Whodunnit? 5 free or cheap tools to manage investigations

Free software once used only by the CIA. A pen that will change your life. Brandon Gregg shares these and other inexpensive ways to manage corporate investigations.

By Brandon Gregg

August 18, 2010 — CSO —

As you already know or you will learn your first time in court, proper documentation of your investigation is a must for all your cases. Unfortunately your case plan, notes, evidence and even how you come to the conclusion of your investigation can be more complex and harder to manage then the case itself.

From sticky notes and pages of documents, to digital screen shots and chain of custody forms, your investigative folder can quickly pile high or worse get damaged or lost. In conjunction with my past articles on free and cheap investigation resources, here are five tools to take your investigation building to the next level.

Case Plans

Often investigators hit the ground running at the start of their case and skip building the proper foundation of an investigation: the case plan. Although experienced investigators can investigate forwards and backwards, having a case plan for your client, management and own organization will help outline your investigation, streamline tasks even before they start and keep you on track no matter what interruptions may occur.

Also see 'How to plan an investigation'

Personally I am a fan of Microsoft Project, but since this is cheap and free tools, you can also download Open Workbench (www.openworkbench.org) a worthwhile open source competitor to Project that can handle all of your complex case management needs. Before your next big investigation take Open Workbench for a test drive and setup a basic investigative case plan template. Make note of generic to-do lists to have ready to use, alter and follow during your next case. Easily add project deadlines and estimate due dates for your clients and team, as well as lay out the direction and closure of your case. As the steps are completed visibly check them off like a to-do list and quickly flow through your investigation. If you work multiple cases or have interruptions this will also help you keep on track.

Digital Notepads

Once you are off running with your case plan, you can never write too many notes detailing your interviews, evidence collection and steps you took to solve your investigation. Today people carry smart phones, laptops and even iPads for note taking, but I prefer the standard pen with a technological twist. From SolidTek's DigiMemo collection to Dane-Elec's Z-PEN Wireless USB Digital Pen, both these digital devices transfer your written notes into images and text on your computer to easily add to your digital case file. Although transferring your written notes to text on your computer won't make you a better note-taker, it will save everything you do and can be searchable online.

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