Two Years & Answer Maven Business is Good

July 7, 2010

Answer Maven has been busy this summer.

  • Duty as Chair of SLA Legal Division complete after the end of the Annual Conference in mid-June
  • Working with a great team on the planning for  the Lucene Revolution User Conference to be held October 7-8, 2010.
  • Finalizing the second custom taxonomy for two different clients
  • Content Management and e-Discovery business development underway with Miller Montague

In the meantime, Miller and I are working out lots of details.  We are excited about the work we will be doing in the e-discovery arena.  He is  all set for a certification course next week.  I continue to bone up the industry at large.

So Answer Maven has a lot going on, which is great news.

Today, I want to take a moment to share just a couple of observations that I have made during the last few weeks of work.

  • Quality is important. If the semi-colons and date formats are the major topic of discussion about a deliverable  that’s a great thing.

You may wonder why I say that, the truth is that if that type of detail is the focus of attention the content is where it needs to be.  Delivering the highest quality of content to a client is success.

  • Open Source Search must not be ignored.

The opportunities in this arena are boundless because the community drives improvement.

  • All the old stuff offers new opportunities

Businesses that deliver the same-old same-old underestimate the shifting factors in both client expectations, technical abilities and dreamed of opportunities.  Transitioning business models is a difficult but necessary undertaking.  I understand that it is more difficult for large companies to shift quickly but the out-and-out refusal of a company to transition to new models can be the death toll.

I love having the opportunity to talk with my clients about their transition opportunities.  One recent transition idea was so simple in concept that I was sceptical at first.  As we discussed use scenarios the possibilities seemed like real opportunities.

Much in Answer Maven’s consulting work needs to be transitioned and that work is underway.  Are you busy with the daily grind or have you thought about your transition opportunities?  What is old that you need to make new again?  If you can find those gems and execute the innovations business is good.

Constance Ard July 7, 2010

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Search Isn’t Easy, Neither is Knowledge and Content Management

June 7, 2010

As I was trying out the joys of a netbook while sitting in a comfy chair and catching up on my blogs I came across a phrase in a Beyond Search post that resonated:

Search is in crisis because there is a challenge explaining what search is, how its component parts related to business problems, and neologisms work for a handful of insiders.

A couple of weeks ago I attended an “Art of Networking”  seminar and when asked “What do you do?”  Explaining what an “Information Consultant” does is a true conversation, not a single sentence answer.  I try to begin that conversation with a reply of: I help you solve your information problems.  I use my skills to improve the content retrieval for information seekers within your organization.

The conversation then goes into how people create and use information, how they search for information and what they need to retrieve.  The Beyond Search post about search having a communication issue could be just as easily applied to information.

Most information is created electronically.  Many companies have difficulty in understanding the complex issues related to the easy, or at the very least, efficient, retrieval of that information.  More and more companies of all sizes are using resources such as wiki’s or portals to provide access to the information that should be shared.  Unfortunately, without the structure of, yes, I’m gonna say it, a good custom ontology, and specific guidelines, information consumers within the enterprise will spend more time searching than finding.

Knowing that there is a need for structure and finding a way to create and maintain that structure through appropriate content creation and manage in information usage.  Most companies do not have someone in place to manage those processes.

Many companies need someone to create those processes.  That is where the Answer Maven team comes into play.  We look at the information you create and use in your daily work and the processes you use for that information in view of the whole picture from creation to management to retrieval and all the nuances within those key components including the risk management to protect companies from e-discovery costs.

Defining information management is a difficult task.  Search is a difficult concept to communicate because it’s not as simple as placing a single word into a box and reviewing a set of precise result – at least not without a lot of work in the background.  Information management is about more than file storage.

Processes are necessary and everything goes hand in hand with good search technologies.  If you have content, you probably have an information management challenge.  It doesn’t matter if you are a small business or a Fortune 50 company.  The smartest information management move anyone can take is ensuring that an information professional has assigned structure and processes for your content.  The next step is ownership but we will save that discussion for another day.

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E-Discovery Solutions: A Close Look at Encase

May 12, 2010

With this blog post I’d like to introduce my colleague and soon-to-be bona-fide business partner Miller Montague.  Miller is a law librarian with a strong IT background and e-discovery knowledge base.

If you have questions about e-discovery solutions and risk management for your own business let us know. (Constance)

Guidance Software, Inc.

