Streamlining and assigning your case data in Relativity is crucial for effective data management, as it saves time and reduces costs. Even so, you don’t want to compromise on quality or security. E-discovery management and assigning require several steps, and each is critical.
While manual data input and management are traditional methods for organizing, assigning, and saving information, automation is quicker, requires less effort, and is safer. CaseFlow enables firms to assign their data to specific stages while ensuring that it remains legally compliant, secure, and up to date.
The data assignment lifecycle comprises various components. These parts aren’t in a single required order, but they do have a common cycle.
Staging
During Staging, you prepare the data to have its information processed and then be imported into workspaces. This assignment means designating the files that you want to transfer to specific areas of the lifecycle. It is also where you clean up the raw data and transform it into formats for analysis or reporting.
This pipeline step involves storing data to facilitate processing and short-term recovery. The benefits include testing source data, creating an audit trail, performing complex transformations, and serving as a fail-safe to guard raw data.
Repository Workspace
The Repository workspace is where you store documents and code for future use and where you compile documents for moving to a Matter workspace for review. The tools available in this area are structured analytics that involve name normalization and document metadata searches. Cluster visualization, conceptual analytics tools, document searches, imaging, and optical character recognition are a few other functions in this phase.
Review Workspaces
In the Review workspace, you review, code, and annotate documents and convert Repository workspaces by assigning Matters to this stage. The Review space is for organizing documents for quality control using batch sets. Conversely, you can convert these spaces to Repository ones.
Users configure this workspace to set up search term reports and review layouts. Search term reports identify document keywords or phrases in the Review interface, which helps organize the data by assigning identifiers to the information.
Cold Storage
Cold storage is a type of storage in an area where data lifecycle stages can be brought online when you need files. This dormant storage is for Matters that are no longer current, administrative reports like old invoices, or clients who are no longer active with your practice. The advantages of cold storage include keeping old data dormant, separating the data that you currently use, and providing space for information that you may need for compliance purposes.
ARM Archives
ARM archives are data lifecycle stages for completed Matters, those that are no longer necessary for retrieval. These archives can also be reverted to cold storage.
A key element of ARM is “A,” its archive function, which assesses a workspace’s components and packages them. The “R” stands for “restoring,” an example being the restoration of an existing workspace in a focused installation or across diverse servers. The “M” is for “move,” referring to the process of transferring data to other locations.
Assigning high volumes of Matters manually is a time-consuming way to move information through various storage stages. When you run reports, review client agreements, and shift Matters, you lose time that could otherwise be used for your practice and clients. Different stages along the data storage journey prevent effective management, threaten security, and make compliance difficult.
Data Volume
Staging processes can cause you to run out of room in your storage area. Data duplication when assigning resources also results in massive datasets and necessitates higher data volume, which is expensive. However, you may lose critical data if you erase unique documents.
Data Integrity
During Staging, you are in the middle of the data lifecycle stages, as it rests between storage and analytics. The data in Staging is accessible for verification, discovery, management, and governance before you start other phases. It’s a central control, so you will lose data integrity at this critical stage if you assign incorrectly.
Repository Workspaces
Determining when specific Matters should be moved to the Repository stages is time consuming. If you do it manually, you waste time and risk losing data or making errors. Notifying stakeholders of moving and assigning Matters creates a tedious process of informing them individually every time. Without stakeholder coordination, though, essential communication, security, and compliance are lost. Document review is not available in this area, and you need to assign repositories to different data lifecycle stages, such as the Review stage for annotating and other functions.
Review Workspaces
Reviewing and coding data are manual tasks, as is converting data lifecycle spaces to the Repository phase. One problem in this space is organizing documents using batch sets. Manually managing these is tedious and prone to human error. Among these mistakes is assigning incorrect batches to the wrong stages of the data lifecycle—for example, accidentally moving Review code to a Repository stage. Document review is not available in the latter, so you lose the ability to keep this data available for coding or other assigning purposes.
Cold Storage
You may run out of space with cold storage when assigning redundant files, and sorting through these files slows the data lifecycle. Bringing these files back online from dormant storage is difficult when you have to manually move data from one stage to another. Furthermore, like the other stages, you must inform stakeholders individually whenever you move Matters from a resting stage to an active one.
ARM Archives
Manually assessing a workspace’s components, processing data lifecycle spaces, assigning data to workspaces, and packaging these into archives is tedious, and managing everything in the final stage is often time consuming. Restoring workspaces also takes an excessive amount of time compared to doing it automatically.
Assigning the different stages manually in Relativity presents challenges despite its useful e-discovery applications. Fortunately, CaseFlow offers solutions for Matter management with constant monitoring, configuration, and scheduling. When you create reports, review information, and move data without automation, you lose time, effort, and money. Solutions include the following.
Dashboard Management
Without a clear interface, data is lost, files are misplaced, and stakeholders are not notified on time. Moving Matters to Stages is also difficult and wastes time. CaseFlow manages information from a single interface, making your data easier to see and manage.
Staging
Staging large data volumes can lead to running out of storage and data lifecycle spaces. You may also have information duplication when assigning resources. Additional storage is expensive, costing you money that could be used elsewhere. However, data loss compromises information integrity if you erase unique documents.
CaseFlow continuously monitors instances and automatically executes administrative actions, including different client/Matters issues. With this service, you can manage data volume without jeopardizing Matters or other information.
Scheduling
The effort of manually assigning stages wastes time and risks information loss or the introduction of errors into the data lifecycle. Communication with stakeholders is a slow process because you need to individually inform everyone of the stage changes. CaseFlow moves Matters to appropriate stages in the data lifecycle while automatically informing all stakeholders.
Restoring Data
Assigning data involves restoring data from one stage to another. For example, manually moving ARM archives to cold storage or other stages carries the same risks as any manual management of files and spaces. Data loss, data erasure, and compromised security are all risks. CaseFlow's features help mitigate these issues by automatically moving and assigning tasks from ARM archives and other data restoration stages.
The manual management of assigning stages and data involves security and legal risks for a practice. Unauthorized personnel, misplaced data, and accidentally erased critical files create more work, take more of your time, and lead to greater expenses for data lifecycle management. Automatically assigning and moving Matters and other information to stages via CaseFlow helps you keep track of everything, ensuring that the data lifecycle is collaborative, secure, accountable, and compliant.
Ready to take control of your Relativity data lifecycle and eliminate unnecessary costs and wasted time? CaseFlow provides the automation that you need to proactively manage your Relativity storage, seamlessly transitioning cases through Repository, Cold Storage, and Archive based on your specific requirements. Don't let manual processes bog you down; see how CaseFlow can save your law firm time and money. Contact us today, and discover the power of automated Relativity data lifecycle management.