"For some time we have been very aware that email is both a critical communication medium and record-keeping problem. A couple of years ago we decided that we needed to have a better way of keeping email in a job-based filing system. We used MS Outlook Public Folders to do this in the first instance, but this was never considered to be a satisfactory solution. As part of our ISO 9001 QA research, we recognised that it is very difficult to manage email and to ensure that copies of all critical email are actually stored correctly. Along with this, multiple copies of emails were being stored, which makes the finding of email a bit more complicated when searching back for historical documents.
We worked with the University of Salford in a Knowledge Transfer Partnership which is designed to apply Lean Process management principles to the working of the practice. As part of this, we looked at rationalising the way that we deal with email communications. We looked at several different options, most of which seemed to provide solutions that were over-complex. Having tested Mail Manager across the practice we decided that it provides a simple, robust and effective means of dealing with email. The files become part of the project data, stored on the NAS drive data server."
Colin Usher, Director - John McCall Architects
