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What are your Email Management platform-related requirements?

 These appear in a number of areas:

•  Messaging application and version.  Most organizations are standardized on a single type of email server.  Even if this is not the case, the requirements should state which application(s) and version(s) are to be supported.  For example: “The email archiving application shall archive all messages from within Microsoft Exchange 2007” or “The email archiving application shall support journaling from within Microsoft Exchange 2003 and 2007, including currently available service packs”. 
•  Email client application and version. This is not generally as important because so many of the email management solutions are either hosted or application servers, but for those that rely on client integration, or a plug-in, this can be critical.  For example: “The email archiving application shall allow users to determine which messages to save manually using Microsoft Outlook 2007 or IBM Lotus Notes 8.5.” 
•  Next, the requirements may specific which protocols and approaches must be supported.  This is less common simply because most organizations don’t know or really care which protocols are being used.  However, the challenge is that different protocols and approaches allow for different functionality.  For example, SMTP relays can interact with all messaging applications, and log shipping is only supported on Microsoft Exchange 2007 but provides robust capture of all changes to the Exchange database and can be used for disaster recovery, as well. 
•  Server operating system and version.  This is less important for most solutions but there are some that are required to run on Windows Server 2003, for example.  
• User operating system and version.  If there is a client or plug-in, it may not run on all operating systems – better to specify and ensure all supported operating systems are identified.  For example: The security client must run on Windows XP, Service Pack 2, and on Windows Vista Ultimate Edition.  Finally, some solutions require a relational database, for example, to store archived messages.  An organization that runs Oracle or Microsoft SQL Server should specify that the solution be compatible with the particular RDBMS and version that it is running.

Email Management technology solutions are very robust and comprehensive.  It is critical that you understand what your organization’s computer system, and email, platform consists of for these solutions to work well.

Tell us about your experience in implementing email management solutions in your organization.

Tell us of your efforts in integrating these solutions with your existing platforms.