<b><i>Product Review:</b></i> Digital WarRoom Pro

More recently, however, we have seen an uptick in small cases that involve e-discovery. These cases are small enough that using a vendor for even minor tasks is too costly relative to the case value, so it made sense to look for a solution we could use to handle small case data in-house. I immediately thought of DWR Pro and asked for a test drive.

Gallivan Gallivan & O'Melia was kind enough to provide me with DWR WorkGroup. The DWR WorkGroup and Pro versions are essentially the same, except the WorkGroup version can OCR, be used by multiple people simultaneously, and be used to review opposing document productions. Pro can't do these things, so wouldn't be a good fit for my firm.

Nevertheless, because installation and usage of WorkGroup and Pro are essentially the same, the review that follows is meant to assess (for fun) whether DWR Pro is a viable option for a solo practitioner like Craig Ball's fictitious Edna.

Product Background and Costs

DWR Pro is part of a suite of software intended to handle modest e-discovery needs. In addition to the Pro and WorkGroup versions, DWR is also available in a Remote version (SaaS). DWR Pro is the one that likely makes sense for a solo practitioner, if any, due to its price (there is also a DWR Server that is an appliance with DWR WorkGroup pre-installed). A single-simultaneous user license is $895 for the first year and $895 to renew the license and convert it into a perpetual license, making the actual cost to purchase DWR Pro $1,790. Under these terms, the application can be used by multiple users, but only one at a time.

One downside of DWR Pro is that it requires a third-party viewer, QuickView Plus, if you want to review documents. Considering the DWR software is billed as being designed to handle end-to-end e-discovery, this seems like a feature that should be built in. I know the ability to do document review is a necessity for my purposes, and it's surely a feature that Edna would need.

Despite this shortcoming, the additional cost is probably minor. I say “probably,” because QuickView Plus (QVP) comes in two versions: Professional and Standard. The Professional version includes metadata viewing and a searching option and costs $495. The Standard version is only $49 and should work for most people, certainly Edna.

All together, the cost for Edna to purchase DWR Pro would be $1,839. Not an exorbitant cost, even for a solo, but it does exceed the $1,000 EDna Challenge limit.

Installation and Setup

Before installing DWR Pro, Edna will need a free account on the DWR website, giving her access to the DWR Knowledge Base. There she will find information needed to install, set up and operate DWR Pro, like the “DWR Installation Quick Reference Guide.”

She will see right away in the guide there are several pieces of software that need to be installed before installing DWR Pro. In particular, Edna would need to install Microsoft Office Professional 2007 or 2010, Quick View Plus Standard (as mentioned above), and Microsoft's SQL Server Express. I'll assume that Edna at least has MS Office Pro 2007, but, if not, that would be an additional cost for a solo using an older version of MS Office or non-Microsoft office software.

As mentioned above, Edna would also need to purchase, download, and install Quick View Plus Standard for $49. It's an additional step but not too complicated.

That leaves the bear of the group: SQL Server Express. Like all e-discovery software, DWR Pro requires a database to operate, and that's what SQL is. To assist Edna here, the company has provided a “SQL Express 2008 Installation Quick Reference Guide” that explains how to properly install SQL for use with DWR Pro. For anyone who is reasonably tech-savvy, installing SQL with the aid of the Quick Install Guide is a manageable task.

But Edna is only tech-competent, and the specter of installing a SQL database will probably freak her out and kill the deal. If someone can talk Edna down from the ledge and guide her through the SQL install, she won't have to worry about it after that ' DWR will create databases as needed. Requiring the average lawyer to install SQL is DWR Pro's biggest drawback and an obstacle to wide adoption by solo practitioners. I vote to include the SQL install in the DWR Pro install package to reduce the fear factor.

Once all the preliminary work is done, the DWR Pro installation is a breeze, and you're ready to go! Except you're not. Not quite.

If you want to be able to deNIST (remove known files that are essentially useless for legal discovery, like operating system files and program files), then you will need to download and install the NSRL database. Downloading and installing the NSRL database is ultimately a fairly straightforward process, but, like installing SQL, this requirement will push most lawyers too far outside their comfort zone. If Edna had marshalled her mettle and forged on through the SQL install in spite of her instinctive trepidation, being told to then install an NSRL database would be a knockout blow. This step also seems like it should be included in the DWR Pro install to avoid this problem.

