I have a client request on setting up mail services in her company, she requested to have all the emails filtered manually by one administrator before distribute out to the respective email accounts.

She only need less than 20 email accounts to be setup. I first thought of getting a hosting package that provide 25 POP3 accounts and have them forwarded to one account but no, its not a good idea.

She has already install a Win2000 server at her office for accounting purposes and have no internet connection yet. We are to suggest the solution to her with only this requirements.

Anyone have any solution to this ?

Setup one account remotely, as a catch all and then set up a mail server in her facility, have the catch all mailbox send all emails to her in house mail server, then she can have 20 internal mail address's which her admin can sort the mail too. I wonder if her workers will know that shes reading their email :)

It doesn't have to be done manually. A filter can be set up to do automatic forwarding based on the intended recipient.

I agree with weinbar, but I have a feeling she wants it to be done manually so she can monitor the emails coming in.

You can get tools for the Win2k box she has to automatically dial the internet (Routing and Remote Access Service - dials on demand) and connect to a remote POP3 server to download mail from and act as a server for internal clients. A sample server to run it is JSMail from http://www.j-bg.demon.co.uk/.

In short, JSMail sits on her box. Periodically dials into the Internet, connects to your mailserver via POP3 and downloads each users messages. Each user connects to the JSMail server to send and receive emails.

Incoming emails are delivered to your mailserver, pending the JSMail server connecting to it via POP3 to download (your mail server just thinks its a normal POP3 client). Outgoing emails are delivered by JSMail on a schedule. Internal emails never touch he Internet, as JSMail routes them to the internal mailboxs.

Major benefit: Administrator does not have to route mail manually!

Hey ! Thanks guys !

cbaker17 :

You are right, she wants to manually filter out the emails before it reaches the recipient. She told me she is worried about viruses, I told her you can filter unwanted emails with the auto filter and also virus protection software in the PC would do the job, but she insists on filtering out herself.

Your suggestion on the 'catch all' setup would fit her request. I am thinking of an Exchange server to do the job, since she has a win2k box.

Weinbar & inwks :

Thanks for your input, that was informative, inwks, I will look at the prog you recommended.

I was really pushing hard on not having to have the mail server in house for her, cause her office is lack of technical staff. With a mail server, I forsee a lot of support call from her. :(

One legitimate question -- I'm truly not being sarcastic, here -- is if your client would know a virus if she saw it; and if she did, what to do about it.

Even the workhorse regular, O/E, does a great job of managing most cases of viral invaders (assuming you keep it updated), so that's a thought -- not to mention using the Rules in it for filtering and sorting.

I'd say it would be a smart idea to build in a bit of training on this, too.

etLux :

Thanks for your input.

Of course their will be a basic training of how to use the email.

But managing a mail server isn't some simple job, not a one day training can have sombody who does not know what a mail server is, to manage a mail server (she is an admin/account officer).

I forsee to even receive calls on how to send/receive emails. The staff in the company is totally computer iliterate, the only thing they are familiar with is the accounting program and MSoffice.

:)

All the suggestions here are great. But if you ask me I will not put a server in an office that doesn't have an administrator. This will be a hassle for you down the road. You can install a virus program to filter exchange server for viruses. There are programs just for this purpose, it will sit there and monitor mail going out or in the sever and quarantine them even if it sees one. This will eliminate that idea but if she want's to read peoples mail then this won't help. What's her goal? To read other peoples mail? OR to protect her workers? I will find out what the real reason is behind this to recommend a solution to her. Just a thought.

Thanks cahostnet for your input, I have recommended the same solution to her, but was unable to convince her. She is not really a techie girl but knows a little bit here and there. Definately not able to handle a W2K server with Exchange.

Yes, your are right, she wants to go through every email that is going into the company, that is partly for filtering unsolicited emails and misuse of email accounts in the company. Funny isn't it ?


What can I do, refuse to accept her Purchase Order ? :(

Foong, sometimes... lol... that's a real smart idea!

My only concern is that Exchange is quite a heavy weight considering that she justs wants email for 20 people. The cost would be high compared to cheaper, less powerful software. Exchange is primarily a collaboration server for medium to large companies.

However, if she wants all the bells and whistles that Exchange gives, then it would be better in the long run.

Not sure about the US, but does she not legally have to tell each of her employees that she is filtering emails on their behalf, as it may be an invasion of their privacy. Also, depending on the number of emails a day, does she realise how time consuming this will be?

etLux:

I really hate doing this kind of business, you know something that is bound to happen but you got no choice but hit straight to it. eeeeeehhhh !!

inwks:

Yes, I do know Exchange is a lot over weight for the job, but to keep things in a much neater arrangement (on W2K) and easier for later support (for us), and also to provide room for any other funny ideas she may come out with later on.

Too bad, over here in Malaysia, privacy is still paper talk, awareness rate on such issue is very low or perhaps majority of the public just does not border much on it, so she is 'absolutely right' when she ask for such, as she is the 'administrator' of the office, she has the rights to 'administer' anything that belong to the company. ooohh god !


She is well aware of the work load increase, cause she is 'restricting' the usage of the emails.

The formula:-
More work = more important person = more pay :)

Furthermore, there will not be much emails to read a day, cause the staff of in the company does not really understand the email/internet, how it will help them in their daily work, they know only MSWORD/EXCEL that would produce things they need and that is sufficient. The company does not really care if they will take initiative to learn the new skill on their own, not mentioning paying to train them.

Originally posted by fweikeong
etLux: I really hate doing this kind of business, you know something that is bound to happen but you got no choice but hit straight to it. eeeeeehhhh !!
That was just a cautionary comment, Foong, from experience. People new to business tend to think, for various reasons, that they need to take every contract: sometimes it's a healthy fear of going hungry; sometimes fear for your reputation because you dropped a bid.

And sometimes it's the smartest thing in the world to do.

If you're uncomfortable with an assignment, that's a warning sign. I've been through more of these than I can remember. Did I make money on them? Most of them.

But they also chewed up time and energy that would have been better devoted elsewhere.