7.1 eMail Search and its requirement IBM eMail Search (eMS) for CommonStore provides the discovery feature that helps organizations to respond to litigation or regulatory agency requests. Using eMail Search along with journaling, organizations can capture and archive all the incoming and outgoing e-mails before they reach the recipients. After e-mails are captured, they are stored, full-text indexed, and are available to be searched by authorized personnel. In addition, eMail Search helps to retain e-mails for a specified period of time and deletes them after the retention period expires. E-mails are not only communications between employees and with external people, they also contain business discussions, decisions, and important business documentations. E-mails represent corporate information asset. Depending on the type of the business, organizations might be required to keep e-mails for five years, seven years, or for shorter or longer periods of time. E-mails are subject to discovery and audit for legal or regulatory purposes. Often, organizations are not sure what information is going to be requested or when. Requests are typically part of a reactive process. There is usually a rush to find the information. When the information is found, it is preserved and reviewed by individuals, typically senior management, human resource personnel, and the legal team. After reviewing the information, it can be exported and passed to the appropriate individual.