Important distinction

NYC Local Law 144 requires the applicable bias audit and public Summary of Results; it does not require SHA-256 hashes, JSON manifests or a particular internal evidence-package format. Those are potential Lexara internal integrity and reproducibility controls.

Conceptual evidence package

ArtifactPurposeStatus
audit_report.pdfProfessional technical audit recordEngagement deliverable
public_summary.pdfPublication-ready public resultsSupports public disclosure
results.csvStructured calculation outputInternal / controlled
audit_manifest.jsonAudit reference, methodology/version, data basis and artifact mapInternal governance control
evidence_manifest.jsonEvidence inventory and provenanceInternal governance control
checksums.sha256Tamper-evident fingerprints for finalized artifactsLexara integrity control — not an LL144 requirement
independence_statement.pdfRecords independence review where usedProfessional control

Why hashes help

A cryptographic hash is a fingerprint of exact bytes. If a finalized file changes, its SHA-256 value changes. That can help detect silent replacement or modification, provided canonicalization and versioning rules are defined consistently.

Public-by-explicit-approval

The public Summary of Results should be generated from a deliberately limited publication payload. Candidate-level data, raw datasets, internal logs, private client references and confidential notes should never become public simply because they exist in the audit record.

Versioning instead of silent overwrite

A finalized audit should not be modified silently. A correction should create a traceable new version or superseding record with its own date, reason and artifact fingerprints.

Where this capability lives

The website explains the control model. The calculation engine, controlled audit platform and publication workflow remain separate systems and should enforce the relevant security, approval and access boundaries.