ARCHIVING AND MANAGEMENT

Transcription

1 whitepaper ARCHIVING AND MANAGEMENT with SAPERION ELM for Exchange SAPERION AG October 21, 2013

2 Executive Summary EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The challenge has become enormously important over the past several years. It is used to verify agreements, exchange documents in the form of (signed) attachments, or simply as a way to communicate quickly. Sending an is still very easy, but keeping systems running has become increasingly complex. It is easy to underestimate the time and expense associated with tasks like administering servers and backups, separation of relevant from irrelevant s (and spam), and especially the proper handling of businessrelated messages. Additionally, in s were legally assigned the same importance as traditional commercial correspondence. Any s that contain tax-relevant or business-relevant information are subject to a retention period, during which time they must be properly stored and kept available within the context of a business transaction. For this reason, all companies must now put greater thought into how they manage their systems. However, integrating s into business processes and records not only ensures legal compliance, it can also boost efficiency. It is also possible to greatly simplify the structure of a company's information systems and significantly reduce the expense of maintenance. IT service providers and software companies have been examining this topic for several years and currently offer a variety of solutions that, at the very least, provide a way to deal with compliance issues. Their approaches differ not only in the functions offered, but also in the underlying strategy. Strategies differ in terms of the overall IT landscape as well as how they deal with processes and external systems. For this reason, finding the right solution is not a trivial matter for the managers of a company. A single piece of software can never cover everything related to management and legal compliance. An management strategy affects everyone at a company and must be coordinated with employee representatives. Processes that fall outside the bounds of IT also play a role in making it work. Without a detailed analysis of requirements, it is impossible to efficiently manage s over the long term. For these reasons, getting competent advice is very important. The concept must be adapted to the requirements of all involved parties and must address specific issues before a software solution can be implemented. With this in mind, this whitepaper will introduce the reader to archiving and management, particularly with respect to Microsoft Exchange. In addition, we will briefly discuss legal requirements, investigate the financial benefits of an management system, and introduce a few opportunities for savings. We will ex- 2

3 Executive Summary plain the approaches taken by archiving solutions and document management systems, reveal their benefits and drawbacks, and then compare them to each other. Finally, we will introduce one possible approach that uses the management solution SAPERION ELM for Exchange. We will present the user's view from the front-end and then take a look at backend requirements. Note: If interested in SAPERION's solution for management with Domino/Notes, please refer to: 3

4 Table of Contents TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 Motivation for archiving and management Legal requirements/compliance Opportunities for optimizing IT Acceleration of business processes 8 2 Strategic approaches archiving management Comparison 13 3 Implementation with SAPERION ELM for Exchange SAPERION ECM Suite SAPERION ELM for Exchange SAPERION ELM Intuitive user interface 17 4 Summary 21 4

5 Motivation for archiving and management 1 MOTIVATION FOR ARCHIVING AND MANAGEMENT SAPERION has completed more than 350 management projects during the past 10 years. These customers had a variety of requirements for their systems. Nevertheless, we can identify three major reasons why the majority of customers choose to launch an enterprise-wide management system. Three classic motivations Compliance The biggest factor remains the need to comply with legal directives. In particular, companies that receive electronic invoices with qualified signatures are under pressure to archive s according to specific guidelines. Optimization of IT Another important factor is the opportunity to reduce long-term costs by removing loads from the IT infrastructure. IT managers have a special interest in relieving productive servers without creating additional data silos. Acceleration of business processes While archiving has been the primary driver during the past few years, there is now increased motivation for implementing comprehensive information management. Integrating into the process chain provides many benefits, including lower costs and higher process speed. Summary Project clients are usually motivated by at least one of these three factors. The challenge is to recognize additional opportunities for a well-planned management system and discover how the customer can extract the highest possible benefit. When launching an management solution, the goal should always be to kill several birds with one stone. 5

