Some of our general rules/guidelines are as follow:
User's are only responsible for keeping/cataloging the E-mails they sent
(Internal & External) and the E-mails they receive from outside the
agency (External only) which were created in connection with the
transaction of official business.
- This limits the users responsibilities, identifies the E-mail Record
Copy and minimizes the risk of having multiple copies of the same E-mail
kept/cataloged into the system
User's are only required to keep/catalog the last E-mail and all E-mails
with attachment(s) in a chain of E-mails.
- Again this is to minimize the risk of multiplication, without the loss
of any E-mail attachments.
All Transitory Messages (Records that are created primarily for the
communication of information, as opposed to communications designed for
the perpetuation of knowledge; Examples of Transitory Messages are: My
Phone number is 555.555.5555 or Meeting reminders) and Personal Messages
(Examples are: Discussion over lunch, out of work activities,
professional association correspondence or Health issues) can & should
be removed from you E-mail Account.
- This minimizes the risk of Junk E-mails being kept/cataloged into the
system and encourages the users to clear out their E-mail Accounts
No user should write anything in an E-mail that they would not write on
any other type of communication (Letter, Fax, etc..).
- This is a important point to be made during any training session. Too
often we hear about inappropriate E-mails hurting a Company or Agency.
_____________________________
We catalog E-mails into our EDRMS (TRIM Context), but for the purpose of
making the rules/guidelines a little more universal I changed the
language from simply "cataloged" to "kept/cataloged."
Furthermore I have the following recommendations:
I would disallow the use of fancy colorful backgrounds. The Extra
Storage requirement for one E-mail is not that much, but multiple that
by the thousands of E-mails the user will send out with the background.
I would work with IT on the setup of a "Public FTP Site" (Anybody
internally can add/view files and anybody externally can view files) and
a "Restricted FTP Site" (User Id & Password gets provided by a
administrator to give access to specific part of the restricted FTP
site.)
Limit incoming E-mails to a total of 5 MB
Have IT run a list of the E-mail Accounts with the current storage
requirements. With that information you can pinpoint who needs to be
encouraged to go through there E-mails and delete the ones that are
Junk, Personal or just not there responsibility to keep. With that
information you can also find out who is deleting simply all E-mails and
needs to be encouraged to keep the E-mails that were created in
connection with the transaction of official business.
Final comment: I recommend you to go with a User based E-mail Management
solution, if you go down the road of wanting to implement E-mail
Management solution. Server based solutions are not Records Management
solutions. They are quick solutions to the problem of archiving and
recovery, but provide no real Lifecycle Management.
MY 1 Cent (Sorry didn't have 2 to give)
Simon T. De Witt
Records Information Analyst
Tampa Bay Water
2575 Enterprise Road
Clearwater, FL 33763-1102
[log in to unmask]
-----Original Message-----
From: Records Management Program [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Singley, David
Sent: Thursday, March 15, 2007 11:17 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [RM] Email Reduction
All -
I have been asked to research ways to reduce the volume of emails our
employees send/receive in the course of business. I have found examples
of companies that have issued writing guidelines (be concise, don't copy
everyone, etc.) but am wondering if there is more that a company can do
to enforce appropriate email usage. Perhaps an application of some
sort. If any of you have been involved in implementing something
similar, or if your company has something in place, I would appreciate
your guidance.
David Singley
__________________________________________________
NNA Records Management Administrator
Corporate Policies and Records Management
Nissan North America, Inc.
*: 615-725-3147; Fax 615-725-9515
*: [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
List archives at http://lists.ufl.edu/archives/recmgmt-l.html
Contact [log in to unmask] for assistance
Tampa Bay Water scans all email for viruses,
worms, and inappropriate material and blocks email
deemed harmful or inappropriate. Email service is
provided to Tampa Bay Water users for business
purposes and is subject to public records laws.
List archives at http://lists.ufl.edu/archives/recmgmt-l.html
Contact [log in to unmask] for assistance
|
