METHODOLOGY

How a file becomes data.

Every file Gridfile holds went through the same five stages. The stages are the product: a lab buying from us is buying the record of what happened at each one.

Sourcing

We do not scrape, and we do not commission writing. Every document was produced in the course of a professional's work, before the call existed, and is contributed by the person or firm that produced it. Calls are written per domain by an editor who practiced in it, and state precisely what qualifies.

Licensing

Contributors sign once: an individual agreement, or a firm agreement that covers staff submissions. Each file carries an attestation that the contributor holds the rights and has de-identified to the call's standard. The license itself transfers at acceptance, not at upload, so a file that fails review was never ours.

Review

An automated pass checks for residual identifiers, secrets and duplicates. Then a domain editor reads the file against the call. Three outcomes: accepted, returned with a one-line reason (resubmission allowed once), or rejected. Bulk submissions are sampled at a rate stated in the call, never below ten percent.

Payment

Accepted files are paid within seven days at the rate in the call. Hourly calls pay against logged hours accepted at review. There is no platform fee on the contributor side; the rate in the call is the rate paid.

Delivery

Accepted files are delivered to licensees with a data card per call and a provenance record per file. Records are append-only. A file withdrawn under a contributor's rights is marked withdrawn in the record and removed from future deliveries.

The provenance record

Written at acceptance, delivered with every file. This is what a licensee can audit.

PROVENANCE RECORD                      Gridfile Contributor License v2.1
file         GF-0110/000318
call         GF-0110   Underwriting rationale notes
domain       insurance
accepted     2026-09-19T14:22:08Z   editor E-09
agreement    FIRM      A-0231     signed 2026-08-30
attestation  sha256:9f3a4c0b…e2c41e
deid         standard GF-D1   automated: pass   editor: pass
format       pdf    912 words
withdrawn    no
delivery     eligible

De-identification standards

Each call names one. The standard sets what must be removed before review; the editor confirms it was.

GF-D1: General. Names of people and organizations replaced with role labels. Addresses to the city level. Account, policy, case and reference numbers removed.
GF-D2: Financial. D1, plus amounts above a threshold stated in the call converted to ranges, and dates reduced to the quarter. Ratios and rates may stay.
GF-D3: Clinical. The eighteen Safe Harbor identifiers removed. Ages above 89 collapsed. Dates shifted by a per-contributor offset. Institutional agreement required.
GF-D4: Technical. D1, plus automated scanning for credentials, internal hostnames and customer identifiers, confirmed by the contributor before submission.