Patent ID: 8417716

Claim:
A method for identifying users of personal computers within a network for the purposes of associating the personal computers with custodians in an electronic discovery, comprising: accessing, by a computing device processor, the personal computers via the network; querying, by a computing device processor, a profile list stored on each personal computer for user-identifying data, wherein the user-identifying data includes (1) one or more network user identifications, each network user identification associated with a user of the personal computer, and (2) log-on data associated with each personal computer including a last date and time each user logged on to the personal computer and a number of log on occurrences for each user over a predetermined period of time; transmitting, via the network, for each personal computer, computer-identifying data associated with the personal computer and the user-identifying data associated with one or more users of the personal computer; determining, by a computing device processor, one or more matches between the network user identifications and custodian entries in a custodian directory; and in response to determining the one or more matches, linking, by a computing device processor, (1) the computer-identifying data of the personal computer associated with the matched network user identification and (2) the log-on data associated with the matched network user identification to the matched custodian entry in the custodian directory.