Corpus review process

Human review you can see: from source to release

Corpus finds and drafts; people decide. It helps your team gather working material with citations to open. Your qualified people then check the sources that govern the work, the numbers and the assumptions behind them, settle what is missing or disputed, and approve the exact version a project decision rests on.

This is a suggested way to organize review, not a required procedure. Who checks what depends on your project, your client and your jurisdiction. Anything marked Proposed is not a product feature until it is built and shown in the demo.

Not yet reviewed by a licensed engineer. SalemWise wrote this page as a starting point for your own quality plan; check it against your firm’s or agency’s procedures before you rely on it.

How to read the labels

Each “Corpus today” line carries its status.

Current

Works in the product and the public demo today; not independently certified.

Set up for you

Set up for your archive during setup; not shown in the demo; not yet done for any customer.

Proposed: not built yet

Not built. We discuss it on the free 30-minute call; scope and price are agreed in writing as paid work.

Our commitment

A promise about how we handle your work, written into the pilot or deployment agreement. Not a product feature.

Not offered

Not part of Corpus.

→ What Corpus does today, row by row

Six steps

From source to release: what your people do, and what Corpus does today.

Step	Your people	Corpus today
1. Set the basis	Before anyone relies on the work, your reviewer confirms what governs it: the project, the jurisdiction and permit, which edition of each code or standard applies, the owner’s criteria, which documents take precedence, and what the result will be used for. An approach from a past project is not reused until someone confirms it still applies here.	Current In pursuit research, lists the standards that documents in your archive name, with citations you can open. Not offered Deciding which standard or edition applies. That stays with your reviewer.
2. Prepare the draft	Whoever prepares the draft keeps, for each source used: its title or identifier, revision, date and approval status, the page or sheet, the passage relied on, where the original is kept, and any doubt about how the text was read from the file.	Current Each archive citation opens a source panel with the file name, the real document title, project and category, page, issuing organization, the highlighted passage, the page image and a link to the original. Current A citation to a page read by OCR carries an OCR tag, so the reader knows to compare the text with the page image. Current Case-law citations have no page image, no link and no source panel. Proposed: not built yet Recording each source’s revision, date, approval status and record owner. Today the file name is the only hint of a date, and in the demo it carries a fictional year. Fictional demo data.
3. Check the work	A qualified checker tests what the draft claims, where sources conflict, the calculations, and how the work fits with other disciplines. Your quality plan sets how independent that checker is and how deep the check goes.	Not offered Checking the work. Corpus does not check claims or engineering calculations; your qualified checker does, under your quality plan.
4. Settle exceptions	Every problem is written down: missing evidence, a disputed requirement, a check that failed. Each one gets a named owner and a decision. Missing evidence stays visibly missing until a person resolves it; it is never quietly filled in with a guess the software made.	Current Draft SOQ items carry GAP and NEEDS INPUT markers. Office details, key staff and sub-consultants, and references are fields only people fill in. Current If nothing in the archive supports an answer, Corpus is designed to say “Nothing on file” instead of guessing. Proposed: not built yet Giving each exception an owner and a decision inside Corpus. Today that is your procedure.
5. Approve for release	The person assigned to approve accepts one specific version for one stated use. Signatures and seals follow the rules of the project and the jurisdiction, and they come from your licensed people, never from software.	Current Only the Principal role can approve a fee, and the server enforces it. Corpus stores who approved (in the demo, the fictional Principal), the total and the time; the time is not shown. In the demo any visitor can switch roles. Fictional demo data. Current The contract draft is a fixed WSDOT CPFF form stamped DRAFT. It is generated only from an approved fee, and its PDF stays blocked until then. Set up for you Tying the Principal role to named people at your firm (identity mapping). No connector is ready-made; each is built for your archive during setup. Not offered Signing or sealing anything. Releasing an SOQ or any other work follows your procedure; Corpus has no sign-off step for it.
6. Keep the record and recheck	Keep the review evidence with the approved record. When a source, method, model or requirement changes, reopen the checks that depend on it.	Current Editing a fee clears its approval, and a total that no longer matches the approval shows “approval out of date”. Proposed: not built yet Reopening affected work when a source document changes, and a version history for drafts. Today both are your procedure. Not offered Being your system of record. The approved version and its review evidence live in your own records system.

When a calculation is involved

Suggested practices for calculations.

Practice	Suggested practice	Corpus today
1. Inputs and units	Record where each input came from: the source and its revision, the value as read, its units and datum, the date, and how certain it is. Compare numbers, exponents and symbols read from a scan with the page image.	Current Shows the cited page image and tags OCR pages, so you can compare the text with the scan. Not offered Recording units, datum or uncertainty for an input.
2. Method and scope	Confirm the method before trusting the numbers: the approved formula or model and its version, the assumptions, the boundary conditions and the limits of use. Flawless arithmetic on the wrong case still gives a wrong result.	Not offered Choosing or reviewing a design method. That is your engineer’s review.
3. Reproduction	Reproduce the result with an approved independent check or an established tool, then compare the results, the ranges and how sensitive they are to the inputs.	Current In the fee build, code, not the model, does the arithmetic, on WSDOT M 27-50 Appendix AA. Arithmetic done in code is only as good as its inputs and formulas, so a qualified person still checks them. Not offered Reproducing hydraulic, structural, drainage, process or geotechnical calculations.
4. Requirement checks	Relate the result to the criteria and the edition that govern this project. A familiar acronym or a similar past project does not show that a requirement applies.	Current Lists the standards that documents in your archive name, with citations you can open. Not offered Deciding whether a requirement applies. That is your reviewer’s call.
5. Review record	Keep a record of the review: who prepared the work, who checked it, what they found, what was corrected, which version was accepted, and enough of the basis for someone else to reproduce it.	Current For a fee only, Corpus stores who approved it (in the demo, the fictional Principal), the total and the time. Fictional demo data. Not offered A review record for engineering work. Preparer, checker, findings and corrections stay in your own records.

Boundaries

What Corpus and SalemWise do not do.

• Not offered Corpus finds documents and prepares drafts. It does not run plants, control processes, act on safety systems or approve permits; connecting it to operational technology would need its own scope, authority and evaluation.
• Not offered Corpus does not check code compliance or certify designs.
• Not offered SalemWise does not provide licensed engineering services.
• The place Corpus runs does not, by itself, meet a rule, standard or contract.

The goal is work that draws on records you are cleared to use, meets the requirements that apply to the job, and is approved by the people who answer for the decision.

Bring your quality plan to a free 30-minute call. Engineering firms can then try Corpus on one real pursuit in the pilot.

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