There are benefits and challenges of scripting for automating eDiscovery tasks and TracyAnn Eggen of LIGL discusses both in her latest post!

As TracyAnn notes in her post (Riding Through the Benefits and Challenges of Scripting, available here), this analogy was inspired by her experiences racing her big brother on her bike (and losing because his bike was a 10-speed). Scripting enables organizations to upgrade from and automate manual tasks. And scripting has been around as long as computers – for example, long before Windows existed, many users of the earliest PCs learned to create batch (.bat) files that could print a file directory to a text file to serve as an inventory of files, batch delete files and much more.

There are several benefits of scripting that make it suitable for automating selected legal tech and eDiscovery tasks. Here’s one of the benefits:

• Faster Development: Scripting languages are usually interpreted, so there is no need to compile the code before execution, thus speeding up the development process.

Of course, there are also several challenges of scripting that may compound existing issues and add risk. Here’s one of the challenges:

• Single Point of Failure: The scripting person in your organization becomes the single point of failure for the scripts that need to be run. If that person gets sick or takes a vacation or leaves the organization, there’s often no one to troubleshoot if there are problems with the script.

So, what are more benefits and challenges of scripting? Find out here – it’s only one more click! As TracyAnn notes, scripting is a solid first step toward automation, especially with specific tasks. Maybe with just a little automation, she would have eventually beaten her brother in that bike race! Please share any comments you might have or if you’d like to know more about a particular topic.

Disclosure: LIGL is an Educational Partner and sponsor of eDiscovery Today

Disclaimer: The views represented herein are exclusively the views of the authors and speakers themselves, and do not necessarily represent the views held by my employer, my partners or my clients. eDiscovery Today is made available solely for educational purposes to provide general information about general eDiscovery principles and not to provide specific legal advice applicable to any particular circumstance. eDiscovery Today should not be used as a substitute for competent legal advice from a lawyer you have retained and who has agreed to represent you.