===== CeRTNA Standard XML - Common =====

XML structures can be challenging to document in a manner that is simple and easy to read or understand. This said, this document is intended to outline the characteristics of the most frequently used XML nodes and properties in the CeRTNA Standard XML structures.

The CeRTNA Standard XML consists of 3 major structures, a REQUEST_GROUP, a RESPONSE_GROUP, and a PRIA_DOCUMENT structure. The PRIA_DOCUMENT structure is 'included' (common) across both the REQUEST_GROUP and the RESPONSE_GROUP structures.

The REQUEST_GROUP, with its embedded PRIA_DOCUMENT nodes represents what is delivered by the Submitter and the RESPONSE_GROUP, with its embedded PRIA_DOCUMENT nodes represents what is returned by the County Recorder.

The PRIA_DOCUMENT nodes contained in the RESPONSE_GROUP returned by the County Recorder will contain either recording information or reject information, depending on the action taken by the County Recorder.

Additional information associated with CeRTNA recommendations and/or best practices for CeRTNA System Integrators can be found in the CeRTNA System Integrators Guide.

The following tables provide information describing, historically, the most commonly used nodes and properties:

The Req column will use one of the following codes.

  * R = Required
  * O = Optional
  * P = Required if Parent node is present.

**Note:** In the table below, some space characters were used to accommodate visual formatting. Be aware that there are actually no space characters in the XML node or property names. 

===== REQUEST_GROUP Structure =====


{{tablelayout?colwidth="100px,100px,50px,350px"&rowsFixed=1&rowsVisible=10&float=left}}
^ Node ^ Parent/Properties ^ Req ^ Description ^
| <color #0000ff>REQUEST_GROUP</color> | - | R | - |
| - | PRIAVersionIdentifier | O | The PRIA schema version that CeRTNA XML structures are currently based on. (Currently 2.4.2) |
| <color #0000ff>REQUESTING_PARTY</color> | REQUEST_GROUP | R | This node contains information that identifies the Submitter organization. (Not the Agent) |
| - | _Name | R | Submitter name. |
| - | _StreetAddress | R | Address line 1. |
| - | _StreetAddress2 | O | Address line 2. |
| - | _City | R | City. |
| - | _State | R | State. |
| - | _PostalCode | R | Zip code. |
| - | _Identifier | R | This is the most important property of the REQUESTING_PARTY node. This attribute contains the id of the requesting party as assigned by the CeRTNA application when the Submitter account is established. The list of CeRTNA submitters is constantly changing. Contact the CeRTNA organization for a current list of Submitter _Identifier values. |
| <color #0000ff>SUBMITTING_PARTY</color> | REQUEST_GROUP | R | This node contains information that identifies the organization (Typically an Agent) who submitted this transaction. |
| - | _Name | R | The name of the organization that does the actual electronic submission of the transaction. For Direct ERDS or Direct G2G submitters, this value will typically be the same as the _Name attribute of the REQUESTING_PARTY. Transactions submitted by Agent submitters will have the name of the Agent submitting agency here, for example AGENT - SIMPLIFILE. If this is a G2G SecureFTP transaction the name will be G2G Submitting Agent. |
| - | LoginAccountIdentifier | R | For Agents this will be the login userid of one of their authorized users. For G2G SecureFTP transactions, this will be g2gsubmitting user. For Direct entry, this will be the user who is submitting the transaction. |
| <color #0000ff>REQUEST</color> | REQUEST_GROUP | R | This node serves as a wrapper for the PRIA_REQUEST node. |
| - | RequestDateTime | O | For Direct submitters, the CeRTNA ERDS and G2G processes fill this value in and it represents the date/time that the XML transaction was created. For ERDS or G2G Agents/Agencies that create their own XML files this field/property may or may not be present. |
| <color #0000ff>KEY</color> | REQUEST | O | This node is used to specify optional Name/Value pairs. Currently the only valid Name/Value pair is to support a transaction level comment. |
| - | _Name | P | Name of the data element. The only item in use at this time is Comment (Required if the KEY element is used.). |
| - | _Value | P | The value of the named data item. (Required if the KEY element is used.) |
| <color #0000ff>PRIA_REQUEST</color> | REQUEST | R | This node is used to specify optional Name/Value pairs. Currently the only valid Name/Value pair is to support a transaction level comment. |
| - | _RelatedDocuments Indicator | R | This is used to convey Dependent versus Independent documents in a transaction. If this value should is set to True it indicates that all the documents in the transaction must be recorded as a whole, otherwise they must all be rejected as a whole. If the value is False, then each document in the transaction can be recorded or rejected independent of each other. |
| <color #0000ff>PACKAGE</color> | PRIA_REQUEST | R | This node is the wrapper for all of the PRIA_DOCUMENT nodes. There is only 1 occurrence of a package node in a CeRTNA XML payload. |
| - | CountyFIPSCode | R | County 3-digit FIPS code. Represent as a 3 character string. Example: Kern County FIPS = “029”. |
| - | StateFIPSCode | R | State 2-digit FIPS code. Represent as a 2 character string. Example: California FIPS = “06”. |
| - | SecurityType | R | Security type for the payload. Due to changes in DOJ regulations, all transactions should set SecurityType=“1”. |
| - | Priority | R | Supports a counties ability to offer special recording priority such as 8:00 AM recordings or 1:00 PM recordings. The values will be one of the following: “Standard” = Real-time recording. (When received). “1” = (Configured in the portal, typically means 8:00 AM). “2” = (Configured in the portal, Not used so far.) |
| <color #0000ff>RECORDING_TRANSACTION _IDENTIFIER</color> | PRIA_REQUEST | R | The properties in this node are used by Submitters to represent their internal order number. Order numbers must be unique by Submitter. This node is also referred to as a Primary Reference number and/or Customer Reference number. |
| - | _Value | R | The is the primary unique number. The CeRTNA database stores this in the PRIMARY_REFERENCE field |


