Defensible Collection Advisory

Teams that need expert review or strategic direction before the next step.

This service is for legal teams, government project teams, and organizations that need an experienced second set of eyes on their historical records collection process. It is particularly relevant before collection begins, before production, during methodology review, or when concerns arise about provenance, coding, QA, or documentation gaps.

Problems in collection methodology are easier to prevent than to repair.

Gaps in provenance documentation, coding protocol inconsistencies, QA failures, and undocumented methodology decisions are easier and less expensive to address before they become production problems or litigation disputes. Many teams do not have in-house expertise in historical records methodology and defensibility.

Identifying risks and recommending defensible next steps.

• Collection readiness assessment
• Production readiness review
• Methodology review and gap identification
• Pre-litigation records audit
• Archive visit planning and preparation
• Provenance gap identification
• QA concern review
• Coding protocol problem identification
• Review methodology assessment
• Documentation gap review
• Files database review
• Risk identification and prioritization
• Defensible next-step recommendations

Clear assessment, identified risks, and recommended next steps.

The advisory deliverable is practical and restrained. Laura reviews the current state of the collection or process and provides an assessment that identifies specific risks, gaps, and recommended actions.

• Review of the current collection process and methodology
• Identification of records-management and production-readiness risks
• Methodology and documentation gap review
• Database, coding, and QA concern assessment
• Recommendations for next defensible steps