Production Job

Location: Discovery >> Production Job

General

Users can access the Production Job page from the Discovery menu to prepare a discovery production, Bates Stamp documents, and prepare the production for sharing with opposing parties via drive, CD, or private link for parties that do not have access to the Lexbe eDiscovery Platform (LEP).  To submit a new production job for handling by Professional Services, please fill out the form located at the bottom of this page and email to support@lexbe.zohodesk.com.

**Note** If a document is included in a production and then later deleted from the case, that document will still be included in the production job when the production is downloaded.

Creating a New Production Job

In a case without any existing productions:

1. Navigate to the Production Job page under the Discovery tab and click the + icon to create a new job. 

2. A new production job will be created. Update the fields under the "Details" and "Options" sections as needed.  A "Results" section will be made available once the production job has been run and processing has completed. 

Click the blue and white + icon to create a new job.

Creating a Production Job in cases with Existing Productions

In a case where there ARE existing productions:

1. Navigate to the Production Job page under the Discovery tab and click the + icon to create a new job.

2. A list of all productions in the case sorted by Bates prefix will appear (including any productions which may have been created but not yet run). Proceed in one of two ways:

Continue from a Previous Bates Range

Renaming or Deleting a Production Job

When a Production Job is created, the default title will be "Production  MM-DD-YYYY" corresponding to the date the production job is created. To rename the production, click the vertical dots in the upper right corner of the production "name tag" and select "Rename." Type the new name in the field and hit Enter/Return on your keyboard. 

To delete a production job, click the vertical dots in the upper right corner of the production "name tag" and select "Delete." 

NOTE: Deleting the production job will NOT delete the documents from the case.

Setting Production Details and Options

Once the production job has been created per the instructions above, the next step is to input the information for how the production job should look when processed. This includes assigning the Bates numbers, setting the production type (standard vs TIFF) and sort method, and entering any information to be stamped on the documents designated with the Custom Designation tag. Users can also add or remove certain fields from the Default Load File if necessary. 

Click to see a Detailed Explanation of the "Details" Section

Title. Unique Production Name (dynamic hyperlink). Clicking on the production hyperlink will redirect the user to the Browse page, displaying only the set of documents in that production.

Created By/Run By. Before the job is run, indicates the user who set up the production job. After the job is complete, indicates the user who clicked Run and produced the files.

Produced Doc Count. Indicates the number of documents produced. Does NOT include documents withheld for privilege.

Produced Partially Privileged Doc Count. Indicates the number of documents added to the production job that were coded as Privileged: Needs Redaction. The redacted versions of these documents will be produced and automatically added to the Privilege Log. 

Withheld Doc Count. Indicates the number of documents added to the production job that were coded as privileged and, thus, withheld from being produced. These documents will be referenced on the automatic privilege log. 

Date Time Created/Date Time Run. Indicates when the production job was created (before running it) and when it was completed (after running it). 

Comments. Include any other notes or comments that will be helpful in organizing or administering the production. 

Click to see a Detailed Explanation of the "Options" Section

Bates Prefix. The Bates prefix can be letters or numbers and will appear to the left of the indicated Bates number. 

Bates Base. The starting number, e.g., 1, for a new production, or the next sequential Bates number for a production that is a continuation of a previous Bates range. 

Number of Digits. The total number of digits, including all leading zeros, of the Bates number (e.g., 7 digits = 0000001). Users can set as few as six digits or as many as ten. 

Bates Stamp Page. This box is checked by default to automatically apply Bates numbers to each page in the pdoruction. Bates numbers are generated as part of running the production. Note that if a users chooses to deselect the "Bates Stamp Page" option, any documents which have been coded as Confidential and/or with a Custom Designation stamp will still be stamped as such.

Production Type. Choose between a standard PDF production or a Standard Plus TIFF. The two choices will result in the exact same production, except the latter will also incude TIFF images of all pages in the production. The TIFF production might be 2 to 5 times bigger than standard productions and can take considerably longer to run and download. 

Custom Designation. The text entered in this box (e.g., Highly Confidential, Attorney's Eyes Only, etc.) will be stamped on the pages of those documents that are tagged using the built-in field "Custom Designation." 

