I want to address a problem i have come across in the business arena.

Email has now become, simply put, a medium of delivery. This means that sharing of corporate documents, transaction correspondences etc. are now done electronically.

The problem is that there is no standard for record keeping and for storing these messages automatically.

I am lookng for comments and suggestions on how to approach the problem and if you need further clarification please dont hesitate to post.

What i am interested in doing is finding some way of forcing users to enter certain pieces of data that can assist in the electronic filing of these messages. I dont care where they are stored physically. Whether its a folder or directory on a server or a database its just the concept that matters.

What i am proposing to do is:

1. Force the user to enter whether the message is business or personal.

2. If business then other fields must be filled out eg. if it belongs to corporate / HR etc. and project number or some other specific data about the correspondence.

3. The mail server would read these pieces of information and route a copy of the message to the bin wherever it is being stored.

Now it must be pointed out that emails are written on a variety of platforms and software applications and message bodies can sometimes be encrypted (although this consideration can be ignored so that a working model can be developed). So i think it should be independent of these considerations.

I am not sure if using headers can support this or whether it would be better to include text at the beginning of the message. Also i have no clue how the user can be forced to enter the information and unless it is entered the mail will be withheld.

Then comes the problem of incoming messages and how this can fit in to a working model.

I am VERY open to suggestions.

Please comment and trash out your ideas.

Thanks.

In reply to Filing Emails by Gremlin

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