6 Motivation for archiving and management 1.1 Legal requirements/compliance Extensive legal requirements represent the primary reason for having an archiving system. Legislation in this area has been greatly expanded and amended in the past 10 years. In Germany on 1/1/2007, for example, s were declared to be equal to commercial letters, a change with enormous importance. Assigning the same legal status to s as commercial correspondence means that s with certain content are subject to retention requirements. In other words, if an contains business-relevant information, it must be preserved exactly like a letter that is delivered through the postal service. The same applies to deletion requirements stipulated in privacy laws. Applications sent by , for instance, must be deleted after a certain period of time. Targeted retention of information falls under "records management", which goes beyond just proper retention of s and deals with the retention and destruction of all types of documents that have the character of a "record". More detailed information can be found in our Technical Info paper titled "Records Management". Retention obligations and privacy 1.2 Opportunities for optimizing IT Another reason to launch an archiving system is the high potential for optimizing IT efficiency. There are many distinct aspects to this. The most important include: + User acceptance + Storage costs Single Instance Exchange Server performance Generally speaking, each of these aspects has potential for improvement. However, they are greatly dependent on which server components are used, availability requirements, and the versions of Exchange Server and Outlook. In terms of the client, the more objects ( s in this case) that must be administered in a mailbox, the slower those objects can be displayed in the mailbox. Depending on the hardware used at the workstation, a few hundred s may be enough for the user to notice a delay in how fast the objects are displayed. Large mail databases with high numbers of objects will also adversely affect performance of the mail server. The amount of storage space that is utilized will also go up. It is common for employees to collect thousands of objects each year, deleting them only in extraordinary situations. As a consequence, their mailboxes swell to several gigabytes in size. Let's look at a typical, medium-sized company with 500 employees and average length of employment of three years. Such a company would have the following statistics: Mail server performance Employee habits 6

7 Motivation for archiving and management main users: each receiving 35 and sending 25 s per day normal users: each receiving 15 and sending 10 s per day + 50 small-scale users: each receiving 10 and sending 5 s per day Example calculation If we assume an average size of 300 kb, this equates to more than 3 TB of data. Such tremendous volumes of data adversely affect performance and result in high storage costs. Although the most recent versions of Microsoft Exchange Server (2007, and 2010) have attempted to address these problems, they remain issues of concern. Customers who are still using Exchange Server 2003 or 2007 will benefit most from reducing the number of objects and their storage requirements. Every terabyte that is saved makes a noticeable difference in expenses, especially when a highuptime Exchange scenario is demanded. Considering the extreme importance of s in modern business, doesn't this apply to every company? High-uptime scenarios using Exchange Server 2007 were commonly very expensive (SAN infrastructure with terabyte expenses of around 10,000), but a system based on Exchange Server 2010 can be implemented for much less. However, this comes at the expense of single-instancing (multiple filing of s and attachments) and swapping of archive mailboxes to more economical storage. In addition, off-line access to s in the "Exchange Archive" is no longer possible. At the same time, input/output operations have become much more efficient, so it is no longer necessary to have the fastest possible hard drives. Because of a lack of single-instancing with Microsoft and the inability to swap archive mailboxes to more economical storage, additional external archiving continues to be a source of potential savings for server storage and client performance. However, the potential is not quite as great as with earlier versions. This is because the use of Database Availability Groups (DAG) allows us to forgo expensive RAID systems, which had been used to achieve greater data security and availability. SAPERION ELM resolves this problem by placing s, including attachments, into a corporate archive. Placing documents into an archive not only reduces loads The benefits of reducing the number of objects and lower storage needs 7

8 Motivation for archiving and management on the server, but also conserves storage space through SAPERION's singleinstancing and compression. Another important benefit is that end-users experience improved response times Acceleration of business processes Perhaps the greatest potential for optimization when launching an management system is the integration of s into business processes. Modern corporations should aim to centrally archive all documents related to a process or a customer and maintain those documents in a uniform way. Just about every one of a company's organizational units will communicate with customers at one time or another. At the same time, there are many different sources of customer-relevant information, as shown below. Customer-relevant sources of information: + Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system with order, delivery, and invoice data + Customer databases + Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system with activity history + Contract archive + Regular mail + Faxes + Project documentation + Telephone calls + s Having the ability to display all types of information associated with a customer in a single, uniform way (usually in the form of records) is extraordinarily helpful for executing processes quickly. Instead of wasting time locating information in several different applications, employees can concentrate on their primary responsibilities. Even paper-based documents should be archived in electronic records in order to enable rapid and instantaneous access. Incidentally, eliminating a paper archive Electronic records: Systematic and central archiving / 2 8

