Exercise - Configure disposition review for contract retention

  • 15 minutes

Retention labels help manage how long content is kept and what happens when that period ends. When content requires review before deletion, you can configure labels to trigger a disposition review. This ensures important items are reviewed by the right people before they're permanently deleted.

In this exercise, you first create a role group that allows selected users to review items marked for disposition. Then you create a retention label for vendor contracts and configure it to start a disposition review after five years. You'll define a review stage, assign a reviewer, and publish the label so it's available in Microsoft 365.

Estimated time to complete: 15-20 minutes

Important

To complete this exercise, you need access to Microsoft Purview features through one of these Microsoft 365 licenses:

  • A Microsoft 365 E3 license is required to create and publish retention labels.
  • A Microsoft 365 E5 license, or the E5 Information Protection and Governance add-on, is required for disposition review.

If your tenant doesn't include these features, some tasks in the exercise might not be available. You can still follow the steps to understand how the configuration works or skip any unsupported tasks.

If you don't have access to these features, you can join the Microsoft 365 Developer Program. This program provides a free Microsoft 365 E5 developer subscription with access to many Purview capabilities.

Create a role group for disposition reviewers

Before assigning someone as a disposition reviewer, they must be in a role group with the necessary permissions. Use this task to create a role group and assign members who will review content marked for deletion.

  1. Navigate to Microsoft Purview and sign in.

  2. In the Microsoft Purview portal, go to Settings

  3. Expand Roles and scopes, then select Role groups.

  4. Select Create role group.

  5. On the Name the role group page, enter:

    • Name: Disposition Reviewers
    • Description: Grants members permission to review and take action on content marked for disposition.

  6. Select Next.

  7. On the Add roles to the group page, select Choose roles.

  8. On the Choose roles page, select Disposition Management, then select Select at the bottom of the page.

  9. Select Next.

  10. On the Add members to the role group page, select Choose users and add the users needed to conduct a disposition review, then select Select at the bottom of the page.

  11. Select Next.

  12. On the Review the role group and finish page, confirm your settings, then select Create.

  13. After your role group is created, select Done.

The users you added to this role group can now be selected as reviewers when you configure a disposition stage in a retention label. This ensures they have permission to view and act on content pending deletion.

Create and publish a retention label with disposition review

Use this task to configure a retention label that applies to vendor contracts. The label keeps content for five years, then starts a disposition review so a reviewer can decide whether to delete or retain the item. After you create the label, you’ll publish it so it's available across Microsoft 365.

  1. In the Microsoft Purview portal, go to Solutions > Data Lifecycle Management.

  2. Select Retention labels.

  3. Select + Create a label.

  4. On the Name your retention label page, enter:

    • Name: Vendor agreements - disposition review
    • Description for admins: Applies to vendor contracts. Retains for 5 years, then requires disposition review.
    • Description for users: Use for vendor contracts. Retention ends with review.

  5. Select Next.

  6. On the Define label settings page, select Retain items forever or for a specific period, then select Next.

  7. On the Define the retention period page:

    • Set the retention period to 5 years.
    • Start retention based on when items were created.

  8. Select Next.

  9. On the Choose what happens after the retention period page, select Start a disposition review, then select Create stages and assign reviewers.

  10. On the Create stages and assign reviewers page:

    • Enable Automatic stage approval
    • Set the automatic disposition approval to 14 days.
    • Select Add a stage
    • Name the stage Vendor agreement review, then select OK.
    • Choose a user who is a member of the Disposition Reviewers role group you created earlier.
    • Select OK at the bottom of the reviewers page.

  11. Back on the Choose what happens after the retention period page, select Next.

  12. On the Review and finish page, confirm your settings, then select Create label.

  13. After your label is created, select Publish this label to Microsoft 365 locations, then select Done.

  14. On the Choose labels to publish page, make sure the Vendor agreements - disposition review label is selected, then select Next.

  15. On the Policy Scope page, leave the default selected, then select Next.

  16. On the Choose the type of retention policy to create​, select Static.

  17. On the Choose where to publish labels page, select All locations. Includes content from Exchange email, Office 365 groups, OneDrive and SharePoint documents., then select Next.

  18. On the Name your policy page, enter:

    • Name: Vendor agreements disposition policy
    • Description: Apply to vendor contracts that need to be kept and reviewed later.

  19. On the Finish page, confirm your settings, then select Submit.

  20. After your policy is created, select Done.

This configuration helps ensure vendor contracts are reviewed before deletion. Disposition review gives your organization a chance to keep important content longer when needed, supporting more flexible retention decisions.

Check your work

Review the role group, label, and policy you created to make sure they're configured as expected.

  1. Go to Settings > Roles and scopes > Role groups.

  2. Confirm that Disposition Reviewers is listed and includes:

    • The Disposition Management role
    • At least one assigned user

  3. Go to Data Lifecycle Management > Retention labels.

  4. Confirm that Vendor agreements - disposition review is listed.

  5. Open the label and check that:

    • The retention duration is set to 5 years
    • Retention starts when items are created
    • The action after the period is Disposition review
    • The review stage is named Vendor agreement review with automatic approval after 14 days

  6. Go to Retention policies and confirm that Vendor agreements disposition policy is listed.

  7. Open the policy and check that:

    • The correct label is included
    • The policy type is Static
    • All Microsoft 365 content locations are selected

These steps help ensure that disposition review is properly configured. Verifying the label, policy, and reviewer permissions helps avoid gaps that could delay or block retention decisions.