St. Joseph County, Michigan Contracts With Hart InterCivic to Implement Anthem Public Records Management System

Business Wire, July 30, 2004

AUSTIN, Texas -- St. Joseph County Becomes Hart InterCivic's First Michigan Customer, Expanding the Company's Presence to 12 States

St. Joseph County, Michigan is the most recent jurisdiction and the first in the state of Michigan to adopt Hart InterCivic's Anthem(TM) System for integrated public records management and automated indexing of documents.

In May, County Commissioners approved the purchase of the Anthem System and installation commenced. The system implementation is set to be completed in early fall with Anthem replacing an existing system for land records management. The value of the contract is $200,000 and St. Joseph County was able to pay for the system with revenues raised through the Michigan Register of Deeds Technology Fund.

The Anthem System will enable St. Joseph County to fully automate the indexing of documents and allow convenient public access, which will enhance productivity and accuracy while protecting data integrity and accessibility to documents.

"I am extremely excited about the benefits of the Anthem System for my office and the citizens of St. Joseph County," said Cynthia L. Jarratt, Register of Deeds for St. Joseph County. "By offering secure Internet-based transactions as an option to our customers, the Register of Deeds' office will experience the benefit of less foot traffic and reduced costs. Our customers will experience a great deal of time savings and convenience as the image-based functions of the Anthem System will allow users to eventually view deeds and records from their home computers. Additionally, our customers will now have the flexibility of added payment options, including cash, check, credit card, escrow account or voucher account."

Hart Anthem is a comprehensive, modular system that captures a document from initial imaging and recording through indexing, verification, archiving, and search and retrieval. Anthem employs a powerful Microsoft SQL-based relational database, proven imaging system, and sophisticated suite of business-driven applications to provide unparalleled productivity, security, and accessibility for County and public users.

"We are very happy to welcome St. Joseph County to our expanding family of e-government customers," said Britt Kauffman, Hart InterCivic's President and CEO. "St. Joseph is a pioneer in their use of technology and in seeking out available resources from the Michigan Technology Fund to streamline and further automate the Register of Deeds' office while providing meaningful upgrades in available services to their citizens."

As part of the Anthem System for public records management installation, St. Joseph County will be implementing Anthem's Automated Indexing capabilities to further enhance its internal efficiencies and the County's offerings to its customers.

St. Joseph County will be using Anthem's Automated Indexing component. Automated Indexing is powered by aiINDEX(TM), a software product developed by Mentis Technology. Automated Indexing speeds the indexing and verification process by automatically identifying document types and entering information into pre-determined fields. An on-screen display allows for quick and efficient verification of the information with minimal keystrokes.

"Anthem's Automated Indexing capabilities will dramatically increase the productivity of our office," said Jarratt. "Our staff will experience a tremendous decrease in the keystrokes it takes to record documents, and as a result, I anticipate that the Anthem System as a whole will allow our office a zero employee growth rate over the next five years."

About Hart InterCivic (www.hartintercivic.com)

From electronic voting to the most effective technologies for automating local government processes, Hart InterCivic's name stands for exceptional expertise, absolute accessibility, and trusted transactions. Hart InterCivic is a leader in providing products and services that help redefine the relationship between state and local governments and the citizens they serve. Hart InterCivic, with offices in the U.S., including company headquarters in Austin, Texas, is working nationwide to bring governments closer to citizens through complete electronic government (e-government) solutions and election management solutions. More information about Hart InterCivic is available from the company's Website at www.hartintercivic.com.

Hart Anthem is a trademark of Hart InterCivic, Inc.

aiINDEX is a trademark of Mentis Technology, Inc.