Archiving for Compliance

Normally, ArtiSan would be configured to scan and archive end-user mailboxes. This has the benefit of archiving items such as Word documents that have been "dropped" into the mailbox by the mailbox owner, even though they have not been sent or recieved via mail. Item stubs for these documents work as normal, allowing the administrator to optimise the Exchange store by removing these items to the archive. However, by default, these archives do not contain mail that is being edited (in the Drafts folder) or mail that is deleted by end-users between scans. Consequently, such an archive cannot be used for compliance as it is not a complete record of all mail transactions between users.

ArtiSan has two special features that can be used to create a mail archive for use in compliance.

ArtiSan can be used to archive the Journal account. In this model, the administrator would set up a mailbox specifically for journalling all messages in each Exchange store. As messages are passed between users, including to and from external users, a copy of the message is placed in the journal mailbox. By ensuring the journal account is included in archive scans, a complete record of all transactions in the mailbox store can be maintained in the archive. In some cases, customers only want to maintain the journal archive and not scan user mailboxes, because the only purpose of the installation is compliance. Archiving a journal does not affect the users display and use of their own mailbox and so the collection of mail content is hidden from the end-user. Normally, administrators also configure the journal account to delete messages after a fixed number of days using the Exchange Mailbox Management process. However, this leaves the possibility that an item is not archived before the scheduled deletion. As an alternative, ArtiSan can be configured through rules to automatically delete items a set number of days after they have been successfully archived. By staggering the archival and deletion of messages within the journalled mailbox, the administrator can ensure that scheduled full backup cycles occur prior to item deletion.

ArtiSan is also able to archive content from public folders. This allows the customer to use the public folders as a repository for shared files and other information which would form part of the archive. ArtiSan maintains the security of access to the items from the public folders by simply checking access to the public folder from which they originated. Consequently, changes to the client permissions on a public folder are always reflected in the archive.