Who uses CDIA

In every case the pattern is the same: select the evidence, CDIA investigates, review what it found, receive a cited answer, click through to the source, then draft or get advice from the same evidence.

Commercial managers, quantity surveyors and contract managers

Full article: How a quantity surveyor uses CDIA: the monthly commercial review · How a contract manager uses CDIA: notices, terms and responsibility

You review the position every valuation cycle across a live project, and you need answers that hold up when the other side’s commercial team pushes back.

• “What payment notices and pay less notices were issued, and when?” The notices, applications and certificates by date, cited to the documents.
• “What does the contract say about the valuation of variations?” The wording of the clause, cited to the contract. If the contract you loaded does not deal with it, CDIA says so rather than inventing terms.
• “Which instructions were given by email rather than by formal instruction?” Outlook emails are read directly, so the informal trail is in scope.

Use Advice to get labelled analysis of the commercial issues to prioritise, and Evidence Listing to find every reference to a phrase such as “steelwork” or “practical completion”, exactly and exhaustively.

Project managers

Full article: How a project manager uses CDIA: design information, progress and access

You need the sequence of events on a topic, fast, and you need to be able to show where each statement came from when it is questioned in a meeting.

• “What happened with the drainage works?” A dated narrative from the records, in document order, without invented causation.
• “Who instructed the design change to the facade, and when?” The instruction and the surrounding correspondence, cited. If the records do not say, CDIA tells you.
• “What did the last three progress meetings record about the roof?” Point the investigation at the Meeting Minutes folder and CDIA answers only from those minutes.

Build a Chronology Builder view around a topic, save the items, then draft the factual summary from them.

Planners

Full article: How a planner uses CDIA: as-built progress against the record

You maintain or check the programme against what actually happened, and the record is scattered across diaries, reports and emails.

• “What do the records show about when the ductwork installation started and finished?” Dated, cited items from the records around that activity.
• “Was the steelwork erection reported as complete in the progress reports before the certificate?” Report content and record content, labelled separately, so a forward-looking statement in a report is not treated as evidence that something happened.
• Where you have loaded programme files, Activity Investigation lets you find programme activities by description and verify a task against the record evidence.

CDIA does not calculate critical paths or entitlement. It gives you the cited record so that your analysis rests on what the documents say.

Claims consultants and delay or quantum experts

Full article: How a claims consultant uses CDIA: the claim, the notices and the other side’s account

You are preparing or responding to an extension of time or disruption claim. The records are large, the claim tells one story, and you need to know what the contemporaneous documents actually support before you write a word.

• “What variations were instructed and were any disputed?” CDIA returns the instructions, the applications, the assessments and the correspondence disputing them, each cited, with the claim’s assertions labelled as the claimant’s account rather than as fact.
• “What do the records say about access to the east elevation between March and May?” A cited account drawn from diaries, minutes and correspondence, with a scope note stating what was considered.
• “What does the contractor’s report dated 31 May 2024 say about acceleration?” CDIA reads that report in depth and answers with page citations, presented as the author’s account.

Then Draft a factual background section, or a chronology narrative, with citations to the reviewed evidence, and export it to Word for your report.

Expert witnesses

Full article: How an expert witness uses CDIA: competing accounts and defensible statements

Your opinion will be tested on whether you considered the whole record and whether each fact you relied on is traceable.

• “What competing accounts of the cause of the delay to the M&E first fix are there in the records and the reports?” CDIA states each account, attributes it, and identifies the conflict rather than adopting one.
• “What did the employer’s agent conclude about the claimed variation?” Read from the assessment, cited by page, presented as that author’s account.
• “What was said about design information release in the correspondence during April?” Cited to the letters and emails, with the scope note confirming what was considered.

The Investigation Review shows you the evidential basis before any answer is written, and the scope note under each answer records what was and was not considered. Both help you explain your method.

Construction solicitors and their support teams

Full article: How a construction solicitor uses CDIA: a first pass over the bundle

A disclosed bundle has arrived, and you need a first pass that you can explain and that keeps privileged material where you want it.

• “What notices did the contractor give under the contract, and when?” Notices and their dates, cited, with the relevant clause wording cited to the contract.
• “Advise me on the issues I should prioritise.” Advice gives clearly labelled AI analysis over the reviewed evidence: strengths, weaknesses, competing interpretations and what to investigate next. It is analytical input for your judgement, not legal advice.
• “Draft a response to this letter based on the selected evidence.” A cited draft that you review and edit, exported to Word with a line stating which AI produced it.

Where the matter requires it, Private AI keeps all processing on the machine. In either mode, the evidence you select is the boundary, and the answer says what was considered.

Questions CDIA cannot answer

CDIA works from the documents you give it. Gaps in the record are gaps in what it can say. It will not tell you who is liable, what the entitlement is, or what the law requires. It will tell you what the records, the reports and the contract say, show you where, and give you labelled analysis to think with.