Onboarding a county: files, formats and a go-live checklist

The good news for most counties is that the data an SB 255 program needs already exists. The Recorder's office produces a daily index of recorded documents; the Assessor's office maintains ownership and mailing addresses for every parcel. Onboarding is mostly about getting those two files to arrive reliably, and translating them into one consistent format.

The files

Files arrive by SFTP (one account per county, SSH keys only) or are uploaded in the staff console. CSV, other delimited text, fixed-width, XML and Excel exports are all supported.

Mapping, not reprogramming

No county has to change its recording or assessment system. Instead, SentraDeed uses a versioned mapping profile per county that describes the county's column names, date formats, document-type codes and APN layout. Nothing county-specific is written into the software itself. Once a profile is built, it is dry-run against sample files, and staff approve it before it goes live. Every loaded file records which profile version was used.

Configuration decisions

• Document types: which of your codes map to deed, quitclaim deed, mortgage and deed of trust, and which are excluded.
• Government grantees: the names and patterns that mark an exempt grantee.
• APN source: the index, the document images, or the index with images as a fallback.
• Notice templates: your county's Word template or fillable PDF, in English and Spanish, and the county contact details printed on the notice.
• Deadlines: warning and critical thresholds for the exception queues.
• Users and roles: who approves batches, who works exceptions and who submits Assessor files. Staff sign in through the county's identity provider.
• Resident portal: whether to offer it, and its county branding.

Parallel run

Before go-live, the county runs SentraDeed on real daily files for a period while notices are not yet mailed, or are mailed alongside an existing process. Staff work real exceptions, approve real batches and compare the results. This is where local surprises show up: a document type nobody listed, an Assessor field that is populated differently than documented, a template line that wraps awkwardly in Spanish.

Go-live checklist

1. Board resolution adopted, and county counsel has reviewed the program and notice text.
2. SFTP accounts tested from both offices; missing- and late-file alerts go to the right people.
3. Mapping profiles approved; a week of dry-run files loads with no unexplained rejected rows.
4. Document-type and government-grantee lists reviewed by Recorder staff.
5. Notice templates approved in English and Spanish; a test batch printed and checked in a #10 window envelope.
6. Staff users set up with the right roles; everyone has worked at least one exception and one batch.
7. Decision made on catch-up processing: the start date for any backlog, and a plan to clear overdue notices.
8. Month-end reports reviewed with the people who will receive them.
9. Resident portal text and branding approved, if offered.

After go-live

Most of the ongoing work is small: classifying a new document type the first time it appears, adding a government grantee name, adjusting a template. Each of those changes is made in the staff console by an admin and recorded in the audit log, without a software release.