Human review is a qualified person's deliberate check of content, calculations, or decisions produced with digital tools or automation.
Definition
Human review is a planned check by a person with suitable qualifications, context, authority, and time to assess work produced with digital tools or automation. In an engineering firm, review can involve checking calculations, source documents, generated text, model data, or a decision against project requirements. The effort and reviewer role depend on the task, contract, professional responsibilities, and potential effect of an error. Owners may assign review as a project task, a quality function, or both. Human review is not a quick glance, an automatic approval, or a guarantee that every error will be found. The reviewer needs enough information to evaluate the work and a clear route to correct or reject it. Review also does not shift professional responsibility to the tool or erase the duties of the person issuing the final work. Firms should define what is checked, by whom, and how findings and changes are recorded.
How owners use it
- Assign a reviewer with relevant expertise and enough project context to check the work.
- Record the review scope, findings, corrections, and approval status in the project file.
- Example: 24 pages checked at 6 minutes per page take 24 x 6 = 144 minutes, or 2.4 hours.
