Download This section outlines the various enterprise applications that this

APPENDIX I
APPLICATIONS DESCRIPTIONS
This section outlines the various enterprise applications that this RFQ encompasses. Each application is
currently in production within one or more of the three server farms that the DOS participates in. The
support team must work within each of these areas to ensure that each application continues to run as expected
and is enhanced as required through the life of this Purchase Order.
Secretary of State Knowledge Base (SOSKB)
The Secretary of State Knowledge Base (SOSKB) is a software system licensed to the Pennsylvania
Department of State by the Secretary of State of North Carolina. SOSKB is the main system of the
Corporation Bureau used to process all documents filed within the various sections of the Bureau. This
overview provides only a summary of the major functionalities of the current application. The software
system includes internal processes and external web processes for Uniform Commercial Code (UCC),
Corporation, and Trademark functionality.
Under Pennsylvania law, every proceeding for the organization of corporations, both for-profit and nonprofit,
and certain ancillary transactions relating to such corporations is required to be filed with the Department's
Corporation Bureau. Other types of businesses registering with the Bureau include: limited liability
companies, limited partnerships, professional corporations, business trusts, municipal authorities, and foreign
business entities qualified to do business within the Commonwealth. Individuals and business entities
conducting business under an assumed or fictitious name must also make filings. In total, the Bureau
receives more than 60 different types of corporate record filings.
The Corporation Bureau is the repository for the records of more than 2,600,000 companies authorized to do
business in Pennsylvania. Each year the Bureau’s staff receives and files more than 91,000 corporate record
filings. Of those filings, approximately 60% are for new business registrations or entities, and the rest are for
changes to existing entities. The Bureau rejects more than 15,000 corporate filings annually, satisfies 1,100
search requests, copies more than 260,000 pages of documents, fields approximately 250,000 telephone calls,
issues more than 50,000 certificates, and processes 80,000 Uniform Commercial Code financing statements
and 50,000 Uniform Commercial Code amendment filings.
SOSKB manages all of these filings as follows:
A. Cash Management
The Cash Management Section receives all filing documents and requests. This area is responsible for
opening the mail, sorting and entering all identifying information and receiving payment from clientele. This
is the central input for all documents including UCC, Corporation, and Trademark documents. Upon receipt
of the document and payment, the staff enters the filer, payer, and payment information then associates the file
to the appropriate workflow queue. As the data is input, a barcode label is generated and affixed to each
document for the scanning section.
B. Scanning of all Documents
Once all documents have passed through the cash management area, they are delivered to the scanning unit
for scanning. Each batch of documents is processed through the scanner. The barcodes affixed to each
document in the cash management section are read during the scanning process and each document is
automatically associated with the record entered during cash management.
C. Processing of Corporate Records Filings
After documents have been scanned into the application are retrieved from the workflow queue by a member
of the Business Processing Staff, select data is entered into the main application and the documents are
reviewed for applicable statutory requirements. Once data entry and review have been completed, the image
of the document is imported and associated with the record.
If the filing is accepted, the information is “committed” into the main application. If the document pertains
to creating a new entity, an entity number is automatically assigned upon “committing” the filing. All
accepted filings are then tagged on the scanned image with the entity number, filed date, effective date if
applicable, and the name of the Secretary of the Commonwealth. An acknowledgement can then be printed
and returned to the filer along with a copy of the filed document.
If a filing is rejected, a rejection letter is generated that includes a predefined rejection code. These rejection
letters can also be customized to address unique situations as needed. The rejection letter and submitted
documents are mailed to the filer.
There are more than 75 different types of filings currently being processed by the Bureau and 85 different
types of entities in the corporate records database. Appendix K, Entity Types and Record Counts,
provides a list of the different entity types and the number or records in the corporate records database for
each entity type. Generally, there are different paper forms for each filing type and the fields required for
data entry are dependent upon the type of filing and the type of entity.
D. Processing of UCC Financing Statements and Amendments
Similar to corporate records filings, UCC financing statements and amendments are retrieved from their
respective queue in workflow. The information from the filings is entered in the database and verified for
accuracy.