Encase eDiscovery v.4:

Encase is considered the industry standard for e-discovery software, especially when it comes to in-house solutions. They have a great reputation and offer some interesting pricing structures. With version 4 Encase eDiscovery is trying to act as a complete, end-to-end, automated EnCase eDiscovery solution that allows you to search, identify, cull, collect, and process electronically stored information (ESI) across the enterprise and then export the ESI to the attorney review platform of your choice. It suggests that it will:

• Reduce your EnCase eDiscovery costs by up to 90%

• Search and collect ESI across the enterprise from a central location from workstations, laptops, file servers, user shares, other data repositories, and removable storage media without having to take the target machines offline

•Cull at the point of collection and collect only potentially relevant documents

• Ensure a complete collection and chain-of-custody with the extensive reporting feature

• Rely upon the globally recognized best practice solution for electronic discovery and EnCase® software’s unparalleled record in court

One of the key features of version 4 is that you can now perform analysis and first-pass review capabilities at any stage of the eDiscovery process, such as during collection, post collection, or during and after processing. By allowing users to perform analysis and first pass at any point, Guidance gives organizations an opportunity to fine tune search expressions and run test queries.  Results are viewed in a web-based first-pass linear review tool that is easy for non-technical lawyers and litigation support staff to use.  This ECA (Early Case Assessment) feature coupled with its unique pre-collection analytics capability enables organizations to rapidly understand case facts, better prepare for “meet and confer” conferences, negotiate keywords with opponents, and perform first-pass review in-house to reduce data sets prior to outside attorney review, thereby increasing speed and reducing cost.

Another feature is that is web based so attorneys and staff can test keywords, view data and tag documents from any workstation or laptop. It has standard features such as Legal Hold, which allows organizations to maintain a complete chain of custody from the moment the duty to preserve documents occurs, through the eDiscovery phases of search, identification, collection, preservation, processing and exporting documents into load file format for review. EnCase eDiscovery’s Email Processor automates the capabilities of Enterprise Search and Collection for live messaging servers, static PSTs and NSFs, and individual MSG files. All collected and processed data is placed in single case database which is a court-validated digital container called an EnCase Logical Evidence file (LEF).

EnCase eDiscovery can also be purchased through the Pay-Per-Use Program. This enables organizations to take full control of the eDiscovery process by offering an in-house software solution on a per case, per custodian basis. So, clients will only pay for the data that is searched, collected, processed and output for upload.

Another nice feature is that EnCase eDiscovery can performed without disruption to end users or the need to bring servers off line.  It can be run over multiple workstations thus reducing the load on a server and the network was a whole.

Key Observations:

  • EnCase is scalable for organizations and litigation matters of various sizes.
  • Flexible pricing options exists
  • Web Based
  • Extensive Training available

Alternative Solutions include:

Case Central: http://www.casecentral.com –This product is well known an has a  good reputation. They have been moving into the field of cloud eDiscovery, but still have a strong line of products for traditional eDiscovery and in-house solutions, including ECA.

Access Data: http://www.accessdata.com – Sometimes know as the “Poor man’s EnCase” – Still looks to be a solid solution. It has all the bells and whistle of Encase and some suggest it is better at handling and processing email. It has ECA, Regulator Hold, Collection and Preservation, Processing and Duplication, and Analysis and Review features.  It is also web-based.

Kroll OnTrack: http://www.krollontrack.com – Kroll is a well-known eDiscovery solutions provider. Features include an early case assessment tool, Ontrack Advanceview, which helps you streamline e-discovery by providing a window into your case data prior to data processing and review. It allows users to control  transparency by determining filtering parameters, confirm custodians and validate processing decisions with statistical sampling and analytic reports.

Written by Miller Montague

Post not sponsored.

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Search and E-Discovery

March 29, 2010

Yesterday, I met with a client about a possible Open Source Search Project.  Today I’m meeting with some folks to talk about E-Discovery.

SEARCHThe thought that is on repeat in my head is that Search is perhaps the most critical component for cost-effective e-Discovery.  Indexing, proper planning and all the other elements of e-discovery are important.  The truth is that when it’s time to produce, the search mechanism is the best tool to produce the right stuff in the quickest manner possible.

So, I wonder how open source search will impact e-discovery.  These two processes are growing in importance and application.  Even small businesses have ESI that are subject to e-discovery.  Will Open Source search provide an affordable option for those small businesses that can’t afford the Kroll and Applied Discovery options?

It’s certainly a possibility.  MIKE 2.0 is offering some Open Source Solutions for e-discovery.  And IT geeks everywhere have access to Open Source Codes to help with the backend grunt work.

