The dysfunction at the state Bureau of Conveyances has been years in the making; it is a problem with no easy remedy. And ending factionalism in the bureau may require a full reorganization. The agency's problems are the subject of a legislative investigative panel now meeting.

The search for solutions is daunting work, but at least the department officials currently in charge of the situation are not sitting on their hands while waiting for the committee's findings.

Laura Thielen, acting director of the state Department of Land and Natural Resources, has convened a working group. Starting today, the group will develop a more efficient, Web-accessible database to automate at least the acceptance of documents so that staff can be returned to the task of catching up on the bureau's enormous backlog of filings.

And that backlog does need immediate attention. The lag in certifying the documents amounts to months in most cases, years in others. That situation can't be allowed to fester any longer.

Thielen has made a reasoned decision to assemble representatives from title companies, banks, lawyers, labor and others with an interest in fixing the problem. And the timetable to finish the initial planning before the Legislature opens in January deserves the support of everyone involved.

She's also proposing to cast a wide net within the department for ideas on streamlining the process, and to compile the ideas into a list stripped of individual names. That's a good plan: Suggestions should be discussed and weighed on their merit, in an atmosphere that's been at least partly de-politicized. Some staff may need to be reassigned and retrained, so hostilities must be kept at bay.

Many other changes may be needed to untangle this agency's problems. Meanwhile, it makes sense to dig out from under the pile of the public's work that's been left undone for far too long.