Linda posted on May 27, 2008 14:13
Last week I attended a conference where one of the topics was email archiving. Changes to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP) that took effect in late 2006 outline the rules for eDiscovery. These changes stipulate that parties involved in a civil lawsuit can be required to find and produce electronic documents, including email and Word documents.
As a small business owner myself, I tend to just assume that my company isn't big enough to worry about things such as FRCP, but obviously I can find myself in court just as easily as anyone else. And certainly if an email message supports my contentions, I would like to be able to produce it in court.
Should you find yourself party to a lawsuit, the new rules mandate a conference to consider electronic discovery plans within the first 100 days of the life of a case. There are also potential sanctions if electronic evidence is destroyed and companies must have in place solid data retention policies and practices and litigation hold procedures when it comes to information that could be appropriate for discovery.
With these changes in mind, it is important to understand that traditional backups are strictly a picture of a particular point in time. If you receive an email at 10am and delete it at 11am, it will not appear in your inbox on tonight's backup. If you are using Microsoft Exchange, the retention policies you have set should prevent its complete elimination that same day, but finding it again in the event that it is germane to a lawsuit will likely be very expensive.
If your company conducts business via email, as many of us do, it is wise to consider some type of email archiving system. These systems are indexed, making it easy to find related messages quickly and easily.
You should also consider a backup system that provides more than just a nightly snapshot with tape or disk rotation. A good system will allow you to go back to specific times, allowing you to recover information that may have existed only briefly.
There are many solutions to address both of these needs and a reputable technology company can work with you to find cost effective solutions that fit your needs.