Data Files - Free Technical Standards Book

Bates Schemes

Database Conventions

The following files must reside in the Data folder on every delivery by the vendor:

Database load file,
Database structure file, and
Imagebase cross-reference load file.

1. Database Load File:

Delimiters – Although this document does not truly favor one application over another, the Concordance standard delimiter characters have proven reliable time and again. They are:

Comma (020), Quote (254), Newline (174)

The first line of the database load file should be the field names.

The name of the database load file should match the volume name.

2. Database Structure File:

The Firm has a standard database structure we use for all databases (electronic and paper). We understand that software restrictions may result in a non-standard product. If the vendor is unable to then post-process their data to match our standard, Litigation Support will have to perform this work as billable time to the firm’s clients. As one can imagine, knowing the database structure as relates to the database load file is critical.

This is a text file showing a sample structure file. The following is just for illustration and does not match Firm standards. Please refer to the Bibliographic Coding Manual for this information.

Field Name	Type	Size
Author	Paragraph	-
Date	Date	YYYY/MM/DD
Title	Text	60
Pages	Number	3.0

3. Imagebase Load File.
The following are the rules governing a good load file:

The imagebase load file name should match the volume name
All images referenced in the load file must be contained on the same volume
Document breaks
Page counts
Image path:

D:\IMAGES\[CLIENT#]\[MATTER#]\[DATABASE]\[VOLUME]\IMAGES\…

Note: While the path may seem long, it provides everyone with a standard everyone can understand. The database folder may seem redundant at first. That is until there are 12 databases for a given matter number. At that time, one becomes grateful for the database subfolder. The firm uses this structure for many reasons. When the load file does not match this path, the vendor will have to this. If Litigation Support has to fix this, then the client may be paying twice for the same work.

Sample Opticon Load File:
Please note the path, image key matching the file name, doc breaks and page counts. Please refer to Section 4, to see examples for other types of load files.

[Field 1]	[Field 2]	[Field 3]	[Field 4]	[Field 5]	[Field 6]	[Field 7]
A001	[VOLUME]	:\[VOLUME]\IMAGES\ 001\ A001.TIF	Y			2
A002	[VOLUME]	D:\[VOLUME]\IMAGES\ 001\ A002.TIF
A003	[VOLUME]	D:\[VOLUME]\IMAGES\ 001\ A003.TIF	Y			1

Here is an explanation of the Opticon load file format:

[Field 1]	Production Number
[Field 2]	Volume ID
[Field 3]	Full DOS Path	This contains both the path to the image and the actual image filename.
[Field 4]	Document Break	This is a text field. If this particular image is the first page of a document, this field should contain a "Y" (Yes).
[Field 5]	Folder Break	This is a text field. It's fairly rarely used but if used is intended to work just like Document Break, i.e. it would contain a "Y" if this is the first page of a new folder.
[Field 6]	Box Break	This is a text field. Also rarely used but intended to work like Doc and Folder Break...would contain a "Y" if this is the first page of a new box.
[Field 7]	Pages	This is a text field although it contains numeric data. If this is the first page of a new document, "Document Break" will contain a "Y" and this field will show the number of pages for the document.

Each of these fields is “separated”, or “delimited”, from the others, by a comma. When a technician imports a load file into Opticon, the content for each field is divided by the commas. Therefore, one can not have a directory named "\5,312,591 PATENT" since Opticon will view each comma as the start of the next field, per below:-

[Field 1]	[Field 2]	[Field 3]	[Field 4]	[Field 5]	[Field 6]	[Field 7]
[Prod Num]	[VOLUME]	\5	312	591 Patent	,	[Pages]

Bates Schemes

Database Conventions

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