INSIDE

EMAIL ARCHIVING

Planning, policies and product selection

CHAPTER 1

05 Getting started 09 Gathering requirements 10 Selecting a vendor and a product 13 Implementation and deployment

Email-archiving

Dont get stuck when planning an email-archiving project. Follow these four phases for success.

project roadmap

1
REVISED 06/2009

chapter 1 Email-archiving project roadmap

E
Getting started

by Kathryn Hilton
mail continues to grow at an unprecedented rate. As server and storage resources are taxed to their limits, the traditional practice of saving everything has been replaced with mandated quotas on storage. This places users in email jailwhere new email cannot be received until older email is removed from their inboxes. At the same time, a growing focus on email as a key element in litigation discovery compliance is forcing businesses to consider the negative consequences of deleting messages. IT shops often complain about the time and effort (i.e., cost) required to manage expanding email
Gathering requirements

systems. But the question remains: Why is the amount of email growing so quickly? Users typically rely on email in their inboxes as a historical knowledge base or to support past decisions or actions theyve taken. Users havent been given any guidance on what to keep, so the default is to save everything. Duplicate records are kept as a result of CCs and email blasts. Users receive and save email messages with large attachments.
Selecting a vendor and a product

With the amount of email growing, enterprises must know where to archive relevant data and be able to produce that data in the event of litigation or be prepared to pay the consequences.
2
Implementing and deploying the product

chapter 1 Email-archiving project roadmap

Struggling IT departments have responded with inflexible approaches in an attempt to contain storage costs, such as inbox quotas that limit the amount of email a user can store on an email server. Inbox quotas often force users to go undergroundmoving messages offline into files like Microsoft Outlook .PST files or into other removable media. Once

Inbox quotas often force users to go underground moving messages offline into .PST files or into other removable media.

users take email out of their inboxes, messages are no longer part of a managed environment. The process of searching for, retrieving and deleting email messages also becomes much more involved and expensive. Email archiving continues to be the preferred method of addressing these growing challenges. IT managers can store messages in a secure location that provides easy search and retrieval in response to litigation or investigations. The risk of deleting email is minimized and employees generally are freed from quota limits. Third-party tools help administrators retrieve archived messages. But before installing and using any email-archiving product, companies must understand the consequences of using this kind of technology. When they understand the product capabilities, then practical email-archiving policies
Selecting a vendor and a product

can be developed. Email archiving, like any other IT project, requires a fully developed plan. This chapter will review the four-phased approach to planning and deploying a successful email-archiving project: phase 1 Getting started phase 2 Gathering requirements phase 3 Selecting a vendor and a product phase 4 Implementing and deploying the product

3
Implementing and deploying the product

Getting started

Gathering requirements

chapter 1 Email-archiving project roadmap

PHASE 1: Getting started

All too often with IT projects, technology solutions are selected without first receiving a buy-in from corporate users. Its best to start by asking the right people the right questions so you can get a buy-in early in the process. In addition, when starting out you must recognize several drivers for implementing an email-archiving project: Storage costs Litigation Internal or external investigations Compliance Audit requirements All drivers are closely connected, yet each appeals to a different segment of the business. Therefore, you need to include representatives from each segment of the organizaGetting started

tion in every step of the emailarchiving implementation. The first step of the project is to form a Core Team, which should contain high-level stakeholdersIT department heads, records managers and legal/compliance experts. Make sure everyone has enough time to dedicate to the project and keep this team active and focused.

ments and policy management. More legal cases highlight email as the smoking gun that is costing companies millions of dollars in sanctions and judgments. Legal departments have become willing allies and drivers of the archive process. Call on other contributors as specific issues arise. The HR department may have some input on issues like data pri-

The Core Team gives IT an opportunity to establish a positive working relationship with legal.
This Core Team gives IT an opportunity to establish a positive working relationship with legal. The legal group will be instrumental in providing guidance around functional requireSelecting a vendor and a product

vacy. Other departments, such as finance or product development, may have unique requirements that must be addressed. If necessary, meet with these additional departments to get a
Implementing and deploying the product

Gathering requirements

chapter 1 Email-archiving project roadmap

full understanding of all requirements. This might be the first time these people have met, so begin with a comprehensive explanation of project goals. The first meeting should also include a general discussion on email archiving. Try to help everyone understand the scope and goals of the project, the challenges the organization is addressing and the need for getting the process right. Use this opportunity to Introduce key concepts, such as the definition of business records. Discuss what type of information is being stored in email and why controlling and classifying this information is important to the organization. Identify any special requirements. Find out if there are any data privacy issues around international deployments vs. U.S. deployments. Are there any specialized reguGetting started

Email archive server Lower performance storage Policy engine

Incoming email

Exchange server

Exchange server

Typical batch-processing solution to email archiving

figure 1:
(Source: Contoural Inc.)

