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Early Case Assessment (ECA) involves identifying key facts to drive case strategy and cull documents for review in a separate workspace. The ECA workspace template simplifies and streamlines the process of early case assessment by putting the process on rails and removing unneeded content and capabilities. Additionally, the ECA workspace template already has the Repository Workspace application pre-installed, providing cost savings while limiting functionality to only what is required for early case assessment.
An ECA workspace (click the image to view full size)
From a global perspective, ECA begins with understanding the case and issues, identifying and interviewing key people involved, preserving collected documents and files, eliminating irrelevant documents, performing a cost and risk assessment, and finally, making recommendations for further steps. Further steps may include creating new policies or procedures to prevent behaviors identified in an investigation, settling with key parties in an employee dispute, or deciding whether to pursue litigation. In the image below, the colored blocks represent the steps performed using Relativity tools, while the white blocks represent steps and decisions outside of Relativity.
The ECA workspace template provides the tools necessary to review and analyze documents, reduce the overall document volume by eliminating irrelevant content, capture details for key people involved, and then promote the remaining documents to a new workspace for further review. Begin by setting up the workspace template.
Note: To receive the latest copy of the ECA workspace template, contact Relativity support, your Customer Success Manager, or find it on the Community site.
When you log into your ECA workspace for the first time, there are a few things you need to set up to make the most of your template. Begin by processing collected documents.
The following instructions feature a sample ECAworkspace template. Saved searches are numbered for clarity and correspond to steps in this article.
Processing collected documents in RelativityOne is extracting and retaining file-level data and metadata, thus ensuring each document or file has a unique identity.
After processing your files, set up the key search terms that are relevant to your case. You can identify documents containing the key search terms using search terms reports. To automatically highlight key search terms in documents, set up persistent highlights. Persistent highlights also display the number of highlight hits associated with each key search term. The ECA template includes persistent highlights and does not require any additional configuration. Use the following steps to add key search terms and persistent highlights:
The final step in setting up your template is to configure concept clustering. Concept clustering identifies groups of conceptually similar documents so that you can better understand the topics being discussed and take action. After setting up concept clustering, you can view concepts in one of two formats: dial wheel or circle pack. To set up concept clustering:
Now that you have processed your documents and set up your workspace, you can access your documents. The ECA template setup includes pre-configured folders and saved searches to help guide you through the document assessment process.
The (2) Cull Documents folder provides multiple saved searches to walk you through the culling of unwanted documents. The dashboards for each saved search displays widgets of various data points to help you easily identify documents that are not relevant to your case. The data points displayed include: File Type, Date Range, Key Terms, Sender Domain, Duplicate Documents, and Language. Once identified, you can code these documents to indicate whether they should be promoted to a new workspace for further review. (See below for instructions on coding documents.)
Once you have identified a set of relevant documents, you can code them to promote them for further review. To do this:
The (3) Explore Documents folder includes saved searches that help you identify key information and mark documents for further review (by coding the To Promote option.) You can also use the communication analysis widget to understand conversations and identify new individuals and information relevant to your case. Once you have identified and coded documents for promotion, use the (6) Promote Documents to Workspace folder to review those documents.
Once again, you can mark documents To Promote for further review using the following steps:
Once you’ve coded documents 'To Promote’ for further review, you can view documents that have are ‘To Promote’ ‘blank’ and decide whether they should be promoted. You can also view related documents (called ‘family’ documents) or emails that are part of the same email thread (referred to as ‘threading’) and decide whether also 'To Promote’ them for further review. To do this we’ve created 2 saved searches called (4b) 'To Promote’ + Families” and (4c) 'To Promote' + Threading that contain all documents that have been marked 'To Promote’ ‘yes’ and have not yet been promoted plus their family documents or email threads.
After you have completed coding documents as relevant or not relevant for review, you can review your designations using the saved searches in the (5) Review 'To Promote' Documents folder. Here, you can verify documents were correctly classified for promotion. Each saved search contains the same useful dashboard and widgets.
Once you are satisfied that you have identified all documents you want to promote for further review, you can use Integration Points to push them to a new workspace. In this way, you are working only with relevant documents, thus maximizing the review time and process.
