Several resources can help you define what standard procedures are required in your organization and how to perform them. For more information about how to administer your Exchange organization, see Operations. Because each organization is unique, you will have to customize and adapt these resources to suit your requirements.

Standard procedures will change, and documentation will occasionally need to be revised. As changes are made, your change management process should identify how each change is likely to affect how and when administrative tasks are performed. Use the change management function to update and control the documentation.

The tasks that need to be performed can generally be separated into the following general categories:

• Daily Tasks
  
• Weekly Tasks
  
• Monthly Tasks
  
• As Needed Tasks
  

When preparing documentation for operations management, checklists are useful to help make sure that the required tasks are performed at the appropriate time. For detailed information about preparing operations checklists, see the sample checklists located in Operations Checklists.

Frequently, change management takes over where system administration finishes. If a task is covered by a standard procedure, it is part of the system administration function. If there is no standard procedure for a task, it should be handled using the change management function.

Roles and responsibilities for performing system administration tasks depend on whether the organization follows a centralized or decentralized model, or a combination.

Centralized Model   In a centralized model, one or several controlled administrative groups maintain complete control of the Exchange system. This administrative model is similar to a data center where all administration tasks are performed by a single information technology group. Roles and responsibilities within the team should be defined according to experience and expertise.

Decentralized Model   Decentralized organizations are located in several geographic locations and have Exchange servers and teams of administrators in different locations. For example, there may be local administration staff and one or more Exchange servers for each office in each country. Alternatively, there may be a cluster of Exchange servers and an administrative team for North America and one for Europe. Sometimes, you may want administrators to be responsible only for their own geographical area, and that they do not have permission to administer resources in other areas. In Exchange 2007, you can do this by using the Add Exchange Administrator wizard in the Exchange Management Console or by using the Add-ExchangeAdministrator cmdlet in the Exchange Management Shell.

For more information about delegating control of Exchange, see Permission Considerations.

For more information about the Add-ExchangeAdministrator cmdlet, see Add-ExchangeAdministrator.

For information about how Microsoft services and updates Exchange Server 2007, see Exchange 2007 Servicing.