Microsoft Offers (Free) e-Discovery Tools
How do you confidently identify, preserve and collect documents from your client's computer network--on a budget?
Microsoft has an answer--use Windows SharePoint Services and Search Server Express, which can be downloaded as free add-ons to Windows Server 2003 / 2008. These products do the following things that are precisely the things attorneys need to manage e-discovery collections:
- "Crawl" and index all documents on your client's network
- Identify and link to virtually all document types and formats
- Provide a document map for managing discovery
- Impose automated document preservation requirements on potential custodians (without disturbing non-custodians)
- Download documents of interest for more detailed searching
- Conduct updated document crawls (including additional custodians), as needed, over the course of the litigation cycle
- Manage and supervise document review
- Maintain chain of custody
- Audit e-discovery activities for proving compliance
This kind of software has typically been provided by large e-discovery vendors--at a large price. Microsoft provides all this functionality through free downloads to Windows Server 2003 / 2008. (If your client still uses Windows Server 2000, it will need to upgrade.)
You will need to pay an e-discovery services provider or IT professional to configure, install and help manage the software and the collection/preservation process. And depending on how you implement the software, you may need to purchase an additional Windows server license from Microsoft ($600).
By any measure, Microsoft has lowered the all-in cost for e-discovery, putting powerful e-discovery tools in the hands of small to medium size law firms and their clients.
A well-designed discovery team, including an IT professional, client representative and outside counsel, can use this technology to confidently manage e-discovery--in a cost-effective way.
Core Software Components:
The core software components your discovery team will need to do computer-based e-discovery management are the following:
- Windows SharePoint Services, a free download to Windows 2003 or 2008.
- Microsoft Search Server Express, also a free download to Windows 2003 or 2008.
- Indexing connectors (and "iFilters") for indexing different types of non-Microsoft data on your client's network. Connectors and iFilters are available as free downloads for most data types. In an exceptional case of an unusual document type, your IT professional will need to write a connector script for you.
How it Works:
Windows SharePoint Services provides the Windows infrastructure for collaborative review of documents, version control, collection-related metadata entry (without disturbing original data or metadata) and other features.
Search Server Express provides a management console from which network crawling, document indexing, text downloads and text searching are managed.
The connectors and iFilters allow your Windows-based software to see other data types (such as Lotus notes, WordPerfect and UNIX/Linux-based documents) and to copy data and metadata from each indexed document, while maintaining integrity of the original document itself.
More Detail:
The version of SharePoint to install is Windows SharePoint Services 3.0.
Microsoft Search Server Express is a single-machine version of the more robust Microsoft Search Server software that Microsoft charges for. The more robust version is needed if searching is done from a clustered environment--not typically necessary in e-discovery.
In other words, a single server (with adequate power) can supervise the crawl, indexing and downloads of virtually any small to medium sized business. This means that attorneys for most clients can almost always get by using Microsoft Search Server Express--the free version.
A server with "adequate power" means any current-model server with 2 to 4 processors and 8 GB of RAM. The configuration we use consumes about 1 GB of RAM in idle state. Crawling and indexing will use another 3 GB of RAM. So to make this system work, your client will need one relatively modern server with at least 4 GB of RAM that can be allocated to crawling and indexing--a task that can often be done after-hours so as to not interfere with daily workloads.
The search query tool is based on the Microsoft Windows Search technology, and works similarly. Indexed files are sorted by relevance and are listed along with a snippets from the file, with search terms highlighted. Duplicates are identified and collapsed. Alerts can be set for specific queries, which allows document preservation policies and ongoing document collections to be automated.
The specific indexing connectors you need will depend on the type of documents your client has. As mentioned above, most connectors can be downloaded for free, but your IT professional may need to write a new connector script for document types that are unusual or proprietary. Microsoft provides a software developer kit (again, free) for this purpose.
Before your IT team begins the collection process, you need to be cognizant of the need for passwords, access permissions and, in unusual cases, possibly additional licenses for certain software programs running on your client's system. It is a good idea to identify early in the process all applications on the system and the licensing requirements and access permissions needed for each. Sometimes it is easier for a lawyer to smooth the way for securing these additional permissions than for technical staff or paralegals.
Other ideas:
We have created in-house a 32-bit "image" of the SharePoint Services and Search Search Express downloads for installation in a Microsoft Virtual Server environment. This allows us to install the e-discovery software on a client's server in a virtual environment to make efficient use of an existing server, if available, instead of buying an entirely new computer just for e-discovery. This is a cost-savings that any small to medium sized business will appreciate.
When the case is over, the entire SharePoint image can be easily removed (assuring ongoing data confidentiality) and the server can be used for other functions without any remaining trace of the SharePoint e-discovery software.
The cost of a Windows server license to run Microsoft's virtual server is $600. Resource demands on the host server are approximately 16 GB of fixed hard drive space for the system files and 16 additional GB of flexible hard drive space for index files and documents. (If large documents are downloaded, additional hard drive space will be required.)
In addition, a company in Reston VA, Surety, LLC, has just brought to market a plug-in for SharePoint Services that certifies chain of custody of document collections. The Surety website says its product, AbsoluteProof, "automatically and seamlessly affixes a Surety Integrity Seal™ to each native or imaged record as it enters the SharePoint system providing users with long-lasting, objective proof of the time and content integrity of their electronic records."
The cost of a Surety license is $25 per seat. Considering the extra benefit of proving chain of custody for e-discovery documents collected through the Microsoft SharePoint solution, it seems well worth the money.
What Does this Mean for Lawyers?
Lawyers will never download software or implement e-discovery searches--this is work for technical people. But litigation attorneys now need to understand technology at about the level of this article for two reasons: (1) to meet your obligations to oversee the discovery process and (2) to help your client save money.
There are dozens of software products and vendors selling e-discovery software. It is all quite expensive. The benefit of the Microsoft solution is its very low (virtually free) cost and its very high functionality. Almost all clients will already have a Microsoft-based server on which the software can be installed and run in a virtualized environment. Downloads and most connectors are free.
And the functionality of this product is very high--it should significantly help you manage and supervise discovery, confidently identify document maps, identify and search custodian documents, preserve documents without changing metadata, automatically set policies for ongoing preservation so that important documents are not lost or destroyed, and provide a clear audit trail for all electronic discovery activity.
To date, most firms are conducting electronic discovery manually--i.e., sitting down with a pencil and paper, with the client, and drawing a network map. This is still a necessary step, but probably not sufficient in and of itself.
Automated collection through a cost-effective solution like SharePoint provides much greater control over document preservation policies and collections than manual auditing could ever do alone. It seems safer for counsel and clients to minimize potential mistakes in collection and preservation by automating these policies and functions.
Where can I go for More Information?
Of course, you can contact me on the blog contact link, or at km@mcbride-law.com, for more information. We are happy to help you build Microsoft download images and run in a virtual server environment.
If you represent a large client client who can afford extensive enterprise consulting services, you may want to contact Christ Kallas at Hitachi Consulting: ckallas@hitachiconsulting.com (located in Orange County). Hitachi Consulting is an authorized Microsoft partner for electronic discovery and has considerable experience using SharePoint in electronic discovery.
Otherwise, if you have a trusted IT adviser who is highly knowledgeable about networking and Microsoft products, he or she can probably help you learn more, in conjunction with your client's IT people.
Use of these Microsoft products should greatly increase your effectiveness in supervising electronic discovery collections and document preservation--and save your clients money. In all, a pretty good bargain!
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