Table of Contents
APEX User Guide
This document is a consolidation of the information that is contained in several other smaller documents. It contains information about how to install APEX, getting around the user interface (UI), and detailed information about the various modules that are available in APEX, for example the APEX Transport module and the APEX Reports module.
Overview
APEX is CeRTNA's 2nd generation Electronic Recording Delivery System. The software is based on Microsoft's .NET Framework and their “Click-Once” software delivery architecture. APEX supports the following major features:
- Secure transport of XML transaction files.
- Reporting
- Administration
- Direct Order Entry
Other lower level features include:
- Digital signatures, encryption, and decryption based on PKI technology.
- Multi-threaded processing for improved throughput.
- Improved error handling and recovery.
- Multi-workstation support.
The following pages provide a comprehensive outline of APEX functionality.
HW & OS Requirements
Hardware and software has changed significantly since CeRTNA's original launch in 2008. Since that time the CeRTNA ERDS application environment is transitioning from a simple web client application to a more sophisticated thick client application named APEX.
Hardware Requirements
The following workstation specifications are designed to satisfy the requirements for running APEX and are current as of May 10, 2025:
- Processor: Intel i5 or greater
- Memory: 16 GB Minimum / 32 GB Recommended
- Disk Storage: 100 GB Recommended (Depends on your environment. See note.)
- USB Port: Available USB 2.0 port (See note.)
- Network Adapter: 100 Mbps or higher.
Notes:
- The SafeNet eToken requires a USB 2.0 or 3.0 style port. USB-C adapters are not supported.
- CeRTNA exchanges files with the recording vendor software using a Windows folder. This folder can be either a local folder on the local hard drive of the workstation, for example the C: drive, or it can be a shared network folder, for example \\your_server\shared_folder\. If you use a network share, the CeRTNA ERDS workstation will need to have network access to the shared folder or UNC path where the CeRTNA ERDS XML transactions will be accessed for submissions, stored upon retrieval, and or picked up for return. Please refer to the section Folder Structure in the Workstation Installation Guide for a description of how the standard CeRTNA ERDS folder structure should be created.
- In most cases, the Disk Storage requirements for CeRTNA are minimal. The XML files that are submitted by an agent or returned by a county are moved to a PROCESSED subfolder and APEX automatically keeps the subfolder cleaned up based on a “Number of days to keep files” setting in CeRTNA's agent and/or county configuration record. The current default setting for the “Number of days to keep files” is 45. The larger that number is, the more storage space that will be used. Allocating 100 GB of storage space will most likely cover any storage requirements needed by APEX.
- If you will be using a standalone workstation, you will need a security cabinet for your ERDS workstation. You can click this link to see a security cabinet that CeRTNA recommends.
- If you will be submitting transactions, you may need to acquire a scanner and scanning software. The brand of scanner/software is left up to the submitter, however, any scanner/software selected needs to be able to produce, black & white, CCITT T.6 (Group4-Compressed), 300 dpi, TIFF image files.
Operating System Requirements
CeRTNA will certify and support the CeRTNA ERDS software (APEX) and the required tools on the following Microsoft Windows platforms:
- Windows 10 Professional (32-bit or 64-bit versions.)
- Windows 11 Professional (64-bit version.)
- Windows Server 2012 Standard/Enterprise (Installed as a VM.)
- Windows Server 2019 Standard/Enterprise (Installed as a VM.)
Important: Home Editions of Microsoft Windows operating systems are not supported because they do now have support for Local Security Policy.
Firewall Considerations
APEX communicates using SSL port 443 (https) and some communications take place using port 80 (http). The following table contains a list of hosts that must be reachable in order for APEX to be installed or be used after the installation:
| Host | IP Address | Description |
|---|---|---|
| dev-ws02.certna.org | 204.246.133.236 | APEX installation |
| apex-setup.certna.org | 204.246.133.236 | APEX installation |
| apex-prd.certna.org | 204.246.133.237 | APEX production ERDS web |
| apex-prd.certnag2g.org | 209.170.199.196 | APEX production G2G web |
| reports.certna.org | 204.246.133.238 | APEX production ERDS reports |
| reports.certnag2g.org | 209.170.199.202 | APEX production G2G reports |
| *.digicert.com | * | PKI certificates (Note 2) |
| *.ssl.com | * | Code Signing certificate (Note 2) |
| *.godaddy.com | * | SSL certificates (Note 2) |
CeRTNA no longer interfaces with Entrust, therefore, the references to *.entrust.com and *.entrust.net shown above have been stricken out.
Note 1: CeRTNA recognizes that different firewalls are in service at our customers and that firewall features functions can vary broadly. CeRTNA prefers to minimize the amount of IT administrative support required by creating rules based on the following tolerance and/or capabilities of your firewall:
- Use wildcard domains if possible. (Ex: *.certna.org or *.certnag2g.org)
- Use host names if possible. (Ex: apex-prd.certna.org or reports.certna.org)
- Last resort, use IP addresses.
The preceding list is sorted in order of preference.
Note 2: Several digital certificates are used in support of CeRTNA/APEX, these include SSL certificates, PKI certificates for digital signatures, PKI certificates for encryption/decryption, and code-signing certificates. The CeRTNA APEX application uses core WCF & .NET functionality to verify that the PKI certifcates are still valid and have not expired. Further, during the APEX installation/update process, the code-signing certificate is validated. The lower level WCF & .NET API's communicate using port 80 for OCSP and CRL certificate validation functions. It is important that your firewall team take this into consideration.
Workstation Support
In addition to the locations listed above, there are some additional hosts that you also want to allow in order to facilitate the retrieval of Windows Updates and for CeRTNA remote support.
| Host | IP Address | Description |
|---|---|---|
| *.microsoft.com | * | Top-level Microsoft domain, to avoid issues with Windows functionality. (Note 3) |
| *.update.microsoft.com | * | General Windows update domain. |
Configuring the firewall rules for Windows Updates and other fundamental OS support, for example, virus definition files for Endpoint Protection or other 3rd party system management tools is the responsibility of your organizations IT staff. The information provided in the preceding table is here simply point out that there are additional URL's that may need to be accommodated beyond those that are required for APEX and/or CeRTNA functionality.
Note 3: Support for Teams meetings and screensharing is also required for remote support of the APEX software.
