In organisations that outsource their IT, the IT provider will usually be the GAs, further limiting internal access and knowledge.

It is unlikely that records or information managers will be GAs. Global Administrators (GAs) have access to all parts of Microsoft 365. Microsoft 365 accounts may either (a) be synced from on-premise AD to Azure Active Directory (AAD), or (b) be cloud-based only (for admin accounts) as described below. To access Microsoft 365 anyone will need an active Active Directory (AD) account and, except for Global Admins, a Microsoft 365 licence. Records and information managers who need to do most of the above excluding access to audit logs and some other features could be assigned the roles of Records Administrator and Reports Reader.If there is sensitivity about this access, they could instead be assigned the Reports Reader role which provides access to (and the ability to download) usage reports in the Microsoft 365 admin portal. They should also be assigned the Global Reader role to be able to access reporting and details of all settings in the various admin portals. Records and information managers with broader compliance-type responsibilities, including the requirement to access detailed audit logs, search across all content, establish and run eDiscovery cases, create and apply DLP policies, create and apply records retention labels and policies, and create and apply information protection labels, should be assigned the role of Compliance Admin or Compliance Data Admin.Technically skilled or qualified records and information managers, including those who previously administered EDRM systems, could become SharePoint admins (an assigned role), ideally with a cloud-only account in addition to their normal user account.The simplest options may be summarised as follows: This post provides an overview of the accounts, licences and roles that may be needed to manage records in Microsoft 365.Īs will be seen, a good understanding of both (a) the options provided with different licence types, and (b) the roles and what access or functionality they provide, is essential. One of the difficulties for many records managers new to Microsoft 365 is that they may not know or have access to everything they need to know to manage records in that environment.

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