---
name: document-summary-action-items
description: Turns business documents into a concise audience-specific summary, a cited action register, and a separate list of dates and commitments. Use for board papers, project material, policies, proposals, reports, meeting notes, and document review; keywords include summary, action items, deadlines, commitments, and key dates.
license: Apache-2.0
metadata:
  adlass.categories: "admin-office/documents-summaries, documents-contracts/summaries-briefs"
  adlass.industries: ""
  adlass.tags: "document-summary, action-items, deadlines, commitments, briefs"
  adlass.adaptation: "ready"
  adlass.source: "n8n:1962, n8n:2339, original"
  adlass.version: "1"
---

# Document summary and action items

## Purpose

Convert one or more business documents into a decision-ready summary and structured follow-up material. Preserve the difference between what a source states, what it implies, and what remains unresolved.

## Scope

Cover the document's purpose, decisions, arguments, figures, commitments, dependencies, owners, and dates. Include only actions supported by the source or explicitly labelled as proposed.

**Excluded:** Legal advice, factual research beyond the supplied corpus, and execution of any action.

## Data basis

- Source documents in scope, including headings, paragraphs, tables, footnotes, and metadata.
- Optional audience, length, and action-format inputs.

## Result

Produce a concise summary, an action-items sheet with source citations, and a key-dates document. Keep source facts distinct from interpretation and recommendations.

## Quality criteria

- Every material claim in the summary has a document and location citation.
- Every action row states the action, owner, due date, status, and evidence or says not stated.
- Dates, amounts, names, and percentages match the source exactly.
- Conflicts between documents are shown rather than silently reconciled.
- The summary meets the requested audience and length without omitting material caveats.

## Instructions

Use the source's own terminology. Treat a task as assigned only when an owner is named; otherwise mark the owner unassigned. Treat a date as a commitment only when the source frames it as a deadline, milestone, renewal, or meeting. Cite the smallest useful location, such as heading, page, table, or row. Put questions and assumptions in the open-points section, not in the action register.

## Adapt before use

- Define the preferred summary audience and maximum length.
- Define the required action-register columns and status vocabulary.
- Add the company's owner names or team mapping if generic role names are insufficient.
- Define whether proposed actions may be included alongside explicit commitments.
- Define the preferred date format and citation style for the action register.