If the document is accepted and processed, an acknowledgement letter and the first page of the filing is
generated and sent to the filer. Initial financing statements or amendments must be assigned a unique,
three-segment number defined as follows: the year of the filing expressed as a four-digit number, a
sequential six-digit number that is reset annually, and a one-digit verification number that is mathematically
derived from the first two segments.
If the filing is rejected, a rejection letter is generated that includes a predefined rejection code. These
rejection letters can also be customized to address unique situations as needed. The rejection letter and the
submitted documentation are returned to the filer. Unlike corporate records, the filing of UCC documents is
also available online through the Bureau’s web site. In addition, a database is maintained for identifying
specific words or phrases contained in online UCC filings that will flag the filing and not permit electronic
acceptance.
E. Records Searches
The current system contains an extensive ability to search most information housed within the database. This
includes the corporate records, UCC, and trademark searching. All current functionality must be preserved
as new enhanced ways of searching are developed. All images that are currently contained in the database
are also available on line and must continue to be available.
F. Customer Service
The Bureau maintains a staff of Customer Service Representatives to assist the public. These eight Customer
Service Representatives answer approximately 175,000 calls per year. The calls pertain to corporate, UCC,
and trademark filings, the status of a filing, and the availability of a business name, provide basic entity
information and field other questions related to Bureau activity. Customer Service Representatives have a
review-only version of the application so that they can view all records within the system.
G. Corporate Certificates
The Bureau issues various types of certificates indicating the registration of a business entity, the
completeness and correctness of the corporate records data that a search has determined a particular entity
does not exist in the corporate records database and for other matters. Currently, there are over 20 different
types of certificates. Users in the Bureau can change the default text for the certificates and can customize
certificates at the time of creation. The certificates are available as a function online. The certificates must
be able to be generated and sent electronically and by hardcopy. All fees for certificates can be paid by credit
card, ACH, check or customer deposit account. Each year, the Bureau issues more than 50,000 certificates.
H. Requests for Business Lists
The Bureau also provides lists of businesses to the public upon request. Currently these lists can be
generated by the internal Bureau staff as well as online by any constituent. Selection criteria for the requests
include entity type, filing date, city and county. When requests are processed a report is created and either
printed for the constituent or generated via the Internet and transported through the browser or sent
electronically via email. The method of transmission depends on how the request was submitted, by web,
email, phone, or in person. Multiple search requests can be processed concurrently. An invoice is generated
for each request and the amount due is calculated based on a set fee. The online version gives the user the
ability to see how much a particular business list would cost prior to executing so that the user can either
accept the fee or refine their search. After the request has been processed, the corporate records application
maintains the requestor information. Many of the requests are periodic, such as for monthly newspaper
listings of new business registrations.
I. Information Exchange with the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue
The Bureau currently receives corporate officer and principal office address information electronically from
the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue. This information is sent electronically as an export file for
processing into the application. Currently, an augmented staff person is working with the Bureau and the
Department of Revenue to increase the sharing of information between both parties, in terms of content of the
information shared, method of the information transmitted, and frequency of information exchange.
Integration with the Department of Revenue’s application via a 5250 terminal emulation to their mainframe is
a required feature of this application.
J. Key Application and Database Statistics
The Department of State has all source code for this system in-house and is able to make any changes
necessary to improve the course of business. The only limitation on the software license is that all changes
must be sent back to North Carolina as they are deployed in subsequent builds. The system has been written
over time and as such is a conglomeration of many components, objects and languages. The core is written
in Legacy VB6 with many of the newer parts written in the VB.net and the .Net framework. The database is
a SQL Server 2000 database. This application is a client server application loaded on each of the desktop
machines of the employees in the Corporation Bureau. The web components of the application are hosted in
the Enterprise Datacenter (EDC) and have a database environment at the DPH. This is a very complex
environment due to the many components that are communicating with each other.
The CORPS database contains 2.6 million entity master records, 1.32 million fictitious names owner records,
1,896,280 corporate officer records, and 4.12 million instrument history records. The UCC database contains
approximately 276,000 financing statement records, 1,194,792 debtor records, and 531,147 financing
statement change history records. All tables and associated indexes in the database currently utilize
approximately 31 gigabytes (GB) of disk space.
