Engineering and architecture
Carving out client deliverables while keeping internal process records
By SourceX Editorial · Reviewed by Noah Loul ·
Short answer
To carve out client deliverables for data licensing, sort records into three tiers: client deliverables and client-provided material, which are excluded or contract-checked; the firm's instruments of service, which need a rights review; and the firm's own operating records, which are usually the strongest candidates. Sort by record type first, then check project exceptions.
Key takeaways
- Client deliverables and client-provided material are excluded by default and included only with clear contract rights or written consent.
- Instruments of service the firm may own still need a project-level rights review because they reveal the client's building.
- Firm operating records such as staffing, QA/QC comments and RFI routing are usually the strongest licensing candidates.
- Many records straddle tiers, so field-level rules work better than including or excluding whole systems.
Why does an architecture firm need to carve out client deliverables?#
An architecture firm needs to carve out client deliverables because it does not control every right in the work it produces for clients. Owner-architect agreements typically address who holds copyright in drawings and specifications, what license the owner receives and what the firm must keep confidential, and those terms differ from client to client. Standard AIA owner-architect forms generally treat the architect and its consultants as owners of the instruments of service and give the owner a nonexclusive license to use them for the project, but negotiated agreements often change those terms.
Project folders also mix in material the firm never owned: surveys, geotechnical reports, owner design standards and consultant drawings. Treating a project folder as the firm's property is the fastest way to license something the firm had no right to license.
The answer is not to give up on project records. Much of what a firm produces internally while doing the work, such as schedules, staffing plans, review comments and decision notes, sits outside the deliverable, and that layer is often what AI developers want most.
The three-tier framework at a glance#
The three-tier framework separates client deliverables, the firm's instruments of service and the firm's own operating records, and gives each a default treatment. The tiers describe rights positions, not file locations, so a single system can hold records in all three.
| Tier | What it covers | AEC examples | Default treatment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tier 1: client deliverables and client material | Work product issued to the client and material the client or others provided | Issued drawing sets and reports, owner program documents, surveys, geotechnical reports, owner design standards | Exclude, or include only with clear contract rights and written consent |
| Tier 2: firm instruments of service | Design documents and models the firm may own but has licensed to the client | Revit models, specifications, design narratives, renderings, project-specific details | Rights review project by project before any use |
| Tier 3: firm operating records | Records of how the firm ran the work | Staffing plans, timesheets by phase, QA/QC comments, RFI routing, meeting notes, go/no-go decisions | Strongest candidates after privacy preparation |
What belongs in tier 1, and when can any of it come back in?#
Tier 1 holds everything the client owns, received as a finished product or supplied to the firm, and its default is exclusion. That includes reports written for the client, owner-provided surveys and studies, and any document a contract defines as confidential client information.
Some tier 1 material can come back into scope, but only with explicit contract language or the client's written consent naming the use. Even then, third-party content inside a deliverable, such as a geotechnical engineer's boring logs, needs its own clearance.
Projects with security sensitivity are excluded whole rather than sorted: secure facilities, critical infrastructure and work under nondisclosure agreements usually stay out regardless of tier.
How should tier 2 instruments of service be reviewed?#
Tier 2 instruments of service should be reviewed project by project, because firm ownership of copyright does not settle confidentiality or the scope of the client's license. A Revit model may be the firm's work, yet it still shows the layout and security features of a client's building.
The review asks three questions for each project: what the agreement says about ownership and use of instruments of service, whether confidentiality terms reach design documents, and whether the content would still identify the client or site after preparation. Firm-wide assets developed outside any single project, such as a standard detail library or specification masters, usually clear more easily.
Why do tier 3 operating records usually rank highest?#
Tier 3 operating records usually rank highest because they are generally the firm's own records, describe the firm's own decisions and can be separated from client content with field-level preparation. They show how work moved: who reviewed a sheet, what the comment said, how long a response took and what changed afterward.
Records such as QA/QC review comments, RFI response routing, submittal review status, internal design review minutes and staffing changes form connected workflows. AI developers building tools for design firms value that linkage between a question, a review and an outcome more than a finished drawing set.
How do you split records that straddle tiers?#
Records that straddle tiers are split at the field level: keep the tier 3 fields that describe the firm's process and drop or mask the tier 1 and tier 2 content attached to them. Field rules let a firm keep the workflow without carrying the design.
Write the rules down before anyone exports a file, then apply them the same way to every project in scope.
- List every system that holds project records, from the ERP to legacy file servers.
- Assign each record family a tier and write one field rule for each mixed record.
- Flag projects whose agreements carry strict confidentiality or AI terms.
- Exclude security-sensitive and nondisclosure projects as whole projects.
- Record every decision so the rights review can be checked later.
| Mixed record | Keep as tier 3 | Drop or mask |
|---|---|---|
| Bluebeam Studio review sessions | Markup text, status, reviewer role, timestamps | Underlying sheet images and client identifiers |
| RFI logs | Question category, routing, response time, internal notes | Contractor attachments, drawing excerpts, client names |
| Deltek project records | Phases, budgets vs actuals, staffing by role | Client names, contract values, billing rates |
| Email threads | Internal-only threads about process, after preparation | Client correspondence and attachments by default |
| Meeting minutes | Decisions, action items, owners by role | Client confidential details and personal data |
Illustrative: an architecture firm's first carve-out#
Illustrative: a fictional architecture firm focused on higher education and civic buildings runs Deltek Vantagepoint, Revit, Bluebeam Studio and a document management system that files RFIs and submittals by project. Its managing principal wants to know what could be licensed without touching client work.
The firm assigns tiers by record family. Vantagepoint phase data, Bluebeam markup text and RFI routing go to tier 3. Revit models and specification sections go to tier 2 and are deferred. Issued drawing sets, owner standards and consultant reports go to tier 1 and are excluded. Its courthouse projects are excluded entirely for security reasons.
The resulting scope is narrower than the principal first imagined but far easier to defend. The exercise also produces a short contract checklist the firm now uses when negotiating new owner agreements.
How SourceX applies the carve-out#
SourceX applies the carve-out during the Rights step of the SourceX five-step transaction, after a metadata-only fit check confirms which systems and record families exist. The firm approves the tier assignment and every field rule before Preparation begins.
The SourceX Evidence Packet records the result: which tiers were included, which projects were excluded and why, the privacy record and the release authorization. A buyer sees exactly what is in scope, and the firm keeps a record it can show any client who asks.
Frequently asked questions
Can a tier 1 deliverable be included if the client agrees?
Possibly. Written consent should name the records, the permitted use and any limits, and counsel should confirm it fits the original agreement. Third-party content inside the deliverable, such as a consultant's report, still needs separate clearance, so the client's consent alone may not be enough.
How are public agency projects treated?
Public projects need extra care. Some project documents may be public records, but public availability does not grant a license, and agency contracts often carry their own data and records terms. Treat agency work as tier 1 or tier 2 until counsel reviews the specific agreement.
Do internal emails about a client project count as client material?
Internal emails are usually firm records, but they often quote client information, prices or personal details. They belong in tier 3 only after preparation removes that content, and only when the client agreement's confidentiality terms do not reach internal communications about the project.
Does excluding deliverables make the dataset less valuable?
Not necessarily. Many AI developers care more about how professional work is reviewed, routed and decided than about finished documents. A clean tier 3 package with linked review and response records can be more useful than a large set of drawings with unclear rights.
Should we change our owner agreements going forward?
Some firms are reviewing how their agreements address AI and data use. Clear language on the firm's right to use de-identified operating records, with protections for the client, reduces future rights reviews. Draft any new clause with counsel and expect some clients to negotiate it.
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