TheFocusofITwithinaDiscoveryResponseTeam·Chapter5 135 Summary Effective management of the technical components within a discovery response program depends on the relationship between the legal and information technology (IT) departments, and the key to this relationship will be IT's ability to translate technical concepts for the legal team. Even though the legal team is typically challenged with creating a reliable discovery readiness protocol, IT should be as interested in helping to shape this protocol. Increasingly, the responsibility of managing technical aspects of discovery efforts falls within the IT group.Your e-discovery documentation--e.g., policies and procedures, case information, etc.--should be readily accessible to all discovery team members. Remember to create a check list such as the one included in this chapter for addressing various documentation components. After you address these components, your next step is to assess the techni- cal environment within your organization (i.e., obtaining and/or creating documentation to provide the legal team with a better understanding of the electronic surroundings in your organization). Remember to ask a series of questions to start the gap identification analysis within your organization. These questions should address e-mail retention polices, e-mail archiving policies, and so on. Remember to follow the steps outlined in this chapter for preparing a discovery readiness gap analysis.You should decide what tools to use for ESI collection and management and then you'll need to create a case for tracking evidence that has been collected.You also need to track ESI that has been collected. To create a data profile and map your IT environment, you'll need to follow the steps outlined in phases I through VI of this chapter.You'll also need to assess your role as an IT discovery or IT/legal liaison. Remember that your goal during all these processes is to streamline the discovery practices