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Review Workshare Professional 5
Every so often, a new software
application comes along when you least expect it, but precisely when
you need it. When this occurs concurrently with the realization that
the problem you need to resolve has reached critical mass, the end
result can be a beautiful thing. Such is the case with Workshare
Professional 5, which is needed for no one, perhaps, more than the
legal professional. As we all are assuredly aware of by
now, documents in digital format that are shared electronically
contain hidden data or metadata, such as track changes, creation and
revision dates, comments, footnotes, authors’ names, and server
names. Indeed, many of us (hopefully) already have implemented at
least some measures, tedious and randomly executed though they might
be, to combat unintended disclosure or malicious appropriation of
sensitive information hidden in the background of most electronic
documents. Workshare Professional 5 offers a
full suite of protections, extending and refining the capabilities
offered by Microsoft Office, particularly Office 2007 for which it
was specifically designed, although it does support Office XP and
2003. On the surface, the program is clutter free and easy to
maneuver, requiring minimal use of help sources. Behind the scenes,
Workshare is intricately customizable for those with the energy or
inclination to do so, which can be critical to the success of any
company-wide policy, which by nature are prone to exceptions.
Workshare is grouped into three modules: “Review and Audit,”
“Compare” and “Secure.” Review and Audit. As one who
routinely collaborates with others in drafting legal documents and
correspondence, I know firsthand that the exchange of revisions is
confusing and error prone. With “Workshare Review,” entirely from
within Word, documents are e-mailed for review with options to
attach additional documents, or compare a document and send all
versions at once — the original, the revisions and the comparison.
Since any returned revisions to the document automatically are
synchronized with the original, documents that you author stay in
your control, and it’s not even necessary for reviewers to have the
software. This process dovetails with the “Audit” feature, which
tracks in detail the entire history of a document’s review cycle,
including to whom each document was sent and by whom it was edited
or revised, and it easily can be generated and printed as a report. Compare. A key component of
“Compare” is its ability to compare Secure. One of my favorite features
of Workshare Professional 5 is “Workshare Protect,” a feature found
in the “Secure” module. This feature filters With Workshare Protect enabled,
Microsoft Office files can be attached to e-mail in their native
formats, since they are first automatically converted to PDF after
being scanned and analyzed for risky content based on security
policies in effect. In some instances, users are alerted to a
potential security policy breach and given the opportunity to fix
it; in others, the security policy might block the outgoing e-mail
altogether. Security policies can be configured, either
administratively or by individual user, to restrict content based on
different criteria, such as preventing any outgoing e-mail
attachments that include hidden data or sensitive financial
information. What is more, Workshare Protect
offers real-time alerts that pop up any time a user is working on a
file that contains confidential, privileged or restricted matter,
based on prevailing policies. This is very helpful for litigation
paralegals who must be cautious not to disclose personal information
in pleadings and documents filed with the courts. The reports
generated by Workshare are detailed and professional looking. Audit
(information about a document’s review cycle), History (detailed
document history) and Risk Reports (information about potential
risky content) are produced in seconds with only a single mouse
click. If my company used this software, I would make it a policy to
place a Risk Report on top of every pleading as a final step before
sending, especially with discovery responses. The reviewing attorney
then would be alerted to information that might need to be redacted
so that inadvertent disclosures could be avoided. Document classification is another
great feature that can be implemented to further restrict and
control dissemination of documents, and offers the option of
password protection. The classifications include For Internal
Use/External Restriction (document is restricted and can only be
distributed internally within your company), Confidential (document
contains information of a confidential or privileged nature), and
Highly Confidential/Full Restriction (document is restricted and
can’t be distributed via e-mail). This kind of protection makes me
just want to stop everything and classify all of my documents as a
failsafe. In my view, Workshare Professional
5 is a much-needed tool and an essential device for paralegals and
other legal professionals to secure, protect and restrict e-mail,
document content and dissemination, and you might be hardpressed to
justify not adding it to your software repertoire, especially since
it’s priced easily within reach of small firms and sole
proprietorships. |
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