MS Exchange Features

Features of MS Exchange

MS Exchange is the World’s Messaging Platform . Far too many people look at MS Exchange as a Email Platform using which you can send and receive emails. The fact is that MS Exchange goes way beyond simple Emailing. Given below are some of the features of MS Exchange which have made it the World’s Leading Messaging Platform:

A) Basic MS Exchange Implementation

This covers the following features

Create mailboxes as per Windows Active Directory
Create Global Address List which will have list of internal Users
Setup Internal Messaging
Setup External Messaging
Setup Outlook as Email Client
Setup Outlook Web Access as Email Client on the browser

B) Advanced MS Exchange Features

1. Shared Contacts:

Every Organization , large or Small , has Contacts Lists. Based on our interactions with cross section of Customers , we find that Contacts lists are not given the priority they deserve . Within a single Organization , contacts are stored in multiple formats like:

Excel sheet
Access Database
Outlook Contact list
Outlook Express Address Book
Digital Diary
Visiting cards folder

Disadvantages:

The above leads to islands of information.
It leads to absence of information sharing
Too often , the contact information is incomplete in terms of details since a defined structure is absent
For any change in contact information eg. tel. no., email id, multiple people have to update information leading to immense productivity loss
With messaging becoming more and more important , people are sending emails from their PC . If individuals are to maintain their contacts records, this means huge waste of time

Using Shared Contacts Lists , the advantages are:

A single defined Database for storage of Contacts Information
Structured field like name, Company, designation, office address, home address , telephone nos, mobile nos, pager no., fax no, email address , website address
Information relevant to the contact can be put .eg. his likes/dislikes, birthday , payment procedure in a Company , Nature of business of the Contact's Company
Direct email address by clicking on send mail
Launch into website of the contact by clicking on the web address
Security , since the data cannot be easily copied and taken out (like in .xls, .dbf, etc)
Creation of various email lists eg. Suppliers, Top Customers , Prospects can be done which immensely help in doing direct mailing exercise
Immediate view of Contacts category wise

Most importantly , data once entered is immediately available to everyone (based on permissions given) . Customers who use Shared Contacts have mentioned that SHARED Contacts has become the MOST USEFUL application for the Customer since Company specific Contacts are the most crucial data for any Organization.

2. Calendaring:

a)    Calendar Attendant
The Calendar Attendant reduces scheduling conflicts by limiting calendar items (request, declines, accepts) in the inbox to the latest version. The Calendar Attendant also marks meeting requests as tentative on recipient calendars until users can act on the request and relies on the Exchange Server free/busy Web service for always up-to-date availability information
b)    Resource Booking Attendant
The Resource Booking Attendant enables resources, including meeting rooms or other equipment, to be automatically managed. Resources can auto-accept requests when available or decline and provide details explaining the decline. Administrators can set granular policies on resources, including available hours or scheduling permissions.
c)    Scheduling Assistant
The Scheduling Assistant helps users efficiently schedule meetings by providing visual guidance on the best and worst dates and times to meet based on meeting invitees and required resources.
d)    Schedulable Out of Office
Out of Office (OOF) messages can now be scheduled to begin and end on specific dates and times, reducing the likelihood of a user’s out of OOF not being set. A separate out of office message can be sent to external recipients, a capability the administrator can enable or disable. Out of Office messages can also be set or unset from a mobile device
e)    Calendar Sharing
If a person’s schedule is required to be made available to others, his Calendar can be published so that all can view the same.
This would also be useful if a Team is working on a project. A Team Calendar with access rights only for a Team can be published.

3. Task Allocation:

This enables electronic allocation of a Task to anyone who is a part of Global Address List.

Using Task Allocation, a Manager can easily save 30 to 60 minutes a day as compared to one to one task allocation.

4. Meeting Planner:

Using a meeting planner, one can schedule a meeting within members of Global Address List simply by finding the time most suitable to all for a meeting. Saves a lot of time traditionally spent on coordinating a meeting .

5. Distribution Lists:

A Distribution List enable users to group various Contacts together within a Contacts Folder.