Matter Management

Let's assume Edna is a very patient and tech-fearless woman who completed the install. She would then be ready to set up her first matter, which requires her to enter the Matter Server name, the matter Repository Location, the authentication method and the Database Path. I found this a bit confusing, because none of those terms is adequately defined. Edna would be lost here and likely pulling out her hair. For Edna's sake, DWR Pro should take care of all this, perhaps using a Wizard that asks these questions using English instead of geekspeak.

Processing Documents

I have never processed data before, but this part really is a snap. Data can be added by dragging and dropping a folder, file, or directory on to DWR Pro. There's another way to enter data, but drag-and-drop is dead simple and something Edna can do.

After dropping data onto DWR Pro, a dialogue box pops up offering Edna the option to record various attributes of the data. Then Edna would be prompted to select processing options (there are just two): expand containers and “deNIST.” That DWR can expand container files, like Outlook PST files or compressed ZIP files, and deNIST is a real selling point for me. All Edna needs to know is that she should select both.

It took DWR about four minutes to process the data in a 295 MB ZIP file that expanded to 503 MBs. I have no first-hand experience processing data but do work with vendors who process data for me, and that speed seems impressive. DWR also generates a nice exceptions report to display items it could not process and why.

Set Policy

Although Edna's data is now in DWR Pro, she can't see any documents until she does something called Set Policy. The Set Policy procedure requires the user to determine which documents will be available in review. This is where Edna needs to select which custodians' data and at what types of documents she wants to look, whether she wants to de-duplicate documents and how, and apply date limits and keywords.

Impressive to me is that DWR Pro can de-duplicate by exact duplicate or near duplicate, and within a custodian or across the whole matter. That's a lot of flexibility for Edna, in theory. When I used the near-duplicate function, I still found near duplicate e-mails in the resulting document set.

At first I thought it was odd that I couldn't just see a list of all the documents I had dropped into DWR Pro without first applying filters, but I soon changed my mind. It seems like a good idea to require Edna to at least think about filtering her documents before she looks at them, otherwise there is a danger she would review everything without realizing it. I like this approach, especially for Edna's use.

After making filtering selections, Edna would be brought back to the main screen where she would then need to select which documents she would like to look at that made it through the filter. This seems like more steps than necessary. If Edna asks to see documents based on certain criteria, then she should be taken right to those documents. Nevertheless, the process does work and brings up the selected documents in a grid view.

Analysis

There is a separate Analysis module in DWR Pro that purports to be an early data assessment tool of sorts. The User Guide suggests using this module to get a high level view of your data using various filters before using the Set Policy function, too bad it didn't say that until a dozen or so pages after discussing the Set Policy function.

The Analysis module can be used to examine what various filters will return before applying them. The module displays data characteristics at a high level and is also useful for other reasons. For example, it can be used to display a grid comparison of how documents were coded for relevance or privilege.

This is a useful but advanced feature that will confuse Edna when she begins using DWR Pro. As she grows more familiar with DWR Pro's functions and interface, she may eventually be ready to dive into this module, but should be steered clear as a novice user.

Review

DWR Pro displays the documents selected for review in a grid view. Clicking on a grid entry displays most documents in the QuickView Plus review pane located on the right.

In most review tools, there is a coding pane near the displayed document with check boxes for relevance, privilege, issue codes, etc. Reviewers just select the check boxes next to the codes they want and click Apply. In DWR Pro, Edna can apply codes to a document one at a time using the right-click menu, or she needs to open up a floating “Work Product Palette” coding pane.

Edna can also bulk tag and redact documents, but creating a document image to redact is unnecessarily complicated, requiring that a document be added to a production, the user to locate the document inside the production, and then initiate imaging. Edna may lose patience with this one too.

Production

DWR Pro can create imaged, native or mixed productions. I made sure to have a document marked “Privileged” and a spreadsheet included among the documents I marked for production. DWR Pro caught them. It has default rules that will not allow a document marked “Privileged” to be produced, and it will automatically produce certain file types natively, like spreadsheets. This is an excellent setup that will help protect Edna, but she may still struggle with the process of preparing a production if she has never dealt with ESI productions before.

The production facility worked well and has all the options needed to make useful, accurate productions with Bates labels and confidentiality designations. DWR Pro also makes productions immediately available in the Productions module, so that Edna can work with the fully endorsed, produced versions of her documents by adding issues codes, organizing them within deposition or exhibit binders, performing word searches, etc. This is terrifically useful and something many of the most popular review tools on the market today don't do well.

