118 Trial Monitoring: A Reference Manual for Practitioners taken into consideration far in advance of the actual drafting, have been found useful among OSCE trial-monitoring programmes for organizing and streamlining the report-writing process: • It is advisable to engage regularly in secondary internal reporting during the monitoring period, particularly on themes expected to be included in the public report. Secondary internal reporting can also serve as “pilot” analysis revealing any limitations in information or methodology, so that incomplete or missing data can be supplemented in time for drafting the public report. Legal analysts and/or monitors should prepare monthly reports on specific issues or trends, including detailed analysis of individual cases. These reports can then be used to help formulate the core issues or themes in the final report. Thereafter, the drafting process can focus on supplementing these with additional analysis and examples. • Information should be compiled during the monitoring period with a view to retrieving it as easily as possible for use in the public report. For this purpose, cases should be organized according to thematic issues, with illustrative cases flagged for potential use. Furthermore, statistics should be kept and updated regularly on relevant issues. While a database can be useful in this regard, some programmes maintain a folder system, by which folders are created on specific legal issues and relevant case reports are filed therein.176 • If indictments, verdicts or other documents will be analyzed in a report, these should be translated and summarized during the monitoring period, well in advance of drafting. • Cases used as examples in reports should be as recent as possible, to ensure that a current picture of the justice system is provided. Some programmes refrain from using examples of problems more than a year old, unless it is to demonstrate the developments on an issue over time. Equally, programmes also assign a cut-off date for the input of new information, unless exceptional circumstances apply. A cut-off date prevents the drafter from engaging in a never-ending examination of material and from postponing the draft’s finalization. • It is advisable to assign to one individual the responsibility of drafting the report and to provide clear, agreed deadlines for the completion of an outline, a first draft and a final draft. When multiple drafters are used to compile a report, a principal drafting co-ordinator should be assigned, to avoid lack of accountability for the final product or lack of coherence in the report. • It is useful to draw on all resources in connection with report writing. For example, in preparing reports, programmes have used available monitors to help with statistical compilation. Importantly, they have also used local experts –professors or specialized practitioners, for example – to draft and review material on substantive legal issues. • A chronology and fixed time-frames should be established for the remaining phases. A chronology should include time-frames for review and revisions of the final draft within the monitoring programme; for wider review and clearance by the OSCE mission; for external review and consultation as necessary; and for other steps, such as translation, formatting/printing and distribution. The project manager should consult with working partners and mission authorities to determine what review procedures will be required. • For efficiency, all actors who will be involved in reviewing the report should be advised well in advance of when they will receive the report. Advance notice allows reviewers to plan accordingly, so that good working relationships are maintained and the report is not delayed. Stressing the importance of a report’s timely publication is critical, as reviewers can substantially prolong the clearance procedure. A delayed publication can weaken or annul the impact of a report and the perception of a programme’s professionalism. • It is imperative to plan ahead for the logistical aspects of issuing a report. Translation, printing and distribution are time-consuming and must be factored into the publication process. The issuance of a report simultaneously in multiple languages allows all stakeholders to have access to information at the same time and facilitates dialogue that is integral to follow-up. Likewise, reports may have to be formatted and printed by a printing house, with its own procedures and 176  See, Chapter 5 “Establishment of an information-management system”.