Intelligent Information Management Glossary
Not sure what something means? We have you covered! We've defined many of the key terms in Intelligent Information Management for you.
What is eDiscovery?
Discovery is the term used for the initial phase of litigation where the parties in a dispute are required to provide each other relevant information and records, along with all other evidence related to the case.
The key to addressing eDiscovery is to be proactive in the management of information and records with control over the handling of potential ediscovery requests.
eDiscovery is short for electronic discovery, which is defined as the process of discovery in civil litigation that is carried out in electronic formats. It encompasses what most often is referred to as electronically stored information, or ESI.
Examples of the types of ESI included are emails, instant messaging chats, documents, accounting databases, CAD/CAM files, Web sites, and any other electronic information that could be relevant evidence in a lawsuit. Also included in ediscovery are “raw data” and “metadata,” which forensic investigators can review for hidden evidence.
eDiscovery legal process – As a practice, eDiscovery runs from the time a lawsuit is foreseeable to the time the digital evidence is presented in court. At a high level, the process is as follows:
- Data is identified as relevant by attorneys and placed on legal hold.
- Attorneys from both sides determine the scope of discovery, identify the relevant ESI, and make eDiscovery requests and challenges. Search parameters can be negotiated with an opposing counsel or auditor to identify what is being searched and to ensure needed evidence is identified and non-evidence is screened out, thereby reducing the overall effort required to search, review, and produce it.
- Evidence is then extracted and analyzed using digital forensic procedures and is usually converted into PDF or TIFF form for use in court. It often can be advantageous to use pattern and trend identification and other analytical search techniques here so these tasks can be performed more efficiently and make less use of expensive human resources.
The key to being successful with eDiscovery is to have a policy that stresses:
- Information without business value must be disposed of according to policy and in the normal course of business
- Records that have value to the organization must be stored and managed properly, under the control of the organization
- A classification scheme providing an information and records management structure must be implemented for consistency and control
- Records that are no longer needed must be destroyed in a systematic and documented way
eDiscovery applications and technology enable organizations to pull information and records from the massive volumes of content that span the enterprise, including emails, and eliminate exact copies to reduce the effort and cost of reviewing the remaining content. This can be costly and time-consuming. The best practice is to prepare before you have to act. The costs and management of eDiscovery can be lowered and managed through the implementation of a records management program and the use of an Electronic Records Management (ERM) system.