9 Motivation for archiving and management also reduces expenses associated with storage, including administrative costs, rent, and material. Once data is archived electronically and with a logical structure, establishing an IT-supported workflow becomes relatively easy. In other words, when s are viewed as business-relevant documents (and not just a cost center) they can be integrated into electronic records and even serve as a trigger for workflows. An example of this, taken from an actual customer scenario, is the online application for an insurance policy. Completed forms are ed to a catch-all address where they are automatically classified and archived. When required, they trigger a workflow. The person responsible for handling each situation receives workflow notifications such as "Cancellation", "Contract change", "Complaint", or "New contract", including the and form data. By referencing the customer number, the customer record can be retrieved in addition to the most recent . With this approach, common business cases can be completed several times faster than before. A call center provides another illustrative example. When serving customers over the telephone, it is extremely important that a call-center agent can quickly retrieve the customer's file in order to avoid long waiting times. Such information may include order data, delivery dates, or service contracts in addition to s that have been exchanged with the customer or internal people. If such information can be accessed jointly with a single search query, the time needed to handle customer issues will be shortened tremendously. Having complete information also improves the quality of the final results. As we have seen, an management solution within the context of a document management system can facilitate centralized management of information and s. But it is also capable of much more. For example, workflow mechanisms like follow-ups and escalations can greatly shorten process throughput times. Strategic approaches. Example: online applications Example: call center Shorten throughput times 9

10 Strategic approaches 2 STRATEGIC APPROACHES According to literary great Friedrich Schiller, "It is only by show of advantage that the world is governed. In this spirit, let's take a look at the advantages of launching electronic records archiving archiving systems are available in the form of "appliances". They are characterized by a low purchase price and are often preconfigured so they can be set up without major costs. archiving systems have a more narrow focus than management solutions. Solution strategy The purpose of the solution is to move s from the mail server to more costeffective, long-term storage, thereby relieving the mail server of heavy loads. In many cases, the archive can be searched through a Web-based interface. Besides removing loads from the mail server, compliance is another important factor. s are removed to an external storage medium without the risk of revisions and then protected through the granting of access rights. Appliances often do not focus on classification, rules, or retention management. Furthermore, they are not able to integrate s into an enterprise-wide document management system or generate electronic records. Objectives: Remove loads from mail server and ensure legal compliance Architecture Due to the monolithic nature of appliances, they typically have one piece of software that queries inboxes on the server, whether those are journal inboxes or user inboxes. The software indexes s that are subject to archiving and administers archived objects in a database. Most of the time, the is deleted from the server or replaced by a link. When the user wishes to retrieve the , a connection is established to the archive server, thereby making the accessible for the client. Sometimes s are accessible through a research client that is installed locally as a fat client or is accessible as a thin client through a browser. The user is then usually able to search by full text or keywords or enter search terms into specific fields, similar to the search function in Outlook. Functions: Archiving and research 10

11 Strategic approaches 2.2 management In management systems, s are handled primarily as useful documents and are therefore archived without risk of revisions, integrated into workflows, and distributed to relevant workstations. Additionally, s are assigned to records and examined for authenticity when provided with electronic signatures. Strategy Instead of focusing on the expense of s, management systems treat s like genuine documents that are useful for the completion of processes. This is achieved through rules-based archiving that handles different types of s in distinct ways. Existing rules-based archiving is often supplemented by a powerful analysis component that references a set of learned data in order to put s into appropriate classes. Depending on their class, s can then be forwarded to a variety of workflows that take them directly to the person responsible for the relevant process. When the workflow has been completed, the is archived together with index data in the appropriate customer or project record, for example. Once in an electronic file, the is associated with other business data such as SAP documents, contracts, Office documents, or CRM documents. The objective of the solution is to administer all enterprise data in one centralized location. Ultimately, users are given the ability to instantaneously retrieve all of the documents related to a particular business transaction, regardless of the original source of the information. Objectives: Integrate s and assign them to business cases With electronic records you can centrally administer all enterprise data Architecture Most management systems, including SAPERION ELM for Exchange, are characterized by the architecture described below. The server component is responsible for rules-based and journal archiving. An administration application defines and administers all automated processing steps and performs general system administration of the management system. An Outlook add-in allows the user to interact directly with the management system and provides full-text search capability, restores archived s, and handles forwarding, revisions, and manual archiving. At the back end, the DMS/ECM system (see figure below) administers archived s as well as all other archived data from external systems. Indexed business documents (including s) are placed in the proper records in accordance with their context, giving the user a uniform view. Furthermore, incoming s can likewise be forwarded into workflows for processing according to a specific chain of events. Functions: Automated process steps, customer and project records 11

