Following recommendation and endorsement by Information Governance Committee, DDIS are currently reviewing how long we keep selected Microsoft Teams conversations for. This would be in line with data protection legislation; ensuring that we do not keep data for longer than is necessary.

 

The retention period for the following conversations will be 1 year:

  1. Teams 1:1 chat - Chat messages, posts, and attachments shared in a Teams conversation between two people. Teams 1:1 chat are also called conversations. Files shared in a 1:1 chat are stored in the OneDrive for Business account of the person who shared the file.
  2. Teams Group chats - Chat messages, posts and attachments shared in a Teams conversation between three or more people. Also called 1: N chats or group conversations. Files shared in group chats are stored in the OneDrive for Business account of the person who shared the file.
  3. Teams Meeting chats – Chat messages, posts and attachments shared in a meeting not taking place within a Channel or within a Team.

 

This will be effective from 13 March 2024 and will be retrospective from this date.

 

The retention period for the following conversations has not changed:

o    Teams channels, private channels, and shared channels chats.

 

This retention period will be reviewed with the intention to potentially reduce this in future to 3 months.


 
Please read Teams Chat Retention Guidance for more information.  If you have any queries, please contact the Information Governance Team at [email protected]