e-Discovery Review Costs
Pages in a MB/GB & Litigation Budgeting
How to Use the Pages in a MB/GB Calculator
General.
This calculator allows members of litigation teams to more accurately estimate how many page
equivalents are contained in electronic discovery files. Accurate estimates are important for budgeting purposes, as review costs for
relevance, privilege and trade secrets are usually driven by the quantity of page
equivalents.
Assumes Uncompressed Files.
This calculator assumes that the files to be analyzed are
uncompressed. Files can be be compressed as ZIP, RAR or other
formats. To use this calculator you should calculate based on
uncompressed file size, as file compression can greatly affect the
calculation. There is also a great of variation in how
efficiently files compress, with files such as text, emails and
spreadsheets generally compressing to the greatest degree.
MB Column.
Input here the number of megabytes (MB) of each file type you wish
to calculate.
GB Column.
The number of megabytes from the MB column are automatically
converted to gigabytes (GB).
Pages/MB Column.
This column refers to the average number of pages per MB for each
specific file type. Initial values are included for your convenience, but you can and should
adjust these to reflect the specific values of your sample.
File Type Column.
Describes the file type referred to in the row.
-
Email.
Includes Outlook, Outlook Express, Lotus Notes, and other email files.
Extensions include PST, OST, DBX, MSG, NFS.
-
Word Processing.
Includes Microsoft Word, Corel WordPerfect, Open Office and similar file
types.
Extensions include DOC, DOCX , WPD, RTF, ODT.
-
Spreadsheets.
Includes Excel, Lotus 1-2-3, Quattro Pro, Open Office and other spreadsheet
application.
Extensions include XLS, XLSX, WK1, WK2, WK3, WK4, WR1, 123, WQ1, WQ2, WKQ, ODS.
-
Presentations. Include
PPT, PPTX, ODP.
-
PDFs.
Refers to Adobe Acrobat files.
The extension is usually PDF.
-
Scanned Images.
Refers to other image based files made by various applications.
Extensions include BMP, DCX, TIF, TIFF, JPG, JPEG, RAW, ODG.
-
Text Files.
Refers to other text based files made by various applications. Extensions
include TXT, CVS.
-
Other File Types.
This refers to other file types you might have in a sample that have not
been identified above.
Estimated Pages Column.
The column to the right calculates the total estimated pages for the
specific file type in the row
Total Pages (Grand Total).
On the lower right of the table is the grand total of all columns.
How to Use the Review Cost and Litigation Budgeting Calculator
General.
This calculator takes the estimated pages from the Pages in a GB
calculator and estimates review costs based on hourly billing rates.
This is helpful for budgeting discovery costs, of which attorney
review is usually the largest component
Level 1 and Level 2 Review.
Some discovery reviews will include a multi-level, or tiered review.
The goal of a tiered approach is to reduce the overall cost of a
discovery review by utilizing lower cost personnel for the an
initial review. Level 1 review personnel may include
paralegals/legal assistants, contract attorneys and offshore
attorneys. Level 1 reviewers will go through a large document
set and mark documents as responsive and privileged, as appropriate.
A level 1 review can result in a significant reduction (25%-75%) of
the documents to be reviewed by attorneys in the level 2 review.
Then level 2 reviewers (attorneys) will review the reduced data set.
Include Review.
The check box to the left allows you to include or exclude Level 1
and Level 2 from the calculation. For example, if there will
only be a Level 2 (attorney) review, uncheck the box next to Level
1.
Review Type.
Specifies if the row refers to Level 1 (non-attorney or contracted
or outsourced attorneys), or Level 2 (internal attorneys).
Pages to Review.
Refers to the total pages to be reviewed at the applicable level.
Level 1 pages to review is derived from the 'Pages in a GB
calculator'. Level 2 pages to review refers to the Level 1
review pages, reduced by the '% Reduction' column, to reflect to
reduction in pages that need to be reviewed from the Level 1 review.
Pages Reviewed per Hour.
Refers to how many pages per hour a discovery reviewer can look at
in an hour and flag as responsive and/or privileged, as appropriate.
Hourly Rate.
Refers to the average hourly billing rate of the persons performing
the review.
Man Hours Required.
This value is calculated, based on the pages to review divided by
the pages reviewed per hour.
% Reduction.
This is an input field of the percentage of documents to be reviewed
as may be reduced through the Level 1 review, as clearly
non-responsive. This percentage can vary dramatically,
depending on the documents to be reviewed and the reviewers.
Values between 25% and 75% are not unusual.
Cost Column.
Calculated by multiplying the hourly rate by the man-hours required.
Grand Total.
Calculated by adding the cost for the Level 1 and Level 2 review.
How to Sample Data to Get your Pages/MB for Specific File
Types
The pages per GB calculator depends on specific inputs of Pages per
MB for each file types. To obtain these inputs you should randomly select a number of files for
each file type to sample. Add the total MB for your sample files and
then open each sample file to determine the
number of pages in each file.
Then total the MB and pages for your sample and divide to obtain your sample Pages/MB for the calculator input.
The number of files your should sample will vary depending upon the
size of the sample and degree of statistical accuracy you wish to obtain with the estimate.
Questions or Comments
Do your have questions or comments about this calculator?
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