Taming the email tsunami
For many organizations, email is a primary form of communication and collaboration both internally and externally.
It is not uncommon for organizations to have no rules for retention and disposal of emails, which accumulates years and terabytes of clutter on email systems and backups.
This is a challenge because unmanaged email results in:
Unrestricted growth in mailbox sizes and increasing storage needs
Important, valuable content is hidden in mailboxes and isn’t findable
Individuals using their mailbox as personal filing systems for content of all kinds including: personal social, personal private, reference material, multiple “convenience copies” of documents and other obsolete items, and the occasional corporate record
Group mailboxes that often live in perpetuity containing: multiple “convenience copies” and versions of documents, process or system transaction outputs, and the occasional corporate record
Wasted time dealing with email from departing employees
Wasted time and cost identifying email records for an FOI request
Wasted time looking for authoritative email in support of a business process or activity, in particular when trying to connect email and documents that are about the same topic and stored elsewhere
Potential of email being provided in scope of an FOI request that can be misinterpreted or positioned inappropriately without context by the media and other FOI requesters
Adopting an email strategy to mitigate the inherent risks in unmanaged email is an important element of an overall enterprise content management strategy.
An email strategy consists of the following core elements:
Policy foundation
Effective email management is rooted in information governance and supports an organization’s information and data policy objective and principles. To complement an information and data policy, direction is required to inform employees what they must do regarding email and to support email management.
Depending on an organization’s policy framework and context, that could be:
An addendum to the information and data policy, or directive for email specifically
A procedural or technical configuration standard for configuration of the technology supporting email management
A guideline with information and instructions to help users manage their email
An internal service to help and coach users
Part of the policy support includes defining and distinguishing transitory email from email records to provide the appropriate direction and guidance.
Constrain the container
Like content in any format, email management involves regularly removing redundant, obsolete and transitory email, identifying and retaining email records for as long as they are needed, making them findable for business and discovery purposes along with related documents, and disposing of them when they are no longer needed.
An important step is to apply some form of constraint to mailboxes.
Option 1: Mailbox size limits
Limiting the size of a mailbox is an approach taken by many organizations.
It helps manage the volume of email and space required, but does little to manage information risk since what is kept and what is deleted is up to the discretion of the user.
When employees receive the alert that their mailbox is full, they typically quickly “bulk delete” which could result in important records being deleted and other email being kept unnecessarily. In addition, the content of each user mailbox will be different based on individual choices.
Option 2: Date-based retention
A date-based approach applies a retention period universally across all mailboxes in the organization. This approach also reduces mailbox size and storage requirements, but applies the rule equitably across the organization, and ensures that all instances of email that meet the retention requirements are deleted.
Constraining the container is only the first step. Email records should be identified and declared, protected and retained, disposed or transferred to archives, exactly as, and along with, content in other formats that are about the same subject or topic.
Technology
There are three technology components to email management.
First is configuring the “blanket” retention policy in the email system. The retention period would be decided by senior management and identified in the appropriate policy instrument. A two-year retention period generally allows for most operational business cycles to conclude, while short enough to encourage users to move email records to the corporate repository and keep email volume down. If using Microsoft Purview, additional retention policies can set exceptions to these rules where merited, like retaining all C-suite mailboxes for a longer period.
The second component is a tool that makes it easy for users to move email from their mailboxes to their content management system. For example, Collabmail, Harmone.ie and Colligo provide the ability to move email from Exchange into SharePoint Online and preserve valuable email metadata. In most cases, email will be moved into the same spaces in SharePoint that contain other files related to the topic of the email. In a few instances, new spaces in SharePoint may be required.
Third is technology that enables retention management of email, and other related content in the corporate repository. In the case of SharePoint Online, examples for corporate repositories are Microsoft Purview and Collabspace.
Suspend service
To ensure important email records aren’t deleted and user productivity is not negatively impacted, a service is required to enable the temporary suspension of the retention rule.
There are two specific circumstances where this applies:
A freedom of information request
An employee on extended leave who is unable to move their email records into a corporate repository
Departmental leaders should be able to easily make this request, preferably through a service request system if available.
Transition, awareness and training
Introducing an email retention rule where none existed before in a medium to large-sized organization is a significant challenge given how connected people feel to their email and mailboxes.
Making the transition requires a deft change management approach, including:
Visible senior management support at the outset and throughout the period leading up to the implementation of the retention rule
Departmental awareness sessions outlining the problem, the approach, and what is expected of everyone, including how to identify email records and what to do specifically
Sufficient time for people to review their mailbox and move records; generally, 12 months
Frequent and regular reminders of the deadline, how to identify records and what to do about them
Monitoring and reporting progress (e.g. increase in .msg files in SharePoint and unexpected increase of .msg or .pst / .ost files on network drives):
To senior stakeholders and departmental leaders to share progress and engage them for additional support if needed
To everyone as a way of maintaining visibility and momentum
Training on how to use the technology that supports email management
Recommending an alternate location to store email for personal and reference purposes (like OneDrive)
A form of recognition for a “job well done” and to mark the end of the transition
A blended solution could be best
No two organizations are alike, though there are often commonalities.
The best solution might be one that includes a few complementary strategies.
For example, in any organization there are some mailboxes that are highly unlikely to contain records based on an individual’s position and role in the organization, while others are far more likely to. To complement the strategy above, you could use a product like Collabspace and an Exchange connector to automatically capture and classify all email from specific high value mailboxes. Or publish Purview retention labels to Exchange to enable users to classify emails in their mailboxes.
Note: These approaches help manage records, but do not make email more findable and associated with other related content about the same topic.
To choose the right approach, consider:
Your organization’s history with email and corporate culture
Mailboxes where records are likely to exist based on role and business process and other technologies in your organization
Content that is worth retaining for reference and learning value, not just as corporate records
Pick solutions that facilitate both records management and findability
Use technology to alleviate user burden wherever possible, but give users the option of taking action on their own
It really is about change
What makes email management challenging is that, in addition to being very inconsistent in subject, content and use, individuals place a lot of personal value on “their” mailboxes, even though the number of actual records that are in individual mailboxes is quite small. Most email is transitory, only needed for a short time and not needed as official evidence of business activity. Email records are generally related to core business, explain, justify or documents actions or decisions, and are NOT already captured elsewhere outside of the email system.
Helping people think of email and its use differently, and moving from current state thinking to a new way of working is the core challenge. A good change strategy is essential.
Fortunately, with the implementation of applications like Microsoft Teams with Chat and Channel features, there is naturally a gradual transition away from email for many types of communication. We can help evolve your email and information governance strategy.