This is a partial preview of the document found here: https://flevy.com/browse/business-document/anti-spam-feasibility-study-template-31 Description: This is a template to conduct a paper-based feasibility study to identify an Anti-Spam tool or service that meets the Spam filtering needs.

1. Product 1 Product 2
Feature Description Weight Rating Rank Comments Rating Rank Comments
1-5
1. Architechture Flexibility
Product scaling How well does the product scale? 4
O/S & Exchange versions What operating system does the product support 2
supported (Windows, Solaris, Linux) / What Exchange versions are
supported (5.5, 2k, 2k3)?
Administrator Privileges Can an administrator modify/delete and/or forward Spam e- 2
mail or addresses?
Admin role base support & Admin console access methods and differences (HTTPS, 4
console access FTP, Term Server )? Is role based admin supported?
Server H/W requirements What are the recommended server requirements/upgrades 2
to operate the product?
Threshold Options What Anti-Spam sensitivity threshold options are available 3
to the administrators?
Catagorization Does the product provide for categorization of Spam (adult, 3
gaming, advertisement)
Automatic update Does the product support automatic 24x7 rule updates to 4
frequency & procedure the Spam engine (no admin intervention required)?
Architechture Flexibility 24
2. End User Support
False positive rate What is the false positive rate per million messages? 5
False negative rate % of the SPAM that filters capture 5
End-user complaint system Does the user have access to his/her Spam email in the 5
quarantine folder
White/Black Lists Does the user have the ability to set their own filters 5
(white/blacklists)
Quarantine folder storage Where are messages stored in the quarantine folder (mail 3
location box, public folder, NT file share)?
How long it can be stored? Can admin configure duration?
Notification Digest Does the product support per-user quarantine/false positive 5
summary emails? (once a day, with links)
Message format Does the product support attachment scanning? 3
Customizable Spam Alert Does the product support customizable alert messaging 2
with original Spam text attachments by policy, group,
individual, etc?
Attachment removal Does the product support attachment removal? 2
Client level filtering Does the product support user-level managed white/black 3
lists?
End User Subtotal 38
3. Filtering
Attachment filtering Does the product support filtering of attachments (.doc, xls, 4
ppt)?
Spam message handling What are the options for message identified as SPAM? 4
(Tag, quarantine to local disk, exchange mailbox, public
folder, web server)
Adult content filtering Pornography filtering by text, image or both 5
Anti-virus filtering Does the product support Anti-Virus filtering? 2
Appending trailers Ability to append subject, body and header trailers 2
(disclaimers)?
Scan rate What is the average number of messages scanned per 3
second?
Filter rule changes Does the product provide the ability to set enterprise, 3
business unit and end-user Spam preferences using pre-
existing groups?
How are rules/filters created, tuned, updated?
Keyword Search Does the product support keyword searches in the subject 3
line, body and supports header analysis?
DHA/Dictionary Protection Does the product protect against Directory Harvest Attack, 3
denial of service and Dictionary Attacks?
Pattern Matching/Heuristic Does the product support Matching/Heuristic, Bayesian, 3
Analysis Pattern Matching and Distributed Networks analysis?
Engine training Does the product have training capability (i.e., identified 3
(identification) SPAM or false positives to be included in the rule sets)
What type of training mechanisms does the product
support?
Statistical Ranking Does the product utilize a numeric probability or ranking of 4
Spam likelihood? (user, pre-existing groups or enterprise)
Filtering Techniques 39
4. Reporting
Activity logging/reporting What administrative activities are logged and reportable 4
(specifically for troubleshooting.
Report generation Are customizable, graphical reports available? Can they be 3
exported? Are reports viewable via the web?
Server impact What is the processing overheard effect to mail delivery 3
during reporting?
Statistical analysis/Metrics Does the product provide real time statistical performance 3
measurements for troubleshooting, turning?
Reporting Subtotal 13
Grand Total 114