Digital White Papers

ILTA WHITE PAPER: JUNE 2014 WWW.ILTANET.ORG 22 CONSIDER BUSINESS OBJECTIVES Software implementation projects can become mired in unforeseen challenges, distractions and delays, so it's important to keep a high-level focus on the business objectives you are trying to achieve and to communicate them to stakeholders throughout the process. Define success with your stakeholders and the project team at the outset, and be transparent about project goals and how they will help measure and meet success criteria. ESTABLISH PROJECT TEAMS When assigning a project team, it is helpful to devote some members to implementation and documentation. These two teams should be tasked with setting project goals, timelines and milestones, and they should have the authority to move things forward and be flexible when appropriate. These teams also ideally involve members who assisted in evaluating the solution. It is critical that IT be involved at the beginning of the process; they will have insight into how your project fits in with the many other projects on their plate. One way to solicit buy-in is to communicate how e-discovery can lessen IT's workload through more effective litigation hold assistance and/or data analytics. Don't underestimate the need to select team members who have effective communication skills and who are adaptable to various stakeholders' preferences. SET REALISTIC TIME FRAMES Many organizations are overly optimistic when determining go-live dates despite possible limitations and unanticipated challenges. Monitor progress and interdependencies throughout the project to set and reset expectations as necessary. DEVELOP A STRATEGIC TECHNICAL CHECKLIST Following hardware specifications set forth in a vendor's installation guide seems like an obvious place to start in developing your technical checklist, but you should consider the specifications in relation to your goals. Your technical checklist — including your hardware acquisition and validation plan — will depend on your ultimate goal. If performance and accessibility are high priorities — and they usually are in e-discovery software implementation projects — your hardware specifications might go beyond the minimum vendor requirements. Understand what you really need to make the software perform well for and be About the Author Julie Brown is the Litigation Technology Executive Manager at Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease LLP. She has worked in legal technology for more than 20 years and currently manages Vorys' litigation technology department, which provides in-house support, training, processing, advanced analytics and production of e-discovery. Julie serves on ILTA's Litigation and Practice Support Peer Group Steering Committee, and she received ILTA's 2011 Distinguished Peer Award for Litigation and Practice Support. Contact Julie at jkbrown@vssp.com. About the Author Stephen Dooley is an experienced leader in developing teams and solution to address the practical needs of the discovery process. With over 20 years of industry experience, he currently manages the electronic discovery and litigation support department at Sullivan & Cromwell LLP. Stephen actively participates in supporting the growth and education of the legal community by serving as a Steering Committee member of ILTA's Litigation and Practice Support Peer Group and as a board member of ECALSM. Contact Stephen at dooleys@sullcrom.com. About the Author Rachel Teisch oversees global marketing for Xerox Litigation Services, the electronic division of Xerox, including the Viewpoint all-in-one e-discovery platform, OmniX hosted review, CategoriX technology-assisted review, managed review, consulting and professional services offerings. She has 15+ years of experience in marketing and business development, including over 10 years in e-discovery enterprise software and services. Prior to joining Xerox Litigation Services, Rachel was the head of global marketing for CloudShare, a cloud computing company. Contact Rachel at rachel.teisch@xls.xerox.com.

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