Renee, welcome to a "newbie"!  Email should be a transitory system.  That is a fair description.  However, in most cases it also becomes an information repository.  The best email systems do two things.  First, they provide seamless flow of email (sent and received) into a true repository such as an Enterprise Content solution or a Document Management solution.  Second, they restrict the user of the email system by limiting either the size of the user's storage or limit the time content will stay in the email system, thus forcing the user to make decisions about migrating content that needs to be retained.

Now to your second point; email, like any other information, may or may not be a record.  You can no more determine to get rid of all or keep all based on the location of the information.  Think of it like a physical records center with thousands of files.  You would assign retention to each file based on the content of that material, not because of where it is stored.  What does each email contain?  That is the key to your solution.

There is no easy solution here.  Years and years of neglect will not be corrected simply by destruction.  I suggest that you do several things:

1. Make a decision about limiting users to what they can have in their email either by volume or duration.
2. Create an archiving environment for the current massive backlog of existing email.
3. Provide integration from the email environment to a proper storage and management environment such as ECM or DM.  There you can profile the email and manage it with Information Governance tools.
4. Make a project out of the archived email.  This is going to be the tough and expensive project.  There is good news.  The fact that many of your users have created taxonomy within their email means that they can easily identify much of the content.  This can help in determining what is out there and where it should go.  Much of it will be eligible for immediate destruction as it is identified.

I know I have made it very simple.  It isn't.  But the point is that there are solutions and there is a right way to get it done.  First you stop the "bleeding" by putting the right environment in place and then you begin cleaning up the legacy information.  What would it be worth to your organization to know that at some point the email is under control?

There are many good resources and experts on this.  Check the Listserv archives as well as this topic is discussed from time to time.  And last but not least, be sure to write a message to the Listserv at some point to let us know how your project is progressing.  We would love to learn from your success!


David B. Steward, CRM IGP
Director of Records
 
HUSCH BLACKWELL LLP
4801 Main Street,Suite 1000
Kansas City, MO 64112-2551
Direct:   816.983.8860
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