Gathering requirements

Selecting a vendor and a product

Implementing and deploying the product

chapter 1 Email-archiving project roadmap

latory requirements that must be addressed, such as the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) or the SarbanesOxley Act (SOX)? Discuss problems, such as the risk of deleting information and the risk of storing email messages in .pst files, with the current system. Tell the team where records reside and explain the need to produce relevant data quickly in the event of litigation. For most organizations, semistructured data and unstructured data represent the biggest challenges in terms of meeting e-discovery requirements. E-discovery is the process of searching, collecting, reviewing and producing all relevant electronic documents for litigation. Many archives now include sophisticated tools for legal hold and discovery that make archives more useful to the legal
Getting started

team and help build support for the project. Managing unstructured data has also historically been viewed as a huge storage problem in terms of cost. However, addressing files has become an increasingly important driver in litigation readiness. Because of this, many archive product vendors have introduced capabilities to archive other record types from non-email systems, including file shares, instant messages and SharePoint documents. Archiving from these sources provides centralized search and retrieval and makes it easier to initiate a legal hold and enforce a records retention policy. Archiving email messages in a secure, centralized location gives legal the ability to manage the e-discovery process without having to involve employees or IT. Most archive solutions provide discovery tools that allow
Selecting a vendor and a product

Archiving email in a secure, centralized location gives legal the ability to manage e-discovery without involving employees or IT.

legal to search for potentially responsive messages and attachments, place the messages on hold and then export the files for production. Without the archive, legal must rely on the employee to manually search for this information or have IT restore information from backup tapes. This interrupts normal business processes and dramatically increases the risk of missing responsive information.
Implementing and deploying the product

Gathering requirements

chapter 1 Email-archiving project roadmap

PHASE 2: Gathering requirements

For companies that are considering dedicated email archiving, there are two alternatives: in-house email archiving or a hosted solution. The inhouse alternative for email archiving uses internal resources and IT infrastructure to process and store archived email messages. Most email-archiving providers fall into this category. Hosted email-archiving products are an option for companies with limited IT budgets and personnel. Hosted solutions are also suitable for companies that dont want to invest a lot of upfront money in a system. In Phase 2, the Core Team must agree on these technical and functional archive requirements: What email systems will it support? What is the volume of mesGetting started

table 1:

Developing email-archiving requirements.

High Med. Low

Functional requirements:
Capture Architecture Classification Retention management/disposition Hold management & litigation support Index Search/retrieval Reporting/audit/supervision User interface Administration Storage management Security

Information requirements Performance requirements

(Source: Contoural Inc.)

sages that will pass through it daily? How are archive records
Selecting a vendor and a product

categorized? How are legal holds enforced?

Implementing and deploying the product

Gathering requirements

chapter 1 Email-archiving project roadmap

Answers to these questions will help set the criteria for product selection. How complete this discussion is within the Core Team can determine the success or failure of the project. Table 1 on page 9 lists key functional areas to consider when developing a full requirements document. Rank each requirement according to its overall importance using this scale: High a must-have function Medium a function it would be nice to have Low a function that is not important overall The Core Team should collect any additional companyspecific technical requirements as well as information requirements.

PHASE 3: Vendor and product selection process

Once the requirements for the email-archiving project are well defined, product selection can begin. This part of the project can be intimidating, with vendors showing their wares and putting the best spin on them. Its critically important to stick to the agreedupon product requirements and not to allow vendor spin to redirect the process. The first task in selecting an email-archiving product is to research available options and to make a short list of potential choices. Start with research reports from analysts, media outlets and industry conferences or events. These reports can narrow the list and bring to light new options.
Selecting a vendor and a product

Look at vendor websites and pay particular attention to product feature lists. Some sites allow you to access installation and configuration documentation. Make sure that product support requirements outline all of the technical components of your companys infrastructure. Dont waste time looking at products that cant be installed in your environment.

The first task in selecting an emailarchiving product is to research available options and to make a short list of potential choices.

