artl Useful Information
Roles in artl | Work Queues | Compatible Deeds | Smartcard Pin Codes
Roles in artl
Case Studies
Local Registration Authorities (LRA's)
The arrangements within firms for setting up Local Registration Authorities will vary from firm to firm but it may be useful to compile a list of scenarios that may apply as a base for the sign-up visit, which can be amended by the firm when the Practice Administrator has familiarised themselves with it.
Every firm must appoint at least one Local Registration Authority, but in view of the functions served by them, it is recommended that an additional one be set up.
The Law Society currently requires that the Local Registration Authority must be a solicitor. The position does carry a high level of responsibility in the chain of trust established between the PKI users in a firm, RoS and Trustis. However the practical requirements of the position do require reasonable competence with the use of IT and keyboard.
The Local Registration Authority is responsible for:
- setting up PKI users within the firm;
- obtaining the necessary electronic certificate;
- installing it on the card;
- updating the artl database;
- creating the Smartcard PIN;
- recording the proof of identity;
- enrolling the digital certificate;
- activating the card and
- issuing it to the user.
This process is relatively time consuming and requires a higher ability to use IT than any other process in artl.
Once PKI users have been set up for a firm, there will only be very occasional need for the process to be repeated, although when a PKI user loses or damages the card or if their PIN has been compromised, the user will require to be set up again by the Local Registration Authority. Therefore it is likely that there will be a degree of urgency, which would render it prudent to have a back-up Local Registration Authority.
Practice Administrators (PA's)
This can be a non-solicitor. The Practice Administrator is responsible for:
- maintaining the list of users and their relevant details,
- allocating non-signing roles to users,
- switching work between work queues in the case of absence of users and
- re-setting access passwords.
The Practice Administrator’s functions will be required more regularly than the Local Registration Authority and they do not require Smartcards in that capacity. If the Practice Administrator is also a PKI user, they will have a Smartcard for that function.
If a firm operates through a number of departments or branch offices, it may be useful to have Practice Administrators from each department or branch who would be responsible for the administration of artl work within their department or office.
Even if there are no departments, at least one additional Practice Administrator should be set up to cover for absence etc, although Local Registration Authorities can also perform all the functions of the Practice Administrator.
Work Queues
There are a number of fundamental points about queues:
All work within artl is allocated to Work Queues, which are made up of Draft Applications, Transactions and Tasks.
A Queue in artl is an area of computer memory where lists of work are generated, stored and worked on. Queues can be Private (accessed by the individual who owns the queue), Shared (accessed by a group of nominated individuals who are members of the queue) or Practice (accessed by every artl user within a firm).
A familiar analogy would be to picture a Private Queue as a drawer in a filing cabinet where only the owner of the drawer has the key and can therefore access the folders therein. A Shared Queue would be a drawer which has various nominated owners who all have a key. A Practice Queue would be a drawer whose contents are accessible by every user within the Firm. Queues in artl are made up of Draft Applications, Transactions and Tasks.
There are three types of Work Queues:
Private Work Queue: Every artl user by default has a private work queue. Private work queues can only be accessed by the user and the Practice Administrator.
Shared Work Queue: Work queues that can be accessed by selected members of the firm's artl users — i.e. those included within that particular queue.
Practice Work Queues: Work queues that can be accessed by all of the Firm's artl users.
When work is placed in a Shared or Practice queue, it will be possible for it to be progressed by any user in the firm who has access to that queue.
As well as setting up staff within their organisation to be users on artl, Practice Administrators will be able to set up work queues and authorise access to relevant and appropriate queues.
When cases are set up on artl, they will automatically be contained in that users Private Queue and they must be re-allocated from the Private Queue to Shared or Practice queues before other artl users can gain access to them.
Queues can be used to arrange the flow of work through a business. If an organisation already works in teams or groups, it is possible to set up work queues to reflect existing groups e.g. domestic_re-mortgages@FirmA or commercial_conveyancing@FirmA.
The list of queues and the users within the organisation that are able to access them is maintained by the Practice Administrator who will also be able to decide if a user or a work queue is to be visible to other users of the artl system outside that particular organisation.
- Every user in artl has a default Private Work Queue and all work in artl is automatically allocated to that Queue when a user prepares an application.
- The user can re-allocate the work from their private queue to a shared queue or to a practice queue.
