Manufacturer automates e-mail archiving

Lafarge Plasterboard Australia is implementing a records management solution that will enable the company to manage its unstructured documents within a single, scalable repository. The manufacturer has purchased modules of the AXS-One Compliance Platform to address both operational and compliance requirements, as well as records management needs.

One impetus for the deployment was a Sarbanes-Oxley audit that resulted in a recommendation that the company install an automation tool for archiving e-mails and other data.

"While compliance was an important reason for implementing the solution, we could also see considerable operational cost savings in a retention system that provides users with a self-serve arrangement to access their archived e-mails and documents," explains Steve James, Lafarge Plasterboard's IS manager.

With the company's old system, finding an e-mail could take 24 hours. For example, if the HR department or an employee needed an old e-mail or other file that had been archived to tape, IT support staff would have to find the right tape, physically retrieve it from an offsite storage depot, load it onto a server, search to find the right mailbox and then locate the desired e-mail. Sometimes the e-mail had been deleted.

When the new solution is installed for Lafarge's Lotus Notes e-mail server and multiple file and print servers in its offices around Australia, users will experience a speedier response because less data will be stored on the servers, according to AXS-One. Users also won't have to call the help desk for support as often, and the support team will benefit, too, because it will avoid the lengthy tape recovery process, AXS-One says.

James adds, "We expect a rapid return on investment with savings to be gained from a reduction of tape costs, support costs and productivity savings of approximately 15 minutes per day per mailbox user, which is a considerable saving. Because archiving will be an automated process, users will no longer need to manually archive documents and e-mails to free up space in the mailbox."

He continues, "And of course, all our e-mails and data will be there if and when we need them, which is particularly important for litigation purposes."