We had a scenario where we have been requested to control a group of users email traffic in a very specific way during a particular time frame within each day.
The statement given to us was we have 2K users (in the same job role) who during the hours of 06:30 and 10:30 need to focus on operational duties. during this time frame we were asked if we could hold emails until after the time had passed (not something Exchange is designed to do!! its supposed to send as quickly as possible). We were then asked could we block emails during this time frame - again, not possible to set a time frame without a date associated with it. We also couldn't enable the block rule at 06:30 and then disable it at 10:30 due to replication issues and timeframes.
We're left with a awkward half way of having Mail tips appear if one of the users is added to ask the sender nicely not to send during the key time, as well as manipulating the Auto response on the OOO to send replies back internally explaining its the user busiest time and they'll respond afterwards which isn't great. We've had a ticket open with Support to see what was possible but we've found the back end capabilities limited from a rule set.
We looked at the available rules and saw that you can reject mail with an explanation but you can't allow mail with an explanation which threw me as I'd expect something like this to be achievable.
Would anyone else benefit from having the capability to enforce a rule during certain hours rather that between two points in time? Would anyone else benefit from having a Allow mail through with an explanation back to the sender similar to the block mail with an explanation back to sender capability we have as a rule?
Has anyone else had similar requests to do this sort of thing and found alternative ways of achieving it?
