Here youre interested in who needs what, when they need it, and how youll provide it. Youll want to get a handle on the programming, software, hardware, MIS systems, systems support, and training resources that will be required to satisfy user needs.
Remember that Exchange is an electronic messaging package, not just an e−mail product. Users might need specific electronic messaging−enabled applications. Depending on what users have in mind, application development can be a real resource hog. Also remember that, in some cases, hardware and software might require new workstations, not just new servers.
Be prepared to give users a clear idea of what Exchange can do. You dont need to get technical with most users; just give them a view of Exchange from the end−users perspective. Take another look at sections one and three of Chapter 1, Introducing Exchange Server 2003, to see how you might organize your presentation. Keep in mind that one of the biggest mistakes that most people make when implementing a system is to ignore or give only passing attention to this step. Knowing as much as you can about what the users require up front means that youll have an easier time during implementation. For example, imagine that you dont know from the get−go that your organization could benefit significantly from a particular custom−programmed electronic messagingenabled application. You go ahead and implement Exchange as an e−mail system with only the resources such an implementation requires. You get your Exchange system up, and its perking along just fine when, maybe three months later, some user comes up with this great idea for an electronic
messagingenabled app. Boink! Suddenly you have to tell management that you need a few programmers and
maybe more hardware to implement this idea that nobody thought of four or five months ago. Ill leave the rest to your imagination.
Note Regardless of what you find out in your user needs assessment, add a fudge factor in favor of more hardware and support personnel. Exchange has so many capabilities that you can be sure your users will find all kinds of ways to challenge whatever resources you make available. Depending on your users and their ability to get away with unplanned demands for resources, fudging by as much as 25 percent is reasonable. You can go with less fudge if your organization is particularly cost−conscious and willing to adhere closely to plans.
Suffice it to say that a user needs assessment is the single most important part of the Exchange design process. Therefore, well cover it in more detail than the other 13 Exchange design steps.
Questions to Ask
Youll want to answer a number of questions during your user needs assessment. Here are the major ones: What kinds of users (for example, managers, salespeople, clerical staff, lawyers, doctors) does my organization have, and what do they think they want from the new Exchange system?
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What sorts of electronic messaging services are different groups of users likely to need (for example, e−mail, calendars and scheduling, public folders, specially designed applications)?
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In addition to LAN access, will users need wireless LAN and/or WAN access to your Exchange system? Will this access have to be secure?
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Which specially designed applications can be developed by users, and which must be developed by MIS personnel?
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Do all users need every capability from day one, or can implementation be phased in, perhaps based on user groupings?
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What sorts of demands will users (or groups of users) put on your Exchange servers? Much of the information in this category can be used with Microsofts Exchange server load simulation program to predict expected server load and project server hardware and networking requirements.
How many mailboxes will you create per server?
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How many messages will the typical user send per day?
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How many messages will the typical user receive per day?
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How frequently will users send messages to others
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On their server?
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In their routing group?
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In each of the other routing groups in your organization?
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Outside your organization? (Be sure to break this down by the different kinds of external connections youll have.)
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How often will users read messages in their mailboxes?
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How often will users read messages in public folders?
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How often will users move messages to personal folders stored locally and on the network?
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How often will users move messages to public folders?
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How big will the messages be? What percentage will be 1K, 2K, 4K, 10K, 40K, 60K, 80K, 100K, 200K, and so on?
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What level of message delivery service will users want and need? This should be stated in hours or minutes between the time a message is sent and received. Youll need to specify this for both internal and external communications.
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What sorts of hardware and software resources (for example, computers, personal digital assistants,
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on the client side?
What kinds of training will be required for users or groups of users?
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What sorts of MIS resources will be required to support user needs?
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