Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
may.only.become.important.when.the.auditor.or.tax.authori-
ties.come.to.visit,.but.it.behooves.all.of.us.to.be.ready.for.that.
before.it.happens.
6.4.3 Response to Litigation or Audits
When.we.are.considering.the.organization.and.management.
of. our. electronic. data,. one. of. the. most. compelling. reasons.
for.careful.and.consistent.management.is.the.inevitable.need.
to.produce.those.records.for.a.legal.action.or.audit..Whether.
you. are. working. with. an. organization. or. simply. thinking.
about.your.own.records,.the.chances.are.very.high.that.you.
will.at.some.point.be.responsible.for.locating.and.acquiring.
those.records.and.managing.them.appropriately.for.produc-
tion.to.a.court.or.auditor.
All. of. the. methodology. we. outlined. above. is. the. basic.
foundation. of. this. process.. We. will. discuss. in. more. detail.
below.the.different.types.of.systems.that.you.may.need.to.put.
in.place.
First,. though,. we. look. briely. at. the. different. parts. of. a.
good.production.process..If.you.think.about.the.whole.of.the.
data.that.either.you.or.your.organization.has.accumulated.as.
a.large.pie.chart,.in.the.end.there.is.a.very.small.subset.of.that.
whole.pie.chart.that.will.be.relevant.and.required.for.litigation.
or.an.audit..To.get.to.that.slice.of.the.pie.you.will.need.to.go.
through.several.steps.
First. is. acquisition. of. the. data.. To. do. this. eficiently. will.
depend.a.great.deal.on.your.having.done.your.due.diligence.
and. created. a. well-designed. and. managed. ile. system.. You.
will.need.a.good.understanding.of.all.of.the.places.that.rel-
evant. electronic. data. exist. as. we. discuss. in. great. detail. in.
Chapter. 3.. It. will. be. equally. important. to. be. able. to. locate.
the.people.who.own.and.control.the.data.as.we.discussed.in.
Chapter.4.
When.you.have.located.all.of.the.relevant.data.and.con-
tacted.the.custodians.to.gain.access.to.that.data,.you.will.need.
to.carefully.acquire.the.data.in.a.forensically.sound.manner.