Finally, DWR Pro allows Edna to automatically generate a privilege log. However, she needs to know that the log generated is not in final form ' it still requires her to refine the entries so that they sufficiently identify each withheld document, something DWR Pro allows her to do along the way.

Pros and Cons Summary

DWR Pro is very reasonably priced and has all the features Edna should need and then some.

The single user should only need to do one installation, so the install should include an up-to-date NSRL database, QuickView Plus Standard and SQL Express.

The New Matter process needs a setup Wizard, so lawyers can create new matters.

The Redaction process is overly complicated.

The User Guide should be clearer and organized according to natural user workflow. For example, Edna is going to be interested in knowing how to review documents before she wants to know how to archive a matter, but the topics are reversed in the User Guide.

There may be too many features. All the options are likely to overwhelm Edna. Many of the features she may grow into, but having so many features adds unnecessary complexity to the experience for a beginner. Ideally, a tool like this that is geared toward new e-discovery tool users like Edna, should grow with the user by “unlocking” features over time.

Verdict

Despite my criticisms, I think DWR Pro is a very capable tool with functionality that rivals tools that cost significantly more. In short, it's not too good to be true, it's just good with a few rough edges.

As for Edna, if she is tech-savvy and willing to spend a bit more than $1,000, DWR Pro is likely a very good fit. If she is only tech-competent (like the majority of lawyers), she will need a tech-savvy person to help her along DWR Pro's modest learning curve. If Edna barely knows how to use her computer, DWR Pro can't help her. Nothing can.

Note: I am not an official judge for the Edna Challenge and have no affiliation with Craig Ball. This article is my personal opinion on the matter. This review also does not represent the views of my firm, Morris James LLP.

Not long ago, Gallivan Gallivan & O'Melia LLC released a product named Digital WarRoom' (DWR) Pro for only $895 for a single license. It claimed DWR Pro could handle all electronic discovery needs in modest cases (less than 500,000 documents). This is still the only product I'm aware of that purports to offer this much functionality for this low a price. Frankly, it sounds too good to be true.

In January 2010, e-discovery luminary and prolific writer Craig Ball issued the EDna Challenge (bit.ly/y3CZ9U) to the market to develop a product that would handle all the modest e-discovery needs (data processing through document production) of a fictitious solo practitioner named Edna for less than $1,000. Although it is over two years old, I have found few offerings that come anywhere near meeting Ball's EDna Challenge. Gallivan Gallivan & O'Melia believes DWR Pro does. (See, “Craig Ball's Edna Challenge: Has It Been Met?,” Ride the Lightning, a blog by Sensei Enterprises President Sharon D. Nelson, bit.ly/A5xv26.)

I have wondered whether DWR was everything it claimed but previously had no reason to find out for myself. My firm uses outside vendors to collect, process, host and produce our client ESI, so we have had no interest in a tool like this.

More recently, however, we have seen an uptick in small cases that involve e-discovery. These cases are small enough that using a vendor for even minor tasks is too costly relative to the case value, so it made sense to look for a solution we could use to handle small case data in-house. I immediately thought of DWR Pro and asked for a test drive.

Gallivan Gallivan & O'Melia was kind enough to provide me with DWR WorkGroup. The DWR WorkGroup and Pro versions are essentially the same, except the WorkGroup version can OCR, be used by multiple people simultaneously, and be used to review opposing document productions. Pro can't do these things, so wouldn't be a good fit for my firm.

Nevertheless, because installation and usage of WorkGroup and Pro are essentially the same, the review that follows is meant to assess (for fun) whether DWR Pro is a viable option for a solo practitioner like Craig Ball's fictitious Edna.

Product Background and Costs

DWR Pro is part of a suite of software intended to handle modest e-discovery needs. In addition to the Pro and WorkGroup versions, DWR is also available in a Remote version (SaaS). DWR Pro is the one that likely makes sense for a solo practitioner, if any, due to its price (there is also a DWR Server that is an appliance with DWR WorkGroup pre-installed). A single-simultaneous user license is $895 for the first year and $895 to renew the license and convert it into a perpetual license, making the actual cost to purchase DWR Pro $1,790. Under these terms, the application can be used by multiple users, but only one at a time.

One downside of DWR Pro is that it requires a third-party viewer, QuickView Plus, if you want to review documents. Considering the DWR software is billed as being designed to handle end-to-end e-discovery, this seems like a feature that should be built in. I know the ability to do document review is a necessity for my purposes, and it's surely a feature that Edna would need.

