The Five Characteristics of Highly Effective Mortgage Document Databases by Jeff Picozzi

You probably already use data mining to harvest important rate and loan agreement information. But how meaningful is the analysis that you're receiving?

If your mortgage document database lets you categorize essential files and then deeply mine them for insights, it's probably top-notch. If not, your best analysts are probably complaining to you that they can't do their jobs because items in your database are hard to find or incorrectly labeled.

The Fab Five

Any firm dealing with such gripes may want to consider a new and improved loan documents database. The easiest way to make this upgrade? Find an information management partner that already has one.

Consider these service elements as you compare vendors.

1. Do its practices make it perfect? Just as you judge a storage facility by more than its size, determining what makes a better data warehouse involves more than adding additional memory. Your provider should have in place a detailed, multi-step plan for adding new mortgage documents-one that covers everything from the initial scan to archiving and eventual destruction.

2. Do they offer hands-on capabilities? Cold data still requires a human touch. Since no auto-classify process is 100-percent accurate, you'll always need to manually classify the documents that an automated system cannot properly identify. Make sure your partner has both optical character recognition (OCR) abilities (one built for the mortgage industry), as well as someone to handle mislabeled or incomplete files.

3. Can we get access to a wide variety of documents? The larger the library, the more valuable and actionable data you can mine. In addition to storing your own documents, your partner should offer you access to warehouses containing hundreds of different mortgage documents from a wide variety of lenders, states and eras.

4. Does it adhere to industry classification standards? Rigorous classification using established standards means less confusion when comparing files. Make sure your partner's system sorts documents using classification groups (e.g., Appraisal Reports). It should also follow a mortgage map based on the Mortgage Industry Standards Management Organization (MISMO) guidelines.

5. How quickly can its systems confirm document types? Your vendor's warehousing system should be able to quickly confirm document types. The quicker the confirmation, the faster you can extract and validate vital data.

Your New Database: Better, Stronger, Faster

Once you've found the right provider, you'll benefit from access to a robust and automated classification solution-one that will improve your mortgage-document handling accuracy and efficiency. You'll also free up your analysts to spend more time making the important decisions that drive your enterprise.

For more information on mortgage and loans, visit the Knowledge Center.

LINK:	http://blogs.ironmountain.com/2015/industry/financial-services/five-ch...
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