Microsoft 365 Records Management Strengthens Compliance

• Microsoft 365 Records Management (RM), introduced in Apr. 2020, provides additional capabilities to manage and retain high-value content, such as property deeds, beyond the lower-tier Microsoft 365 retention services.
• New RM labeling types enable immutability, permanent prevention of deletion, and proof-of-disposal reporting for selected documents.
• As RM is a premium service, companies should be aware of potential added costs and licensing issues.

Nearly all business documents are subject to a retention policy, but regulations, standards, and organizational policies vary according to the type of organization and document. Microsoft 365 Records Management (RM) provides additional label and retention capabilities designed to satisfy more demanding compliance requirements associated with high-value content.

About Records Management

Every organization needs to retain documents to comply with regulations or policies. (For more information on document retention, see “The Document Retention Life Cycle in Microsoft 365.”) However, organizations will often recognize that certain documents, called “records” in RM, have more demanding retention and disposal requirements than other documents. For example, a record may provide evidence of an action, that is, proof that some event occurred, such as a contract being signed.