APEX Installation
APEX is based on the Microsoft “Click-Once” software architecture. This means that the installation files are accessed over the Internet. Once the installation completes, APEX communicates with the following URLs:
ERDS: https://apex-prd.certna.org (204.246.133.237)
G2G: https://apex-prd.certnag2g.org (209.170.199.196)
Please be sure to check with your IT department to ensure that your workstation has access to both the installation URLs and the operational URLs as outlined.
To be able to initiate the installation process you must be able to communicate with following URL: https://dev-ws02.certna.org/APEX/Setup/index.html (209.170.199.194). If you are able to reach the installation site, you will be presented with the screen that is shown below.
If you are not presented with the page that is shown below, it may be due to firewall restrictions, your anti-virus software, and/or your organizations workstation security policy. You will need to reach out to your local IT support staff if you have difficulty accessing the APEX installation site or run into other issues trying to install APEX.
It should also be noted that the APEX software is signed with a code-signing certificate to prove it is from a trust vendor, California Electronic Recording Transaction Network Authority. This certificate is validated by servers located by the entrust.net Certification Authority (CA). If the certificate cannot be verified, it could prevent the installation of the software.
Click the Install button. You should see the following prompt at the bottom of the browser window:
Click the Run button.
Applications that are installed over the Internet should be signed so that you know that the application software is distributed by a trusted source. The following Application Install Security Warning is displayed:
Optionally, you can display the CeRTNA Code Signing Certificate by clicking the link labeled California Electronic Recording Transaction Network Authority. If you click the link, the following panel is displayed to so CeRTNA's code signing certificate information:
When you are finished viewing the certificate details, click the Ok button to close the window.
From the Application Install Security Warning window, click the Install button. The APEX application will be installed and a progress window will be displayed as shown below:
Once the installation completes, the APEX client application will automatically launch as shown below:
This completes the APEX Installation process. Please be sure to read the APEX Getting Started Guide before you attempt to use APEX.
APEX Getting Started
This document is intended to provide a quick overview some of the preliminary steps of using APEX, such as creating your preliminary APEX folder structure, logging into APEX, registering your workstation, and resetting your password. A high-level description of the APEX user interface (UI) is also outlined below.
APEX Folder Structures
Before attempting to login to APEX for the first time, you will need to identify the name of a '{base}' folder that APEX can use for the subfolders that are used by APEX. For new organizations, the '{base}' folder name is typically provided to CeRTNA as part of the initial CeRTNA setup process for a new submitter, agent, or county.
If the '{base}' folder that is configured for your organization does not exist, you will not be able to login to APEX.
The following table describes the folder structures that are used by APEX.
CeRTNA uses a pair of 'shared' folders for exchanging XML files between the APEX application and the Agent or County. In the CeRTNA environment, each submitter, agent, and county is configured with a 'base' shared folder that serves as the 'root' for a set of subfolders that are used by the APEX application. The 'base' folder can be a local drive, a network drive, or a UNC path.
The following folder/subfolder structures are used by APEX:
| Folder/Path | Description |
|---|---|
| {base}\ | Used by the APEX Sender (Note 1) |
| {base}\RETRIEVED\ | Used by the APEX Retriever (Note 2) |
| {base}\PROCESSED\ | For files that have been sent. (Note 3) |
| {base}\DRAFTS\ | Used by APEX for Direct-Entry draft transactions. |
| {base}\INVALID\ | Folder for XML files that cannot be sent. (Note 5) |
| {base}\APEX_WORK\ | Used by APEX Sender for lock files. (Note 6) |
| {base}\APEX_WORK\RETRIEVED\ | Used by APEX Retriever for lock files. (Note 7) |
| {base}\APEX_WORK\PROCESSED\ | Used by APEX Sender for lock files. (Note 8) |
| {base}\APEX_WORK\INVALID\ | Used by APEX Sender for lock files. (Note 9) |
| {base}\APEX_WORK\TEMP\ | Used by APEX for converting Base64 strings to TIFF images. (Note 10) |
The following table contains more descriptive notes for each of the folders referenced in the previous table:
| Note | Comments |
|---|---|
| 1 | The APEX Sender looks in this folder for XML files that have been placed here by Agent or County interface programs or by the APEX Direct-Entry UI. |
| 2 | The APEX Retriever process places XML files in this folder thereby 'handing off' the file to an Agent or County interface program. |
| 3 | After the APEX Sender process finishes sending an XML file to the server, it moves the file to this subfolder. |
| 4 | The APEX Direct-Entry UI provide a way for submitters/agents to assemble transactions before sending them to the County Recorder. As Draft transactions are being assembled, their information is temporarily stored in the local DRAFTS subfolder. After the Draft transaction is selected to be Sent, the DRAFTS transaction is removed. |
| 5 | Part of the 'sending' process is to perform a variety of validation checks. If the sending validation check returns validation errors, the XML file is moved to this subfolder and an alert message is logged in the APEX Log Panel. |
| 6 | APEX processes use a locking mechanism to assign a Sender thread to a specific XML file. This folder holds the lock files created by the APEX Sender processes. (This folder is intended to be used exclusively by APEX.) |
| 7 | APEX processes use a locking mechanism to assign a Retriever thread to a specific ERDS or G2G transaction. This folder holds the lock files for the APEX Retriever processes. (This folder is intended to be used exclusively by APEX.) |
| 8 | This folder holds lock files for the XML files that are being moved to the PROCESSED subfolder. (This folder is intended to be used exclusively by APEX.) |
| 9 | This folder holds lock files for the XML files that are being moved to the INVALID subfolder. (This folder is intended to be used exclusively by APEX.) |
| 10 | The TIFF images from recorded transactions can be viewed. APEX uses the TEMP subfolder as a work folder when converting Base64 to TIFF. The temporary folder/file path is passed to Windows to allow the default TIFF image viewer to display the recorded TIFF image.) |
APEX Login Panel
To access the APEX Login Panel, click the User Login button, located on the main APEX ribbon:
The following Login Panel will be displayed:
Field Descriptions:
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| User Name | This is your CeRTNA ERDS or G2G userid. |
| Password | This is your CeRTNA ERDS or G2G password. (Not your token password.) |
| Platform | Select from the list or type in Production-ERDS or Production-G2G |
| Status Icon | When you select or type in a Platform value, APEX will verify that it can communicate with the selected platform. A green circle with a white checkbox, means APEX communicate with the selected Platform. A red circle with an X means APEX is not able to communicate with the selected platform. |
| Refresh Icon | This icon can be clicked to tell APEX to try communicating with the selected platform again. |
| Show Password | Clicking this checkbox will cause your password to be displayed in plain text. |
| Forgot Password | Click this link if you need to reset your password. (More detail later in this document.) |
| Register Workstation | In order to use APEX for sending or retrieving transactions, your workstation must be a registered, certified ERDS workstation. Use this link to submit a registration request for your workstation. (More detail later in this document. |
| Login Button | Once a userid, password, and valid Platform name have been entered, this button will be enabled. Click this button to continue logging into the CeRTNA ERDS and/or G2G workstation. |
| Cancel Button | Click this button to Cancel and close the Login Panel. |
After you have entered your User Name, Password, and Platform you can click the Login button. APEX will then initiate a variety of actions including, verifying your credentials, retrieving and verifying configuration information associated with your user and your organization and APEX will retrieve and verify your PKI Authentication Certificate.
