By Stacey McDaniel
The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP) have been in existence since 1938 to govern court procedures for civil suits. Recent revisions to the FRCP have addressed the proliferation of electronic records by adding "e-discovery" rules.
In effect, the rules state that organizations operating in the U.S. must manage and archive all their electronic data so it can be produced in a timely and complete manner. Electronically Stored Information (ESI) plays a high-profile role in the most recent revisions to the FRCP, but agencies are finding there are no hard and fast rules about what ESI should be retained and for how long. Requirements are laid out in the FRCP regarding preservation and production, but guidelines for achieving compliance are vague, which leaves it up to individual agencies and organizations to develop their own e-discovery policies.
Until recently, many government records and documents were kept on paper, created by one agency, and accessed by a limited number of people. Now, the digital world has ushered in a whole new set of issues. Employees can create electronic documents anywhere and anytime, and this has introduced new complexities and a broader definition of "records." A record can include anything ranging from email messages, Instant Messages, documents, and other previously unstructured content -- all of which now must be managed and secured in case of a legal discovery request.
Developing an agency-wide approach to understanding and organizing ESI -- sometimes called Electronic Data Information (EDI) -- should be a goal for everyone, but many storage managers don't have the technology in place to manage information such as business and personal emails and attachments. Even if they have the technology in place, however, they often don't know where to start.
Helpful Solutions
New solutions from technology vendors help agencies reduce the time and cost required to locate, retrieve and produce content from anywhere in the IT environment. Here is what agencies should look for in a solution:
- Prevent data loss The ease of sharing and distributing information has greatly increased the risk of losing sensitive government data. Because of the pervasiveness of collaboration via messaging systems, IT needs end- to-end protection against the accidental or malicious loss of information. Technology can help mitigate the risks associated with data loss by offering an end-to-end solution which provides message monitoring, filtering and auditing from the gateway to the archive.
- Archive and retain documents The pressure on government to manage information more effectively has intensified as the volume of unstructured data generated by email, file server environments, IM platforms and collaboration systems has increased. Intelligent technologies can capture, categorize, index and store data across the agency, making it easy to enforce retention policies and protect assets while reducing storage costs and simplifying management.
- Prepare for e-discovery and audits The latest revisions to the FRCP require the retention of email, IM, documents and other files. At the same time, the frequency with which agencies need to respond to legal and regulatory discovery requests are also increasing. That means the need for comprehensive archiving and flexible, efficient discovery has become mission-critical. New products can help facilitate the collection, archiving, preservation and discovery of unstructured content and helps demonstrate compliance with policies, standards and laws.
While the FRCP provides no specific framework, technologies are available that can help ensure that your agency's messaging and collaboration systems are protected against malicious content and data loss -- all while helping to lower the total cost associated with systems management, data retention, electronic discovery and regulatory compliance.
Conclusion
New FRCP rules are forcing agencies to implement solutions that address the unique requirements of protecting and storing digital assets. Now there is an urgent need for businesses and government organizations to make e-discovery and archiving initiatives a top priority.
Stacey McDaniel has been writing about high-tech issues for more than six years.