A common doubt when using a cloud service like the Project Online is: do I need to worry about backup and retention of my data?
The answer is no and yes.
Microsoft offers a cloud service structure that ensures the availability of your data, even in more critical cases, such as the fall of a data center, for example. That is, you will have access to your information from virtually anywhere.
However, when excluded by user action, Microsoft has a data manipulation policy that specifies how long customer data will be maintained after deletion.
There are two scenarios where data is deleted:
- Active exclusion: By connecting Power Automate with other applications, data can easily be sent to other platforms and tools.
- Passive exclusion: The signature is expired and not renewed.
And how does data retention work?
For each of the above scenarios, the following table shows the retention period:
| Data category | Data classification | Description | Examples | Retention period |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Client data | Client Content | Content provided directly/created by administrators and users
Includes all texts, sounds, videos, image files and software created and stored in Microsoft data centers when using services in Microsoft 365 |
Examples of Microsoft 365 applications used more frequently that allow users to create data include Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and OneNote Customer content also includes client/provided Property secrets (passwords, certificates, encryption keys) |
Active exclusion: maximum 30 days Passive exclusion: no more than 180 days |
| Client data | End-user identification information (EUII) | Data that identifies or can be used to identify the user of a Microsoft EUII service does not contain customer content | Username or display (domain \name user) User main name (name@domain) User-specific IP addresses |
Active exclusion: up to 180 days (only a tenant administrator action) Passive exclusion: no more than 180 days |
| Personal data (data not included in customer data) | End-user pseudonym identifiers (EUPI) | An identifier created by Microsoft connected to the user of a Microsoft service. When combined with other information, such as a mapping table, EUPI identifies the end user EUPI does not contain information loaded or created by the client |
GUIDs, PUIDs or SIDs Session IDs |
Active exclusion: maximum 30 days Passive exclusion: no more than 180 days |
Retention of signature
When an active subscription is completed, Microsoft keeps user data available for 90 days, a timely time to extract the data of interest. After these 90 days, the account is disabled and the client data deleted. And in up to 180 days, all customer data is deleted from the account. Therefore, even if it is a relatively long period, the recovery of this data should not be left for the last hour.
Accelerated exclusion
If for any reason there is a need to accelerate the process, it is possible to contact Microsoft support and request the accelerated provisioning of the subscription. Thus, all user data will be deleted within three days after the account administrator inserts the blocking code provided by Microsoft.
To better understand about Project Online, Microsoft Project, Project for the Web, PPM and how to optimize your business project management with Microsoft tools, please contact us.
Original content from the MLPro editorial library, fully preserved and translated for the English website.