T 2.95 Inadequate concept for linking other systems to Exchange

For the most part, the information systems present in organisations are heterogeneous, both regarding the operating systems used and regarding the applications. These often reflect the growth and consolidation history of the organisational structure in the company and/or the agency.

Microsoft Exchange systems are tightly knit to the Microsoft Windows operating system and only harmonise with third party systems by means of so-called connectors. Since not every version of Microsoft Exchange provides support for all connectors, continuing existing connectors within the framework of a migration should also be considered (see T 2.91 Poor planning of the migration of Exchange).

From a security point of view, security settings made on Microsoft Windows Server referring to the Microsoft Exchange system are not valid outside of the homogeneous Microsoft environment.

Likewise, the defined security policies of the third party systems are not valid for the Microsoft Exchange system either. If different sub-systems are administrated separately, this can always cause inconsistencies.

Improper connection of third party systems may result in data being lost or being blocked in the system.