Enterprise Messaging: Linking Minds Together Across The Enterprise by David Matthiesen and Stacy Hunt Support Now that you have chosen standards, you need to put an organization in place to support the new e-mail system. With a small company, you can centralize all the different support functions into a one group. With a large company, you may want to outsource backbone and help-desk support to other departments that are better able to handle the demand. Below is a sample of the different functional areas required to support an enterprise e-mail/groupware system: Backbone support: In big companies, e-mail backbone support should be outsourced to the network operations department or its equivalent. Network operations usually handles 7-day-a-week, 24-hours-a-day support of all systems from mainframes to servers. These folks are usually responsible for the following: Monitor the e-mail/groupware servers to make sure t hey are performing well and are not overloaded. Bring up new e-mail/groupware servers as demand dictates. Use monitoring tools to ensure e-mail is flowing and replication is functioning properly inside and outside the company. Support and maintain gateways/connectors to other e-mail systems. Maintain corporate e-mail directories and their synchronization processes. Deployment team: This group is responsible for deploying the e-mail client. This team: Coordinates with the e-mail customer and backbone group to ensure servers are in place to support the new users. May use software-distribution tools, such as Microsoft's SMS to deploy the client. Creates new e-mail accounts and handles legacy information store migration to the new e-mail system if necessary. Helpdesk and third-level support: Depending on the size of your company, you may have separate helpdesks to handle problem escalation. Time should be taken to train the helpdesk staff on the new e-mail system, including how to handle typical questions that might come in and when to escalate to third-level support. Third-level e-mail analysts should have access to the vendor's technical support. Technical planning team: This team is responsible for setting standards for the new e-mail system, testing new releases and evaluating third-party add-ons. Groupware: This team: Works with the technical planning team to come up with development standards such as form names, field names and the appropriate look and feel of the product, for example, for groupware applications. Should develop sample applications for common use in the company and ones that other users can clone. Is also responsible for testing new groupware applications developed by corporate users before allowing them to go on to the production system. May be responsible, depending on the staffing of this team, for al l groupware application development, or this function may be outsourced to a centralized MIS application development group. September 15, 1996 Print This Page E-mail this URL