P2P

33 I L T A N E T . O R G mailbox that falls into a policy that retains items for five years after creation, but it also has a retention label that keeps items for 10 years, that item will be retained for 10 years. • Explicit wins over implicit for deletions: Once conflicts for retention have been resolved, if an item falls under multiple deletion policies, the more explicit policy wins. Because labels are applied at the item level, they are always considered to be more explicit than policies. For example, if an item is in a mailbox that falls under a retention policy which deletes messages three years after creation, but a label is applied to that item to delete messages after five years, the message will not be deleted until five years after its creation date. For items that fall under multiple retention policies, but do not have a label applied, policies that use an adaptive scope, or use a static scope limited to only certain locations, are considered to be more explicit that static scope policies that include all locations organization-wide. • Shortest deletion period wins: If conflicts still remain, then the policy with the shortest deletion period wins. For example, if two retention policies are applied to a specific user's mailbox with one set to delete items five years after creation and the other set to delete items after three years, items in that user's mailbox will be deleted three years after creation. Within the Data Lifecycle Management module in the Microsoft Purview compliance portal, Microsoft provides a policy lookup tool to identify for a given user, site, or Microsoft 365 Group all retention policies and labels that it is included in. Using this information, in conjunction with knowledge of the retention principles outlined above, allows administrators to understand how data in specific locations will be retained and/or deleted. Best Practices Organizations should carefully consider both their business needs and any applicable regulatory requirements when designing their retention policies. Not all data should be treated equally; a five-year retention policy on email may make sense, whereas a much shorter retention policy may be desired for Teams chats. Furthermore, policies and labels can be combined to ensure that end users have the flexibility to retain business-critical information. By having a thorough understanding of the retention options available to them, administrators can minimize their compliance risk while also ensuring that day-to-day business operations are not disrupted. ILTA Ryan Hemmel is a 10-year veteran of the legal technology industry. As a ProSearch Solutions Engineer, Ryan leads the Microsoft 365 Managed Services initiative, where he assists ProSearch clients in managing their Microsoft 365 discovery strategies and workf lows. Ryan is also a Jeopardy! champion, having won 4 games on the show in 2020 and appeared in the 2021 Tournament of Champions.

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