Sort By. Users can choose the order in which the documents in the production will be Bates stamped. See Setting a Production Sort below.

Default Load File. Users can click this to add or remove certain load file fields from the production output. Please see below for more information. 

Include Native Emails. This is unchecked by default and should only generally be selected pursuant to an ESI Order or other court order or with agreement of opposing counsel. Please see below for more information. 

Setting a Production Sort

When setting up a production job, users have the option to select the order in which the documents in the production will be Bates numbered. The default setting is Sort by Master Date. To set a sort option follow the steps below. 

1. Click the Sort By Master Date (Default) button in the Options section of the Production Job. 

2. The "Select Sort" dialog box will appear, and will allow up to three (3) levels of sorting. 

3. Click the "Sort By" dropdown box and select the preferred field for sorting. The following options are available:

4. To sort by more than one level, set the first sort, and then click Add Sort Level to add the field for the next sort. Up to three (3) sort levels are allowed. 

5. Click Remove Sort Level to remove the most recently set sort level. 

6. Click the blue OK button to set the sort option. 

**Warning Regarding Including Native Emails in a Production**

The "Options" section of the production job details page includes a checkbox (unchecked by default) to include Native versions of emails included in the production job. This option should generally only be selected pursuant to an ESI Order or other court order requiring the production of native emails. Typically, native emails are not required. There is a greater risk of inadvertent disclosure of privileged information when native emails are produced. Do not routinely check this option. If this optin is not selected, a PDF rendering of the email will be included instead of the  native part, unless it is redacted, in which case the redacted version will be used. 

*Preventing Inadvertent Disclosure of Confidential Information via Emails and Container Files*

LEP's productions include native attachments to emails and natives expanded from .zip and other supported container files. These files will be found in the ORIGINALS folder of the production output. However, the ORIGINALS folder will not include native emails unless the "Include Native Emails" option is selected as discussed above. Best practice is to omit the production of native emails This is done to ensure that native versions of privileged, work product or redacted documents nested inside of container files or as attachments to emails are not inadvertently produced. 

Default Load File/Load File Fields

If desired, users can customize the fields that appear on their production load files. A default selection of fields (i.e., the "Default Fields" or "Default Load File") is selected automatically. To edit the Default Load File, click the "Default Load File" button, and then add or remove any of the built-in and/or custom fields available in the case. Please note that there are several fields that will always be included in production load files (the "Required Fields") regardless of whether they are selected or not. The Required Fields and Default Fields are noted in the chart to the right. 

Clicking the "Default Load File" button will display the list of available fields on the left and the selected fields on the right. To remove a Selected Field, hover the mouse over the field and click the X. To add an Available Field, check the appropriate checkbox from the available fields on the left.

Lexbe's Standard Load File Fields 

Adding Documents to a Production Job from the Browse Page

Once the Production Job has been created per the instructions above, the next step is to add the desired documents to the production job in preparation for validating and running the production. 

1. Filter to the Responsive documents that you are producing, and once displayed on the Browse page, documents can be selected individually, or by choosing "Select All" or "Select Page" at the top of the document grid. 

2. Once the documents are selected, navigate to the Production Jobs dropdown menu on the left, and select the production where the documents should be added. 

3. A window will open telling you how many documents you selected as well as how many documents there are if that selection is expanded to include family members. If you want to add only the desired Responsive documents and NOT their family members, then uncheck the "Expand to Entire Email Family" box and click OK. 

4. The documents have now been added to the selected production job.

5. To run the production, go back to the Discovery >> Production Job page and proceed to the Production Validation stage.

Adding Documents to a Production Job

Production Validation

Validating a production job is required before the job can be processed. The Validation step runs a series of automated checks on the discovery job to make sure that there are no inconsistencies. 

1. To validate a production, click the Validate button in the applicable production job card on the left. 

2. The validation steps will automatically run with the process pausing to alert you to any warnings or errors. The validation steps are explained in further detail in the dropdown below

3. Once validation is complete, click Finish. Please NOTE: Clicking Finish will lock the production job and no additional documents can be added. If a production is validated and documents need to be added or coding needs to be changed, then the existing job must be deleted and a new production job created. 

