Attachment_15_-_Unitization_standards.pdf

Attachment 7 Unitization Unitization is the process of logically grouping documents. The overriding principal shall be, “can this document stand alone.”

The typical industry language is to associate documents that are attachments to other documents as “Attachments” or “Children”. The documents that reference the attachments or children are often referenced as Parents.

The following characteristics are used to logically group documents:

Determination by Format The following document format conventions shall be used to determine a document’s logical association with the next document in the collection.

Document Determination Item

Instruction

Pagination Pagination shall take precedence over the appearance of a new document. Paginated documents shall not be divided (regardless of gaps in the pagination). When pages are not consecutively numbered they shall be one document as long as they appear to belong together.

Table of contents or reference page, Appendices, Indices, etc.

If a document contains a Table of contents or reference page that explicitly refers to the contents, the document shall be treated as ONE document.

Interrupted page numbering Internal page numbering (not bates numbers) 1,2,3,4 New Doc, 5,6,7 shall be separated into 3 different documents. An attachment relationship shall be established among the three document Documents. “Document” or Parent shall be range of images 1-4 (Set by the client), New Doc shall be the first “Attachment” and range of images 5-7 shall be the second “Attachment”.

Appearance If a document is unique in appearance from its surrounding documents it shall be treated as one document.

Date If a document has the same date for all pages it shall be treated as one document.

Title If a document has the same title across multiple pages it shall be treated as one document.

Author If a document has the same author it shall be treated as one document.

Message If a document presents the same message or thought process it shall be treated as one document.

Letters with Attachments Broken and coded separately. The letter is the parent document and the attachment(s) is/are the child(ren).

Faxes with attachments Broken and coded separately. The parent document is the fax cover sheet and the attachments are the child(ren) document(s) Reports and appendices Coded as one document when appendices are clearly part of the report.

Drawings/Figures/Illus-trations

All drawings, figures, and illustrations shall be grouped together if they apply to the same subject (i.e. all drawings/figures/illustrations for patent number 4,552,252 would be grouped as one document, OR a group of sequentially numbered drawings/figures/illustrations with a common subject shall be grouped as one document)

Appendices/Schedules All appendices/schedules shall be broken as separated documents UNLESS they are part of a larger document WITH a table of contents or reference page(s).

Blank Pages All blank pages shall be left together as part of the previous document, Blank Pages shall NOT be broken as separate documents

Redacted Pages The same breaking guidelines as ‘Blank Pages’ shall be applied.

Advertisements Advertisements that refer to the same company and are from the same date and publication shall be treated as one document (i.e. all Sears advertisements from The LA Times 4/12/01 would be grouped as one document).

Determination By Documents The examples of documents listed in the following tables shall be used to assist in determining a document’s logical association with the next document in the collection.

Examples of Documents Instruction Fax Cover Sheets Fax Cover Sheets that explicitly refer to attached documents shall be treated as the first record of an attachment range. If attachments are not obviously apparent by the message on the fax cover sheet, fax header lines at the top of a page(s) shall be used to determine relationships to fax cover sheets.

Envelopes, Certified Mail Receipts, and Courier slips (ex. FedEx and UPS slips)

Envelopes, Certified Mail Receipts and Courier slips shall be grouped with their corresponding pages as the last page(s) of the document.

Distribution Lists Distribution lists shall NOT be separated as children from the document that is sent for distribution.

Agreement / Contract The contract and each amendment, addendum, exhibit and schedule shall be treated as one record. (NOT separate children)

Manuals / Reports Manuals and reports shall be treated as one record.

Binders and Binder tabs If the collection contains binders, WE shall unitize binders using one of the following rules:

Binders that have unique documents (i.e. the documents have an independent existence outside of the binder) shall be unitized as separate documents (parents).

A binder shall be treated as one document only if the binder contains a title page, table of contents or reference page and the documents do not have an independent existence outside of the binder. In other words, A Binder that serves the purpose of a “Cover” to a unique document (i.e. Book, Volume, Report, Manual, etc) that often contains a Table of Contents/Index or an informative Cover Title shall be coded as one Document. (No Children)

File Folders File folders shall be treated as a stand-alone, single page Document. However documents that may be next to them may be considered as children on a case-by-case basis.

Charts / Graphs / Tables / Drawings/ Schematics/Technical Drawings

A continuous series of charts or graphs shall be divided into Documents by subject matter.

The following criteria shall be used in determining whether charts shall be kept as one record or divided into multiple Documents:

1) Pagination

2) ID Number

3) Date Range of reports

4) Subject matter

Legal Documents Court Orders that follow and apply to a pleading (motion, notice, etc.) shall be unitized as children with the pleading being the parent. Proof of Service shall NOT be broken separate from the pleading.

Presentation Slides Presentation slides that deal with a variety of subjects and are used for one presentation shall be treated as a single record.

Financial A continuous series of financial reports shall be divided by subject matter.

The following criteria shall be used in determining whether multiple financial reports shall be kept as one record or divided into multiple Documents:

• Pagination

• ID Number

• Date Range of reports

• Subject matter

Travel & Expense Report / Itineraries All tickets and receipts shall be treated as a single record with its itinerary.

Consecutive Print-outs of Emails The context of emails to determine whether the emails shall be treated as one record or if emails shall be divided and an attachment relationship established accordingly.

Phone Books Treat as one record. Do not break up. (No children) Patents Patent Numbers and Serial Numbers shall be used to determine the breaks in patent related documents. Exhibits, drawings and schematics belonging to a particular patent shall not be broken out into separate documents. When no indication (ex:

Examples of Documents Instruction patent number or serial number) exists between separate types of Patent related documents those documents shall be treated as separate stand-alone documents.

Exhibits You will be able to identify exhibits by a sticker or stamp with the exhibit number on it. Use the following guidelines to determine what boundary level to set for each exhibit.

• Exhibits that are found immediately following legal documents or depositions, and are listed in an index or list of exhibits within that legal doc or deposition:

o Set a “Document” boundary for the main legal doc or deposition o Set a “Child” boundary for each exhibit that appears on the list, keeping all pages of the exhibit as one document until you reach the next exhibit.

o Once all exhibits on the list have been identified, continue with normal parent/child unitization.

• Exhibits that are found separate from a legal document or exhibit:

o Set a “Document” boundary for the first page of the exhibit.

o Set a “Child” boundary for the next document only if you can clearly identify that it is attached to the exhibit.

o Set a “Document” boundary for each new document if it is not clearly identified as an attachment to the exhibit.

o Do not automatically set a “child” break for separate docs within one exhibit. Use normal parent/child unitization guidelines.

Expense Reports Keep the receipts and statements that are applicable to the expense report together with the expense report. Expense reports and all the documentation that supplements them should be one document.

Continuous-Run Computer Paper Mark all pages that are connected together as one document. If groups of connected “documents” fall within a larger binding element, standard attachment rules apply.

Check books If checks/carbon receipts are physically connected within a book, the book will be a document. Loose pages within the checkbook are considered to be a part of that document as well. If checks are loose and not bound by any book or any other physical elements, each “group” (group being defined as a consecutive series of loose checks) will be one document. If a single loose check occurs, it will be marked as a single-paged document. If a single loose check or “group” of loose checks immediately precedes or follows a financial statement, report, or any other document which clearly identifies/states a relationship to said check(s), that/those check(s) will be included with that document.

Note: When unitization adds enough paper that a second overflow box is required, the Document Coordinator is contacted. The Document Coordinator will work with the SEC POC to deliver an additional Iron Mountain label that will be affixed to the new box before final delivery of boxes to Iron Mountain.