===== RESPONSE_GROUP Structure =====


{{tablelayout?colwidth="100px,100px,50px,350px"&rowsFixed=1&rowsVisible=10&float=left}}
^ Node ^ Parent/Properties ^ Req ^ Description ^
| <color #0000ff>RESPONSE_GROUP</color> | - | R | - |
| - | PRIAVersionIdentifier | O | The PRIA schema version that CeRTNA XML structures are currently based on. (Currently 2.4.2) |
| <color #0000ff>REQUESTING_PARTY</color> | RESPONSE_GROUP | R | This node contains information that identifies the Submitter organization. (Not the Agent) |
| - | _Name | R | Submitter name. |
| - | _StreetAddress | R | Address line 1. |
| - | _StreetAddress2 | O | Address line 2. |
| - | _City | R | City. |
| - | _State | R | State. |
| - | _PostalCode | R | Zip code. |
| - | _Identifier | R | This is the most important property of the REQUESTING_PARTY node. This attribute contains the id of the requesting party as assigned by the CeRTNA application when the Submitter account is established. The list of CeRTNA submitters is constantly changing. Contact the CeRTNA organization for a current list of Submitter _Identifier values. |
| <color #0000ff>SUBMITTING_PARTY</color> | RESPONSE_GROUP | R | This node contains information that identifies the organization (Typically an Agent) who submitted this transaction. |
| - | _Name | R | The name of the organization that does the actual electronic submission of the transaction. For Direct ERDS or Direct G2G submitters, this value will typically be the same as the _Name attribute of the REQUESTING_PARTY. Transactions submitted by Agent submitters will have the name of the Agent submitting agency here, for example AGENT - SIMPLIFILE. If this is a G2G SecureFTP transaction the name will be G2G Submitting Agent. |
| - | LoginAccountIdentifier | R | For Agents this will be the login userid of one of their authorized users. For G2G SecureFTP transactions, this will be g2gsubmitting user. For Direct entry, this will be the user who is submitting the transaction. |
| <color #0000ff>RESPONSE</color> | RESPONSE_GROUP | R | This node serves as a wrapper for the RESPONSE_DATA node although it should be noted that most of the important elements are wrapped in the PRIA_RESPONSE and PACKAGE nodes. |
| - | ResponseDateTime | O | This optional property may or may not be present and if used, it is populated by the recording software vendor. |
| <color #0000ff>KEY</color> | RESPONSE | O | This node is used to specify optional Name/Value pairs. Currently the only valid Name/Value pair is to support a transaction level comment. |
| - | _Name | P | Name of the data element. The only item in use at this time is Comment (Required if the KEY element is used.). |
| - | _Value | P | The value of the named data item. (Required if the KEY element is used.) |
| <color #0000ff>RESPONSE_DATA</color> | RESPONSE | R | This node serves simply as a wrapper for the PRIA_RESPONSE node. The PRIA_REQUEST structure does not implement this wrapper structure. |
| <color #0000ff>PRIA_RESPONSE</color> | RESPONSE_DATA | R | This node is used to specify optional Name/Value pairs. Currently the only valid Name/Value pair is to support a transaction level comment. |
| - | _RelatedDocuments Indicator | R | This is used to convey Dependent versus Independent documents in a transaction. If this value should is set to True it indicates that all the documents in the transaction must be recorded as a whole, otherwise they must all be rejected as a whole. If the value is False, then each document in the transaction can be recorded or rejected independent of each other. |
| <color #0000ff>PACKAGE</color> | PRIA_RESPONSE | R | This node is the wrapper for all of the PRIA_DOCUMENT nodes. There is only 1 occurrence of a package node in a CeRTNA XML payload. |
| - | CountyFIPSCode | R | County 3-digit FIPS code. Represent as a 3 character string. Example: Kern County FIPS = “029”. |
| - | StateFIPSCode | R | State 2-digit FIPS code. Represent as a 2 character string. Example: California FIPS = “06”. |
| - | SecurityType | R | Security type for the payload. Due to changes in DOJ regulations, all transactions should set SecurityType=“1”. |
| - | Priority | R | Supports a counties ability to offer special recording priority such as 8:00 AM recordings or 1:00 PM recordings. The values will be one of the following: “Standard” = Real-time recording. (When received). “1” = (Configured in the portal, typically means 8:00 AM). “2” = (Configured in the portal, Not used so far.) |
| <color #0000ff>RECORDING_TRANSACTION _IDENTIFIER</color> | PRIA_RESPONSE | R | The properties in this node are used by Submitters to represent their internal order number. Order numbers must be unique by Submitter. This node is also referred to as a Primary Reference number and/or Customer Reference number. |
| - | _Value | R | The is the primary unique number. The CeRTNA database stores this in the PRIMARY_REFERENCE field |