10
Implementing and deploying the product

Getting started

Gathering requirements

chapter 1 Email-archiving project roadmap

Next, ask vendors to participate in a formal request for proposal (RFP) process. Outline the requirements youve gathered and include details of the technical environment as well as projected growth. Select three to five potential products, and send the RFP through appropriate channelseither vendors or their resellers. Make sure all vendors receive the same information. Give vendors a four- to six-week deadline to respond. Invite vendors that respond to give an on-site presentation outlining their proposals. The selection teama group tasked with choosing the best tool can then examine the proposal and ask questions about how the product will fit in its intended environment. Expect presentations to last a couple of hours, and reserve a couple more hours for questions. Ask each vendor to provide a samGetting started

Ask potential vendors for customer references from both the customers IT and legal departments.

ple of its product for lab testing. Eliminate any incompatible products. By this time, you may have narrowed it down to only a few vendors. Let them know that your selection is imminent, and invite each vendor to install its product in a test environment to prove that it really works. Call each vendors technical support personnel to see how well they respond to your questions. Be sure to test management applications and recovery procedures. Just because a system can save messages does not guarantee it is easy to use. Ask potential vendors for customer references from both the customers IT and legal
Selecting a vendor and a product

departments. A good reference call can be more informative than any product demonstration or pilot program. You have an opportunity to get real-world experiences from actual users of the product. Be sure to ask for the good and the bad. Its also important to seek references that are customers of similar-sized enterprises and in similar industries or regulatory environments. Notify all vendors of their status and invite the selected vendor onsite to kick off the implementation phase.

11
Implementing and deploying the product

Gathering requirements

chapter 1 Email-archiving project roadmap

PHASE 4: Implementing and deploying the product

The implementation and deployment phase will echo the structured process used throughout product selection. Start with a pilot installation so that you can focus on a small subset of the environment. This should go smoothly, assuming that the product-selection process was thorough. Let the system run for a while to ensure it provides the required functionality. Divide the environment into logical segments for a phased deployment. Most likely, it wont be practical to turn on the archiving system for the entire enterprise. This is not the time for product-configuration testing. Instead, phased deployment reduces the workload on the implementation team, which cannot be expected to turn everything on at once. It
Getting started

also allows the team to repair any bugs found in the initial phases. Create or update a corporate records management (RM) policy for email retention. You can develop the policy in advance or in parallel with the productselection process. Address the following questions: When should a message be moved from the inbox to longer-term and more structured storage? When, if ever, should the company delete email messages from its system? How should the archive manage content according to established policies? How will records be classified? Records can be assigned categories and retention periods can be managed based on multiple criteria.
Selecting a vendor and a product

Should email be categorized in the archive manually through the use of managed folders that have specific retention periods associated with them? Will you use auto classification, where email messages are automatically assigned categories based on content or metadata?

Create or update a corporate records management (RM) policy for email retention. Develop the policy in advance or in parallel with the product-selection process.

13
Implementing and deploying the product

Gathering requirements

chapter 1 Email-archiving project roadmap

As deployment proceeds, educate employees on the new system. They must understand the companys policies for email archiving, including any new or updated policies and procedures associated with the new email-archiving system. In many cases, email-archiving systems remain transparent to users and eliminate email quotas. Train users on available features. Once the system is running, audit its performance through a series of tests. Create a plan that tests the system thoroughly, includ-

ing recovery of message sets. Ensure that the number of messages entering the system is the number thats expected. Be sure that deleted messages are removed from the system. When planning an emailarchiving project, consider all potential business drivers The product that is eventually chosen should help ensure policy compliance, reduce the time it takes to archive messages and lower the cost of the litigation discovery process, enhance productivity and decrease storage costs.

About the author

Kathryn Hilton has worked in technology for more than 20 years as an industry analyst for Gartner Inc. and for several large storage companies. Hilton received a bachelor of arts degree in business economics from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and a masters degree in business administration from the University of Colorado Leeds School of Business. She is currently the consulting manager at Contoural Inc., a provider of business and technology consulting services that focuses on litigation readiness, compliance, information and records management as well as data storage strategy.
Implementing and deploying the product

SearchExchange.com Cathleen Gagne, Editorial Director, cgagne@techtarget.com Margie Semilof, Executive Editor, msemilof@techtarget.com Michelle Boisvert, Features Editor, mboisvert@techtarget.com Martha Moore, Copy Editor, mmoore@techtarget.com Linda Koury, Art Director of Digital Content, lkoury@techtarget.com Jonathan Brown, Publisher, jebrown@techtarget.com Peter Larkin, Senior Director of Sales, plarkin@techtarget.com TechTarget, 117 Kendrick Street, Needham, MA 02494; www.techtarget.com

14

Getting started

Gathering requirements

Selecting a vendor and a product