While APEX is performing these actions, the following panel will be displayed:
During the login verification process, you may be prompted to enter the password (PIN) for your USB token. If your token password is required, the following pop-up window will be displayed.
Enter your token password, click the Ok button, and the login verification process will continue forward.
Once the login initialization and verification process completes, you will be presented with the main APEX UI as shown below:
Documentation for the APEX UI can be found further down in this document.
Resetting Your Password
With all of the passwords that we have in our lives, it is not uncommon to forget your password. If you forget your password and you need to have it reset, you can click on the Forgot Password link on the main Login Panel, the following pop-up window is displayed:
In the User Name field, enter the userid for the platform that you selected on the Login Panel and then click the Request Password Change button.
A temporary password will be sent to the e-mail address that is associated with the userid that you entered.
When you receive the temporary password, enter the temporary password into the Password Change Code field and then enter your new password into the New Password and the Confirm New Password fields.
If you are uncertain about the password formatting rules, you can click the question mark icon and the following pop-up window will be displayed, showing you the rules for creating a password:
If you have entered a new password that meets the password formatting requirements, the Change Password button will become enabled and you can click it to change your password.
Register Workstation Panel
Workstations that are used to transmit ERDS or G2G transactions (payloads) must be certified by CeRTNA. The certification process includes a verification that the workstation is configured as outlined in the document Preparing For A System Audit and that an acceptable Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer report has been submitted to CeRTNA.
The Register Workstation process is the method that APEX uses to ensure that only 'certified' workstations are used for transmitting ERDS or G2G transactions (payloads). If you have installed APEX on a workstation that has not been registered, the buttons for sending and retrieving transactions will not be displayed, which means you will not be able to send and/or retrieve transactions.
If you are installing APEX on a workstation that has been certified by CeRTNA, you can register the workstation by clicking the Register Workstation link on the Login Panel. When you click the Register Workstation link, the following pop-up window is displayed:
All fields are required. Once you have completed filling in the form, click the Register Workstation button and a workstation registration request will be created. CeRTNA staff will receive an e-mail notification that the workstation registration request has been created and a staff member will verify that the ERDS or G2G workstation has been certified. If the workstation has been certified, CeRTNA staff will approve the workstation registration request and this will cause APEX to enable the functionality required to send and retrieve ERDS or G2G transactions.
A confirmation e-mail will be sent to the address provided in the registration request to inform the requester about the status of their registration request.
APEX UI Overview
Once a CeRTNA ERDS or G2G user has successfully logged into APEX, they will be presented with the main APEX User Interface (UI).
The APEX UI is managed dynamically based on each users role, organization, and individual permissions. At a high level, the APEX UI is constructed based on the following UI map:
As shown, the main APEX UI contains a series of Containers, Components, and Selectors. Containers will contain one or more APEX functional components. Selectors provide a way to switch between different functional components.
The following table describes each item:
| Item | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ribbon Container | This section holds various ribbon components. These components may be buttons that trigger actions or components that simply provide static information. |
| 2 | Feature Container | This area serves as a navigation area for the various features offered by APEX. As described earlier, the features that will be visble will be driven by the users role and organization. Some initial features may include Repository View, Reports, and Administration. The APEX Health feature is a static feature that is visible at all times. |
| 3 | Detail Container | This section contains components that respond dynamically based on feature that has been selected in the Feature Container. |
| 4 | Log Container | This area currently holds the APEX Log Panel. This area may also house the announcements and/or system alerts component. |
| 5 | Actions Component | This ribbon component contains buttons that drive actions. |
| 6 | SysInfo Component | This ribbon component provides static systems information about the current user and the current APEX session. |
| 7 | Health Component | This is a static component that remains visible whenever the APEX window is visible and it provides information about the Health of the current APEX session. |
| 8 | Repositories Component | This component provides a list of both APEX local and remote transaction repositories. Clicking on one of the repository names will cause the Detail Container to update based on the selected repository. |
| 9 | Repository Detail Component | This component provides a list of the item contained in the selected Repository. |
| 10 | Log Panel Component | This is a scrolling log panel that contains real-time event activity. |
| 11 | Ribbon Selector | This selector is used to switch between different Ribbon views. |
| 12 | Log Filter Selector | This selector is used to filter which log messages/events are displayed in the Log Panel container. |
| 13 | Feature Selector | This selector is used to switch between different APEX functional features. |
Additional detail describing each components specific functionality is contained in their respective sections in this document.
APEX Direct-Entry Module
The APEX Direct-Entry UI Module provides facility for clients to create CeRTNA Standard XML files that can be submitted using the APEX Transport Module. APEX will create the correct XML structure, either ERDS or G2G based on the Platform that user is connected to.
Direct-Entry UI Overview
The following screenshot shows the new UI components that are associated with the Direct Entry UI functionality:
The Direct-Entry UI is designed to be self-explanatory. Buttons are available to create new draft transactions, delete transactions, add and remove documents, and to make the XML file available to the APEX Transport module.
Draft transactions are automatically saved in the APEX_WORK folder and they remain there until the user selects the Draft item from the Drafts list and then clicks the Send Payload button.
Multiple Draft transactions can be created and saved for sending at a later time.