===== PRIA_DOCUMENT Structure =====


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^ Node ^ Parent/Properties ^ Req ^ Description ^
| <color #0000ff>PRIA_DOCUMENT</color> | PACKAGE | R | This is a multi-occurrence node. This same node is included by reference in the REQUEST structure and the RESPONSE structure. This node contains information identifying the type of document, Base64 encoded TIFF data, and on return from a county, it will contain recording and/or reject information. |
| - | _Code | R | This field contains the text for one of the CeRTNA ERDS or G2G Standard Document Types. Example: “DeedOfTrust”. A list of the current CeRTNA ERDS or G2G Document Types is available by clicking on of these links: [[guides:erds_doc_types|ERDS Document Types]] or [[guides:g2g_doc_types|G2G Document Types]]. |
| - | DocumentSequence Identifier | R | The sequence of this document within the payload. Documents in an XML payload must appear in sequence. A payload that has documents out of sequence will not pass XML validation. |
| - | _UniqueIdentifier | O | This attribute has been designated for use by CeRTNA Agents and/or Government Agencies. The CeRTNA ERDS and G2G Direct Entry UI does not use this value. This attribute can be used to store a submitters internal document identifier. If this field is included in the Request transaction, it should also be returned in the Response transaction. |
| <color #0000ff>RECORDING_ENDORSEMENT</color> | PRIA_DOCUMENT | O | If included in the RESPONSE structure this node will contain recording information. This node should not be included if the specific document has been rejected. This node is not expected to appear REQUEST structures. If this node is included, the child properties are required. |
| - | _Identifier | P | This attribute is for use by the county and may contain a value that is relevant to their internal application. |
| - | _OfficersName | P | Name of the examiner that recorded the document. |
| - | _InstrumentNumber Identifier | P | The recorded document or certificate number. |
| - | _RecordedDateTime | P | The date/time the document was recorded. |
| - | _RecordedDateTime | P | The date/time the document was recorded. |
| <color #0000ff>_FEES</color> | RECORDING_ ENDORSEMENT | P | This is a wrapper for the _RECORDING_FEE node. |
| <color #0000ff>_RECORDING_FEE</color> | _FEES | P | This XML element is a child of the optional _FEES element. If the _FEES element is included, this child element and its associated attributes are required. The _RECORDING_FEE properties implement a name/value construct. Although the _RECORDING_FEE node is a multi-occurrence node, the CeRTNA implementation is only designed to accept 4 occurrences of this node based on the property detail shown below. |
| - | RecordingEndorsement FeeDescription | P | The type of fee. Currently there are 4 values supported by CeRTNA for this attribute. “RecordingFee”, “TransferTax”, “CityTax”, and "SB2Fee". Recording software vendors should roll their numbers up, based on which of the fee types are being supplied. |
| - | RecordingEndorsement FeeAmount | P | The fee amount expressed with a 2 decimal position format. Example: “35.00” Do not use currency format. |
| <color #0000ff>EMBEDDED_FILE</color> | PRIA_DOCUMENT | R | This node is used to wrap the encoded TIFF document.  |
| - | _PagesCount | R | The number of pages in the TIFF document. This count is validated against the unencoded TIFF image. |
| <color #0000ff>DOCUMENT</color> | EMBEDDED_FILE | R | This node holds the Base64 encoded TIFF data. |
