Electronic Mail Management A-Z

Email Storage Management

The Personal Nature of Email

E-mail is a personal productivity tool E-mail is most effective when an

attorney can customize the environment to his or her own personal needs, including setting up folders

Policies that restrict an attorney’s ability to customize the e-mail environment seriously reduce the usefulness of this technology

Email is a growing problem!

Number of e-mails per day will grow from 9.7 billion in 2000 to 35 billion by 2005 (IDC).

E-mail has been growing at a compound annual growth rate of 300% (IDC).

By the end of 2004, e-mail data will require 230 petabytes of storage (IDC).

60% of business-critical data is now carried via e-mail (Gartner)

Porter Wright’s Environment

Primarily a regional law firm (Ohio) with 6 offices, 300 attorneys, 600 end-users

One Exchange 2000 server in each office

Columbus is our largest office with approximately 350 users

Single store, over 150 GB Largest mailbox is over 10 GB

Porter Wright’s Environment

Inbox, Sent Items and Deleted Items folders groomed monthly Messages older then the first day of the

previous month deleted

Messages in other folders are not deleted

Attorneys folder messages in user-created folders that are usually matter-based

Why are Attorneys Holding onto this Stuff?

General knowledge Matter-specific information Proof of a transaction (by definition, a

record) Business critical information

The Attorneys Point of View:

They have a legitimate need for holding onto these messages

They need a place to store these messages They need unfettered access to these

messages while the matter is open Printing these messages out and storing

them in the file is not an option (Gartner indicates that people already spend up

to 90 minutes per day managing their email).

I.T.’s Point of View:

E-mail storage requirements are growing exponentially

Backup, Recovery and Maintenance windows are growing

Very large message stores could lead to corruption resulting in extended periods of downtime

Firm’s Point of View:

Electronic records, including email, not being managed

Growing threat of costly litigation and discovery requests

Standard policies, consistently applied needed with respect to retention and disposition of electronic records.

So What Problem are We Trying to Solve?

Tactical solution for system health? (Storage Management)

Records management solution for Regulatory and Business Policy Compliance? (Records Management)

Collaborative solution for sharing information? (Knowledge Management)

So What Problem are We Trying to Solve?

Answer: For law firms which are generally not

under regulatory or legal constraints, the problem is largely tactical and the solution deployed should provide a means for maximizing system health. However, the records management implications should not be ignored.

The Ideal Solution:

Allows attorneys to folder messages in Outlook while the matter is open

Moves messages to a non-critical system after the matter is closed

Allows users to retrieve archived e-mails without assistance from a system administrator

Allows the Firm to apply consistent retention policies

The Ideal Solution:

Our Conclusion:The ideal solution integrates the e-mail

system with a Records Management System (RMS) so that messages can be easily moved from e-mail to the RMS after a matter has closed, where they can be subjected to retention policies specific to areas-of-law or even clients.

A Word about Managing Records

95% of all records are never accessed (ARMA, International 2003 Conference)

Direct implications for “mission criticality” of the RM systems (RMS)

• Views messages as dead letters Shifts perspective with respect to

performance requirements May not have to be good, just good enough

Regulatory Compliance

Forrester: E-mail archiving for regulatory and business policy compliance should be addressed by a broader group of stakeholders (not by messaging system infrastructure managers) ... end users should not be able to archive e-mail because they could delete or fail to archive messages that the organization is required to keep.

In other words, it is no longer an I.T. problem.

Options for Managing E-mail

Do nothing Apply severe mailbox restrictions PST Files None of the above

Improvements in server, backup, storage and software have allowed us to put this problem off, but the issue needs to be addressed.

Options for Managing E-mail

Document management systems (DMS)

Email archiving systems (EAS)Records management systems

(RMS)

Presentation of Options:

FeaturesPlayersExampleTrigger EventsProsConsBottom Line

DMS Features

Integration with email clientDrag-and-drop functionalityAuto-profiling of messagesServer-based rules for auto-

archiving Email addressable folders (carbon

copy)

DMS Players

Hummingbird (DM5) Interwoven (MailSite)Most DMs have some level of

Outlook integration (WorldDox, NetDocuments)

DMS Example:

DMS Trigger Events

At or close to the time the message is created or received

After the matter has closed (but you lose most of the “collaborative” benefits)

DMS: Pros

Familiar interfacePowerful search capabilities Create and manage an “electronic

matter file” (collaborative benefits)

DMS: Cons

Business processes may be lacking May “pollute” the DM As long as attorneys can create

folders in Outlook there will be little incentive for them to use the DM

You may be shifting the problem from one mission critical system to another

DMS: Cons

Messages may not be available off-line (laptop users)

Messages may not be available via OWA

Features may have “undesirable” effects on the DMS

Porter Wright’s Environment

DOCS Open 3.9.6 (moving to 4.0 later this year)

Stable!Overall, our attorneys are satisfied

with the current DMSDon’t want to mess with the DMS!