Click to See the Description of the Validation Steps and Options

Partial Email Family. Checks for partial families and will generate a warning if any are present.  

Privileged: Needs Redaction Withheld Status. Checks that the type of privilege (i.e. Attorney-Client and/or Work Product) is also selected for documents marked as Privileged: Needs Redaction. To avoid this issue, the Privileged: Needs Redaction coding option is not available until the type of privilege has been selected; however, should that fail, this validation step will identify that issue.

Privileged: Needs Redaction Status. Checks that a redacted version of the document exists for those coded as Privileged: Needs Redaction.

Personal Information: Needs Redaction Status. Checks that a redacted version of the document exists for documents with this coding. 

Redacted Pdf. Checks that a redacted version of the document exists for those noted as Redacted in the database.

Document Responsiveness. Checks that no documents in the production are coded as Not Specified or Needs Further Review.

Non-Email Responsiveness. Ensures that any document not belonging to an email family isn't marked Non-Responsive.

Email Family Responsiveness. Checks that Responsiveness coding is consistent across all documents within each email family.

Email Family Attorney-Client Privilege. Checks that Attorney-Client Privilege coding is consistent across all documents within each family.

Email Family Attorney Work Product. Checks that Attorney Work Product coding is consistent across all documents within each family.

Document Page Count. Identifies documents more than 500 pages in length, which may lead to extended processing times.

Validated. Confirms that all validation steps are complete, which will allow users to proceed with running the production. Click Finish to complete validation.

Running the Production

Once the production job has passed validation, the next step is to Run the production. 

1. From the Production Job screen, select Run from the production card on the left. 

2. After clicking the Run button, there is an option to receive an email notification once the production job has completed. The email will be sent to the user who runs the production.

3. The user must wait until the production has finished processing before being able to download the production. The time to process a production depends on the number of documents. Note that once a production has been run, it will not be possible to add or remove files. A new production will need to be created if any changes are required.

Running a Production Job

Production Job Results Summary

Once the Production Job finishes processing, the results summary will be displayed at the bottom of the screen. 

Downloading the Production

1. Once the production has completed processing, it will be available for download via the Download button associated with that production job. 

2. Clicking Download will prompt the download of the production in a compressed .zip file. Download time is dependent on the size of the production, and the Download button will not be available until the production has completed processing.

3. For large productions, the download will be done in parts. The download parts should all be downloaded and unzipped into the same location (combined) to get the final production. Once they are combined, the final production will contain everything in sequential Bates number order. Note that the individual parts will not contain sequential Bates numbers. For information on how to extract data from multi-part zip files, please see the Multi-Part Zip Extraction Help page. 

Sharing Productions

Productions can be shared using the "Manage Share Settings" button (see the image below). Please see the Sharing Productions Help Page for detailed instructions on sharing the production job with opposing counsel. 

Accessing Production Jobs

Option 1

Click on the applicable production job card on the left side of the page to open the job. 

Option 2 

Click on the kebab in the upper right corner and select View All Bates Ranges. This will open an expandable list of all productions in the case sorted by Bates prefix. You can click on a specific Bates prefix to see all production jobs with that prefix, or, you can expand the list and scroll to locate the desired production. Once located in the list, click on it to open.

View All Bates Ranges

Exporting a List of Productions

Click on the kebab in the upper right corner, and select Export All Production Jobs. This will export to Excel a list of all the details and options associated with each production job.

Deleting Productions

Delete any productions that are not needed to reduce overall storage cost by using the Delete option. To delete a production, click on the kebab in the production job card, and select delete as shown in the image to the right.

Deleting a Production Job

Production Output

The downloaded production will contain either four or five sub-folders depending on whether it is a Standard production or a Standard plus TIFF production. The production will contain files that can be loaded on a variety of platforms. This includes multiple versions of the load files. Specific ESI orders should address whether or not all the files are needed. Below is a list of each folder contained in the downloaded production. 

IMAGES: The IMAGES folder will only be generated from a Standard plus TIFF production. All images are 300 DPI.

