Spring ISD Case Study
Spring ISD, TX, Implements M+Archive to Reduce Storage Growth and to Achieve a Policy-Based Approach to Email Retention
Case Study
Client Since: 2008
Number of Users: 5000
Product:
M+Archive
Objective: Reduce storage growth and to achieve a policy-based approach to email retention.
Executive Summary
Established in 1935, the Spring Independent School District is located 20 miles north of Houston, Texas, is home to approximately 130,000 residents, and serves more than 34,000 students in 31 schools. For collaboration, Spring ISD relies on Novell GroupWise. In the summer of 2008, the IT Department moved its GroupWise platform from Netware to Linux. They also deployed Messaging Architects’ M+Archive to optimize the GroupWise message store and protect the school district against the potential high costs of electronic discovery.
Background
The Spring Independent School District was established in 1935 with the merger of two small thriving schools. Today, Spring ISD continues to grow in Harris County, 20 miles north of Houston, which spans 57 square miles and is home to over 130,000 residents. The District serves over 34,000 pre-kindergarten through twelfth-grade students in 31 schools. 2 more elementary schools are currently under construction and plans are being made to construct 4 more elementary schools, with funding approved by voters in 2007. To ensure excellent collaboration for the teachers and administrative staff, Spring ISD relies on Novell GroupWise. In the summer of 2008, the IT Department moved the GroupWise platform from Netware to Linux. They also deployed Messaging Architects’ M+Archive to optimize the GroupWise message store and introduce email retention controls to be protected against the potential high costs of electronic discovery.
Consolidating GroupWise and Overcoming the Challenges of an Exploding Message Store
In the summer of 2008, Spring ISD completed migration of their GroupWise system from NetWare to Linux. At that time, they also deployed M+Archive, Messaging Architects’ email retention and compliance solution. The M+Archive implementation was beneficial for optimizing the school district’s storage infrastructure and the consolidation of their Post Offices for most effective use and performance of the GroupWise system.
Steve Bell, PC Specialist and GroupWise Administrator at Spring ISD, talks about the need for an email archiving solution. “The situation before M+Archive was a bit messy. People were using local GroupWise archives as they wished, there were no quotas, so not surprisingly, some individual GroupWise accounts were getting pretty big. The POs were also getting full, yet we didn’t have a centralized way to control the growth.”
James Watson, Network Manager at the School District who supervises the email system, tried different approaches to contain the situation. "We did try to get the support of upper administration to allow us to introduce email quotas. It was a no-go. It's difficult to get buy-in for the unpopular 'quota' approach in most circumstances; when you didn't have it before, it's pretty much impossible. So we started looking for an acceptable alternative."
Spring ISD did their research and identified various possible solutions. They were offered an M+Archive demo at Novell BrainShare. Having seen the product, they realized it best addressed the requirements for the archiving system the wanted.
“The main reason we went with M+Archive is its tight integration with GroupWise and the familiar interface it offers end users. Also, it’s a mature product that has been tried and tested for over five years,” continues Watson.
To ensure a smooth installation, the Spring ISD IT Department engaged the Messaging Architects Professional Services Division to assist them with the M+Archive roll-out.
“Engaging Messaging Architects’ professional services team ensured a quick and easy deployment. Since they configured M+Archive to apply the required retention policies for the different user groups, I haven’t had to do anything. Users are added automatically and their email is archived based on the policy applicable to them. We do 100% retention for the staff and teachers. The email for the regular staff is kept for a year while the retention period for administrators is 3 years. In my opinion, having the professional services division help us with the roll-out was a good decision that saved us some time and effort,” Bell agrees.
Introducing a Policy-Based Approach to Email Retention with M+Archive
Selecting M+Archive to manage the growing GroupWise message store brought Spring ISD the additional benefit of being able to implement policy-based retention to meet some of the regulatory mandates with respect to electronic records lifecycle management educational organizations are faced with. It also enabled them to be prepared for potential forensic and ediscovery requests in the course of investigations.
Watson and Bell took advantage of the implementation of the archiving solution to introduce end-user education on acceptable use of the email system.
Steve Bells explains how the process works, “Once M+Archive was deployed, the School District employees were made aware of the rules of engagement for using the school’s collaboration system. Our acceptable usage email policy clearly states that the email going through the school district’s email system isn’t private and is property of Spring ISD. As part of their training, new staff and teachers have to sign off on the acceptable usage policy. This sets the right expectations and there are no unpleasant surprises for end users.”
“The formalized training also provides visible results to the School District management and reinforces the spirit of accountability of the IT Department,” adds Watson.
The Benefits of an Archiving Solution at Spring ISD
M+Archive has brought several benefits to the School District’s IT Department and overall performance of the GroupWise collaboration at Spring ISD.
“Centralizing the GroupWise archive is huge for us. The previously distributed archive we had before posed an unmanageable situation. As a result, the whole GroupWise system was suffering from exponential storage bloat and we were perpetually at risk of running out of space on the POs level. Since we deployed M+Archive, we not only were able to consolidate from 4 to 2 POs, but we know where the email archives are and how to access them quickly and reliably,” confirms Steve Bell.
“With M+Archive for the first time we also have the ability to do forensics across the system. Before we could never be certain we’d be able to produce requested information. Being able to produce information as requested in a format that platform-independent and accessible is a great plus for us. It not only protects our district from the risks of the potential high costs related to ediscovery, but it also clearly demonstrates our department’s commitment to be accountable and provide excellent service to the end users,” concludes James Watson.
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