Creating A New Transaction
To create a new Draft transaction, click the New Draft Payload as shown below:
The following pop-up window will be displayed:
Select a Submitter from the Submitter dropdown list. After selecting a Submitter, the County dropdown list will be automatically populated with a list of counties that the selected Submitter is authorized to submit to. Select the target county from the County dropdown list.
Enter a Primary Reference Number. The Primary Reference number is considered the Submitter's and/or Agent's 'order number' and it must be a unique value that has not been previously used for the selected Submitter.
Note: Although not strictly enforced, it is recommended that the Primary Reference Number is limited to alphabetic letters and numbers. As dash character can be used to separate segments of the Primary Reference Number. Using other special characters, like slashes or other symbols in the Primary Reference Number introduce risks when it comes to passing the transaction files over to the variety of vendors that use CeRTNA.
Once you have entered the Submitter, County, and Primary Reference, click the Create button and the following panel will be displayed:
A new row will be added to the Drafts list in the left panel and a default transaction details form will be displayed in the Draft Detail Panel. The values provided in the pop-up window will be pre-populated.
Complete the remaining fields based on your requirements:
- Priority (Standard, 1, or 2)
- Secondary Reference (This is an optional piece of additional information.)
- Dependency (Checked = Dependent Unchecked=Independent)
- Comments (Optional)
Once you have completed entering the data for the transaction details, click the Add Documents button and the following pop-up window will be displayed:
Select 1 or more TIFF files (documents) that are to be included in this transaction and then click the Open button. The selected TIFF documents will be displayed in the documents list, as shown below. Page counts will be automatically calculated.
You must identify the Document Type associated with each TIFF image by selecting the Document Type from the drop-down list on each row as shown below:
APEX allows you to view the document associated with each individual row by selecting a row and then clicking the View icon (circled in the image below).
Once you have completed identifying the Document Types associated with your transaction you can hand it off to the APEX Transport module by clicking the Send Payload button, shown below. Your workstation must have access to the shared folder that is monitored by the APEX Transport module.
Important: It is important to note that when you click the Send Payload button, APEX simply places an XML file in your configured 'base' folder. (See the APEX Folders documentation.) In order to actually send the transaction to the CeRTNA Portal, the APEX Sender must be running (started).
Once the transaction has been handed off, it will be picked up by the APEX Transport module, as shown below, if the APEX Transport module Sender process is running.
Additional Direct-Entry UI Features
The following additional features are available in the Direct-Entry UI:
| Function | Description |
|---|---|
| Remove Document | Remove the currently selected document row. This function can be invoked by clicking the Remove Document button on the Actions Ribbon or by clicking the X icon on the selected row. |
| Clear All Documents | This will remove all the document rows for the selected Draft transaction. You will be prompted before the rows are removed, so that you have a chance to confirm the action. |
| Delete Draft Payload | You can completely remove a Draft payload by clicking the Delete Draft Payload button on the Actions ribbon or by clicking a specific Draft transaction row from the Drafts list. You will be prompted to confirm your Delete Draft action request. |
| Change Document Sequence | You can change the position of a document within the Draft transaction by dragging the row from one position to another. The Order Index will be automatically updated when the action is complete. |
The following screenshot shows where the additional features are located:
Following standard practice, APEX will prompt the user anytime they have selected an action that removes or clears data. The following screenshot shows a typical prompt where the user has the option to confirm their action or cancel the action.
Viewing Transactions Returned By A County
This information about viewing transactions is also available in the APEX Repositories Guide. The specific remote repository, Returned By County, is also replicated here:
As the name indicates, this queue contains a list of transactions that are currently in Returned By County status. When you click the Returned By County list item in the Remote Payloads section of the Repositories container, the Returned By County detail panel is displayed in the Detail Pane on the right side of the APEX UI as shown below:
The following grid describes each of the number items in the preceding diagram:
| Item# | Description |
|---|---|
| 1 | To display a list of transactions that are currently in Retrieved By County status, click the item labeled Returned By County in the list of Remote Payloads. The item selected will be highlighted. |
| 2 | When a Remote Payload status name has been selected, the Detail Panel will be displayed and the status name will be visible at the top of the panel. |
| 3 | This 'minus sign' icon ('collapse icon') is displayed when the document list for a transaction has been expanded to show the list of documents associated with the selected transaction. |
| 4 | When the transaction list is initially displayed, the document list for each transaction is hidden. To expand the document list, click the 'plus sign' icon ('expand icon'). The XML with the document information for the selected transaction will be retrieved. |
| 5 | This icon is used when a document has been recorded. |
| 6 | For recorded documents, the recording information is displayed as shown. |
| 7 | This icon is used when a document has been rejected. |
| 8 | For rejected documents, the reject information is displayed as shown. |
| 9 | To view/print a recorded document, select a row by clicking it and then click the 'View' icon. The recorded TIFF image will be opened in the default TIFF Viewer that is configured in their Windows environment. |
A new feature has been added to APEX. Transactions are displayed in the Returned By County or Archived repository list and have been recorded, will have a 'View First Pages' icon displayed at the transaction level as shown below:
If you click the 'View First Pages' icon that is displayed at the transaction level, APEX will iterate through each document associated with the selected recorded transaction and it will capture the first page of each recorded document and present all of the first pages in your configured TIFF viewer. This will allow you to print the group of first pages quickly and easily.
In the preceding screen shot, you can see that there are five documents in the transaction, with varying page counts. Three of the documents are 'recordable' documents so APEX has launched the configured image viewer and displayed the first page of the three 'recordable' documents in the image viewer.
APEX Transport Module
The APEX Transport Module facilitates the sending and retrieving of transactions, also referred to as 'payloads' and/or XML files. Transactions can only be sent and retrieved on a registered and/or certified ERDS or G2G workstation.
If you are logged into APEX on a registered ERDS or G2G workstation and your user role is authorized to start/stop the APEX transport processes you will see the Start Payloads Send and Start Payloads Retriever buttons on the Actions ribbon as shown below:
When the Sender and/or Retriever processes are not active/running, the Retriever Manager and Sender Manager rows in the APEX Health component will be red to indicate that those processes are stopped.
Click the Start Payloads Sender button to start the Sender and click the Start Payloads Retriever button to start the respective processes. Once the Retriever/Sender processes are running, the APEX UI will change as shown below:
The APEX detail panel is used to review the list of transactions that are in specific statuses. To view transactions that are in a specific status, click one of the status lines in the Remote Payloads section of the Repositories component. A list of XML files that are in the local file system can be seen by clicking one of the line items listed in the Local Payloads section of the Repositories component as shown below:
As can be seen, APEX will display an icon next to files that are currently being transported.
