Do I need to retain both the orginal message and the reply?
The requirement is to create and maintain understandable record documenting activities. Some replies to e-mail messages contain enough information from the original message that they can stand on their own, but most do not. The simplest way to ensure understandability of e-mail messages that will become part of the record is to incorporate the original message in any reply and maintain them as a unit. If e-mail is sent back and forth and the most recent message has the entire sequence of messages, you need to keep only the final message (including the previous messages and replies) as long as it also contains attachments and other data such as the sender, receivers, date, and time, that are necessary for a complete record.
