Re: e-discovery software and outsourcing insights?

["Walters, Caroline (cw8de)" <cw8de () ESERVICES VIRGINIA EDU>]

I agree with Valdis - clean up your data storage/process etc before you are faced with a preservation order.  We have a 
saying here - it's easier to find the needle(s) if you have a smaller haystack.  If you have a records management 
program, check with them on retentions of back-ups, data etc.  If the records/back-ups/data have met the required 
retention and there are no pending audit/legal issues, destroy the information.  It will save you time, effort and $$$$ 
in the long run.

Also do an inventory of where all your electronic information is stored and who is the custodian/owner of the data - a 
good "data map" makes the discovery process much easier - and also helps to keep the "haystack" small as it can 
identify data that should end up in the destruction bin and allow for much more focused searching for records.

The software/systems I have seen for e-discovery do help when you are processing the data for relevant information.  It 
won't find that laptop or thumb drive with data on it, it may search networked servers.  You will still have to spend 
time restoring all the back-ups (if requested).  And it won't make decisions on what is ultimately relevant to the case 
- most of the programs require an attorney/paralegal etc. to review of the findings after the search for relevancy.  It 
will help limit what the attorneys have to search through by keyword searches - but many of the vendors charge 
according to the amount of data it has to search and the number of keywords, etc.

The Sedona Conference has done some great work on e-discovery issues.  You can check out their publications and 
resources here:  http://www.thesedonaconference.org/

Also AIIM has helpful with information on e-discovery issues and their annual Expo conference usually has great 
programs and loads of vendors who provide e-discovery services:  http://www.aiim.org/What-is-eDiscovery.aspx

Happy to answer other question off line.
Caroline


Caroline J. Walters, MA, MLS
University Records Officer/Records Management
Information Security, Policy, and Records Office (ISPRO)
Office of the Vice President/CIO
University of Virginia, 2400 Old Ivy Rd.
Box 400898, Charlottesville, VA 22904-4898
Phone: (434) 243-9162
Fax: (434) 243-9197
Email: cjwalters () virginia edu



-----Original Message-----
From: The EDUCAUSE Security Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU] On Behalf Of Valdis 
Kletnieks
Sent: Friday, February 26, 2010 3:52 PM
To: SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU
Subject: Re: [SECURITY] e-discovery software and outsourcing insights?

On Fri, 26 Feb 2010 11:11:25 EST, Steve Werby said:

> Do you have experience or insights about e-discovery platforms that 
> cover all phases of the process after data collection (processing, 
> searching, analysis, reviewing, production, etc.)?

Insight:  If you wait till after data collection, you've made your work about 63.4 times harder than you had to.  You 
*really* want to sit down and do some up-front work to make the back-end work easier.

A few years ago, we had an unfortunate incident on campus, where we literally ended up doing the first steps of data 
preservation while still in lockdown.
The fact we weren't ready for it beforehand, combined with a legacy tape system that used 40G tapes, conspired to leave 
us holding the bag on some 18,000 tapes. We're *still* dealing with the fall-out from that - by the time we're done 
we'll have easily blown 10 man-years on it.  And that's before we've actually handled a single e-discovery request.

Moral: You *really* want to look at your ongoing business practices, and see where you can make things simpler for when 
things go bad...