Ellie Mae Launches New Doc Prep Offering

Ellie Mae has developed a new document preparation technology designed to be more streamlined and integrated than its current doc prep engine.

The biggest difference between Ellie Mae Docs and the new Encompass Docs is that the technology generates mortgage documents straight from data stored in Ellie Mae’s Encompass loan origination system, eliminating the extra stepped of exporting the data from the LOS to generate initial disclosures and closing documents, explained Jonas Moe, Ellie Mae vice president of product strategy, in an interview with Mortgage Technology.

“With the new engine, it’s a unification,” of Ellie Mae’s doc prep software and LOS, Moe said, adding it also further incorporates the compliance technology built-in across the entire platform.

The product now known as Ellie Mae Docs is the legacy doc prep platform of Online Documents Inc., which Ellie Mae acquired from Stewart Lending Services in 2008. It’s also one of the technologies at the center of the ongoing litigation between Ellie Mae and Torrance, Calif.-based doc prep vendor DocMagic. Settlement negotiations earlier this year seemed to indicate that the three-year-long legal battle would soon be coming to a close, but in August, the judge presiding over the case had to extend his deadline for the two sides to come to terms before litigation will proceed.

During a demonstration of the new software at Ellie Mae’s user conference last week, lenders were shown how Encompass Docs includes a custom stacking order feature. The software has a base template for the order that the different documents in a loan package are organized, but lenders can customize that order to meet the requirements of different loan products and investors. To make this process easier, certain repetitive documents, like state-specific items, are automatically organized in the correct placement in the stack.

The new doc prep software also boasts better integration with Ellie Mae’s electronic document management software, which makes the process of distributing and collecting e-signed documents more streamlined.

Customers currently using Ellie Mae Docs have the ability to preview the new doc prep software from within Encompass. The Pleasanton, Calif.-based company is focusing its adoption efforts on migrating existing customers to the new platform, but lenders using a different doc prep software with Ellie Mae’s LOS can also switch to the new software.

As it continues development of Encompass Docs, Ellie Mae plans to add new forms for additional investor types throughout this year. In 2013, the company plans on expanding the technology’s customization features with tools to let lenders create their own rules engine-based functions for selecting forms and data settings.