Putting the guide in Guidance

Guidance Software aims to make it easier for customers to guide their way through EnCase, and then guide their way through electronic data investigation and discovery. The new version 3.1 (that's a major upgrade to 3.x, not a dot upgrade) interface claims to be easier-to-use and sports a new work flow design that hopes to facilitate a defensible and repeatable e-discovery process. In addition to that, EnCase now comes with a new connector to extract data from EMC's Documentum and the promise that connectors for Open Text LiveLink, Microsoft Sharepoint, and Symantec Enterprise Vault will be forthcoming in dot releases.

Also new to version 3.1 is the ability to create EDRM-compliant XML load files, along with load files for Concordance and CT Summation. But that's not all. There's a slight, revolutionary change in the business model: pay-per-use.

After the up-front installation fee, which you pay with either the pay-per-use or the full licensing model, organizations can now use EnCase on a case-by-case basis, with charges linked to the amount of data searched, collected, processed, and output to load files. Pay-Per-Use pricing can allocate litigation costs and allow internal charge-backs and possibly insurance reimbursements for e-discovery. At the least, you will receive a monthly invoices that breaks down charges on a per case basis that you can import into your own billing system.