian model is well underway with many estate agents and clients with champion results and feedback.

A final observation about roadmaps. Nothing can beat good old fashioned beta testing and that means ECV getting its pilot underway. Have you got a definite start date? The feedback the users give under the pilot will be invaluable. The system needs to be dead easy to navigate and use. This can only be gotten right through testing and refinement. This also requires clever and inspirational design.