DMS: Bottom Line

While at first glance a good solution for email management, on closer inspection it is not likely going to solve the problem and may in fact shift it to another critical system. The collaborative features have merit but this is not the problem we are trying to solve!

DMS: Future Trends

Hummingbird has acquired Legal Key Interwoven has purchased LegalTrax DMs may evolve into enterprise content

management systems with integrated RM and DM functions, but when?

Question is whether firms will be better positioned by moving messages to the DMS or RMS now.

EAS: Features

Automatically archive messages based on a combination of parameters

Access to archive from web-browser or e-mail client via shortcut or “stub”

Multiple storage options (disk, optical, tape, WORM, emerging devices) – compressed storage

EAS: Features

Automate the capture and archive of e-mail messages entering and leaving the enterprise (including legal and regulatory retention)

Enterprise scalabilitySupport for secure storage

EAS: Features

Offer migration tools for PST filesTemporary offline local options

(local “vaults” for laptop users)Extensions for OWA

EAS: Features

Package or integrate with tools to manage the discovery process, narrowing the search and managing the steps needed to deliver records

Include basic records management features or integrate with a robust records management solution to manage the life cycle

EAS: Example

EAS: Example - KVS Explorer

EAS: Players

KVS, Inc.Zantaz EAS (formerly Educom)C2CEMC LegatoOthers …

EAS: Gartner Magic Quadrant

EAS: Trigger Events

Most likely date-based: Messages older then n number of days automatically archived and replaced with a shortcut

May be used to automatically capture messages on send and receive.

EAS: Pros

Robust and feature-rich technology designed specifically for e-mail archiving

Virtually seamless to end usersProvides a solid foundation for

most regulatory compliance requirements

EAS: Cons

Message stubs may be larger then messages they replaced!

Using stubs does not reduce the total number of messages on the server.

Messages are not categorized by client and matter. This solution may not conform to present or future records retention policies.

EAS: Bottom Line

Proven, scalable technology that solves the problem but may complicate future records management policies.

RMS: Features

Integration with e-mail client Messages are declared to the RM

system by the end-userMessages can be filed in batch and

saved directly to the client/matter record

Can be part of a larger electronic records management program

RMS: Example

RMS: Players

LegalKey (Hummingbird) Filesurf (MDY)

Others:AccutracTower Software?

RMS: Trigger Events

When the matter is closedWhen the user’s mailbox reaches a

threshold limit

RMS: Pros

Messages are retained in the e-mail client during the life of the matter

Messages are categorized by client, matter and possibly document type, allowing for granular retention policies

Messages are moved to a non-mission critical system

RMS: Pros

Vendors continuing development Filesurf has a solution that

combines with KVS and other technologies to provide a D.o.D certified solution for electronic records management.

RMS: Cons

Firm records management programs may not be well developed enough to support this solution

May not meet standards for formal Records Management program

Attorney resistance possible, even probable

RMS: Cons

Vendors may not be able to deliver a workable solution in time to address this problem Industry characterized by a number of

small companies, consolidation is anticipated (Forrester)

E-mail archiving only part of a larger electronic records management system (ERMS)

RMS: Example Problem

RMS: Bottom Line

When addressing the issue of email storage management, record management issues should not be ignored. To the extent that solutions come up short, “good enough” may be ok. Acquisitions in the industry suggest extensive future development.

Email Archiving: Future Trends

Forrester: As e-mail archiving becomes more commonly implemented as part of a broader records management initiative and software implementation, the onus for managing it will expand to include administrators from the content management group.

Email Archiving: Future Trends

The I.T. and Records Department are going to have to team up on this one

Firms that have not already done so should consider having the Records Department report to the C.I.O.

Strongly encourage you to join the new LawNet Records Management Peer Group!