With a searchable index that reaches back to 1976 for recorded land (to 1987 for registered land) and document images back to 1950, there’s an immense amount of data stored on the registry computer system. That data is certainly accessible for traditional registry functions such as title searches, run downs, and document viewing, still, there is great potential to use that data for other purposes. To help discover how to better use the information we maintain, I’m attending a computer class to better learn a program called Crystal Reports. This software is not a database program (we already have enough of them) but is a report-generating program that lets you sort, select and summarize records from an existing database like the one that contains the registry information. We have been producing some of these types of reports – our monthly sales and foreclosure reports, for example – but these are just the tip of the information iceberg. So in the future, look for new and different reports to appear on our website. And if you have any suggestions for what type of reports you would like to see, please let me know. On another note, if you need a fix of professional hockey now that the NHL season is official cancelled, check out the Lowell Lock Monsters this Sunday, when they take on the Norfolk Admirals at the Tsongas Arena.
