The Basics of Office 365 Journaling

Journaling is an IT architecture process of recording different communication means done in the office, such as email, fax, and phone calls. The data is then saved in a database for archiving purposes and compliance. It’s useful to highly-regulated industries like financing and health care because they’re required to keep communication records for monitoring and reporting.

Journaling has been an essential practice that’s been around for years. Unlike traditional email programs, Office 365 doesn’t support journaling mailboxes. This brought about a rise in demand for third-party journaling and archive systems that can provide journaling services if you’re using Office 365. If there’s any advantage to sourcing third-party services, it would be the benefit of not having to use the company’s virtual storage space. Instead, data is kept in an external, easy-to-access central location.

Methods of archiving communication records

Companies archive their communication records through journaling or data archiving.

1. It is the method of recording email messages for archival and retention strategy. The recorded data is stored in a separate mailbox where information is continuously stockpiled over stored data in the past. The rules set in place makes it easier to put in place retention policies and quicker categorizing.
2. Data archiving. With data archiving, everything’s backed up before removal from the original source. It’s then saved elsewhere to reduce the strain caused by storing huge sets of data. When done the right way, you can keep the original formatting for an accurate information presentation when your company is audited.

Where is journaling used?

There is no specific regulation specifying that companies need to do journaling to keep on running. Yet, there are instances in which this process can help achieve industry regulatory compliance. A good example would be when financial sectors keep track of the claims made by employees for their clients. Accuracy is important in the industry, so this is where journaling comes in.

The company can set-up a monitoring system to store email correspondence to a database. The officer can then review the employee-client communications to check if claims are accurate and compliant, and then report it to the regulating body.

Besides email messages, other communication methods such as phone conversations and faxes can also be monitored and reviewed for compliance. This makes journaling a valuable IT architecture functionality to have in a company.

Implementing journaling rules

Companies will find it easier to track compliance and correspondence when journal rules are put into place. Rules will determine how the messages are categorized in the system and will also make it easier to distinguish emails received from outside of the company.

Keeping records of communications coming in and going out of the office brings so much potential to your workplace. If your office recently upgraded to Office 365, this shouldn’t be too much of an issue because there are Office 365 journaling options you can choose from. With diligent researching and knowing exactly the features you want, you can find one which has the most comprehensive and complete solutions you’ll need for the business.