Explain what your account contains
Mail, Teams conversations, SharePoint and office documents. The presence of a system does not establish the history, quality or rights available in your account. Describe which workflows are actually recorded and where supporting files live.
Scope issues to discuss
Tenant policies, legal holds and different workload permissions. Ask the provider which objects, messages, attachments and relationships it needs. Broad account access can be materially different from a bounded export; involve an authorized administrator before selecting a transfer method.
Verify actual retention
Inspect the oldest available record and a representative export. Plans, settings, permissions, deletions and migrations can change what is available. Do not infer a universal retention period from the system name. Use current vendor documentation and your own account evidence together.
Ask who does the work
Determine who exports, filters, checks permissions, removes restricted material and validates the package. Confirm whether third-party integrations or connected datasets are covered. Keep credentials and reusable access tokens out of any export.
Prepare a system-level note
Record the account or tenant at a non-sensitive level, relevant record categories, available years, known gaps, export owner and restrictions. An initial provider conversation can use that note before any sample is considered.
System-specific scope questions
- Which workloads are in scope: mail, Teams, SharePoint or OneDrive?
- Have account permissions and any retention or hold restrictions been reviewed?
- Will linked documents be included lawfully rather than left as inaccessible references?
Sources & further reading
Provider statements are attributed claims, not audited outcomes. Reviewed 19 October 2026.