Some of the uses of Distribution Lists are

“Customers in South Mumbai” . These could be say 50. While sending a mail, the name of Distribution list will appear i.e. Customers in South Mumbai. If this is selected, all the people in this list will get the mail.
On Company website , one can create email alias like “sales” , “info” , etc. Internally , one can create a Distribution List called “sales” ; “info” . Within the Distribution List, we can add members belonging to the Group. So if someone sends email to sales, automatically all people in the Distribution List will get the email.

6. Rules & Junk Mail:

You can set Outlook to automatically file away certain messages as soon as they arrive. This nifty approach to message management is called a rule. Basically, you define characteristics for Outlook to look for in all incoming messages and tell the program what to do with messages that match those criteria.

7.Setting Calendars for resources

Important resources like Conference room, Company Car , Guest house, etc. can be assigned a Calendar . The booking of these resources can be done very efficiently .

8.Spam Control

MS Exchange has a very effective Spam filter . Once the setup is done at the Exchange Server the updates to the Worldwide Spammers list happens in real time giving you a very efficient anti spamming solution.

Content is analyzed using the Intelligent Message Filter (IMF), Exchange Server's implementation of Microsoft SmartScreen content filtering technology. SmartScreen is based on Microsoft Research's patented machine-learning technology. Anti-phishing capabilities are also built-in to the IMF to help detect fraudulent links or spoofed domains and protect users from these types of online scams. When used with Outlook , a phishing warning or block appears in the user interface. Customers are protected from emerging spam attacks through the automatic filter updates for Exchange Server , which are published on a frequent basis

This when combined with the SPAM control features of MS Outlook gives a very good Anti Spam Solution.

9.Mobility Solution

Today’s workforce is mobile . In any office , there are individuals who are on the move . Since emails are the preferred way of communication, these mobile executives are cut off from emails while they are away from office. To address this problem , MS Exchange offers a Comprehensive suite of email solution designed for the mobile worker.

a) Outlook Web Access
Using any Internet connected PC, a mobile worker can now access his Corporate email account using a simple Internet browser . He will get access to his mails, calendar, tasks & Contacts .
b) Outlook Anywhere
If the mobile worker carries a laptop, then his Outlook can be configured in such a manner that as soon as he connects to Internet , all his Corporate emails , tasks, calendar get synchronized with his Outlook . This is a truly fantastic solution for laptop carrying mobile worker.
c) Active Sync
MS Exchange has a great Technology called Active Sync. So if you use any Mobile Phone which has Active Sync ( Windows Mobile, I phone, Nokia E Series, etc) you can get your mails delivered to your Mobile . So imagine that a mobile worker is travelling to his office and the travel time is 60 minutes. Instead of this time being wasted, now the mails can be read, replied, forwarded using nothing more than a Mobile Phone supporting Active Sync.

Check the demo of Active sync at the link below:

mms://wm.microsoft.com/ms/exchange/2007/Mobile_Productivity_110k.wmv

10. Built in Protection

Keeping in mind the various regulatory compliance issues , MS Exchange has a Host of Features which make your Email System Bullet Proof. Lets look at some of them :

a) Business Continuity using Local Continuous Replication

Availability can be increased using continuous replication of data across multiple disks on a single server. This establishes a second copy of the production database on the local server that is kept up-to-date automatically. In the event of a disk failure or data corruption, switching over to the copy database provides a less costly and less complex recovery solution for the administrator

b) Compliance

1) Supervisor Account

A Supervisor Account can be triggered per database, per distribution list, or per user. All messages can be copied, or just those sent internally or externally.

The copied messages can be archived to any SMTP address, including an Exchange mailbox or Windows SharePoint Services site.

2) Enabling Compliance with Ethical Walls in Exchange Server

Exchange Server includes a policy engine based on rules that execute on Hub Transport servers. With Transport Rules, administrators and compliance officers can establish and enforce regulatory or corporate policies on internal or outbound e-mail, voice mail, or fax. For example, using a wizard in the Exchange Management Console or the command line in Exchange Management Shell, rules can be written that would prohibit communication between members of distinct distribution lists, append a disclaimer to any message being sent externally, or BCC the compliance officer anytime a specific phrase appears in the subject or content of a message.

3) Managed Folders

Various corporate retention policies exist for e-mail, voice mail, and fax communications. With Managed Folders, a user can organize messages into Outlook folders that are provisioned and managed by the administrator. An automated process scans the inbox and these folders to retain, expire, or journal communications based on compliance requirements.

