Patent ID: 7657550

Claim:
A system for managing electronic data in a network environment, the system comprising: a journaling module executing in one or more processors that monitors data interactions with a file system manager, wherein the journaling module is a first application that monitors one or more data interactions in the file system manager made by at least one or more second applications; an index generated by the journaling module, the index comprising a list of the one or more data interactions made by the second application with one or more data objects, the index different than a data structure used by a file system; a first user interface configured to receive at least one selection criteria regarding at least one attribute of the one or more of the data objects, the selection criteria identifies data interactions performed by members of a user group with the second application; metadata stored in a database that is separate from the data objects, the metadata comprises information about the data interactions with the one or more data objects; a classification module executing in one or more computer processors, the classification module configured to process the index created by the journaling module to identify data interactions made by members of the user group that satisfy the selection criteria, the classification module being further configured to update the database of metadata with information about the data interactions that satisfy the selection criteria such that the metadata contains information that tracks the data interactions performed by members of the user group on the one or more data objects; and a query module executing in one or more computer processors, the query module configured to receive a query about the data interactions performed by members of the user group, the query module configured to access the database of metadata to obtain information about the data interactions performed by members of the user group on the one or more data objects without directly accessing the file system associated with the one or more data objects.