Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
The.IRS.or.other.legal.auditing.authority.will.be.speciic.
about. the. format. in. which. they. expect. your. documenta-
tion.to.be.delivered..It.will.be.to.your.advantage.to.not.only.
comply.with.those.requests,.but.to.do.all.you.can.to.ensure.
good.procedures.and.data.management,.including.chain.of.
custody. and. data. security. practices.. That. will. allow. you. to.
address. any. issues. of. data. integrity. with. well-documented.
management.practices.
Another.likely.scenario.is.the.need.to.produce.data.for.a.
legal.matter..For.the.most.part,.as.we.discussed.in.Chapter.
1,.a.meeting.will.be.conducted.between.the.parties.to.discuss.
the. data. that. will. be. produced.. In. that. meeting. your. legal.
counsel.will.make.decisions.with.the.other.side.about.speciic.
electronic. and. physical. evidence. required. to. adjudicate. the.
case..The.sides.will.agree.in.what.format.they.want.the.evi-
dence.produced.
In. some. cases. they. will. decide. that. they. want. the. data.
produced. in. its. original. format,. including. all. metadata.. Or.
they. might. decide. that. graphic. copies. such. as. Tiff. iles. are.
appropriate..If.that.is.what.they.decide,.they.might.also.ask.
for.graphic.copies.of.metadata.for.each.ile,.or.they.might.not.
require.metadata.
Depending.on.the.speciic.types.of.data,.producing.them.
in. original. format. can. have. advantages. and. disadvantages..
For. instance,. if. the. original. data. were. in. a. Microsoft. Word.
97.ile,.that.is.relatively.common.and.most.organizations.will.
have.the. applications. and.tools.to.be.able.to.read.both.the.
document. and. its. attached. metadata.. Therefore,. as. long. as.
you.are.careful.not.to.compromise.the.document.when.you.
transfer.it.in.that.Word.97.document.format,.it.will.be.a.simple.
and.relatively.secure.production.of.the.electronic.evidence.
However,.if.the.original.data.were.stored.as.a.Lotus.123.
spreadsheet.created.many.years.ago,.it.may.be.very.dificult,.
irst.to.preserve.any.metadata.when.you.produce.the.copy,.
and.second.for.the.recipient.to.open.it.with.current.existing.
tools..The.recipient.might.also.have.a.hard.time.being.able.to.
access.the.metadata.without.specialized.tools.