Once complete, you can create a saved search to record the date and documents you promoted. You can also use the (6) 'Promoted' Documents searches to track all documents that have been promoted on an ongoing basis. These searches are especially useful when you are promoting different sets of documents to multiple new workspaces. You can track the number of documents promoted, the dates of promotion, and the destination workspaces on an ongoing basis.
Once you have completed the transfer of documents to a new workspace, you can code those documents to indicate they have been promoted to a new workspace and indicate the date they were promoted for your records. To do this:
The ECA Template includes two groups for different user levels. Each group is described below and you can click on the desired group(s) to see the assigned permissions.
This group is for users who will review and analyze documents.
Object Security | Tab Visibility | Other Settings |
---|---|---|
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This group is for users who need access to all workspace functionality (assigned to Workspace Administrator).
Object Security | Tab Visibility | Other Settings |
---|---|---|
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Structured Analytics Processing
Search Terms Results Search Setup
Documents Inventory Indexing & Analytics
Imaging Profiles History Lists OCR Profiles Audit Migration Reports Pivot Profiles Audit Workspace Settings Imaging & Production
Data Grid Audit Field Mapping Job Errors Push to Review
Workspace Setup
Admin
Errors
Other Tabs
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Browsers
Mass Operations
Admin Operations
|
The following table lists each ECA template version, the published date, and a brief overview of additions or changes.
Component | Change | Date Updated | Template Version |
---|---|---|---|
Coding Layout | Modified "Promote Documents" Layout: 1. Changed Field: Promote to Review to "To Promote” 2. Added:‘To Promote’ Reason:Multi-choice 3. Added: Relevant: Y/N;IfRelevant ‘Yes’ (Explain):Open Text Field 4. Added: Promoted: Y/N; Promotion Date: MM/DD/YYYY |
October 23, 2021 | 3.0.0 |
Views | Removed "Documents Promoted to Review" Dashboard.Added fields to "All Documents View”:Primary Date, Record Type, Conversation Family, Family Group, To Promote, ‘To Promote’ Reason, Promoted, Promotion Date. | October 23, 2021 | 3.0.0 |
Dashboards | Documents Tab: Removed "Assess the Case”, "Tag Relevant," "Tag Families," and "Promotion Dashboard.”Added multiple Dashboards, each named to match their associated Saved Search. | October 23, 2021 | 3.0.0 |
Saved Searches | Re-named Admin Searches toz_AdminSearches.Deleted Imaging & OCR > "Extracted Text is Empty" search and Processing > "Processing Errors" search as errors are now covered in new Error Processing Workflow in Processing> Files Tab. | October 23, 2021 | 3.0.0 |
Saved Searches | Removed Saved Searches "Assess the Case," "Tag Family Documents," "TagFamily Documents.”Added New Saved Searches with sub-searches for "(1) All Documents,” "(2) Cull Documents,” "(3) Explore Documents," } "(4) Add Family Docs & Email Threads," "(5) Review ‘To Promote’ Documents," and "(6) Promoted Documents.” |
October 23, 2021 | 3.0.0 |
Tabs | Under the Search Setup Tab,removed ”TermSearching" and all nested tabs except "Search Terms Reports.”Nested "Search Terms Index" under "Advanced" Tab. | October 23, 2021 | 3.0.0 |
Tabs | Under the Processing Tab added "Entities" Tab.Under "Advanced" Tab, removed "Job Errors." Reordered nested tabs and moved "Processing Profile.” | October 23, 2021 | 3.0.0 |
Tabs | Tabs have been re-ordered."Processing" and "Search Setup" now come before the "Documents” | October 23, 2021 | 3.0.0 |
Saved Searches | The "Processing Errors" saved search no references the "Document Errors" field instead of the "Processing Errors" field. | April 19, 2021 | 2.1.1 |
Layouts | Layouts no longer contain the "All Paths / Locations" field. | April 19, 2021 | 2.1.1 |
Profiles | All Processing Profiles have been updated with the following: do not break parent & child groups when de-nisting, use an underscore (_) delimiter instead of a period (.), extract Excel headers and footers and place at end, use the Relativity text extraction option where available, disable text separator. | April 19, 2021 | 2.1.1 |
