Five Signs Your eDiscovery Project Is In Trouble

You've compared pricing and capabilities and selected a vendor. You've sent your initial set of data. You've had your initial kickoff call. Now you can sit back and relax, right?

Wrong. Now comes the time when you need to become particularly vigilant. EDiscovery projects can go sideways in an infinite number of ways. The infinite variety of data in the world renders it inevitable that eventually everyone will encounter something anomalous.

Even the best vendors do make mistakes, and your ability to identify them will help you address them in a timely way. Recognizing the warning signs is your most important tool for anticipating issues and problems. Look for these five harbingers of trouble and you'll know when to press for information and results so you can manage effectively.

1. Repetitive Questions. Any time your vendor asks you the same question more than once it's a bad sign. Someone hasn't properly memorialized your answer or they simply weren't listening in the first place. Either way, it should make the hair on the back of your neck stand up. When you find yourself saying the same things again and again, it's a good idea to ask for specific confirmation of all your specs and requests.

2. Slow Responses. When you ask a question you deserve a speedy response. Delayed responses suggest that your project manager is overworked or inattentive, neither of which is a good thing. What's worse, though, is the possibility that a simple question can't be answered quickly because something has gone wrong. Press for timely answers and informative responses.

3. Amorphous Timelines. Upon receipt of data, your vendor should be able to give you a fairly precise timeline for delivery. When the timeline is vague, or when it seems to shift and evolve as days go by, you may begin to assume that something is wrong. Ask for precise turnaround times and hold your vendor to them.

4. Missing Data. When data is delivered you should take care to review the reports, the source information and the document counts and sizes. Most vendors have audit processes in place to ensure that no data is "missed," but there are often manual processes at work in this stage. Conduct your own mini-audit to ensure you know that all your data has been properly processed and delivered.

5. Anomalous Hit Rates. Take time to examine hit reports and rates for every custodian. Request delivery reports in the form of a time plot showing the distribution of documents over your relevant time period. Compare hit rates for custodians to identify custodians or periods of time that may have been omitted or missed in collection, processing or filtering. Ask your vendor to explain anything that doesn't "look right" in those reports.

These five warning signs can serve as simple guideposts as your project gets underway. Above all else, remember that for customers there are no "stupid questions" - any concern of yours should be treated with courtesy and respect and should merit a helpful answer.