- When a signature is required, the transaction or draft application must be allocated to a queue from which the signatory can retrieve it to sign.
- The transaction must be in the signatory’s Private Queue for the signature to be applied.
- If individual transactions from a draft application are re-allocated they must all be re-united after they have been approved before the draft application can be submitted.
- All transactions in a draft application must be approved before the draft application can be submitted.
- Some queues may be ‘public facing’ which means that the queue name is visible to other firms and organisations and work can be allocated to them where appropriate - eg disposition transactions being allocated by the purchaser’s agent to the seller’s agent, or among multiple agents.
- Other firms cannot access any work in a public facing queue as they can only allocate specific transactions to it. Once in such a queue, the sender can no longer access it to carry out any work.
There are a number of possible scenarios for queues within firms:
- A Practice Queue to which everyone has access to all work, including transactions ready for signature. Only the roles assigned to users can be carried out by them. The transaction will be reallocated to the signatory’s Private Queue to enable them to sign the deed, which will then be returned to the .
- A Shared Queue to which the only signatories have access and to which all work to be signed is allocated when appropriate.
- A Shared Queue to which those creating and progressing draft applications have access and from which the transactions are allocated to the ‘signature’ queue.
- A Shared Queue which will be public facing in which incoming dispositions will arrive.
- Shared Queues to reflect a departmental structure within an office or firm. This arrangement would probably remove the need for a Practice Queue as each department could have a queue to which all members could have access as well as the other queues as appropriate.
Although it is a matter for firms to decide how best to manage their workflows, it is recommended that work should be progressed in Shared or Practice Queues rather than being left in Private Queues. This means that all users who have access to the Queue in which the draft application sits, can access it and work on it.
The procedure therefore to be followed when a draft application is created within the firm by a non- PKI user – eg in a Standard Security transaction - is as follows:
- The creator nominates themselves as ‘the person who will be preparing the <transaction>’ in the Wizard.
- After completion of the Wizard, the Creator goes to WIP, selects the draft application and reallocates it to the appropriate shared queue or to the practice queue.
- The creator completes the transaction information and answers the questions.
- The creator changes the deed signatory from their own name to that of the Private Queue of the PKI who is to sign the deed.
- The creator then <creates the deed and passes it to the signatory>.
- The deed then passes to the PKI who will retrieve it from their Private Queue, and sign the deed.
- The PKI returns the deed.
- The creator can then approve the deed to await the return of the remaining transactions for completion of the draft application.
Compatible Deeds
The artl system of registration is designed for applications for registration of Dealings with Whole in the Land Register of Scotland. It is not available for First Registrations or Transfers of Part type applications.
An estimated 80% of the total number of Dealings submitted for registration each year is capable of being processed by the artl system. In the main, these comprise straightforward Dealings that affect only the B (Proprietorship) and C (Charges) Sections of Title Sheets.
This document lists those types of Dealings applications that are artl-compatible and those that are not artl compatible.
Smartcard Pin Codes
As with other internet and digital services all passwords and PINs must be kept confidential by the individual user. In artl it is particularly important since all actions and keystrokes made by the user who is logged in are attributed to that login, are recorded and can be retrieved on an audit trail.
All users of the registers e-services (artl, e-forms and, in due course Registers Direct) will be given a username and password when they are signed up for any of the services. This user name is similar to the current usernames for e-forms.
If a user’s login details are used by anyone else, the user will be held responsible for all actions taken, regardless of whether they can demonstrate that they did not in fact carry out those actions.
Users of artl who have authority to sign deeds, approve transactions and/or submit applications for registration to the Keeper will require to be issued with a digital certificate (PKI).
PIN Numbers
The Local Registration Authorities in each firm will issue the certificate which is in the form of a smartcard, similar to a bank or credit card which has a chip embedded in it which contains the actual certificate.
When the certificate is downloaded to the card, the user must validate the card by inputting their own PIN. The PIN must be a minimum of 8 and maximum of 16 characters and must contain at least 1 uppercase character and 1 number.
The process for issuing the certificates must be carried out by the Local Registration Authority who requires to access a number of secure websites from where they will download the user’s certificate on to the card. The Local Registration Authority also adds the user’s details to the artl database of certificates.
To adhibit a digital signature, a user must insert the card into the card reader and be prompted to enter their PIN.
