Metadata - metadata is data embedded in application files. Metadata comes in two varieties. Internal metadata is included in certain application files, and includes the name of the last person to edit the file and the word count. External metadata can be collected for all application files and includes the "last modified date" and the operating system username of the last person to save the file. See Metadata extraction.

Metadata Extraction - The process of extracting metadata from application files and making it available in a format that a document management system can import.

Native Environment - the original hardware and software configuration that was used to create a data set. Certain data sets can only be recovered if they are restored to a duplicate of the native environment.

Native File - The application file as it was saved by the creating application. See Native Format Review.

Native Format Filtering - The process of filtering electronic files by query, file type or file name. Depending on the process used, filtering can occur before or after metadata extraction. Native format filtering allows for removal of files that don't fit the search criteria and reduces the volume of data that requires further review.

Native Format Review - The process of reviewing application files using the original creating applications. This type of review poses certain problems not associated with traditional review tools. However, native format review can provide substantial cost savings compared to traditional review because the native files do not have to be petrified first.

OCR - Optical Character Recognition. This is an automated process where a computer program interprets an image file and attempts to "read" the text in the image. Accuracy of this process is highly dependent on the quality and resolution of the image file. For clean images accuracy will be in the 97% range.

Onsite Extraction - The process of collecting electronic data directly from the source. By employing an industry-standard forensic tool operated by a certified forensic technician, this process guarantees that the maximum amount of data is collected and that the chain of evidence is maintained.

OWR - Optical Word Recognition. This is an automated process where a computer program interprets an image file and attempts to "read" the text in the image. This process differs from OCR in the fact that is looks at entire words instead of individual characters. Accuracy of this process is still dependent on the quality and resolution of the image file; for clean images accuracy will be in the 99% range.

Petrification - The process of turning native files into a static file type like TIFF or PDF.

PDF - (Portable Document Format) a proprietary format of Adobe Corporation, it has become a de facto standard for transmitting documents that the sender does not want altered and for publishing documents on-line. One of the main advantages of this format is that the file can be viewed at any zoom-factor without loss of detail.

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