Despite this shortcoming, the additional cost is probably minor. I say “probably,” because QuickView Plus (QVP) comes in two versions: Professional and Standard. The Professional version includes metadata viewing and a searching option and costs $495. The Standard version is only $49 and should work for most people, certainly Edna.

All together, the cost for Edna to purchase DWR Pro would be $1,839. Not an exorbitant cost, even for a solo, but it does exceed the $1,000 EDna Challenge limit.

Installation and Setup

Before installing DWR Pro, Edna will need a free account on the DWR website, giving her access to the DWR Knowledge Base. There she will find information needed to install, set up and operate DWR Pro, like the “DWR Installation Quick Reference Guide.”

She will see right away in the guide there are several pieces of software that need to be installed before installing DWR Pro. In particular, Edna would need to install Microsoft Office Professional 2007 or 2010, Quick View Plus Standard (as mentioned above), and Microsoft's SQL Server Express. I'll assume that Edna at least has MS Office Pro 2007, but, if not, that would be an additional cost for a solo using an older version of MS Office or non-Microsoft office software.

As mentioned above, Edna would also need to purchase, download, and install Quick View Plus Standard for $49. It's an additional step but not too complicated.

That leaves the bear of the group: SQL Server Express. Like all e-discovery software, DWR Pro requires a database to operate, and that's what SQL is. To assist Edna here, the company has provided a “SQL Express 2008 Installation Quick Reference Guide” that explains how to properly install SQL for use with DWR Pro. For anyone who is reasonably tech-savvy, installing SQL with the aid of the Quick Install Guide is a manageable task.

But Edna is only tech-competent, and the specter of installing a SQL database will probably freak her out and kill the deal. If someone can talk Edna down from the ledge and guide her through the SQL install, she won't have to worry about it after that ' DWR will create databases as needed. Requiring the average lawyer to install SQL is DWR Pro's biggest drawback and an obstacle to wide adoption by solo practitioners. I vote to include the SQL install in the DWR Pro install package to reduce the fear factor.

Once all the preliminary work is done, the DWR Pro installation is a breeze, and you're ready to go! Except you're not. Not quite.

If you want to be able to deNIST (remove known files that are essentially useless for legal discovery, like operating system files and program files), then you will need to download and install the NSRL database. Downloading and installing the NSRL database is ultimately a fairly straightforward process, but, like installing SQL, this requirement will push most lawyers too far outside their comfort zone. If Edna had marshalled her mettle and forged on through the SQL install in spite of her instinctive trepidation, being told to then install an NSRL database would be a knockout blow. This step also seems like it should be included in the DWR Pro install to avoid this problem.

Matter Management

Let's assume Edna is a very patient and tech-fearless woman who completed the install. She would then be ready to set up her first matter, which requires her to enter the Matter Server name, the matter Repository Location, the authentication method and the Database Path. I found this a bit confusing, because none of those terms is adequately defined. Edna would be lost here and likely pulling out her hair. For Edna's sake, DWR Pro should take care of all this, perhaps using a Wizard that asks these questions using English instead of geekspeak.

Processing Documents

I have never processed data before, but this part really is a snap. Data can be added by dragging and dropping a folder, file, or directory on to DWR Pro. There's another way to enter data, but drag-and-drop is dead simple and something Edna can do.

After dropping data onto DWR Pro, a dialogue box pops up offering Edna the option to record various attributes of the data. Then Edna would be prompted to select processing options (there are just two): expand containers and “deNIST.” That DWR can expand container files, like Outlook PST files or compressed ZIP files, and deNIST is a real selling point for me. All Edna needs to know is that she should select both.

It took DWR about four minutes to process the data in a 295 MB ZIP file that expanded to 503 MBs. I have no first-hand experience processing data but do work with vendors who process data for me, and that speed seems impressive. DWR also generates a nice exceptions report to display items it could not process and why.

Set Policy

Although Edna's data is now in DWR Pro, she can't see any documents until she does something called Set Policy. The Set Policy procedure requires the user to determine which documents will be available in review. This is where Edna needs to select which custodians' data and at what types of documents she wants to look, whether she wants to de-duplicate documents and how, and apply date limits and keywords.

Impressive to me is that DWR Pro can de-duplicate by exact duplicate or near duplicate, and within a custodian or across the whole matter. That's a lot of flexibility for Edna, in theory. When I used the near-duplicate function, I still found near duplicate e-mails in the resulting document set.

