Next-generation Deployment for Enterprise Search Tools:
Comprehensive E-discovery and E-disclosure Technologies

Consider the following: Throughout the course of the Enron investigation, the FBI has confiscated 12 million pages of paper documents plus terabytes of e-mail and other electronic files. Investigators faced a huge challenge in being able to thoroughly, accurately and promptly archive all of this information, make it completely searchable, conduct sophisticated queries and create evidence annotations. Aside from having to achieve all of these goals, investigators also had to organize and disclose evidence in a logical, complete and auditable manner.

For another challenging example, consider the information discovery logistics faced by the investigators involved with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). This ongoing case involves the analysis of tens of millions of pages of case documentation, in more than 10 languages, as well as vast amounts of electronic files, e-mails and attachments, third-party databases and the testimonies of hundreds of suspects, witnesses and victims. Adding to the complexity, hundreds of attorneys and prosecutors involved in the case can request different sets of data. Needless to say, the question of how best to manage and distribute all the case information was one of the first issues that had to be addressed.

These stories provide just a couple of examples of why, according to the recent Gartner report, Understanding the E-Discovery Vendor Landscape, the consideration of e-discovery as a vital element within organizations has risen to the point that "more than half of Global 2000 enterprises will have adopted an e-discovery software solution" by 2007. With this growth, the number and types of users involved with e-discovery activities—as a necessary component of both increased operational efficiency and defense against negative audits—will increase. Regardless of the individual roles and responsibilities various users may have, at the core of their e-discovery activities will be their desired capability to quickly and accurately search and find, on an enterprise level, the data for which they are looking.

Even though principles of enterprise search may be at the heart of any good e-discovery (and, by extension, e-disclosure) solution, traditional enterprise search is not, in and of itself, enough to address the full range of requirements users face when conducting large-scale investigations. Times have changed, and many vendors currently claiming to be e-discovery providers still are not completely tuned in to this new reality. Subsequently, these vendors fail to realize and properly address the new sets of rules and expectations associated with not only enterprise search technology in an e-discovery context but also the full range of corresponding tools needed to create the comprehensive e-discovery and e-disclosure solutions demanded by an increasingly sophisticated user base.

In addition to requiring redeployed enterprise-search technology, large-scale investigations like those presented here also need extensive capabilities for long-term data storage and comprehensive knowledge management. The following sections profile the key considerations that must accompany enterprise search capabilities in order to effectively conduct large-scale e-discovery and e-disclosure activities.

Keys to Success
1. Secure and sustainable long-term data storage. Taking into consideration the long-term, high-volume archiving needs profiled in the stories above, in addition to the need to handle a variety of data types in a very secure environment, only XML-based storage framework can address these needs. For criminal tribunals, for example, it may take decades before enough evidence is found, processed and presented to warrant the arrest of a war-crime suspect.

In an instance such as this, having ready access to all of the original investigation data is imperative, as is the need to be able to work with it in its original form, without expensive conversions. Only an open, XML-based framework provides a truly viable solution.

2. Ability to handle all discovery factors involved in large-scale investigations. During the development of a large-scale e-discovery project, all required tasks need to be acknowledged and taken into account when evaluating the feasibility of any proposed technology solution. Many available tool suites can do a good job on a certain aspect of e-discovery (such as large-scale storage), but few can actually address on a suitable level all of the following tasks that combine to make a comprehensive e-discovery solution:

Full-scale data capturing capabilities: An investigation can only start if all targeted data has been captured. Although many current tool suites default to electronic data as the model on which to focus their capturing capabilities, one of the biggest capturing issues to address in large-scale investigations is still paper focused.