Fields | The "File Type" and "File Extension" fields are now single-choice fields to simplify searching. | April 19, 2021 | 2.1.1 |
Fields | Several dozenrarely-usedfields on the Document object have been removed from the template by default, improving overall workspace performance. | April 19, 2021 | 2.1.1 |
Groups | Template-specific groups are now the only groups with default access to the template. | April 19, 2021 | 2.1.1 |
Automated Workflows | An additional Automated Workflow has been added to automate Structured Analytics operations. | March 19, 2021 | 2.1.0 |
Saved Searches | Searches have been added to identify near duplicate documents, single threaded documents, and mixed language communication documents. | March 19, 2021 | 2.1.0 |
Layout | An "Issues" field has been added to the default layout. | March 19, 2021 | 2.1.0 |
Profiles | The Conversation ID field is no longer mapped in the default Analytics Profile. | March 19, 2021 | 2.1.0 |
Views | A default view has been added to returnall inclusiveemails with no duplicates. | March 19, 2021 | 2.1.0 |
dtSearch | Renamed the "Extracted Text Search" index to "Term Search” | October 5, 2020 | 2.0.1 |
Tabs | The Automated Workflows object tab has been moved into the "Admin" side bar tab | October 5, 2020 | 2.0.1 |
Tabs | Icons have been updated for the "Workspace Setup" and "Admin" side bar tabs | October 5, 2020 | 2.0.1 |
Automated Workflows | The Automated Workflows application has been added to the template. Two automated workflows are included by default for automatically updating the templatedtSearchindexes and Search Terms Report when new documents enter a case. | September 27, 2020 | 2.0.0 |
Tabs | All tabs have been reorganized to take advantage of the Aero UI tab sidebar | September 27, 2020 | 2.0.0 |
Saved Searches | The following new Saved Searches have been added: "Emails Containing Many Attachments”, "Parent Emails”, "Archived Files”, "Password Protected Documents”, "Key Concepts”, "Relevant Documents”, and "Potentially Relevant Documents” | September 27, 2020 | 2.0.0 |
Views | An "Inclusive Emails & Attachments" Document view has been added to give quick access to these files | September 27, 2020 | 2.0.0 |
Dashboards | Document dashboards have been consolidated to the following:"Document List”, "Communications”, "Concepts”, "File Types” | September 27, 2020 | 2.0.0 |
Layouts | Several field names in layouts have been renamed for brevity | September 27, 2020 | 2.0.0 |
Profiles | Three Processing Profiles have been created to provide simpler access to global deduplication, custodial deduplication, and no duplication respectively | March 6, 2020 | 1.7.0 |
Profiles | Existing Imaging Profiles and OCR Profiles have been consolidated and renamed for simplicity | March 6, 2020 | 1.7.0 |
Fields | The template now includes a new "Analytics Fields" field category | March 6, 2020 | 1.7.0 |
Tabs | The "Persistent Highlight Sets" and "Active Learning" tabs are now nested in the "Prepare" parent tab | March 6, 2020 | 1.7.0 |
Tabs | The "Audit" tab is now nested in the "Review" parent tab | March 6, 2020 | 1.7.0 |
Tabs | The "Image" and "Produce" tabs are no longer visible by default in the Investigations Template | January 4, 2020 | 1.5.0 |
Fields | The template now includes "Primary Fields" and "Email Fields" Field Categories | January 4, 2020 | 1.5.0 |
Template | TheRelativityOneInvestigations Template is available forRelativityOnecustomers | July 1, 2019 | 1.0.0 |
Note: This document is designed to act as an aid to complete Early Case Assessment, however it is not intended to be, and should not be construed as, legal advice. Relativity does not make any representations or warranties regarding the results of using this document, including as to sufficiency, accuracy, reliability or legal compliance. You are solely responsible for your use of the software, including deciding whether, to what extent, and how to use documentation and particular features of the software for any given use case.
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