Why the Spreadsheet Breaks at Scale
A second request covering 35 custodians generates continuous status updates: collection completions, processing milestones, review progress, privilege log entries, and rolling production certifications — all moving simultaneously across a case team that may span associates, contract reviewers, a litigation support team, and the client. A shared Excel or Google Sheet is not designed for concurrent writes at this volume, and it has no connection to Relativity where the actual production events are recorded. Status in the spreadsheet drifts from status in Relativity within days of a production wave starting. By the time the compliance call with the FTC arrives, the associate running the call is reconciling two sources of truth under time pressure.
An Authoritative Dashboard, Not Another Manual Update
An AI Labor Company agent maintains the authoritative second-request custodian and production dashboard in HighQ — the platform your case team is already using for collaboration. The agent connects to Relativity certification events and auto-populates production metrics as they occur, eliminating the manual reconciliation step. Custodian status updates flow from iManage and Disco into the dashboard automatically. When the FTC's requested compliance call cadence requires a status report, the agent generates it on demand from the live dashboard data. The associate's job shifts from spreadsheet maintenance to reviewing and approving the report before it goes out.
Risk Reduction on a High-Stakes FTC Matter
The business case for a second request engagement is risk, not efficiency — though the efficiency gains are real. A second request covering 35 custodians at $200K–$700K in projected engagement cost is a matter where a status error on a compliance call, or a missed production deadline from a tracking gap, can have consequences that extend well beyond the billing line. An agent that keeps the custodian dashboard accurate and generates compliance call reports automatically reduces that risk materially. Prep time for compliance calls and internal status reviews typically drops 65–85% once the agent owns the tracking layer. Teams on matters of this complexity are generally live within about ten weeks.
Does the agent update HighQ automatically, or does someone still need to review changes before they're posted?
The agent updates the production metrics that flow directly from Relativity certification events automatically — these are objective records, not judgment calls. Custodian status changes that require interpretation (e.g., a collection is partially complete due to a data hold dispute) are flagged for associate review before the dashboard is updated.
Can the agent generate compliance call reports in the format the FTC has requested?
The agent generates reports against a configurable template. If the FTC has specified a particular format or data structure for status reports, that template is configured during initial deployment and applied to every report generation run.