Chapter 13: Implementing Managed Folders and Managed Records

Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 implements messaging resource management to help retain messaging content that your organization may need for business or legal reasons, as well as to delete messages that are no longer needed. You specify the retention period and the types of messaging content to which management settings should apply using managed folders. A managed folder is simply a Microsoft Outlook folder to which retention policies can be applied. Messaging records management is configured globally for your Exchange 2007 organization and implemented on a per-server basis by enabling records management enforcement.

Introducing Messaging Records Management

Exchange Server 2007 uses two types of managed folders: managed default folders and managed custom folders. Managed default folders include the standard folders available in Outlook 2007. Managed custom folders are additional folders that you can create and deploy.

You can work with managed folders in several ways. If you want to control the contents of managed folders, you apply managed content settings. For example, you can apply managed content settings to the Inbox folder, specifying that Exchange Server should automatically delete or move its contents to another folder after 90 days. Although managed default folders appear in Outlook 2007 automatically, managed custom folders do not. To add a managed custom folder to a mailbox, you must create a Managed Folder Mailbox policy that deploys the folder. You can use a single Managed Folder Mailbox policy to deploy multiple managed custom folders.

Users add messaging content to managed folders according to the written policies of your organization. For example, you might have a Pending Approval folder used to track team or project messages that require approval prior to being sent. After a user receives permission to send a pending message, she should send out the message to her team, and then place a copy of the message in the Approved Messages folder. You might also have a Legal Hold folder for messages and documents that users are legally required to hold for a certain period. You might want to automatically manage these items by creating copies and then deleting them when they are no longer needed.

By automating records management, Exchange Server 2007 helps your organization comply with legal requirements while minimizing the impact on administrators. The process relies on users to classify their own messaging content. Users can file items by placing them in the managed folder that is appropriate for that type of content, or messaging content can be sorted into the appropriate folder by using rules in Outlook 2007 or Outlook 2003. This ensures that messaging content is classified according to users’ wants and helps eliminate the mishandling of messaging content that can occur with completely automated messaging management solutions.

Managed folders are similar to the other folders in users’ mailboxes, except that users cannot remove, rename, or delete the folders after Exchange Server has deployed them. The only exception is when you've set up a hosted Web services site that allows users to select the managed folders they want to use. You can create hosted Web services for managed folders using the Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Software Developers Kit (SDK).

Exchange Server periodically processes messaging content that users put in managed folders according to the retention policies you define. You can configure retention policies by content age and by message type, and you can apply them to any of the folders in user mailboxes. When messages reach a retention limit, Exchange Server can retain required messaging content and delete unneeded messaging content without requiring administrator intervention.

You can retain any messaging content that you want to keep by applying managed content settings that create journal copies of the content in another location. This can be any location with a Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) e-mail address, including another Exchange mailbox.

You can configure Exchange Server to delete any messaging content that is no longer needed by specifying a deletion action. You can delete content permanently or delete it so that users can still recover it. You can also move content to a managed folder that is set up for user review prior to deletion, or you can mark content as Expired in the user's mailbox in Outlook 2007. This, in turn, ensures that the user is prompted to take any required action.

When you apply managed content settings, you can also specify that messaging content should be journaled. A journal is an automatically forwarded copy of an item saved in an alternate location. Typically, you'll journal copies of items to a mailbox specifically set up for this purpose. You can use journaling to help your organization meet additional compliance or regulatory requirements.