How we got here:

One of the problems which the email user and administrator have faced since the adoption of the first email platform has been the storage of the email data itself. The email user typically wants to keep far more data than the email administrator wants to provide storage for. When the email platform was first developed, it was designed as a transportation platform to convey messages from user to user. These first email platforms worked with what is known as an SMTP server. The name SMTP refers to the “Simple Mail Transfer Protocol” which was the basis of all of the email platforms in the market in the beginning. Even today SMTP is still supported for data transfers between organizations connected by the Internet. From these simple beginnings, email has grown to be a mission critical platform where users are now required to maintain huge volumes of business data.

This means that these transportation platforms are now operating as massive storage repositories with millions of messages and attachments. The user sees this data as a “business record” and understands the value it represents. The email administrator also understands the value of the items but as more and more data is generated issues have been encountered that they must contend with.

The major issue facing the email administrator is that these platforms have encountered performance issues when the storage requirements are greater than the underlying databases can handle. The problem now facing many organizations is that for years the administrators had to enforce mailbox size limits on the email users. To work around these limits the end user has had to rely on the Personal Storage file, known as a PST, to offload their data from the email server to remain compliant with the company’s email policies. To compound the issue, these PST files also run into issues when they grow too large and potentially end up being corrupt. This fear of corruption causes the user to create even more PST files in the environment. After years of unregulated use, many users have potentially dozens of PST files stored in home drives, local machines and even CD\DVD disks.

Legal Implications

One of the major issues that the organization now faces is that having these highly dispersed and unregulated data repositories representing a tremendous legal liability. In the face of a legal investigation, performing a valid discovery and response to these legal challenges without the full understanding of the scope of the data in the environment is virtually impossible. Organizations will get burned if they fail to get these unregulated data sources under control.

This means gathering up and reclaiming potentially terabytes of data and once again managing it in the email platform so the legal teams have visibility to it. Vendors such as Microsoft have worked hard over the years to address this issue and have made tremendous strides to manage greater volumes of data today. The major driver in these situations is to somehow locate, identify and catalog all of this data and for some discard what is no longer relevant or past retention best practice policies.

Like visiting and old abandoned attic – you know that there may be some treasured antiques up there but without sorting through everything, something of importance could easily be lost and that, in relation to email and legal issues could be a very costly mistake.

Project

The challenge of locating and controlling this data can seem completely daunting at first. Thankfully there are technology tools available that are up to the task in order to make this work more manageable. Certain tools allow the administrator to scan the local machines, network shares and to request the end user to identify CD\DVD disks with PST data. The scanning process is typically an involved one which in addition to simply locating these items the system, one must also identify the owner, past or present, to ensure that the data is properly cataloged. In many cases the organization may have also employed an email archive solution which can add another complexity to the project if the user mailbox was being stubbed and some of those stubs are now stored in PST files. The stubbing process is one where the archive system removes attachments and potentially shortens the email left in the mailbox for space savings. This stubbing required the user to interact with the archive when the user wanted to access an email. Many times users unknowingly moved many of these stubbed items into their PST files. This may require that the project to manage the PST files will need to address this stub remediation as part of this process as well. Understanding the full scope of the project is tantamount to achieving success in these complex projects and leveraging the right tool and partner is key.

Destination

With the PST data located, identified and possibly remediated, the next step is to understand where this data is going to ultimately reside. As mentioned, vendors now have live mail platforms which can handle the storage needs of today’s user. They offer a larger primary mailbox and the option for a separate archive mailbox to manage the overflow. These platforms can be offered as a cloud service such as Microsoft Office365 or as a premise offering such as Microsoft Exchange 2013/2016.

Methodology

Developing a sound process for a PST project is crucial. The steps must be properly choreographed and executed to ensure a sound project. This is where the experience and expertise of the migration partner comes into true focus. Understanding the intricacies of the various solution offerings on the market will ensure that the correct tool is utilized to maximize the effectiveness and accuracy of the project. A PST project is one that will surely take a lot of planning, testing and review to ensure success. Rushing into this type of project without a complete understanding of the environmental conditions will cause issues. Trying to recover from a project where user data was incorrectly migrated, the case of CEO’s PST going to the Marketing intern because names are similar or realizing that the PST files are full of stubs after the archive has been decommissioned will be truly painful.

Conclusion
The PST migration project is one that is a must complete to eliminate the chance of being burned by these files in the face of a legal challenge. Trying to navigate the legal waters with potentially thousands of unseen “mines” in the path will lead to disaster in a discovery situation. There are many places where when left unchecked, attempting to undertake a PST management project without the correct partner and toolset can lead to a very unsuccessful project. In contrast, having the right tool and the right partner is a recipe for success making the task much easier for you to complete.