In a previous post, we discussed the data governance tools available in Microsoft Office 365, which help you manage, protect and ensure the integrity of your data by assigning retention policies to new and existing content. Labels are used to classify content in Office 365, enabling you to establish more granular retention and data loss prevention policies so data can be more tightly controlled.
Labels can be automatically applied using the Advanced Data Governance functionality, which is available with an Office 365 E5 subscription. Introduced in 2017 to build upon existing data governance and label features, Advanced Data Governance uses machine learning to help you find and retain the data you need and eliminate the data you don’t.
Advanced Data Governance make it possible to use proactive policy recommendations and automatic data classifications to take actions on data, such as retention and deletion, through the data’s life-cycle. Users can identify data governance risk using system default alerts or custom alerts based on specific conditions. You can also intelligently filter and migrate on-premises data to Office 365 to ensure compliance requirements are being met. Data from third-party platforms, such as social media, instant messaging and collaboration services, can be migrated to Office 365 as well.
Advanced Data Governance makes data retention recommendations based on a variety of factors, such as the type of content, the level of data sensitivity, keywords within the data, and the location of the data. Well-known categories are used to classify structured data, while machine learning classifies unstructured data. Recommendations are also based on contextual cloud information about a given tenant.
You then have the option to use pre-configured policy templates or create your own policies from scratch. Policies can be managed and applied anywhere in Office 365, including Exchange, SharePoint, OneDrive for Business and Skype for Business. Simplified classification labels make it easier to define, apply and follow governance policies, whether those policies apply to all data in Office 365 or to very specific data in specific locations.
Retained data is accessible for editing, sharing and collaboration until the time of deletion as defined by the retention policy. At that point, content is preserved to prevent data loss. When content is marked as a record, it can no longer be modified. When a policy says it’s no longer necessary to retain data, that data can be deleted immediately or sit in the recycle bin, where it can be accessed until deletion. It’s also possible to do nothing with data when retention is no longer required, although this is not recommended.
AdaptivEdge is a Microsoft Gold Partner with more than 200 years of combined experience with Microsoft solutions. Let us help you use Advanced Data Governance in Office 365 to better understand and act upon your data to keep it secure and compliant, using simple classification labels and more sophisticated retention policies. When properly implemented and configured, Advanced Data Governance will ensure that you keep what’s relevant and purge what’s obsolete.
Written and composed by Principal, Steve Soper