At any given time, there are approximately 50 concurrent users for the application. These Bureau users
process between 4,000 and 9,000 transactions per day in addition to search and display requests. The
transaction counts and user activity are highest between the hours of 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM, Monday through
Friday. Transaction counts and user activity remain constant throughout the year. The online portion of the
system is heavily used 24/7 for searching.
eppiccNURSE
The eppiccNURSE application was written in house by DOS staff. This application fulfills a need for
training of nurses by helping schools offer training in various DOS approved clinical agencies throughout the
Commonwealth. Students who participate in a Nurse Board approved nursing education program are
required to participate in clinical rotations at various agencies. These agencies include hospitals, nursing
homes, doctors’ offices, clinics etc. Prior to deployment of this application, placement of nursing students
was done in an inefficient and time-consuming manner. Nursing schools now send an electronic request to
DOS for clinical agency approval. Nursing schools also send the annual report to DOS. The application
generates a Statistical Report from all of the submitted annual reports and sends it to the Department of
Health.
This application consists of following two parts:
A. Windows application is developed for Administrators or DOS users. Schools have no access to this
application. Management of the web application and users is performed through this windows application.
B. Web application is for schools and DOS users. This part of the application allows schools to register and
submit annual reports; request a clinical rotation. DOS users can also view the annual report submitted by
the schools. Also, if for any reason schools are not able to submit the report, a DOS user serving as an
administrator can complete their annual report on their behalf.
Visual Studio 2005 is used to develop the entire application with Service Oriented Architecture. VB.net and
ASP.net are the programming languages used. Currently the system is using SQL Server 2000 database that
is in the process of being upgraded to SQL Server 2005. The Windows application is installed on DOS user
Desktops and the Web application is hosted in the Enterprise Server Farm (ESF) with the database hosted in
North Office Building Server Farm. The two applications mentioned above use Web Services hosted in the
North Office Building Server Farm for database access.
Paperless Agenda
The Paperless Agenda application was written in house by DOS. This application was built in an effort to
continue to cut the costs of doing business. The purpose of this application is to convert the BPOA board
meetings from paper based to web based. BPOA administers twenty-nine licensing boards; however, not all
of the boards participate in the Paperless Agenda at this time. The agendas for each of the participating
boards are posted online and available prior to the meetings. As the board members move through the
agenda there is functionality that allows them to attach notes to each page as necessary or to put highlights on
any section of the agenda. These notes and highlights are user specific and made available as they participate
in the meetings.
This application consists of the following two parts:
A. Windows application is developed for Administrators and DOS users. Management of the Web
application users and DOS users is performed through this windows application. This is available for users
inside the DOS firewall.
B. Web application is for members (Board Members, Counselors, Prosecutors, Board Administrators,
Secondary Board Administrators, and Board Staff). This part of the application allows the members to
register, view, comment, and highlight the agenda.
Visual Studio 2005 was used to develop the entire application. The programming languages are VB.net and
ASP.net. Currently, the system is using SQL Server 2000 database, which is in the process of being
upgraded to SQL Server 2005. The Windows application is installed on DOS user desktops and the Web
application is hosted in the Enterprise Server Farm (ESF) with the database hosted in North Office Building
Server Farm. The two applications mentioned above use Web services hosted in North Office Building
Server Farm for database access.
State Athletic Commission Application
The State Athletic Commission has an application that is used to conduct all business within the bounds of the
Commission’s authority. This application allows the members of the Commission to add and update records
of all boxing events (judges’ statistics and entry/searching of bout history, opponent information, results, tax
data, fee data, and expense data) and participants (licensee information: renewal date, license number,
license type, fighter’s ring name, weight class, and manager’s name). It also handles payments and
transactions conducted by and for any of these events or participants.
The application has reporting capabilities for event reports, collection reports, licensee reports, and judges’
statistical reports. An import function allows a user to take data from a central database and load it onto a
remote (laptop) system. An export function allows a user to take data from a remote (laptop) system and
update a central database. An Internet web-facing portion of the application displays registered athletic
agents and agent disciplinary actions. DOS staff wrote this application.
