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📖 What is Microsoft Purview?

Microsoft Purview is a comprehensive family of data governance, risk, and compliance solutions that help organizations manage their data estate. It provides a unified platform for data discovery, classification, and protection across on-premises, multi-cloud, and SaaS environments.

🥋 Sensei Says:

"Sensei says: Think of Purview as the 'umbrella' brand. Many features previously found in the 'Compliance Center' have been migrated here."

📚 Certification: Microsoft 365 Administrator (MS-102)

🔑 What are the Key Concepts of Microsoft Purview?

  • Data Map and Catalog provide a unified view of data assets, allowing admins to discover, classify, and manage data across hybrid and multi-cloud environments.
  • Information Protection utilizes sensitivity labels to classify data, ensuring that sensitive documents are encrypted and restricted based on the user's identity and role.
  • Data Loss Prevention (DLP) policies identify and prevent the accidental or intentional sharing of sensitive information across Exchange, SharePoint, OneDrive, and Teams.
  • Data Lifecycle Management enables the creation of retention policies to ensure data is preserved for legal requirements or deleted to reduce organizational risk.
  • eDiscovery and Audit tools allow administrators to search, hold, and export content for legal investigations or regulatory compliance audits across the M365 tenant.

🎯 How does Microsoft Purview appear on the MS-102 Exam?

You may be asked to implement a solution that prevents users from sharing files containing Social Security numbers via Teams or SharePoint. You will need to identify the correct Data Loss Prevention (DLP) policy configuration to block these actions.

A scenario might describe a legal requirement to preserve all communications from a specific executive for five years. Expect to choose between retention policies and eDiscovery holds within the Purview portal to meet this requirement.

Expect questions where you must differentiate between sensitivity labels used for classification and DLP policies used for enforcement, specifically when protecting PII across a hybrid cloud environment to ensure regulatory compliance.

❓ Frequently Asked Questions

How does Microsoft Purview differ from the Microsoft 365 Compliance Center?

Purview is the evolved, unified brand that encompasses the Compliance Center. While the functionality remains similar, Purview integrates data governance and risk management into a single portal for a more holistic data estate view.


Can Purview manage data that exists outside of Microsoft 365?

Yes, Purview is designed for hybrid and multi-cloud environments. It can scan and govern data residing in Azure SQL, Amazon S3, and on-premises file shares, extending governance beyond just M365 services.

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