LOADFILES: Collection of plain text files used to apply metadata, Bates numbers, and other information to documents uploaded into a review platform. In a large production where the set of documents is split into separate volumes compressed into the same ZIP file, the sub-folder LOADFILES can be in any of the Zip file volumes.  This folder will contain .DAT, .OPT, .XLSX, .DII, .TSV, and .TXT files. See Load Files for more information.  

ORIGINALS: Folder designated for all the native files (Word, Excel, JPG, PNG, etc.). Practices vary on production of these, ranging from none, to including all, and many versions in between.  Refer to the ESI order for the requirements of the specific production.

PDF: PDF version of the files also included in Standard plus TIFF productions. This sub-folder also includes placeholders of files that could not be converted.

TEXT: The text folder includes extracted/OCRed text of documents and is needed for proper indexing in some review systems.

Filtering on Previously Produced Documents

To view documents in one or more productions, filter on the Production Job field from the Browse /Search page. 

To exclude previously produced documents when creating a new production, add the Production Job field to the Advanced Filter, choose Select All, and then choose 'is not' from the options dropdown. 

Filtering on Previously Produced Documents

Producing Redacted Documents

Only the redacted versions of documents are automatically included in the productions under the ORIGINALS, PDF, and TEXT sub-folders. Please note that metadata is currently not part of Lexbe's redaction features. As such, any privileged or confidential metadata will need to be addressed prior to production.

Using the Custom Designation Tag During Productions

1. To apply a Custom Designation (Attorney Eyes Only, Highly Confidential, etc.), code the documents to produce with both the Responsive and Custom Designation tags, using one of the following options:

2. Create a production on the Production Job page, and enter the designation to be applied in the Custom Designation text box field in the Options section. Users can enter  text up to 50 characters. 

3. All documents added to the production that are tagged as both Responsive and Custom Designation will receive a stamp with the designation entered in the Custom Designation text box field for that production.

NOTE: Coding documents only using the Confidential and Responsive tags during productions or downloads will only display the Bates number and the word Confidential at a page level.  See Custom Designation Tag for detailed information. 

Bates Number Order (Including Downloading from a Briefcase)

LEP automatically applies Bates numbers first to the group of documents to be produced and then to the withheld group (anything Privileged and/or Work-Product). Within each category, the documents are sorted by Title. 

If uploads were done by named batch, users can run productions one at a time, by batch, to achieve the goal of grouping by batch for Bates numbering.  See Bates Number Order for more information about how to control the Bates ordering.

Bates numbering as part of a production is done on the basis of the Doc Date with email attachments to MSGs, if any, nested after the email, and Bates numbers are applied sequentially.  For documents without dates, Bates numbers are applied using the document Title order.

Bates stamped documents are printed in this order:

Bates Stamping Rates

Bates stamping of PDF files in LEP can generally be done at approximately the rate of one GB/hr (usually about 15,000 pages/hr) to produce a Zip file with Bates-stamped documents at the page level. This rate can vary quite a bit based on individual document characteristics. Users should be cautioned that bates stamping very large PDFs can create delays in the processing. It can take over a day to process and bates number a document that is over 20,000 pages. Documents of this size are not generally recommended for uploading into the platform, and should be split up into smaller documents to the extent possible to avoid these delays. 

Additionally, partially corrupted PDF files can delay or stall Bates stamping and productions. Running multiple productions at a time will not speed the process (and can sometimes slow it), so only one production at a time should be run. After the production completes, a Zip file link will appear on the Case->Download Case Documents page. Downloading will take additional time depending on local Internet download speed. Given these variables, we recommend building in an additional day or two of cushion before production deadlines on large productions.  After checking the production, a shared download link can be made available for opposing counsel to save time.

For large Bates stamping projects, Professional Services can bring additional resources to help for orders of magnitude for faster processing. For information or cost quotes, call or email sales@lexbe.com.  

Privilege Logs

Generating a Privilege Log

Once a production has been run, follow the below steps to generate a Privilege Log.

Export Privilege Log

Downloading or Deleting a Privilege Log

Once processing of the log completes, repeat above steps 1 through 3 to download or delete the Privilege Log.

Download Privilege Log