Today, the Internet is changing the equation governments use to decide who can use imaging or if an agency should even have an imaging application. As an open network, the Internet allows an agency to provide its workers with access to an imaging database from remote sites, making authentic, enterprise-wide imaging possible along with workflow. Already, recorder's offices in Maricopa County, Ariz., and Salt Lake County, Utah, provide customer access to land records via the World Wide Web. Client browsers are cheap. Independent computing platforms can access the same application.
Web applications are highly expandable.
Application installation is easy once the server is running. Hypertext linking speeds document retrieval. Most vendors and government officials believe the best way to access document images with a Web browser is through an intranet. By keeping the application internal to a department or agency, government managers have the best chance of succeeding with a technology that is far from perfect. The problems are many, according to Klein, starting with the network.