Digital White Papers

ILTA WHITE PAPER: JUNE 2014 WWW.ILTANET.ORG 14 the organization already has in place. Then, once the organization has a rough idea of its needs, it can find a vendor that provides the best value. However, by contracting out all the tools you expect to need for your cases in a given period of time, you can cut down on chaos and ensure seamless interoperability. This contracting might seem like a monumental acquisition for any corporation or law firm trying to perform e-discovery onsite, but comprehensive solutions based on monthly hosting fees address this very problem. To bring more repeatability to discovery management, whether onsite or with a provider, consider a centralized post-processing database for analysis and review with robust intra-project reporting. E-DISCOVERY EVOLUTION: STREAMLINING THE DAUNTING DISCOVERY PROCESS Centralized Post-Processing Database Although many documents are often compelled in concurrent or consecutive cases, single-case tools create silos of independent databases for every case. If every document of every case were stored in a single instance on a centralized platform, however, duplicate collection, identification and processing steps could be avoided. Analysis and Review Early data analysis (EDA) was once a critical stage for parsing the bounds of a case data set, testing keywords, becoming informed for meet and confers, and getting things in order for review. However, if everything needed to analyze a case and perform review readily applies to the documents in a centralized database, analysis can begin immediately — whenever review becomes necessary. The document groupings and decisions made can be preserved, and no data must be ingested into a standalone review tool with duplicate functionality. Robust Intra-Project Reporting With one comprehensive tool touching every case an organization encounters, mining and tracking critical case information in the aggregate becomes much more feasible if incorporated at the software level. Corporations and law firms can benefit by being able to track information easily, like how many custodians are involved in which types of cases, whether an abnormal number of documents was escalated for review or how much money or time was spent on which process. DEVELOP A LONG-TERM APPROACH Only by looking at e-discovery in the aggregate will organizations be equipped for whatever evolution we experience next. Those who trade the quick-fix temptation of single-case e-discovery for the very real cost savings presented by a long-term e-discovery approach will surely experience success.

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