12 Strategic approaches Schematic depiction of options for lifecycle management SAPERION ECM Compliance Suite Overview Summary The flexible architecture of management systems and the document-based approach enable companies to adapt the software to their specific requirements. An management system gives companies the certainty that all documents relevant for a business situation are centrally located and easily accessible. Additionally, all other channels of incoming documents can be included, such as scanners, fax machines, Office applications, ERP systems, or Sharepoint. Only with these Centralized archiving, efficient access, accelerated processes 12

13 Strategic approaches capabilities, is it even possible to fully exploit the information that already exists within the company. management systems also provide the tools needed to fulfill compliance obligations. s are stored without the risk of revisions and in consideration of minimum retention times. Access lists ensure that only authorized people have access to s. 2.3 Comparison archive solutions commonly provide a cost-effective way to get started quickly. They remove loads from the mail server and move data to (non-revisable) media. However, the latest generation of Exchange Server makes removal of loads less important than before. Prices for storage are falling faster than the volume of is increasing. High uptime and security against failure can be achieved economically with technologies like the DAGs in Exchange 2010, so removing loads from the mail server is less important than before. However, compliance and process optimization continue to be very important subjects. The first step in an management project is usually to ensure compliance. This is purely a matter of archiving and can be achieved with solutions designed to either archive or manage . However, unlike archiving solutions, management systems with integrated DMS are very flexible when it comes time to expand the system to an enterprise-wide DMS. They permit step-by-step expansion of functionality and components. Therefore, over the long term they are not only more economical but also more adaptable to customer requirements. If additional features like ERP, CRM, or portal integrations are desired at a later date, the DMS usually provides a solid foundation for a more extensive system; relevant interfaces are often available in the standard product. Relieving the mail server is less important than before Summary Integration of s into business processes facilitates collaboration and reduces the amount of time spent searching for information and executing processes. This is the meaning of Simply Managed. 13

14 Implementation with SAPERION ELM for Exchange 3 IMPLEMENTATION WITH SAPERION ELM FOR EXCHANGE SAPERION ELM for Exchange provides management functionality for Microsoft Exchange Server. As a result, s assume their rightful place as useful documents for process execution. The solution consists of two components, each with dedicated tasks: + SAPERION ELM for Exchange as an management add-on + SAPERION ECM Suite as a document management system (DMS) Focus on compliance and process optimization These two components are explained in more detail in the following sections. 3.1 SAPERION ECM Suite As a document management system, SAPERION forms the core of the solution. Ideally, content of all types will be located in this DMS, whether contracts; customer correspondence; invoices; project records; graphical images; Office documents like Excel calculations, PowerPoint presentations, or form letter templates in Word; SAP data, or of course s. Within SAPERION ECM, these documents can be brought into the context of a business transaction, run through workflows, receive signatures, or be processed in other ways. At the same time, SAPERION ensures that documents are retained for the long-term without risk of manipulation and without unauthorized access. Revision mode in SAPERION keeps track of all changes and ensures that the history of the document can be retraced at any time. Additional information about other DMS-related topics such as inbound mail processing, business process management, encryption and signatures, and SAPERION integrations into Microsoft and SAP are available in other whitepapers: The DMS is the core of the solution 3.2 SAPERION ELM for Exchange SAPERION ELM for Exchange connects the Microsoft Exchange Server to SAPERION ECM Suite. With this component, there are three ways for s to get into the DMS: + Server-side jobs, including Journal archiving + Manual archiving + Outlook Manual re-indexing and assignment to business cases without multiple archiving. 14

15 Implementation with SAPERION ELM for Exchange Architecture of SAPERION ELM for Exchange Related laws do not require that s be archived in a specific way. Instead, there is a great deal of room for interpretation. As a result, companies have the flexibility to decide which approach works best for them. The three main options are described in greater detail below. Specify user groups Server-side, rules-based archiving Server-side archiving involves the definition of "jobs". Jobs define which group of users (mailboxes) and which folders within the mailboxes will be monitored. Each job can define whether only the outbox, only the inbox, or both will be monitored. It is also possible to ignore specific folders within a mailbox, for example all folders that begin with "Private". Scripts for jobs make it possible to archive only certain groups of recipients. For example, you can choose to archive only those s that have at least one external recipient. Set time intervals and archives Rules-based archiving SAPERION ELM for Exchange offers several different options for defining the criteria according to which s will be archived. The age and size of s are standard criteria for archiving. In addition, the software can react to all of the properties provided by Microsoft. For example, it is possible to archive only those objects that contain a particular string in the subject line, were sent to a particular group of recipients, or were moved to a specific folder. A combination of individual options or negation (an object will not be archived if it meets certain criteria) are also possible. Once the criteria have defined which objects will be archived, it is necessary to configure how the objects will be handled in the Exchange server. The following options are available. Refer to the screenshot: + Keep original The will be archived according to the criteria and the original will be left on the Exchange server. 15

