Govern your data

Governing data is essential for managing information throughout its lifecycle, ensuring compliance, and minimizing risk. Effective governance involves retaining important data only as long as needed and securely deleting it when no longer required. This process helps organizations meet legal standards and reduces the risk associated with storing unnecessary data. To support these efforts, Microsoft Purview provides tools like data lifecycle management and records management. These tools automate retention, manage records, and streamline deletion, helping organizations maintain compliance and protect sensitive information.

Microsoft Purview Data Lifecycle Management

Microsoft Purview Data Lifecycle Management helps manage the lifecycle of content by applying retention and deletion policies to ensure compliance. This process applies to general data, whether stored in mailboxes, SharePoint, or other workloads across Microsoft 365. Here’s a framework for managing your data with data lifecycle management:

1. Understand how retention and deletion work for Microsoft 365 services: Before you can manage your data lifecycle, it’s essential to understand how retention and deletion function within the Microsoft 365 ecosystem. Each service, from Exchange mailboxes to SharePoint, might have different retention needs depending on how data is stored and shared.
2. Create retention policies and, if needed, retention labels for exceptions: Retention policies allow you to control how long data is kept and when it’s deleted. In cases where more granularity is needed, retention labels provide flexibility by applying unique retention settings to specific content.
3. Manage mailboxes: Mailboxes are a critical source of information. Use data lifecycle management policies to apply retention settings that archive or delete mailboxes when necessary. This process ensures that obsolete data doesn’t take up space and is securely removed when no longer needed.
4. Import PST files to online mailboxes: By importing PST files into online mailboxes, you ensure that data is governed and protected under Microsoft 365 retention policies, reducing the risk of unmanaged data.