I'd strongly suggest you ask them what specifically they are talking about
when they are asking about an "Email Archiving System", what it does, how
long it retains email, and what format it retains it in.

Many of these 'systems' are like a digital haystack... they simply keep a
copy of everything that comes in and goes out with no regard to content and
they keep it all for the same amount of time.

If your organization has a retention policy for records, it should be used
universally for all forms of information- whether it is in physical or
electronic formats, email, social media, websites... anything.  And it
should be based on the content of the information contained in the
record... not the container or method it was received in, or generated
from.

Most email 'archiving' products keep copies of everything, irrespective of
whether it's a record or not, and keep it for a fixed time, regardless of
the value of the content.  Much email is eithr not a record (and therefore
doesn't need to be retained at all) or has a limited (transitory) value,
and could be discarded in 180 days or less.

If users are trained to action their email (remove it from an inbox or sent
folder)
and place it in folders that are established to address the value of the
content and have an associated retention period, the volume of email being
retained is likely relatively low.  IF the email 'archiving' product it
trained to only make copies of this content AFTER it has been "acted upon",
then it may have a greater value and also less risk for your organization.

The problem with the 'digital haystack' type systems is while they MAY
simplify the process by not requiring employess to interact with the
content, they also become a great risk for an organization during a legal
discovery when required to 'produce all records related to XYZ'... if it is
proven you have a repository that MAY HAVE XYZ, it has to be searched.  And
if anything is discovered, it has to be produced.  If it's been retained
longer than it was required to, someone will need to explain somewhere
along the line WHO made this decision and WHY.

Larry
[log in to unmask]


On Fri, Oct 18, 2013 at 10:21 AM, Sergey Kovynev <[log in to unmask]>wrote:

> Dear colleagues,
>
> My IT people have asked me about my preferences on an email archiving
> system.
> I was offered a choice between Mimecast, Quest Archive Manager, and
> Microsoft
> Archive Manager. Also, they are open to other suggestions. I am not
> familiar with
> any of those systems. The search in the listserv's archive returned 2007
> as the
> most recent date. I suspect, things might have changed a bit since then :)
>
> Therefore, I would appreciate any feedback on the mentioned systems, or
> suggestions and comments on the subject in general. Thank you!
>
> List archives at http://lists.ufl.edu/archives/recmgmt-l.html
> Contact [log in to unmask] for assistance
> To unsubscribe from this list, click the below link. If not already
> present, place UNSUBSCRIBE RECMGMT-L or UNSUB RECMGMT-L in the body of the
> message.
> mailto:[log in to unmask]
>



-- 
*Lawrence J. Medina
Danville, CA
RIM Professional since 1972*

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