Learn the first step in handling suppressed documents after a Project Coverage Review

First Step for Suppressed Documents After a Project Coverage Review

Let’s paint the scene. You’ve gone through a Project Coverage Review, and a chunk of documents ended up suppressed—held back for privacy, privilege, or sensitivity reasons. The instinct might be to start grouping, labeling, or coding in the order you think will be fastest. Turns out, there’s a smarter first move. The initial step is to search for high-ranking documents that do not have an Active Learning (AL) designation.

Why this matters, in plain terms

High-ranking documents are the ones that tend to carry the most weight. They’ve earned attention because they’re more likely to be relevant to the matter at hand, contain key facts, or drive decision-making. If you start with the groupings or the near-duplicate clusters without sorting out the big players first, you risk spending time on material that’s less impactful. It’s a bit like cleaning your desk by organizing every sticky note, then realizing you never touched the wrinkled memo that actually mattered.

Now, what does “high ranking” mean in Relativity terms? Ranking usually comes from a relevance score, a workflow priority, or a quick assessment of how closely a document touches the issues you’re examining. In practice, you look at the suppression set and pull out the top performers—those with the strongest signals of importance.

And what about AL designation? Active Learning is Relativity’s way of training the system to pick out the most informative documents for humans to review next. A document without an AL designation hasn’t yet joined that learn-as-you-go workflow. Why is that a problem? Because it means there could be valuable material sitting there, unprioritized, untagged for machine-assistance. If you skip these, you might miss a gem that could sharpen the whole project’s outcome.

A practical way to approach it

Think of the suppression set as a field of hidden potential. Your job is to surface the brightest stars first. Here’s a practical, repeatable approach you can use without getting tangled in a thousand rules:

• Identify the suppression subset clearly. You don’t want to chase the wrong pile. Make sure you’re looking only at documents that were suppressed during the Project Coverage Review.

• Run a targeted search for high-ranking items. In Relativity, you’ll typically filter by relevance score, priority flags, or other ranking indicators. The goal is to pull out documents that are most likely to influence the project’s outcomes.

• Filter out anything that already has an AL designation. You’re looking for high-value docs that haven’t yet been routed into the Active Learning loop. This is your first pass to catch material that might have slipped through the cracks.

• Do a quick, purposeful skim. You don’t need to read every line in depth—just check for clear relevance cues: key names, dates, issues, or policy references. If a document screams “this matters,” flag it for closer review and consider whether it should receive AL attention.

• Decide how to carry it forward. Some documents will be ready for immediate tagging or coding; others may warrant a short note explaining why they were not chosen for AL yet. Keep the workflow flexible but documented.

• Capture the rationale. It helps the team later to know why certain high-ranking items were advanced or kept separate from AL. A simple note in the document’s log goes a long way.

• Move on to the next step with clarity. Once you’ve surfaced the top unassigned items, you’ve cleared space for the next phase—whether that’s grouping by textual near duplicates, or applying codes to a broader set.

What does this look like in the workflow?

Let me explain with a quick mental model. Suppose you’re sorting through a suppress list that’s been trimmed for sensitive content. Among those, you find a handful of documents with high relevance scores. They reference a core contract, a pivotal email chain, and a policy memo that keeps popping up in related materials. Those are your treasure map. They deserve attention before you start chunking the rest into groups or tackling broad near-duplicate clusters.

By prioritizing high-ranking items without AL, you gain two big advantages. First, you accelerate the discovery of material that could alter interpretations or outcomes. Second, you tighten the review loop: you’re not waiting for the system to catch up—you’re guiding it with the most consequential material right away.

A note on the other approaches you might hear about

You’ll see terms like “Group the Suppressed Documents by running Textual Near Duplication” or “Mass Code Large Textual Near Duplicates Group.” Those are useful moves, absolutely, but they’re not your kickoff play. Think of them as downstream steps that become most effective after you’ve pulled the prime candidates to surface level.

• Textual Near Duplicate grouping is fantastic for spotting copies or near-copies across the suppression set. It helps you avoid redundant reviewing and ensures consistency in coding decisions.

• Mass coding large textual near duplicates can speed up the process, but it works best once you’ve identified the high-impact documents and confirmed which groups actually matter for your project goals.

So, the first step—searching for high-ranking, non-AL documents—acts like a strategic opening move. It sets the tempo for everything that follows and ensures you’re not lost in the weeds before you’ve touched the most influential material.

Digressions that still stay on point

As you work through this, you might wonder how to keep everything coherent across the team. A little ritual helps: maintain a short, shared log of decisions. When a high-ranking doc is surfaced without AL, jot down why it’s parked for manual review, or why you think it should join AL now. That way, even if someone else revisits the file days later, the logic remains clear. It’s not about micromanagement; it’s about preserving momentum and clarity.

Another practical tip: leverage saved searches and recurring filters. If your team routinely handles suppressed material, a standing saved search for “high ranking, no AL” can become a familiar, quick hook to pull the right material at the moment you need it. It’s not cheating or shortcutting the work—it’s about making your workflow predictable and repeatable.

Relativity tools in action: a quick mental map

• Ranking signals: Relevance scores, flag priorities, or custom scoring fields that indicate importance. Use these to pick the top candidates quickly.

• AL designation: The beacon for machine-assisted review. If a document lacks AL, consider if it should join the learning loop or if it’s a one-off item that needs a human touch.

• Suppression status: Keep a clear line of sight on why a document is suppressed to avoid reintroducing sensitive content into broader workflows.

The core takeaway, wrapped in a simple sentence: when suppression happens, look first for the most important, least-assigned documents, so you don’t overlook material that could steer the project in meaningful ways.

A compact guide you can reuse

• Step 1: Confirm the suppression subset from the Project Coverage Review.

• Step 2: Search for high-ranking documents within that subset.

• Step 3: Exclude any items with an existing AL designation.

• Step 4: Review the remaining high-ranking items with a laser focus on relevance and sensitivity.

• Step 5: Decide on AL routing or direct tagging, with a clear rationale.

• Step 6: Document decisions and move forward with the next phase.

This sequence isn’t a rigid script; it’s a flexible framework designed to keep the most impactful material front and center.

Closing thought: keep the flow human, keep the process tight

Handling suppressed documents is a balancing act. You want to honor privacy and sensitivity, but you also want to surface the content that truly drives outcomes. By starting with high-ranking documents that lack AL designation, you set a course for efficient, thoughtful review. It’s not about chasing perfection in one pass—it’s about prioritizing what matters most and letting the workflow guide you from there.

If you’re walking through a real project and find yourself staring at a pile of suppressed documents, pause for a moment and ask: which of these items would most likely change the decisions we’re making? If the answer points to high-ranking, non-AL pieces, you’ve found your first, smart step forward. And from there, the rest of the workflow—grouping, coding, and learning—can fall neatly into place, one thoughtful decision at a time.