An alternative way to see APEX activity is to use the Dashboard View. The Dashboard is accessed by clicking the Dashboard tab as shown below:
The Dashboard view, shows the list of Retriever/Sender processes (threads) that are currently running. Each process (thread) will identify the specific transaction that it is sending or retrieving.
When a process is not actively sending or retrieving a transaction, its status will show as Idle. A process that is Idle is active but it is waiting for a unit of work to become available.
All transaction flow is logged to the Log Panel as shown below:
The Log panel shows separate for when the transaction Sending and/or Retrieving starts and when the transaction Sending and or Retrieving completes.
Retriever and Sender processes are managed independently. In other words you can start and/or stop the processes individually by clicking their respective buttons on the Actions Ribbon. When a Retriever or Sender process is stopped, its corresponding status indicator will turn red as shown below:
To start or stop a Sender or Retriever process, click its corresponding button on the Actions ribbon.
APEX Repositories & Folders
This document outlines the different repositories and folders that are in use by APEX. The purpose and functions of each repository are documented individually.
APEX uses a variety of local folders, some of them appear on list of Local Payloads in the APEX UI and others do not. All folders that are used by APEX originate with a base folder that is configured based the organization the user is associated with. (Agent or County). The individual folders and sub-folders are outlined later in this document.
Remote Payloads
Remote payloads represent transaction records that are in a specific status within the CeRTNA ERDS or G2G database. Depending on your user role may see list items for Submitted, Retrieved By County, Returned By County, Retrieved By Submitter, or Archived as shown in the diagram below:
Each of these remote payload categories will be explained in the following sections:
Submitted
Information about the Submitted queue will be placed here.
Retrieved By County
Information about the Retrieved By County queue will be placed here.
Returned By County
As the name indicates, this queue contains a list of transactions that are currently in Returned By County status. When you click the Returned By County list item in the Remote Payloads section of the Repositories container, the Returned By County detail panel is displayed in the Detail Pane on the right side of the APEX UI as shown below:
The following grid describes each of the number items in the preceding diagram:
| Item# | Description |
|---|---|
| 1 | To display a list of transactions that are currently in Retrieved By County status, click the item labeled Returned By County in the list of Remote Payloads. The item selected will be highlighted. |
| 2 | When a Remote Payload status name has been selected, the Detail Panel will be displayed and the status name will be visible at the top of the panel. |
| 3 | This 'minus sign' icon ('collapse icon') is displayed when the document list for a transaction has been expanded to show the list of documents associated with the selected transaction. |
| 4 | When the transaction list is initially displayed, the document list for each transaction is hidden. To expand the document list, click the 'plus sign' icon ('expand icon'). The XML with the document information for the selected transaction will be retrieved. |
| 5 | This icon is used when a document has been recorded. |
| 6 | For recorded documents, the recording information is displayed as shown. |
| 7 | This icon is used when a document has been rejected. |
| 8 | For rejected documents, the reject information is displayed as shown. |
| 9 | To view/print a recorded document, select a row by clicking it and then click the 'View' icon. The recorded TIFF image will be opened in the default TIFF Viewer that is configured in their Windows environment. |
A new feature has been added to APEX. Transactions are displayed in the Returned By County or Archived repository list and have been recorded, will have a 'View First Pages' icon displayed at the transaction level as shown below:
If you click the 'View First Pages' icon that is displayed at the transaction level, APEX will iterate through each document associated with the selected recorded transaction and it will capture the first page of each recorded document and present all of the first pages in your configured TIFF viewer. This will allow you to print the group of first pages quickly and easily.
In the preceding screen shot, you can see that there are five documents in the transaction, with varying page counts. Three of the documents are 'recordable' documents so APEX has launched the configured image viewer and displayed the first page of the three 'recordable' documents in the image viewer.
Retrieved By Submitter
Information about the Retrieved By County queue will be placed here.
Archived
Information about the Retrieved By County queue will be placed here.
APEX Folder Structures
CeRTNA uses a pair of 'shared' folders for exchanging XML files between the APEX application and the Agent or County. In the CeRTNA environment, each submitter, agent, and county is configured with a 'base' shared folder that serves as the 'root' for a set of subfolders that are used by the APEX application. The 'base' folder can be a local drive, a network drive, or a UNC path.
The following folder/subfolder structures are used by APEX:
| Folder/Path | Description |
|---|---|
| {base}\ | Used by the APEX Sender (Note 1) |
| {base}\RETRIEVED\ | Used by the APEX Retriever (Note 2) |
| {base}\PROCESSED\ | For files that have been sent. (Note 3) |
| {base}\DRAFTS\ | Used by APEX for Direct-Entry draft transactions. |
| {base}\INVALID\ | Folder for XML files that cannot be sent. (Note 5) |
| {base}\APEX_WORK\ | Used by APEX Sender for lock files. (Note 6) |
| {base}\APEX_WORK\RETRIEVED\ | Used by APEX Retriever for lock files. (Note 7) |
| {base}\APEX_WORK\PROCESSED\ | Used by APEX Sender for lock files. (Note 8) |
| {base}\APEX_WORK\INVALID\ | Used by APEX Sender for lock files. (Note 9) |
| {base}\APEX_WORK\TEMP\ | Used by APEX for converting Base64 strings to TIFF images. (Note 10) |
The following table contains more descriptive notes for each of the folders referenced in the previous table:
| Note | Comments |
|---|---|
| 1 | The APEX Sender looks in this folder for XML files that have been placed here by Agent or County interface programs or by the APEX Direct-Entry UI. |
| 2 | The APEX Retriever process places XML files in this folder thereby 'handing off' the file to an Agent or County interface program. |
| 3 | After the APEX Sender process finishes sending an XML file to the server, it moves the file to this subfolder. |
| 4 | The APEX Direct-Entry UI provide a way for submitters/agents to assemble transactions before sending them to the County Recorder. As Draft transactions are being assembled, their information is temporarily stored in the local DRAFTS subfolder. After the Draft transaction is selected to be Sent, the DRAFTS transaction is removed. |
| 5 | Part of the 'sending' process is to perform a variety of validation checks. If the sending validation check returns validation errors, the XML file is moved to this subfolder and an alert message is logged in the APEX Log Panel. |
| 6 | APEX processes use a locking mechanism to assign a Sender thread to a specific XML file. This folder holds the lock files created by the APEX Sender processes. (This folder is intended to be used exclusively by APEX.) |
| 7 | APEX processes use a locking mechanism to assign a Retriever thread to a specific ERDS or G2G transaction. This folder holds the lock files for the APEX Retriever processes. (This folder is intended to be used exclusively by APEX.) |
| 8 | This folder holds lock files for the XML files that are being moved to the PROCESSED subfolder. (This folder is intended to be used exclusively by APEX.) |
| 9 | This folder holds lock files for the XML files that are being moved to the INVALID subfolder. (This folder is intended to be used exclusively by APEX.) |
| 10 | The TIFF images from recorded transactions can be viewed. APEX uses the TEMP subfolder as a work folder when converting Base64 to TIFF. The temporary folder/file path is passed to Windows to allow the default TIFF image viewer to display the recorded TIFF image.) |
APEX County Admin Module
CeRTNA users that have a role of County Administrator will have access to a variety of County Administration functions as shown below:
Overview
APEX manages feature access based on the role that is assigned to the user when their CeRTNA User Profile is intially created. County staff members have the following roles available.