| <color #0000ff>STATUS</color> | PRIA_DOCUMENT | O | By PRIA definition, this node is optional, however, CeRTNA and our submitter community expect this node to be present so that agents can programmatically determine whether the document has been recorded or rejected. If included, the _Code attribute is required and will be either “Recorded” or “Rejected” |
| - | _Code | P | If the STATUS element is included this attribute is required and it will contain either “Recorded” or “Rejected” |
| <color #0000ff>RECORDING_ERROR</color> | STATUS | O | This node is only used when a document has been rejected by the county. By PRIA definition, this node is optional, however, if the document has been rejected, CeRTNA and our submitter community expect this node to be present so that agents can programmatically capture the reason that the document was “Rejected”. This node is not used when a document is recorded. |
| - | _Code | P | This will be a 5 digit number represented as a string that is one of the [[guides:erds-g2g_reject_reasons|CeRTNA Standard Reject Reason codes.]] For example _Code=”00002” |
| - | _OfficersName | O | Examiners name or id. |
| - | _Description | O | This is a text description of the reject reason. CeRTNA has standard text for all the codes other than _Code =“99999” which is ‘Free-Form’ reject code. If a county uses the _Code=”99999” reject code, they should provide a maximum 256 character description. The CeRTNA ERDS portal will append any value provided in the _Description field to the default description for the _Code that is supplied. Example, _Code=”00025” _Description=”Beautiful day out today” will result in the CeRTNA displaying a reject reason of “Signature missing. (Beautiful day out today)” Another example, _Code=”99999” _Description=”We are unable to verify your signature.” will result in the CeRTNA displaying a reject reason of “We are unable to verify your signature.”
 |


===== Summary =====


In summary, this page is not intended to imply that the only XML elements that an integrator should plan for are ‘the most common’ but rather, to help integrators understand what elements we are seeing supplied by various submitters today.

Any element that is part of the CeRTNA Standardized XML structure is valid for supplying data. What submitters and integrators need to keep in mind is that every county is different and the communication that has been supplied to date is that counties prefer to index the documents within their backend applications. This said, the CeRTNA ERDS Portal, passes in a very limited amount of information that a county might use for indexing, such as the Document Type and the Number Of Pages. On the other hand, agent submitters or government agencies might pass in GRANTOR/GRANTEE information too, since they often create XML payloads programmatically.

Just because GRANTOR/GRANTEE information is supplied, it does not mean a County Integrator must use it. That is a decision for each county and its software vendor. This said, if a submitter supplies GRANTOR/GRANTEE information (as an example), then an integrator should return that data in their Response payload, regardless of whether they use it in their application.

This document is not intended to dictate policy. A Polices & Procedures Committee is in place for that very function. What this document is intended to do is to provide the best guidance it can with regard to what the individual data elements mean, which ones are required, and which ones we are seeing being used at the time of this writing.