Data Retention Policy Creation Procedure

This admin procedure will provide background information on creating a data retention policy that will be applied to a specified data type and location that will aid in compliance policies revolving around retention and deletion of data.

Retention Policies

A retention policy in Microsoft Purview is a set of rules that determines how long to keep data and what actions to take when the data reaches a certain age. There are different types of retention policies for different data sources and scenarios.

Procedure Scope: Administrators

Required Group Membership: Admin.Compliance

Creating a Data Retention Policy

1. Navigate to Retention Policies – Purview, select New Retention Policy.
   
2. You will be asked to provide basic information for the policy, such as name and description. Select Next to continue.
   
3. Next you will define which type of retention policy you want to configure; either adaptive which will identify items off properties (requires E3 licensure) or static which will look at a specific location for analysis. Select Next to proceed.
   
4. You will apply the areas to which the policy will scan for items. Select Next to proceed.
   
5. You will be prompted to define whether the policy will retain the items indefinitely or for a set time frame with the possibility of deleting the items once it reaches the expiration period. Select Next to procced to revisions.
   
6.  At the revisions page, if you detect a discrepancy select the Edit button below the section that contains the incorrect information. If everything checks out, select Submit to finalize the creation process.
   
7. A final prompt will display that the policy has been created and that it will take some time for the label to generate on the user application side. Select Done to finalize the creation process.
   

You're Finished!