- County User
- County Administrator
Users that are designated with a County Administrator role will see the Administration feature tab and those designated as a County User will not see the Administration feature tab.
If a County Administrator needs to change the role of another staff member, they can send and e-mail to CeRTNA to request the change.
Each of the County Administration features and functions are documented in the following paragraphs.
Authorize Submitters
CeRTNA users that have a role of County Administrator will have access to the Authorize Submitters Module.
Authorize Submitters Overview
The Authorize Submitters module gives County Administrators the ability to Activate or Deactivate CeRTNA submitters. If you are authorized to this module you will see an Administration tab in your Feature panel, as shown in the Overview image below:
In the Overview image shown above you can see that a new Administration feature tab is available. When this tab is clicked, a list of Administration modules will be displayed in the left hand panel of the APEX UI.
To initiate the Authorize Submitters module, click the Manage Submitters item in the Administration/Modules list. This will cause the Manage Submitters tab to be displayed in the Detail Panel on the right side of the APEX UI.
A new Authorize Submitters Management ribbon section is also displayed. The buttons on this ribbon will be disabled until at least one row in the submitter list is selected.
Activating Submitters
To activate one or more submitters, click on the checkbox/checkboxes of the submitters that you would like to activate and then click the Activate Selected Submitters button on the ribbon as shown below:
A pop-up window will be displayed with fields for entering the MOU Version, MOU Date, and an Escrow Account label, which is an optional field entry.
Enter your appropriate values and then click the Activate button. Alternatively, you can click the Cancel button to back out of the operation.
After clicking the Activate button, your submitter(s) will be activated and the Submitter List will reflect the changes as shown below:
Deactivating Submitters
To deactivate one or more submitters, click on the checkbox/checkboxes of the submitters that you would like to deactivate and then click the Dactivate Selected Submitters button on the ribbon as shown below:
A pop-up window will be displayed, giving you the opportunity to Confirm that you want to delete the selected submitter(s). You can click the No button to cancel the request.
After clicking the Yes button to confirm that you want to deactivate the selected submitters, the Submitters list will be updated to reflect the change showing the submitter status is 'Inactive' as shown below:
There may be instances where a County Admininstrator may need to temporarily deactivate a submitter. For that reason, the other settings associated with the submitter record are maintained, as shown above, even though the submitter may be temporarily deactivated.
Multiple submitters can be deactivated at the same time by selecting multiple checkboxes and then clicking the Deactivate Selected Submitters button as shown below:
A pop-up confirmation windows will be displayed and after clicking the Yes button to confirm the request to deactivate the selected submitters, the submitters list will be updated showing the selected submitters as 'Inactive', as shown below:
There are no restrictions on how many times a submitter is activated or deactivated by a County Administrator.
Updating Submitters
The information for an individual submitter can be updated by clicking the Edit icon located to the right of the individual Submitter records. As shown below, clicking the Edit icon will cause a pop-up window to be displayed so that the County Administrator can update the information for that specific Submitter.
After updating the selected submitter, click the Save button and the updates will be reflected in the Submitter list, as shown below:
Manage County Settings
Each county has a group of configuration settings that determine how APEX handles transactions that are associated with their county. To manage these settings, the Manage County Settings page is used. You must be assigned a role of County Administrator in order to access this feature.
To access the County Settings page, click the Administration feature tab and then click the Manage County Settings item in the list of Administration options. After clicking the Manage County Settings item, the following panel will be displayed in the detail area to the right:
The Apply Changes and Discard Changes on the APEX ribbon will activate if an entry in the form is changed.
Although there are several fields on the form, only a handful of them are actually used by APEX and fundamentally, once set, the county settings are rarely changed.
Field Descriptions
Following is a description of each of the fields on the County Settings panel:
County: For County Administrators, this field will have your county name. For CeRTNA System Administrators, this dropdown provides a list of all the counties and the County Settings panel will display the settings for the currently selected county.
Status: The status of the county. It will be either Active or Inactive.
Return Documents: This setting exists from some early ERDS design considerations but it is not actually used. Currently all counties return their recorded documents, so the value will be Yes.
Government Documents Accepted: This is another setting from some early ERDS design considerations and it is not actually used in the ERDS process flow. It is set to No in the ERDS platform and it is set to Yes in the G2G platform, primarily for reference purposes.
ACH Routing Number: Not used.
ACH Account Number: Not used.
Priority One Cutoff Time: This field is used for reference purposes only. It was originally intended to be used in conjunction with the Priority property in the CeRTNA Standard XML to determine if a submitted transaction should be retrieved or held until the next day. It is not enforced at this time.
Priority Two Cutoff Time: This field is used for reference purposes only. At the time of this writing, no CeRTNA ERDS counties are using a secondary cutoff time for electronic recording.
Processing Start Time: This represents the time that a county starts retrieving their electronic recording transactions. APEX, however, does not enforce this field. This field is used by CeRTNA's Submitted Status monitor to determine whether it should send alert e-mails.