16 Implementation with SAPERION ELM for Exchange + Delete original The will be archived according to the criteria and deleted on the Exchange server. + Create shortcut The will be archived according to the criteria and replaced by a stub/shortcut on the Exchange server. Double-clicking on the stub in Outlook loads the original object from the archive and presents it to the user. Retention Once you define which s should be archived and how, the next step is to specify time intervals. Time periods are based on each company's requirements. After target mailboxes and timeframes have been defined, the next step is to select the archive in which the s will be stored and determine whether they will go through a workflow. Alternatively, s can be processed further using the plug-in API described below. Manual archiving Manual archiving is performed by the user and can take place in addition to automated, job-based archiving. If the company decides to use the "all or nothing" approach to archiving, users will also be able to assign relevant s to customer or project records in the SAPERION client. It is also possible to transfer an to a workflow, process index data, or manually trigger retention. The user archives manually on a case-by-case basis 16

17 Implementation with SAPERION ELM for Exchange Journal archiving Versions 2003 and above of Exchange Server contain a Journaling function. Journaling lets the user additionally file all inbound and outbound s in a "Journaling" mailbox before delivery. However, this also means that the volume of information in storage will double. In addition, Journal mailboxes quickly fill up. To relieve loads on these mailboxes, it is advisable to archive the Journal in addition to rules-based and manual archiving. Journal archiving takes full advantage of our archiving solution. SAPERION ELM utilizes a single-instance mechanism, so any s sent to a distribution list will be placed into storage only once. Relieve the mailboxes Plug-in API: Automated processing SAPERION ELM offers a plug-in API for collaboration with third-party tools. These may include: Additional processing options + Classification engines + Rendering engines + A signature application's verification services + Verification service of a PDF/A tool + Rules engines In addition to existing SAPERION ELM mechanisms, these engines or services make it possible to automatically put s into the correct processes, check signatures, or render s and attachments into the proper format for long-term retention. Although SAPERION recommends certain classification engines and verification services, customers can also choose to create their own custom extensions to meet their own specific requirements or use a plug-in interface to connect an existing engine. 3.3 SAPERION ELM Intuitive user interface The following section provides a brief overview of the user interface. Archiving made easy Archiving When archiving manually, the user interacts directly with the system. The user selects the s that he or she wishes to archive and then triggers archiving by pressing the "Archive" button provided by the Outlook add-in (see figure below). 17

18 Implementation with SAPERION ELM for Exchange User's inbox with archived in the preview. The modified icon indicates that archiving was successful. In the Outlook preview, the body of the will remain visible (depending on the configuration), but attachments are replaced by placeholders. When the is opened, attachments are retrieved from the archive and displayed. If archiving is performed through defined jobs or Journal archiving, the user will see nothing of the archival process because it is performed automatically at the server. A modified icon indicates successful job- and rules-based archiving. Any can be quickly archived without the risk of revisions by clicking on the "Archive" button. 18

19 Implementation with SAPERION ELM for Exchange Retrieval If a user would like to edit or forward an archived to an external person, she must simply double-click on the archived object in order to restore it, including attachments in the original format. The add-in also enables permanent restoration. Full-text searches of bodies and attachments with list of results Full-text searching with the SAPERION ELM Outlook add-in allows users to find s not only by referencing text in the body of the message, but also through full-text analysis of attachments. The user simply enters a keyword and a list of results appears. The s can be opened directly from the list and then processed as desired. Workflows If a workflow is initialized for an during archiving in SAPERION, the next person responsible for the workflow will automatically receive his task in his SAPERION Workflow Inbox. 19

20 Implementation with SAPERION ELM for Exchange SAPERION client Each user views her inbox with archived s, including folder structure She then has access to all SAPERION Workflow functions such as "Edit", "Followup", or "Change index data". As a result, s, like all other documents, can pass through pre-defined workflows, whether this is an application process, an invoice approval process, or the generation of a price quotation. The SAPERION Workflow product is described in greater detail in the white paper titled "Business Process Management BPM": P_SAPERION_BPM.pdf 20