Microsoft Teams - Lifecycle Management

Lifecycle Management

Microsoft continuously monitors activity for existing SharePoint sites, including those associated with Microsoft Teams, to ensure that:

• Sites that support university business, teaching, research and collaboration are preserved.
• Abandoned or obsolete sites are archived or deleted in a timely manner.

Inactive Site Notifications

When a Team's associated SharePoint site has been inactive for a six-month period, the Team's owners will receive an email asking them to confirm whether the site should remain active.

If no response is received and the site remains inactive:

1. One month after the third notification is sent, the SharePoint site will be placed into read-only mode. This will prevent new content from being added and existing content from being edited.
2. After three months in read-only status, the SharePoint site will be moved to Microsoft Archive (cold storage).
3. After three months in cold storage, the SharePoint site will be permanently deleted.

At any point in this process, a Team owner can respond to the inactivity notification to keep the site active or, if it has already been archived, restore it to an active state.

Site Archiving & Deletion Guidance

If collaboration within the Team has ended, but its conversations and files should be retained for future reference, the site should be archived. See Microsoft's "Archive or restore a team in Microsoft Teams" tutorial.

If collaboration within the Team has ended and its conversations and files are no longer needed, the site should be deleted.

Before requesting a Team deletion, verify that:

• Business records are no longer required or have been moved to a system of record.
• Important files have been retained or moved.
• Team members have been notified, when appropriate.

To delete a Team and its associated SharePoint site, contact the IT Service Center. Deleted Teams can be recovered for a limited period before they are permanently removed.