11. Mobile Messaging

1) Search

Information can be quickly found from a mobile device using the search capability of Exchange ActiveSync. When executing a search from a mobile device, both the local device store and the user’s entire Exchange mailbox are queried. Results found through the over-the-air search of the Exchange mailbox can be rapidly retrieved to the device. This capability enables access to information sent or received days, weeks, or even months before, regardless of the storage limitations of the mobile device.

2) Direct Push

Mobile devices incorporating Exchange ActiveSync maintain a secure connection with Exchange Server , receiving new or updated e-mail, calendar, contacts, and tasks as soon as they arrive on the server. This push method optimizes bandwidth usage while keeping users up-to-date

3) Device Security and Management

Administrators may choose to enforce policies on devices used in their organizations including requiring PINs of varying length and strength and enforcing a device wipe of data and applications, should the device be lost or stolen. These controls become granular with Exchange Server 2007, allowing per-user policies. Device usage can be tracked and managed centrally within the Exchange Server environment. Service Pack 1 (SP1) includes 28 new policies across device, network, application, and security control.

4) LinkAccess

When a user receives a link to a Windows SharePoint Services site or file share while using a mobile device, Exchange Server uses LinkAccess to retrieve and display the document, no VPN or tunnel required.

5) Calendaring and Out of Office

With Exchange Server , users have many new options when accessing their calendar from a mobile device using Exchange ActiveSync. They can reply to a meeting invitation with a message, forward the invitation to another person, and view acceptance tracking for meeting attendees. Out of Office messages can also be set from the mobile device.

12. Web Based Messaging

1) Outlook Experience

Outlook Web Access provides a rich, Outlook like experience in a browser. New features in Outlook Web Access enable users to:

Schedule Out of Office messages and send to internal and/or external recipients
Use the Scheduling Assistant to efficiently book meetings
Access SharePoint documents without a VPN or tunnel using LinkAccess
Use WebReady Document Viewing to read attachments in HTML even if the application that created the document is not installed locally
Access RSS subscriptions
View content in Managed E-mail Folders
Retrieve voice mail or fax messages through Unified Messaging integration
Search the Global Address List
Edit and manage server-side mailbox rules
Access to Public Folder items

2) Access Security

Outlook Web Access 2007 security is improved. Two-factor authentication is supported, and administrators can enforce HTML-only document viewing to avoid information being left behind on public kiosks.

3) Self-Service Support

The Outlook Web Access 2007 Options menu allows users to quickly and easily resolve many of the most common sources of helpdesk calls on their own. OWA users can request a Unified Messaging voice mail PIN reset, issue a remote wipe request to their mobile device should it be lost or stolen, and add senders to their safe or block list all within Outlook Web Access. Service Pack 1 (SP1) includes a confirmation from Exchange when the remote wipe request is successfully completed.

4) Outlook Web Access Light

Outlook Web Access Light provides a rich Outlook Web Access experience over slow connections and enables many of the new features in Outlook Web Access 2007, including schedulable Out of Office messages (internal and external), Really Simple Syndication (RSS) subscriptions, and Managed E-Mail Folder access.

5) Search

Exchange Server 2007 mailboxes are fully indexed by default, allowing users to quickly search for information from Outlook Web Access. Re-indexing is significantly faster than Exchange Server 2003, and search spans both content within the e-mail itself and data contained in attachments.

6) Remote Document Access: LinkAccess

When a user receives a link to a Windows SharePoint Services site or file share while working remotely using Outlook Web Access, Exchange Server 2007 uses LinkAccess to retrieve and display the document, no virtual private network (VPN) or tunnel required.

7) Remote Document Access: WebReady Document Viewing

Outlook Web Access 2007 can transcode a variety of document types – including Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint, and PDF files – from their native format into HTML so that they can be viewed in a client browser even if the application that created the document is not installed on the client. This allows users to be productive from almost any machine and keeps viewed documents safe, even on kiosk machines, since HTML documents are purged by Outlook Web Access at logoff or session timeout. Service Pack 1 (SP1) includes support for Microsoft Office 2007 file formats.

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