Managed Document Review (MDR) is a service that assists organizations in reviewing and analyzing large volumes of documents for various purposes, such as litigation, regulatory compliance, or due diligence. MDR providers often employ proprietary search methodologies to unlock the potential of document review and enhance efficiency. While I can provide a general understanding of how MDR’s proprietary search methodologies work, please note that specific details may vary across different providers.
Data Preprocessing: MDR begins by preprocessing the document collection to prepare it for analysis. This step typically involves converting documents into searchable formats, such as text extraction from scanned images or PDFs, and eliminating redundant or irrelevant information.
Keyword Search: MDR utilizes keyword search as a fundamental method to identify relevant documents. Users provide a list of keywords or key phrases related to their search criteria. The MDR system then applies these keywords across the document collection to retrieve potentially relevant documents.
Conceptual Search: In addition to keyword search, MDR may employ conceptual search techniques. This method expands the search beyond exact keyword matches to include related terms, synonyms, or concepts. It helps identify documents that may not contain specific keywords but are conceptually relevant to the search criteria.
Boolean Search: MDR’s proprietary search methodologies often involve Boolean search techniques. Boolean operators (such as AND, OR, NOT) allow users to combine keywords and concepts logically to create more complex and precise search queries. This approach helps refine the search results by including or excluding specific criteria.
Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence: Many MDR platforms incorporate machine learning and artificial intelligence algorithms to improve the search process. These technologies enable the system to learn from user interactions and feedback, automatically suggest relevant documents based on previous selections, or even predict relevance based on document characteristics and patterns.
Predictive Coding: Some MDR systems leverage predictive coding techniques, also known as technology-assisted review. Predictive coding involves training a machine learning model on a subset of manually reviewed documents. The model then predicts the relevance of unseen documents, allowing reviewers to focus their efforts on the most likely relevant ones. This approach can significantly speed up the review process while maintaining accuracy.
Continuous Improvement: MDR providers continually refine and improve their proprietary search methodologies based on user feedback, review outcomes, and emerging industry best practices. By analyzing reviewer behavior, document relevance patterns, and other performance metrics, they can enhance the search algorithms to deliver more accurate and efficient results over time.
It’s worth noting that each MDR provider may have its unique approach to document review and employ different combinations of the methods mentioned above. The proprietary search methodologies are typically developed and fine-tuned based on extensive experience in managing document reviews and incorporating advancements in information retrieval and machine learning technologies.