This application is a VB.net smart client application hosted in the .net framework. This application also has
an ASP.net component written in VB.net to allow searching of the information. The database is an SQL
2000 database that is in the process of being upgraded to SQL 2005. This application is hosted in the internal
server farm (NOB) and the web components are hosted at the Enterprise Server Farm (ESF). The application
is loaded on the desktops and laptops of the employees of the Commission.
Notaries Application
The Notary Division application allows division staff members to process registrations and renewals for all
Notaries Public within the Commonwealth. All business information and transactions necessary for the
registration, renewal and upkeep of each Notary Public are represented within this application. Functionality
of the system must continually be reviewed and upgraded. Efficiency continued streamlining of business
processes, enhanced database abilities and functionalities, as well as continually maintaining the integrity and
security of the data are crucial to the division’s success and mission. DOS staff wrote the application.
This application also has a component that allows the general public to search for and view all information on
the Notaries Public in their area or Commonwealth by searching for individual notaries by name or
commission identification number. The online capabilities also allow commissioned notaries to update
certain information on their notary record such as address, telephone numbers, etc.
The application is also used to process returned notary public bonds and commissions through a bar code and
scanning system, as well as manually. The application also has the ability to retain certain historical
information such as previous names, addresses, telephone numbers etc. All notary public applications and
other information received by the division are scanned, imaged, and linked to the appropriate notary record.
The application also includes a component to process electronic notary (e-notary) applications and transmit
certain information to approved vendors as well as, receive communications and transmitted data
electronically from approved vendors. The application also has the ability to produce standard or specific
rejection letters, which are used to return an incomplete application to an applicant with the reasons stated for
the return.
The Certification/Apostille section of the database has the ability to produce multiple certification type
documents, which are specific to the individual that the division staff is certifying to. Additionally, the
application also has the ability to produce standard or specific rejection letters, which are used to return an
incomplete request to a requestor with the reasons stated for the return.
The Facsimile Signature section of the database has the ability to produce approval letters and standard or
specific rejection letters, which are used to return an incomplete request to a requestor with the reasons stated
for the return. The facsimile signature system also has the ability to maintain and reproduce the signature of
the current Secretary of the Commonwealth on each approval letter.
Ongoing enhancements and changes to all sections of the database will be frequent and imperative for optimal
and effective operation of the division.
License2000
License2000 suite of applications is a rules-based, commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) application in use within
our Bureau of Professional and Occupational Affairs and is built and supported by System Automation of
Maryland. License2000 includes innovative “Code Tables” administered through a graphical interface.
This is a large application that provides the functionality of registering, renewing, and continued operation of
all licensed professionals within the Commonwealth.
This suite includes License2000 Client/Server application for DOS internal users and MyLicense and
WebLookup (a.k.a licensepa, eVerification) web applications hosted in Enterprise Server Farm (ESF).
Weblookup front-end application uses a web service (Lookupservice) that connects to STWebLookup
database. Other components in use or projected to be in use are the Imaging component and mCheck for
inspections of licensed facilities.
The look and feel of the web applications are altered by a setup utility that modifies the encrypted XML files
in the development server. These XML files are sent to the ESF for deployment in staging and production
web servers. When new license types are created BPOA resource files are rebuilt and tested in development
first. Upon approval from the BPOA Operations Manager, these resource files are also deployed in the ESF.
STMyLicense & License2000 databases are synchronized using MyLicenseReplicationService,
BackendLicensingInterface web services and a DBWatcher windows service. STWebLookup database is a
subset of License2000 database. These databases are synchronized using SQL replication.
This application will continue to be supported by System Automation of Maryland. The duties of the project
team would be to engage SA support contractor and hosting facilities on behalf of the DOS ensuring that all
issues are identified, understood, and researched for resolution. In addition to an independent resolution of
problems, new renewals, and the manipulation of the configuration XML within the Internet application as
well as deployment of application upgrades and functions stated above.
Charities Application
The Charities application is an utilized by the division to manage all transactions for organizations and
professional fundraisers. All filings for this division must be processed and approved within ten calendar
days of receipt, therefore it is critical that this system be operational and there is a high level of visibility for
management to track documents through the process.
This application is built in C# .Net and runs on a MS Sql 2008 database. The application consists of cash
management, data entry, document imaging, filing review, web search, and reporting modules.