Microsoft Purview · Records Management
Disposition Management
Review and approve content disposition at end of retention period to ensure proper record destruction with proof of disposal and audit trail.
Scope: Disposition review and approval for all items reaching end of retention across Exchange, SharePoint, OneDrive, Teams, and Microsoft 365 Groups
Permissions
- Disposition Queue - Access disposition review queue and pending disposition dashboard
- Pending Review - Review items pending disposition across all Microsoft 365 locations
- Retention Decisions - Approve or extend retention for items with justification required
- Justification - Provide business justification for disposition decisions and retention extensions
- Proof of Disposal - Export proof of disposal evidence and comprehensive disposition reports
- Reviewer Management - Configure disposition reviewer permissions and assign reviewers to labels
- Disposition History - View disposition history and audit trail of all disposition actions
- Search and Filter - Filter and search disposition items by location, label, status, date range
- Multi-Stage Review - Configure multi-stage disposition review workflows for critical records
- Permanent Deletion - Permanently delete items after disposition approval (cannot be undone)
- Failed Dispositions - View items that failed disposition due to legal holds or preservation locks
- Completion Monitoring - Monitor disposition completion status and generate compliance reports
Common use cases
- Reviewing records before permanent deletion to ensure retention requirements are met
- Ensuring no litigation hold, eDiscovery hold, or preservation lock applies before disposition
- Making final determination on extending retention for high-value or business-critical content
- Providing approval for compliance with retention schedules and regulatory obligations
- Creating audit trail of disposition decisions for SEC, FINRA, FDA compliance reporting
- Coordinating with business units on whether to retain or dispose of valuable content
- Generating proof of disposal reports for regulatory audits and compliance documentation
- Managing multi-stage disposition review for records requiring legal or management approval
- Handling event-based retention disposition when triggered by employee departure or contract expiration
- Resolving disposition failures due to holds or locks by coordinating with legal teams
Best practices
- Review disposition items promptly to avoid backlog - set SLA for disposition decisions
- Check for active litigation, investigations, or regulatory inquiries before approving disposition
- Document detailed justification for retention extensions to support audit requirements
- Coordinate with business units and data owners on high-value or sensitive content disposition
- Maintain detailed records of disposition decisions with business context and rationale
- Set up regular disposition review schedule (weekly or bi-weekly) to prevent queue buildup
- Use multi-stage reviewer approval for critical records requiring legal or executive sign-off
- Export proof of disposal reports quarterly for compliance documentation and audit readiness
- Monitor failed dispositions and coordinate with legal to release unnecessary holds
- Create disposition review checklists to ensure consistent decision-making across reviewers
- Verify no pending eDiscovery cases or regulatory requests before bulk approvals
- Use filters to prioritize disposition items by sensitivity, age, or business unit
Security considerations
- Premature disposition approval can result in destruction of evidence needed for litigation or investigations
- All disposition decisions are permanently logged and auditable - cannot be deleted or modified
- Cannot approve disposition if legal hold, eDiscovery hold, or preservation lock is present
- Should verify no pending litigation, regulatory inquiry, or internal investigation before approval
- Disposition creates permanent deletion - cannot be undone even by administrators
- Proof of disposal evidence must be retained per regulatory requirements (often 7+ years)
- Coordinate with legal before disposition approval to avoid spoliation sanctions
- Failed dispositions due to holds may indicate ongoing legal matters - do not override holds
- Disposition reviewer role should be assigned only to trusted, senior personnel
- Monitor disposition activity logs for unauthorized or suspicious approval patterns