mguhlin

What Email Archiving Solution for #GAFE #GoogleApps?


If your school is using GoogleApps for Education, what is the best email archiving solution?


This is a question a colleague asked me recently, and below is the best I could come up with after scanning a few zillion emails. What solutions am I missing that may be more effective?

Your mention of email archiving started me thinking…here are some solutions others have mentioned, and I have no preference for any archiving solutions at this time. Everything I’ve read points to Google’s Postini as the best solution for email archiving, though. Unfortunately, I don’t have a rubric or checklist of essential features. Have you all had the opportunity to develop one (check PDF for a start on criteria)?


Also, what is your district’s email retention policy (e.g. Judson ISD)? As I understand it, if you don’t have an email retention policy, it defaults to the Texas State Library and Archives Commission…

This schedule establishes mandatory minimum retention periods for records that are associated with Public School Districts. No local government office may dispose of a record listed in this schedule prior to the expiration of its retention period. A records control schedule of a local government may not set a retention period that is less than that established for the record in this schedule. Original paper records may be disposed of prior to the expiration of their minimum retention periods if they have been microfilmed or electronically stored pursuant to the provisions of the Local Government Code, Chapter 204 or Chapter 205, as applicable, and rules of the Texas State Library and Archives Commission adopted under those chapters. 

Actual disposal of such records by a local government is subject to the policies and procedures of its records management program.
Destruction of local government records contrary to the provisions of the Local Government Records Act of 1989 and administrative rules adopted under it, including this schedule, is a Class A misdemeanor and, under certain circumstances, a third degree felony (Penal Code, Section 37.10).  Anyone destroying local government records without legal authorization may also be subject to criminal penalties and fines under the Public Information Act (Government Code, Chapter 552).

With that serious block of text in mind, what possible solutions are available?

POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS
Cheap Email Archiving Workaround – You can find one in response to #3 at http://www.mguhlin.org/2011/04/debunking-6-googleapps-for-education.html


Enkive – http://www.enkive.org.  They are an open source e-mail archiving and ediscovery solution.  They state that they can work with Google Apps and encourage anyone interested to engage with their professional services to make it happen.  I think I read where it involves using a “gateway”, which basically has the mail flow through it and Enkive ties in with the gateway to capture the e-mail messages (both incoming and outgoing).

Postini – Available at a 66% discount to schools (although there is a minimum deal size for that of $1500). It is a cost per user per year. For more information and to contact sales see: http://www.google.com/postini/discovery.html

This is the solution most Tx tech directors members have reported using with GoogleApps (e.g. Bland ISD, Robert Lee ISD, White Oak ISD), and/or MS Exchange (e.g. Whiteface CISD).  Also, GoogleApps for Education also features a webinar here.




Update – Solutions Offered via Twitter
Thanks to the following for offering solution(s):








Image Source:

http://blog.policypatrol.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/emailarchive2.jpg

Get Blog Updates via Email!

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin’s blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

Discover more from Another Think Coming

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

10 comments

  1. Check out Gagglemail.com if you get a chance. Less expensive than postini with a better UI and more geared to school districts. Plus they archive your Docs, Calendars and Google Talk if you choose that option.

    Reply

  2. Check out Gagglemail.com if you get a chance. Less expensive than postini with a better UI and more geared to school districts. Plus they archive your Docs, Calendars and Google Talk if you choose that option.

    Reply

  3. As with most Google innovations, the problem or the challenge perhaps is not the new solutions that it offer, but the cost. There are various open source applications that are meant for digital preservation services that can be downloaded for free as trial versions.

    Reply

Leave a comment