I will continue to explore Open Source Search and its implications and impacts on e-discovery.  If you have suggestions on sources I should not miss please leave a comment.  These two applications are complex and an early morning thought after a weekend of exploration is just not enough.

Author’s Note:  The mention of a commercial or open source application in this post does not constitute and endorsement.  I have received no incentives to write this post.

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Internal Collaboration Necessary for Success

February 12, 2009

Now that’s a headline to get your attention, right?  I have been planning on reacting to this post by Stephen Arnold for several days now and this morning seems an opportune time to do so.

The gist of Mr. Arnold’s post is that the Recommind report about IT and Legal departments in an Enterprise don’t work well together when it comes to effective e-discovery practices.

IT and ____ (name the department) have a history of not working well together and it takes concerted efforts by IT and the ____ department to recognize and repair that situation.  There has been a lot of press in the past about Libraries and IT learning to collaborate and it may be time to push the collaboration factor into other departments.

The security and litigation preparation of your organization depends upon proper retention and effective rendering of necessary documents.  Understanding why those things need to happen may help IT departments choose wisely when purchasing software that helps solve the problem.  Legal eagles should not buy in a vacuum either.  They need to understand that software requires hardware, especially when it comes to e-discovery.

Today’s E-Discovery Best Practice:

  • Cross-Educate IT and Legal about E-Discovery Functions and Requirements

Constance Ard February 12, 2009

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Deep Web Resource

January 19, 2009

While catching up on email this morning I came across a new resource.  As a practicing law librarian I always found great value in content produced by law firms.

Fee Fie Foe Firms uses  Google Custom search and allows you to search for press releases, firm bulletins and articles.  A quick search of e-discovery best practices returned some valuable information.

It seems that they have added a date filter which will be a useful filter.  I was disappointed by the non-chronological display of search results.  However, the refining links to narrow results by publications, people, expertise or media releases is an advantage to this new research tool.

Another useful box on the site is the jurisdiction choice box.  The default is USA but Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, Singapore, UK and South Africa are available for searching.  I did not search outside the US jurisdiction so if anyone has and can offer comments please post in the Comments field below.

Overall I think legal researchers will be able to mine for some useful gems with this deep web resource.

Constance Ard January 19, 2009

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E-Discovery and Arbitration

December 18, 2008

This is an interesting essay about how e-discovery is threatening the benefits of arbitration that made it so popular back in the day.

So what is really happening?

  • Privacy is threatened
  • e-discovery is driving up costs and time to settle disputes

How did e-discovery become a part of the process?  The Federal Arbitration Act did not specify discovery rules and usage for the process until the 2000 Uniform Arbitration was passed.  This act offers guidelines on limited discovery in order to contain costs and time that are in-line with the spirit of arbitration.

Still, arbitrators are reluctant to place strong limits on the process and thus a move to mediation is underway.  Is it time to strengthen the rules for discovery in Arbitration?  Thomas Aldrich’s article discusses several institutes that are taking a closer look at the issue and offering guidelines for e-discovery in arbitration.

As with most things in the legal field this will take time and many drafts before it becomes a reality.  In the meantime, companies will work to make the process of e-discovery easier and more affordable and attorneys and their clients will still feel the pinch of the time, effort and cost related to discovery.

My advise is to take the big picture view. Begin instituting policy that not only keeps in mind litigation holds but arbitration processes.  This will help you be true to the spirit of Ben Franklin’s wisdom, “prepare for the worst and be pleasantly surprised when it doesn’t happen.”

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Rule 502 and E-Discovery

October 9, 2008

On September 18, 2008 President Bush signed into law S. 2450 which included a new Federal Rule of Evidence 502.  The bill provides a bit of clarity in the murky E-Discovery waters of inadvertent disclosure.  It applies to all discovery but as we all know most information is created and stored electronically now and thus the clarification for e-discovery provided by this rule is welcomed.

An October 8, 2008 law.com posting by Robert A. Schwinger and Eric Twiste provides a good summary of the key provisions.  The highlight seems to me to be that inadvertent disclosure provides for reasonableness in both preventing and rectifying inadvertent disclosure.  I’m sure there will be test cases to push the limits of reasonable but this rule does seem to provide much needed clarity on the issue as it applies in e-discovery.  Using automated systems to screen for key words and concepts appears to be considered a part of the “reasonable” step concept.  Perhaps this will even move forward efforts to reduce the cost of e-discovery, although the costs can be exponential and thus reduction may only seem to be a drop in the bucket.

Editor Note:  I am not an attorney and thus my interpretation on Rule 502 is that of an information consultant interested in the topic of E-Discovery.

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