The 2024 reforms to the Australian Privacy Act bring a sharper focus on data retention and destruction obligations. Under the new reforms, organisations are required to take reasonable steps to destroy and de-identify personal information once it is no longer needed for its original purpose.
Unfortunately, setting up retention and disposal rules within Microsoft 365 workspaces—whether using E3 or E5 licenses—can be challenging. Implementing retention and disposal labels is often cumbersome, time-consuming, and, in many cases, overlooked.
Meet iWorkplace Smart Labels
This blog is the second in our Feature Focus series, where we’ll dive into iWorkplace Smart Labels. In case you missed it, part one covered the benefits of automated metadata with Smart Metadata.
What is Smart Labels?
Smart Labels is part of the iWorkplace toolkit that automates the application of retention and deletion labels within Microsoft 365. By automating the labelling process, Smart Labels ensures that files are protected from day one and disposed of on schedule, enabling scalable compliance with minimal effort.
With iWorkplace Smart Labels, you can easily:
- Customise your disposal schedule. Tailor a master set of retention labels to your organisation’s needs and automatically apply them to sites, libraries, folders, and files.
- Map schedules to your taxonomy. Align retention schedules with your taxonomy and content structure.
- Set default label. Automatically label entire libraries or specific subfolder contents based on predefined metadata.
- Gain confidence in compliance. Know that files are protected or disposed of according to policy, with reporting to keep you informed every step of the way.
Smart Labels helps you to efficiently manage complex retention and disposal scenarios such as:
- 2+ rules in a library, where you need to set different rules for different document types within one library.
- Default library rules, where you apply labels to files based on their location.
- Event-driven rules, where you set up event-based retention like keeping contracts for two years after expiration.
The table below compares how Microsoft 365 E3, E5, and iWorkplace Smart Labels meet key retention and disposal needs. You’ll see how Smart Labels delivers a streamlined approach to managing compliance in Microsoft 365, especially when combined with Smart Records.
Do you have a question about Smart Labels or iWorkplace in general? Comment below, and we’ll do our best to respond as quickly as possible.
Visit this page to learn more about how iWorkplace can help you meet your organisation’s information protection and compliance requirements.
