eDiscovery Navigator

An Effective Records Management Program in Life Sciences Organizations is Essential to Compliance

An Effective Records Management Program in Life Sciences Organizations is Essential to Compliance

"There has been a lot of confusion about eDiscovery and how a record is defined in the life sciences industry – some organizations believe that regulated content is the only content that has to have record classifications applied to it, which isn’t the case. Additionally, because of the litigation aspects associated with these records, legal counsel and the senior executives bring their own perspectives.

Pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device manufacturers face a vast amount of legislation and regulation which guides their records management practices. Records Management is nothing new to this industry, but the increasing use of technology in the industry, and the increasing use of electronic information management, is forcing organizations to rethink the way they manage their records.

Organizations need to recognize that a solid enterprise-wide records management practice is essential to a successful compliance program. Many organizations have implemented departmental strategies to address one or more records management requirements typically under the regulatory or quality management umbrella, but recent changes in eDiscovery legislation as well as general good corporate governance practices require a holistic approach to records management."

Guidance Software Unveils EnCase eDiscovery

Guidance Software Unveils EnCase eDiscovery

"Guidance Software, a provider of digital investigations, announced new in-house eDiscovery processing capabilities, connectors for archiving and content management solutions and a work-flow driven interface in version 3.1 of its EnCase eDiscovery solution.

Guidance Software said its EnCase eDiscovery now offers the ability to create EDRM-compliant XML load files, along with load files for Concordance and Summation attorney review platforms. With this push-button load file creation capability, collected data can be quickly processed and delivered into the hands of attorneys for review, the company said."

Strategies for Preparing for E-Discovery

Strategies for Preparing for E-Discovery

"The amendments to the U.S. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure regarding the discovery of electronically stored information make it imperative for organizations to develop an enterprise-wide strategy to manage its volume. The 2006 amendments to the U.S. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP) have changed information management requirements -- not just for lawyers and others involved in discovery, but also for IT professionals and records managers, who now have to be prepared to produce electronic content for discovery and litigation.

Many organizations are overwhelmed by these requirements and, in trying to prepare for the worst, they sometimes take actions -- such as retaining all electronic content indefinitely -- that may be counter-productive. Developing a strategy and a plan of action for handling e-discovery will help organizations mitigate their risk and save them a significant amount of money in the event of litigation.

The FRCP guide civil litigation in U.S. federal courts and are commonly adopted in state and other courts, so they are very influential throughout the United States for all civil procedures. Some of these rules address the process of discovery, which is the pre-trial phase in a lawsuit in which each party can request documents and other evidence from opposing parties. E-discovery deals with discovery of electronically stored information (ESI), including documents and e-mails."

StoredIQ eDiscovery Appliance 4.6 Increases Functionality Leadership with Expanded Platform Support and Enhanced eDiscovery Features

StoredIQ eDiscovery Appliance 4.6 Increases Functionality Leadership with Expanded Platform Support and Enhanced eDiscovery Features

"StoredIQ, Inc., whose innovative eDiscovery technology revolutionizes the way companies address eDiscovery and litigation readiness, announced today expanded platform integration support and enhanced eDiscovery functionality designed to improve the efficiency of IT and legal teams performing work within the eDiscovery lifecycle.

"StoredIQ automates more of the eDiscovery lifecycle than any other solution," said Steve Killan, Enterprise Server Manager at James Hardie, the world leader in fiber cement technology. "StoredIQ delivers unparalleled functionality in both breadth and depth from information management through the identification, collection, preservation and processing of electronically stored information."

StoredIQ V4.6 includes:

Expanded Platform Support
- Ability to insert unstructured information as records into the most current version of EMC Documentum and place those items under litigation hold
- Ability to insert, retrieve and manage information within Microsoft Exchange 2007 and SharePoint 2007

Deeper eDiscovery Capabilities
- Improved query report analytics to assist with "meet-and-confer" sessions
- Ability to harvest additional email server objects such as tasks, contacts, calendar items, and notes
- Support of the EDRM XML V1.0 load file format
- Enhanced usability and productivity for pre-collection investigations"

Guidance Software Lowers the Threshold to In-house eDiscovery with new "Pay-Per-Use" EnCase(R) eDiscovery Pricing

Guidance Software Lowers the Threshold to In-house eDiscovery with new "Pay-Per-Use" EnCase(R) eDiscovery Pricing

"Guidance Software now offers organizations the option of paying for only what they use, with charges tied to the amount of data searched, collected, processed, and output into load files. Pay-Per-Use pricing enables them to allocate litigation costs through internal charge-backs, and to seek insurance reimbursement for electronic discovery costs, with monthly invoices that break down charges on a per case basis.

"We want every organization to experience the benefits of using EnCase eDiscovery," said Victor Limongelli, President and CEO of Guidance Software. "Pay-Per-Use pricing now makes our industry-leading solution available to those who pay for litigation costs through operating budgets. With EnCase eDiscovery, every litigant can build a proven, credible, and defensible in-house eDiscovery process."

With Guidance Software's Pay-Per-Use pricing, customers pay no upfront license fees. Pricing is tiered - the higher the annual dollar commitment and the longer the term committed, the lower the pricing. Customers get the same EnCase eDiscovery software that perpetual license customers do - installed behind the firewall, and providing unmatched search, collection, and processing of electronically stored information."

earlyCASE to Launch New Early Case Assessment Software at ILTA 2008 Conference

"Atlanta-based earlyCASE, an innovator in advanced early case assessment for electronically stored information (ESI) and eDiscovery, today announced that Tom Strack, CEO will host product demonstrations at ILTA’s 31st Annual Educational Conference on Wednesday, August 27, 2008. Conference attendees will have the opportunity to demo the new Web-based application that runs on your local PC and analyzes the ESI your computer can access without ever leaving your computer or network.

earlyCASE allows you to see and understand all of your data before it is processed for discovery. It supports multiple languages, extracts metadata, generates hash values, detects duplicates and creates a local inventory database of documents and e-mails. earlyCASE allows users to make informed discovery decisions and easily cut down the size of data sets through filter and culling rules before going into the discovery process and review.