Production Spec Template

DLC-M06-001 · Production Specification

Production Spec —

Prod Set

Ship Date

This specification governs the assembly and delivery of the production set identified above. It is the working document between the producing party, the review vendor, and the receiving party. Every field below must be filled in and every check must pass before the set ships. The set that leaves your door is the set opposing counsel gets to argue about. Get it right.

1. Parties & Matter

Case Caption
Court & Case Number
Producing Party
Receiving Party
Producing Party Counsel
Applicable Protective Order
Applicable ESI Protocol

2. Production Format

Check the applicable format(s) for this production:

Image (TIFF, single-page, 300 DPI, B&W or color as noted).

Extracted text (multi-page .txt per document, UTF-8 with BOM).

Native file (as-is or converted per §4).

PDF (searchable, per-document; endorsements applied per §5).

Load file (.DAT + .OPT per DLC-M03-001).

3. Populations

Field	Count	Definition
Total documents to produce		Sum of coded responsive minus privileged withhold, plus attachments to responsive parents, minus dedup masters where original custodian preserved.
Full-produce (no redactions)		Responsive, not privileged, no confidentiality-driven redactions.
Redacted-produce		Responsive; contains material subject to redaction. Redactions applied per §6.
Native-only produce		Spreadsheets, media, complex CAD — items where imaging degrades content.
Withheld (privileged / work product)		Logged in DLC-M07-001 privilege log accompanying this production.
Withheld attachments to produced parents		Slip-sheeted in production; family relationship preserved via GroupID.

4. Native Handling

File Type	Treatment	Notes
Excel (.xlsx, .xls)	Native + slipsheet	Placeholder image with "Produced in Native Format" endorsement and Bates on slipsheet.
PowerPoint (.pptx, .ppt)	Image + native	Image includes notes pages if not redacted. Native available on request or per protocol.
CSV / TSV / structured data	Native + slipsheet	Same as Excel.
Audio / video	Native + slipsheet	Transcript, if available, delivered as extracted text.
Email (.msg, .eml)	Image + text + native	Attachments imaged; family preserved.
PDF	Image + text + native	Original PDF preserved.
Word (.docx, .doc)	Image + text	Native provided only on request per stipulation.

5. Endorsements & Bates

Bates Prefix
Starting Bates
Bates Format	PREFIX + 6+ zero-padded digits. Sequential across production set. No skips.
Endorsement Position	Bottom-right, minimum 0.5" margin. Never overlaps content.
Confidentiality Legend
Confidentiality Position	Bottom-center or per protective order.
Redaction Legend	Black box with "REDACTED" or "REDACTED — [reason]" per protocol.
Slipsheet Text	"Document produced in native format" or "Document withheld for privilege — see privilege log entry [Bates]"

6. Redaction Rules

Redactions may be applied for the following reasons only:

Attorney-client privilege or work-product (partial redaction of a document containing both privileged and non-privileged material).
Third-party confidentiality (per protective order).
PII / PHI (per protective order or applicable statute).
Trade secret / commercially sensitive (per protective order).

Every redaction is logged with (a) the Bates of the redacted document, (b) the specific reason code, (c) the redacting reviewer, and (d) the reviewing attorney who signed off. See DLC-M06-002 Redaction QC Checklist.

OCR after redaction — read this every time Redact first. THEN OCR the redacted image. If OCR runs before redaction and you redact the image only, the searchable text layer still contains the redacted content. This is the single most common production failure we see. Do not skip the post-redaction OCR pass.

7. Metadata Fields Produced

Unless otherwise stipulated, the following metadata fields are produced with every document. Fields not listed are not produced.

Field	Notes
BeginBates	Per §5.
EndBates	Per §5.
BeginAttach / EndAttach	Family preservation.
Custodian	All-custodians list if dedup'd.
DateSent / DateReceived / DateCreated / DateModified	ISO 8601 UTC.
From / To / Cc / Bcc	Emails only.
Subject	Verbatim.
FileName / FileType / FileSize	Original values.
MD5Hash	De-dup verification.
Confidentiality	Per §5 legend applied.
Redaction	Y/N flag with reason code.
NativeFilePath / TextPath / OCRPath	Relative to production root.

8. Metadata Redaction

Metadata itself may be redacted only for the reasons listed in §6. If metadata is redacted:

The redacted field is null in the production load file, not preserved with the value hidden.
A corresponding entry appears on the privilege log noting the field, the document, and the reason.
Consider the implications for email-threading. Redacting DateSent on a parent breaks threading downstream; if a document with redacted metadata is a family root, consider producing it as a standalone item.

9. Delivery

Delivery Method
Encryption Standard	AES-256 minimum. Password delivered out-of-band.
Manifest & Cover Letter	PDF manifest with production summary, Bates range, format description, and password recovery instructions.
Physical Media (if applicable)

10. Pre-Ship Checks (initial each)

10.1 · Total doc count reconciles to the review-tool population export (per §3).

10.2 · Bates range is contiguous — no skips, no duplicates, sequential across all types.

10.3 · Every produced document has an image OR is native + slipsheet (nothing in a middle state).

10.4 · Every image has extracted text OR OCR text. No zero-byte text files.

10.5 · Redaction QC passed per DLC-M06-002. Redaction count equals reviewer-flagged count.

10.6 · Post-redaction OCR pass ran and text layer of redacted images does not contain the redacted content. Verified via keyword search on 10 sample redacted docs.

10.7 · Family integrity check passed — no orphan attachments, no over-produced privileged attachments to responsive parents (or all attachments logged if withheld).

10.8 · Load file validates in a dry-run load. Zero validation errors.

10.9 · Confidentiality legend applied per protective order to all designated docs; not applied to non-designated docs.

10.10 · Privilege log accompanies the production (DLC-M07-001).

10.11 · Cover letter approved by producing counsel.

10.12 · Encryption verified — recipient can decrypt with delivered password on a test file.

11. Sign-off

The producing party confirms that the above production has been assembled per this specification and the applicable protective order.

Producing Counsel Signature

Date

Vendor Production Lead

Date