Ediscovery Best Practices: Quality Control, Its A Numbers Game

Quality Assurance (QA) and Quality Control (QC) both are important in improving the

quality of work product and making the eDiscovery process more defensible overall. For example, in attorney review, QA mechanisms include validation rules to ensure that entries are recorded correctly while QC mechanisms include a second review to ensure that documents are being categorized correctly. Another overall QC mechanism is tracking of document counts through the discovery process, especially from collection to production, to identify how every collected file was handled and why each non-produced document was not produced.

Expanded File Counts

Scanned counts of files collected are not the same as expanded file counts. There are certain container file types, like Outlook PST files and ZIP archives that exist essentially to store a collection of other files. So, the count that is important to track is the expanded file count after processing, which includes all of the files contained within the container files. So, in a simple scenario where you collect Outlook PST files from seven custodians, the actual number of documents within those PST files could be in the tens of thousands. Thats the starting count that matters if your goal is to account for every document in the discovery process.

Categorization of Files During Processing

Not every document gets reviewed or even included in the search process. During processing, files are usually categorized, with some categories of files usually being set aside and excluded from review.

Here are some typical categories of excluded files in most collections:

Filtered Files: Some files may be collected, and then filtered during processing. A common filter for the file collection is the relevant date range of the case. If youre collecting custodians source PST files, those may include messages outside the relevant date range; if so, those messages may need to be filtered out of the review set. Files may also be filtered based on type of file or other reasons for exclusion.

NIST and System Files: Many file collections also contain system files, like executable files (EXEs) or Dynamic Link Library (DLLs) that are part of the software on a computer which do not contain client data, so those are typically excluded from the review set. NIST files are included on the National Institute of Standards and Technology list of files that are known to have no evidentiary value, so any files in the collection matching those on the list are De-NISTed.

Exception Files: These are files that cannot be processed or indexed, for whatever reason. For example, they may be password-protected or corrupted. Just because these files cannot be processed doesnt mean they can be ignored, depending on your agreement with opposing counsel, you may need to at least provide a list of them on an exception log to prove they were addressed, if not attempt to repair them or make them accessible.

Duplicate Files: During processing, files that are exact duplicates may be put aside to avoid redundant review. Some exact duplicates are typically identified based on the HASH value, which is a digital fingerprint generated based on the content and format of the file if two files have the same HASH value, they have the same exact content and format. Emails may be identified as duplicates based on key metadata fields, so an attachment cannot be de-duped out of the collection by a standalone copy of the same file.

All of these categories of excluded files can reduce the set of files to actually be searched and reviewed.

So, what do you think? Do you have a plan for accounting for all collected files during discovery?

by: CloudNine Discovery

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