Frequently Asked Questions

What is the maturity of the product?

Discover was first released in 2014, with some of the core underlying technology developed over 12 years of building data management products.

Is there a license key required?

There is no license key. The tenant is provisioned through an administration portal with an expiration date coinciding with the customer's subscription end date. Successful access to the product is contingent on the tenant being active.

Is there an on-premises version of Discover

Gimmal Discover is only available in a SaaS deployment.  Connector and agent components do install locally, but they are designed to communicate back to the cloud service through web services.

Any certifications we need to know about (e.g. D0D5015.2 FedRAMP, etc)?

Gimmal Discover is hosted in a Rackspace data center and utilizes a SQL Server database in Microsoft Azure, which adheres to most data center and operating environment certifications.  More information can be found at: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/trust-center

 Gimmal is in the process of pursuing FedRAMP/StateRAMP and SOC2 certifications for Discover. 

Are there product integrations with a partner?

Gimmal Discover supports the enabling or disabling of the Microsoft 365 litigation hold status for EWS mailbox, SharePoint, and OneDrive.

What vendors would we recommend for redaction?

Most customers will take our data collected from Gimmal Discover, and they load it into a review platform (i.e. Relativity) that offers redaction capabilities. We do plan to have redaction capabilities included in a future version of Discover.

What is the architecture of Gimmal Discover?

Gimmal Discover operates using a hybrid model where locally installed connectors and agents report to a management dashboard in the cloud. This architecture allows your critical business information to be securely managed in-place.

Is there a maximum deployment size?

Due to Discover’s flexible deployment architecture there is no maximum size. Currently, our largest deployment manages 120,000 workstations with Gimmal Discover. With our experience in large-scale deployment size, we can handle your scope.

Where content sources are supported?

In Microsoft 365, Gimmal Discover can collect from Exchange, SharePoint, OneDrive, and Teams.  Discover can also collect from on-premises SharePoint and Exchange, network file shares, Windows machines, Mac machines, PST files, Box, and Google Workspace (Gmail and Drive).

OLEDB compliant databases may be searched with Data Governance but are not supported for eDiscovery or Classification.

Is it possible to connect to platforms not mentioned above?

Yes, Gimmal will consider connecting to any platform and that can be negotiated during the sales process. 

What file types can be searched?

Discover supports over seventy different file types including Microsoft Office, PDF, and archives like Zip. A complete list supported can be found at here: File Formats Supported by Gimmal Discover

If I’m already using eDiscovery in Gimmal Discover is it easy to add Data Governance?

Yes, the Data Governance and Classification modules utilize the same Connector/Agent architecture that you have already deployed for eDiscovery. Adding an additional module is a simple matter of updating the provisioning information for your tenant.

Does Discover support single sign-on (SSO)?

Yes, Discover supports SAML2 SSO providers such as Azure Active Directory or Okta.

Does Discover OCR documents and search within them?

The Discover File Agent offers OCR functionality for image based file type such as JPG, TIF, PDF, BMP, etc. When enabled, these file types may be passed through an OCR process to extract available text then apply any of the Discover keyword test criteria to that extracted text.

What collection format is used?

Discover can collect email related search results in PST, EML, or MSG format. Other results are collected in native format.

What is the difference between legal hold notification and litigation hold?

Legal hold notification is the process of communicating with custodians to inform them they are subject to a hold, have a duty to preserve data, etc. Being able to prove this communication took place and that the custodian acknowledged it, is often important in litigation. Gimmal Discover offers this capability as part of the eDiscovery module.

Litigation hold (sometimes referred to as preservation) is the process locking content so a custodian cannot maliciously remove it after they find out they have been placed on hold. Gimmal Discover can trigger a litigation hold in Microsoft 365 for email, SharePoint or OneDrive items.

Another preservation strategy is to utilize the cache feature in an eDiscovery search. This feature will make a copy of every search result into a location (typically a network share) that you designate.

Can I collect data from a user workstation locally?

Yes, clients can collect locally as well as centrally. If your data collection location requires that the workstation be connected to a VPN, local collection allows data to be saved even when the VPN connection is not active. The next time that workstation establishes a VPN session, the collected data will be automatically uploaded from the workstation to the collection location.

Is indexing of my content required?

Indexing your content is not required prior to searching. eDiscovery searches may be performed using the Microsoft 365 index (a feature referred to in the product as quick search), or a local index of file content but indexing is an optional process.

Does the product support multiple users?

Yes, Gimmal Discover does support multiple users and administrators can leverage role-based access controls to determine what a user is permitted to do.

Additionally, eDiscovery matters can be restricted to designated users as a way of ensuring privacy.

What keyword search syntax is supported?

Gimmal Discover supports a rich set of search capabilities including Boolean, Proximity, Pattern Match, and Regular Expressions. For a complete reference on the search syntax, refer to:

Discover KeyWord Search Syntax

Are template workflow examples available?

Workflows provide decisions and actions that allow Discover clients to map out their business rules. There is an example workflow section available in the Workflow Editor application. There are also workflow templates available in the Discover dashboard.

Can Data Governance policies be run on an repeatable, unattended basis?

Yes, there is a scheduling option available when creating a policy.

Can workflows evaluate content based on keywords?

Yes, for supported file types workflows can evaluate content using words, phrases, regular expressions and a number of other criteria.

Can policies be triggered externally?

Yes, Discover supports an automation process that will trigger a policy based upon the presence of an external (e.g. XML) file.

Is there way to action on items shown in a Data Governance report?

Yes, individual rows can be marked with a label, for example delete). These labels may be used to trigger a specific action on the item referenced in the report row.

Can policies be restricted to specific users?

Yes, there is a sharing model associated with a policy. By default, policies are only visible to the creator, but they may be shared with designated Discover users.

Can user functionality be limited? For example, I want my users to be able to run a policy but not create one.

Yes, this can be accomplished by creating custom user roles with the appropriate permission set.