At first I thought it was odd that I couldn't just see a list of all the documents I had dropped into DWR Pro without first applying filters, but I soon changed my mind. It seems like a good idea to require Edna to at least think about filtering her documents before she looks at them, otherwise there is a danger she would review everything without realizing it. I like this approach, especially for Edna's use.

After making filtering selections, Edna would be brought back to the main screen where she would then need to select which documents she would like to look at that made it through the filter. This seems like more steps than necessary. If Edna asks to see documents based on certain criteria, then she should be taken right to those documents. Nevertheless, the process does work and brings up the selected documents in a grid view.

Analysis

There is a separate Analysis module in DWR Pro that purports to be an early data assessment tool of sorts. The User Guide suggests using this module to get a high level view of your data using various filters before using the Set Policy function, too bad it didn't say that until a dozen or so pages after discussing the Set Policy function.

The Analysis module can be used to examine what various filters will return before applying them. The module displays data characteristics at a high level and is also useful for other reasons. For example, it can be used to display a grid comparison of how documents were coded for relevance or privilege.

This is a useful but advanced feature that will confuse Edna when she begins using DWR Pro. As she grows more familiar with DWR Pro's functions and interface, she may eventually be ready to dive into this module, but should be steered clear as a novice user.

Review

DWR Pro displays the documents selected for review in a grid view. Clicking on a grid entry displays most documents in the QuickView Plus review pane located on the right.

In most review tools, there is a coding pane near the displayed document with check boxes for relevance, privilege, issue codes, etc. Reviewers just select the check boxes next to the codes they want and click Apply. In DWR Pro, Edna can apply codes to a document one at a time using the right-click menu, or she needs to open up a floating “Work Product Palette” coding pane.

Edna can also bulk tag and redact documents, but creating a document image to redact is unnecessarily complicated, requiring that a document be added to a production, the user to locate the document inside the production, and then initiate imaging. Edna may lose patience with this one too.

Production

DWR Pro can create imaged, native or mixed productions. I made sure to have a document marked “Privileged” and a spreadsheet included among the documents I marked for production. DWR Pro caught them. It has default rules that will not allow a document marked “Privileged” to be produced, and it will automatically produce certain file types natively, like spreadsheets. This is an excellent setup that will help protect Edna, but she may still struggle with the process of preparing a production if she has never dealt with ESI productions before.

The production facility worked well and has all the options needed to make useful, accurate productions with Bates labels and confidentiality designations. DWR Pro also makes productions immediately available in the Productions module, so that Edna can work with the fully endorsed, produced versions of her documents by adding issues codes, organizing them within deposition or exhibit binders, performing word searches, etc. This is terrifically useful and something many of the most popular review tools on the market today don't do well.

Finally, DWR Pro allows Edna to automatically generate a privilege log. However, she needs to know that the log generated is not in final form ' it still requires her to refine the entries so that they sufficiently identify each withheld document, something DWR Pro allows her to do along the way.

Pros and Cons Summary

DWR Pro is very reasonably priced and has all the features Edna should need and then some.

The single user should only need to do one installation, so the install should include an up-to-date NSRL database, QuickView Plus Standard and SQL Express.

The New Matter process needs a setup Wizard, so lawyers can create new matters.

The Redaction process is overly complicated.

The User Guide should be clearer and organized according to natural user workflow. For example, Edna is going to be interested in knowing how to review documents before she wants to know how to archive a matter, but the topics are reversed in the User Guide.

There may be too many features. All the options are likely to overwhelm Edna. Many of the features she may grow into, but having so many features adds unnecessary complexity to the experience for a beginner. Ideally, a tool like this that is geared toward new e-discovery tool users like Edna, should grow with the user by “unlocking” features over time.

Verdict

Despite my criticisms, I think DWR Pro is a very capable tool with functionality that rivals tools that cost significantly more. In short, it's not too good to be true, it's just good with a few rough edges.

As for Edna, if she is tech-savvy and willing to spend a bit more than $1,000, DWR Pro is likely a very good fit. If she is only tech-competent (like the majority of lawyers), she will need a tech-savvy person to help her along DWR Pro's modest learning curve. If Edna barely knows how to use her computer, DWR Pro can't help her. Nothing can.

Note: I am not an official judge for the Edna Challenge and have no affiliation with Craig Ball. This article is my personal opinion on the matter. This review also does not represent the views of my firm, Morris James LLP.