CROSS-STORE ELECTRONIC DISCOVERY

• US 20130117218A1
• Filed: 11/03/2011
• Published: 05/09/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 11/03/2011
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Fan, John D., Zbogar-Smith, Julian, Sriram, Thottam R., Arifin, Zainal, Janardhan, Anupama, Somasundaram, Ramanathan, Piaseczny, Michal, Ramanathan, Sridharan Venkatramani, Stevenson, Bradley, Alspaugh, Jessica Anne, Christensen, Quentin, Harmetz, Adam David
• Application Number:
  US13/288,903
• Publication Number:
  US 20130117218A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/603
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/31 User authentication

Abstract

An electronic discovery (eDiscovery) application is used in managing an electronic discovery process across different electronic data sources using a central interface. The eDiscovery application assists in managing: authentication support for the different data sources; accessing the different data sources; placing holds on content across the different data sources; searching and filtering content across the different data sources; gathering data across the data sources; and the like. The eDiscovery application may be configured as an application on premise, a cloud based service and/or a combination of a cloud based service and an application.

Claims

1. A method of electronic discovery across different data sources, comprising:

determining different data sources to include in an electronic discovery process;

determining an operation to perform on data that is included in the different data sources; and

performing the operation on the identified data across the different source using mechanisms provided by the data source, wherein at least a portion of the different data sources are actively servicing requests relating to the data stored therein.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising performing a search across the different data stores using provided search capabilities when available from each of the different data stores.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the operation to perform comprises determining that the operation is a hold command that when performed places a hold on the identified data that preserves the data in a current state and preserving the identified data in place within the data source when the data source allows in place preservation.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising automatically exporting the data for preservation when the data source does not allow in place preservation of the identified data.

5. The method of claim 1, displaying a user interface that allows selection of the different data sources, wherein the different data sources comprise electronic mailboxes, file stores, and repositories having associated search services.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising performing a federated authentication of a user that authenticates the user for performing operations on the different data sources, wherein at least a portion of the different data sources use different authentication procedures.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the command comprises determining when the command is an option to export selected data from the different data sources.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining a status of a performance of the command and updating a user interface display with the status.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the different data sources include federated data sources and non-federated data sources and wherein the electronic discovery process is performed by at least one of:

a cloud based service;

an on premises process and a combination of the cloud based service and the on premises process.

10. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for discovery across live disparate data stores, comprising:

performing a search across different data stores using provided search capabilities when available from each of the different data stores;

identifying data from results of the search;

determining an operation to perform on the identified data, wherein the operation is selected from options comprising at least;

a hold;

a release of a hold, an update of a hold; and

an export of data; and

performing the operation on the identified data across the different source using mechanisms provided by the data source, wherein at least a portion of the different data sources are actively servicing requests relating to the data stored therein.

11. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein when the operation is a hold command the identified data is preserved in a current state and is stored in-place or is exported depending on the data store.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, displaying a user interface that allows selection of the different data sources, wherein the different data sources comprise electronic mailboxes, file stores, and repositories having associated search services.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, further comprising performing a federated authentication of a user that authenticates the user for performing operations on the different data sources, wherein at least a portion of the different data sources use different authentication procedures.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, further comprising determining a status of a performance of the command and updating a user interface display with the status.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the different data sources include federated data sources and non-federated data sources.

16. A system for discovery across live disparate data stores, comprising:

a network connection that is coupled to different data sources;

a processor and a computer-readable medium;

an operating environment stored on the computer-readable medium and executing on the processor; and

an eDiscovery manager operating under the control of the operating environment and operative to;

perform a search across the different data stores using provided search capabilities when available from each of the different data stores;

identify data from results of the search;

determine an operation to perform on the identified data, wherein the operation is selected from options comprising at least;

a hold;

a release of a hold, an update of a hold; and

perform the operation on the identified data across the different source using mechanisms provided by the data source,

wherein at least a portion of the different data sources are actively servicing requests relating to the data stored therein.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein when the operation is a hold command the identified data is preserved in a current state and is stored in-place or is exported depending on the data store.

18. The system of claim 16, displaying a user interface that allows selection of the different data sources, wherein the different data sources comprise electronic mailboxes, file stores, and repositories having associated search services.

19. The system of claim 16, further comprising performing a federated authentication of a user that authenticates the user for performing operations on the different data sources, wherein at least a portion of the different data sources use different authentication procedures.

20. The system of claim 16, further comprising determining a status of a performance of the command and updating a user interface display with the status.