Processing End Time: This represents the time when a county 'cuts off' retrieving electronic recording transactions for the current day. Current day transactions that enter submitted status prior to the Processing End Time, will be retrieved by APEX.
Timezone Offset: This field is not used.
DPI: This determines the DPI that TIFF images must have in order to be accepted by the county.
Max Payload Size: APEX enforces a maximum payload size via it's System Settings. A county can use this setting to reduce the maximum payload size by using this setting.
Min Width: This setting specifies the minimum width that a TIFF image must meet in order to be accepted by a county. It is specified in DPI, so it is based on the DPI setting as well. For example at 300 DPI an 8“ minimum width would be specified as 2400. If this field is blank, APEX does not enforce a minimum width.
Max Width: This setting specifies the maximum width that a TIFF image must meet in order to be accepted by a county. It is specified in DPI, so it is based on the DPI setting as well. For example at 300 DPI an 8.5” maximum width would be specified as 2550. If this field is blank, APEX does not enforce a maximum width.
Min Height: This setting specifies the minimum height that a TIFF image must meet in order to be accepted by a county. It is specified in DPI, so it is based on the DPI setting as well. For example at 300 DPI an 10“ minimum height would be specified as 3000. If this field is blank, APEX does not enforce a minimum height.
Max Height: This setting specifies the maximum height that a TIFF image must meet in order to be accepted by a county. It is specified in DPI, so it is based on the DPI setting as well. For example at 300 DPI an 11” maximum height would be specified as 3300. If this field is blank, APEX does not enforce a maximum height.
Indexing Requirements: This field must be set to Minimal Indexing. In the early ERDS design stages, additional indexing fields were considered, however, county feedback indicated that due to the variety of indexing standards, counties would not use indexing data provided by submitters.
Cache Path: This is the base folder that APEX uses to exchange files with the county recorders recording application. See the APEX Folder Structures Guide for more information about this setting.
Comments: Reference field for miscellaneous comments.
Manage County Document Types
CeRTNA maintains a master list of ERDS Standard Document Types and G2G Standard Document Types. The Manage County Document Types feature provides County Administrators with the ability to manage which documents their county will accept for electronic recording. APEX enforces a county's approved document list at the front-end during the submission process.
To access the Manage County Documents page, click the Administration feature tab and then click the Manage County Document Types item in the list of Administration options. After clicking the Manage County Document Types item, the following panel will be displayed in the detail area to the right:
The Activate Selected Document Types and Deactivate Selected Document Types on the APEX ribbon will activate when a checkbox is selected on the form.
Green icons indicate that the Document Type is accepted by the county and red icons indicate that the Document Type is not accepted by the county.
Activating Documents
To activate a Document Type, select one or more checkboxes in the list and then click the Activate Selected Document Types button on the ribbon, as shown below:
After you click the Activate Selected Document Types button, the following confirmation is displayed:
You can confirm your request by clicking Yes or return to the previous panel by clicking No.
Deactivating Documents
To deactivate a Document Type, select one or more checkboxes in the list and then click the Deactivate Selected Document Types button on the ribbon, as shown below:
After you click the Deactivate Selected Document Types button, the following confirmation is displayed:
You can confirm your request by clicking Yes or return to the previous panel by clicking No.
Manage County Holidays
The Manage County Holidays panel provide a easy to use way for County Administrators to add or remove county holiday records.
To access the Manage County Holidays page, click the Administration feature tab and then click the Manage County Holidays item in the list of Administration options. After clicking the Manage County Holidays item, the following panel will be displayed in the detail area to the right:
The Add County Holiday and Remove County Holiday buttons will appear on the APEX ribbon.
Add County Holiday
To add a county holiday record click the Add County Holiday button on the ribbon. A new row will be added to the Holidays grid, as shown below:
Two new buttons, Apply County Holiday Changes and Discard County Holiday Changes will appear on the APEX ribbon.
You can enter the Holiday Date directly into the field or you can click the drop-down arrow to display a calendar control where you can navigate from between months or years and then click the desired holiday date.
Once you have selected a Holiday Date and entered a Holiday Description in the Description field, you can click the Apply County Holiday Changes button to save your new holiday record. Alternatively you can click the Discard County Holiday Changes to discard the new row and return to the previous state of the holidays grid.
Remove County Holiday
To remove one or more county holiday records, select the items in the grid by clicking one or more of the checkboxes and then click the Remove County Holiday button that appears on the ribbon as shown below:
Alternatively, you can simply click the X icon of one specific row. Clicking the X icon or the Remove County Holidays button will cause the following confirmation to be displayed:
Click the Yes button to confirm that you want to remove the County Holiday record(s) or click the No button to cancel the operation and be returned to the previous screen.
Manage County Announcements
The Manage County Announcements panel provide a easy to use way for County Administrators to add or remove county announcements.
To access the Manage County Announcements page, click the Administration feature tab and then click the Manage County Announcements item in the list of Administration options. After clicking the Manage County Announcements item, the following panel will be displayed in the detail area to the right:
The Add Announcement and Remove Announcements buttons will appear on the APEX ribbon.
Add Announcement
To add a county announcement click the Add Announcement button on the ribbon. A new row will be added to the Announcements grid, as shown below:
Two new buttons, Apply Announcement Changes and Discard Announcement Changes will appear on the APEX ribbon.
The County Name field will be automatically populated with your county name. CeRTNA System Administrators will need to select the county name from the dropdown list in order to associate an announcement to a specific county.
Select Yes or No from the Active dropdown. This field can be used to temporarily disable an active announcement, even when the current date is within the date range for the announcement to be displayed.
Select the Start Date and End Date for your announcement. You can enter the dates directly into the fields or you can click the drop-down arrow to display a calendar control where you can navigate from between months or years and then click the desired date.
Enter a short description that will serve as a heading for your announcement. The heading can be up to 255 characters long. For Counties it is recommended that you include your county name in the heading. This makes it easier to distinguish between multiple announcements when they appear on the APEX announcements list.
Enter additional descriptive text that is to appear in the body of your announcement. The heading can be up to 1024 characters long. For Counties it is recommended that you include your county name within the text of the body. As with the heading, this makes it clear which county the text applies too.
Once you have finished entering values into the individual fields, you can click the Apply Announcement Changes button to save your announcement. Alternatively you can click the Discard Announcement Changes to discard the announcement text and return to the previous state of the announcements grid.
