If your organisation uses SharePoint Online, April 2026 marks a compliance deadline you cannot afford to ignore. Microsoft is retiring three legacy compliance features:
- Information Management Policies.
- In-place Records Management.
- Deletion-Only Document Policies.
These three features have quietly underpinned document libraries in many SharePoint environments for years. Information Management Policies were used to set retention periods, audit logging, and labelling at the library or content type level. In-place Records Management allowed documents to be declared as records directly within SharePoint without moving them to a separate repository. Deletion-Only Document Policies enforced automatic deletion of content after a defined period.Once these are gone, any retention logic, audit settings, or deletion controls built on them will stop functioning as expected.
In many organisations, these configurations were set up years ago and have not been reviewed since. When Microsoft switches them off, the riskencompasses both technical and potential compliance gaps. Retention obligations may go unenforced, records declarations may lapse, and audit trails may become incomplete, often without any immediate alert to the teams responsible for governance.
For IT managers and compliance officers, this is more than a technical housekeeping task. It is an opportunity to replace ageing, often undocumented configurations with a modern, defensible compliance framework.
Path to Microsoft Purview migration
Microsoft's recommended migration path is Microsoft Purview, specifically its Data Lifecycle Management and Records Management modules. You can find Microsoft’s guidance here. For organisations with well-maintained retention schedules and a clear understanding of their current configurations, this isa viable route.
However, it is important to understand that this is a re-architecture, not a traditional migration. Legacy SharePoint compliance logic does not map directly to Purview retention labels, event-based triggers, or record declaration workflows. Each element needs to be assessed, rationalised, and rebuilt. For organisations with sprawling SharePoint environments, inconsistent content types, or retention schedules that have never been formally reviewed, this process can be significantly more complex than it first appears.
There is also a licensing consideration. Some Purview capabilities require Microsoft 365 E5 compliance licensing or add-ons, which may represent an unplanned cost if your current licensing does not already cover them.And Purview controls are still really the domain of IT not the content managers.
Where iWorkplace for Microsoft 365 fits in
For many organisations, particularly those in government, education, financial services, and other regulated sectors, a Purview-only approach demands significant internal capability to implement and sustain.
This is where iWorkplace for Microsoft 365 provides meaningful value alongside Purview.
Used by over 200 councils, not-for-profits, and commercial organisations across Australia and New Zealand, iWorkplace is a proven solution for managing content and compliance at scale in Microsoft 365.
It adds a governance layer that simplifies adoption and reduces the ongoing administrative burden of compliance management within Microsoft 365.
iWorkplace helps organisations:
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Automate policy enforcement.
Retention policies are only effective when applied consistently.iWorkplace enables metadata-driven classification and automated policy enforcement across SharePoint and Teams, reducing dependence on end-user decision-making and bridging the gap between policy documents and actual practice -
Governance by design.
Rather than applying retention controls retrospectively to an unstructured environment, iWorkplace enables structured site provisioning and standardised templates aligned to compliance requirements and automates application retention and disposal policy. New content is compliant from the moment it is created, not after the fact. -
Clearer records management oversight.
IT and compliance teams gain clearer visibility into where policies apply, how records are declared, and whether retention lifecylcelifecycle is functioning correctly. This is particularly valuable for industries such as government agencies, education institutions, financial services organisations, and regulated industries where audibility is critical. -
Alignment with local data handling obligations.
Beyond technical compliance with Microsoft 365 retention policies, iWorkplace supports organisations in meeting Australian regulatory requirements, including:
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- Australian Privacy Act 1988.
- NSW State Records Act.
- Public Records Act (Victoria & Queensland).
- Western Australia Freedom of Information Act.
- AS ISO 1 Records Management best practices.
- Electronic Transactions Act.
- National Archives standards.
This makes it easier for regulated organisations to demonstrate compliance in an audit-ready way.
Structured Approach to SharePoint Compliance Migration
Regardless of which tools you use, the migration should follow a structured process. Rushing directly to implementation without completing the earlier steps below is the most common source of compliance gaps.
STEP 1: Audit your current environment.
Identify every location where Information Management Policies, In-place Records Management, or Deletion-Only Policies are currently active. Do not rely on documentation alone. Verify against the live environment.
STEP 2: Review and rationalise your retention schedules.
This is an opportunity to eliminate outdated rules, consolidate duplicates, and align retention logic with current business and regulatory requirements.
STEP 3: Map legacy logic to modern equivalents.
Translate existing configurations into Purview retention labels, policies, and record declaration workflows. Document the mapping to enable validation and auditing.
STEP 4: Assess licensing requirements.
Confirm whether your current Microsoft 365 licensing covers the Purview capabilities you need and plan for any additional costs.
STEP 5: Implement and validate.
Configure your new compliance environment, then test enforcement thoroughly before decommissioning legacy configurations.
STEP 6: Document and govern.
Ensure the new framework is documented, ownership is assigned, and a review cycle is established to prevent the same configuration drift that affected the legacy environment.
Act now before support for legacy SharePoint compliance features ends
Compliance transformations take time, especially in large or regulated environments. Auditing legacy configurations, rationalising retention schedules, redesigning policy frameworks, and validating enforcement are not tasks that can be compressed into a few weeks.
As a Microsoft Partner with more than 20 years of experience implementing SharePoint, Professional Advantage can help organisations navigate their compliance migration in a structured way.
We begin with a compliance impact assessment to identify where legacy features are currently in use and assess your risk exposure. From there, we design a modern compliance model aligned to your business and regulatory needs, configure Purview and iWorkplace, and support you through implementation, change management, and documentation.
If you are not sure where your organisation currently stands, that is exactly what the assessment is for.
Connect with us for a free 30-minute consultation. We will help you identify which legacy configurations are active in your environment, assess your risk exposure before April 2026, and map out a realistic path to a modern, defensible compliance framework.
