SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR RETRIEVING DATA

A system and method for obtaining information responsive to a legal discovery request directed at an enterprise having a plurality of databases that potentially include information responsive to the legal discovery request, including structured databases and at least one unstructured database. A plurality of taxonomies are provided, each of which describes a structure of one of the structured databases. An ontology is provided that describes data relationships between the databases. A native application is identified, which is configured to access at least one but not all of the databases associated with the enterprise. The native application is modified to include search functionality for accessing all of the databases associated with the enterprise. A request is received from the user, via the modified native application, to search the plurality of databases associated with the enterprise for information responsive to the legal discovery request. Information included in the request, the ontology and the taxonomies are then used to search the plurality of databases associated with the enterprise. A list of search results responsive to the search request is presented with the modified native application. In response to a user selection of a search result from the list, an application required to view the selected search result is automatically launched if the modified native application lacks functionality required to display the selected search result.