Edit Announcement
To edit an announcement, click on the row that you want to update and update the field or text as shown below:
Once you have finished updating values in the individual fields, you can click the Apply Announcement Changes button to save your announcement. Alternatively you can click the Discard Announcement Changes to discard the announcement text and return to the previous state of the announcements grid.
Remove Announcement
To remove one or more announcement records, select the items in the grid by clicking one or more of the checkboxes and then click the Remove Announcments button that appears on the ribbon as shown below:
Alternatively, you can simply click the X icon of one specific row. Clicking the X icon or the Remove Announcements button will cause the following confirmation to be displayed:
Click the Yes button to confirm that you want to remove the announcement or click the No button to cancel the operation and be returned to the previous screen.
If you click the Yes button to confirm the removal of the announcement, the announcement will be removed and you will see the changes reflected in the announcements grid, as shown below:
APEX Reports Module
Reports are available in APEX via the APEX Reports feature, which is accessible on the Feature Selector in the left content panel.
To see the reports that you are authorized to access, click the Reports selector as shown below:
APEX Reports are served up via CeRTNA Microsoft SQL Server Report Services (SSRS). The reports in APEX will look and behave exactly like they did in the CeRTNA web client application.
When you select a report a parameter section and a standard toolbar will displayed as shown below:
The report tool bar has many features. You can move between pages using the arrows or by typing in a page number to advance to the desired page. You can select an export format from the drop down menu, refresh the report or print the report by clicking one of the buttons.
Several formats are available for exporting reports as seen below:
Activity Detail Report
The Activity Detail Report is intended to provide totals of activity by various selection criteria. The Activity Detail Report provides a baseline management tool to monitor activity for the ERDS, Counties, and Submitters. This report includes the Transaction ID, County, Originator Name, Customer Reference, County Fees, Instrument Numbers or Rejection Codes and a Status.
Parameter selection is based on your user role:
Agent Role Parameters:
County Role Parameters:
After the report options have been selected, click the View Report button to generate the Activity Detail Report as shown below:
Clicking on one of the Transaction ID's will cause the Transaction Audit Report to be displayed in a pop-up window as shown below:
Activity Summary Report
The Activity Summary Report is intended to provide totals of activity by various selection criteria. The Activity Summary Report provides a baseline Management tool to monitor activity for the ERDS, Counties and Submitters. This report will list the Submitter and give the total Count, Recording Fee and Tax totals.
This report is produced by selecting a Start Date and End Date. Click View Report to view the Activity Summary Report.
Depending on your role, you will see one of the following formats:
Agent Role:
County Role:
Recordation Report
As the name implies, the Recordation Report is intended to provided detailed recording information based on a variety of user specified criteria.
This report shows information about the County, Submitter, Transaction ID, Primary & Secondary Reference Numbers, Recording Fees, Taxes, Date/Time of Recording, Document Type and Recorded Instrument Number.
This report provides summary information at both county and submitter levels and all totals are rolled into a grand total for the report.
The report can be restricted to a specific date range, selected counties or submitters and depending your role, grouping options may be available.
Output for the Recordation Report is based on your user role.
Agent Role Samples:
Agent Recordation Report grouped by County:
Example of summary lines for an Agent Recordation Report grouped by County:
Agent Recordation Report grouped by Submitter:
Example of summary lines for an Agent Recordation Report grouped by Submitter:
County Role Samples:
County role users do not see a Grouping field. The County view of the Recordation Report is automatically grouped by Submitter. Sample layouts are shown below:
Example of summary lines for a County Recordation Report:
Reject Detail Report
The Rejection Detail Report is intended to provide rejection details to Submitters and County. This report includes Transaction ID, County, Submitter, Primary Reference, Last Modified, Doc Type, Rejection Code, Rejection Code Description and Rejection Message.
Parameter selection is based on your user role:
Agent Role Parameters:
County Role Parameters:
After the report options have been selected, click the View Report button to generate the Reject Detail Report as shown below:
Status Detail Report
The Status Detail Report shows a summary of all payloads by Status. This will give the Submitter or County user a snapshot of the activity for a time period and the total number of payloads in any given status.
Like the other reports, parameter selection is based on your user role:
Agent Role Parameters:
County Role Parameters:
After the report options have been selected, click the View Report button to generate the Status Detail Report as shown below:
The Transaction History for individual transactions can be viewed by clicking a specific Transaction ID that appears in the detail of the Status Detail Report. When you click a Transaction ID the Transaction history is shown in a pop-up report window as shown below:
Status Summary Report
The Status Summary Report shows summary counts for each of the major transaction statuses. (Draft, Submitted, RetrievedByCounty, ReturnedByCounty, RetrievedBySubmitter, and Archived. The Status Summary Reports can be grouped based on your role. For Agent Roles, the report can be grouped by County or Submitter. For County Roles the report can be grouped by Agent or Submitter. If you are a System Administrator Role you can group the report by County, Agent, or Submitter.
Following are samples for Agent and County roles:
Agent Role - Grouped by County:
County Role - Grouped by Agent:
County Role - Grouped by Submitter:
Agent Role - Grouped by Submitter:
If you click a summary value that is greater than zero, the Status Detail Report is displayed in a pop-up report windows for the selected items as shown below:
Transaction Audit Report
The Transaction Audit Report reflects the history of a transaction. All activity is logged by date, time and user. The report provides a history of each of the status changes associated with the specific transaction. This report includes the Type, Reference, Status, Agent, Submitter, County, Created By and Modified By for each status change of the transaction.
To generate the Transaction Audit Report enter the Transaction_Id and click View Report. The report will be generated and displayed as shown below:
Transaction History Report
The Transaction History Report provides a flexible way to review the history of multiple transactions within a single report. All activity is logged by date, time and user. The report provides a history of each of the status changes associated with each transaction that meets the filtering criteria. This report includes the Type, Reference, Status, Agent, Submitter, County, Created By and Modified By for each status change of the transaction.
Report sorting and filtering options vary based on user role.
Agent role users can sort by County/Submitter or Submitter/County and they can filter based on Start Date, End Date, County, and Submitter as shown below:
Agent Role Samples:
Agent Role sorting by County/Submitter:
Agent role sorting by Submitter/County:
County Role Samples:
County Role sorting by Agent/Submitter:
County role sorting by Submitter/Agent:
