Messaging Records Management (MRM) in Exchange Server 2013

Messaging Records Management is records management technology to manage email lifecycle and reduce the legal risks associated with the emails. Message Records Management in Exchange 2013 will be implemented using Retentions Policies.
Retention tags with the settings to how long to keep\delete\archive emails will be used to apply retention settings on the mailbox or the default folder on a mailbox like Inbox and these retention tags can also be used apply retention settings on mailbox folders of outlook 2010 or later and OWA. Once the Retention Policy with the Retention Settings applied on folder or a mailbox, the Managed Folder Assistant running on Exchange 2013 Mailbox Server will process all mailboxes and apply the retention settings to the mailbox.

Retention Tags
Retention Tags are the one which will define the settings on how long the emails can be kept\deleted\archived and on where to apply the settings like entire mailbox or individual folders. Retention Tags are used to apply retention settings on messages and mailbox folders. There are 3 types of Retention Tag

Default Policy Tag: Default Policy tag will be applied to all items that do not have a retention tag applied. A Retention Policy can have one Default Policy Tag to move items to Archive Folders, one Default Policy Tags to Delete Items and One Default Policy Tags to delete voice mails

Retention Policy Tag: Created for default folders like Inbox and Sent Items folders. A Retention Policy can have one Retention Tag for each and every default folders

Personal Tag: Personal Tags are used by Outlook later and Outlook Web App users to apply retention settings on custom folders and individual messages. A Retention Policy can have n number of Personal Tags
Retention Policy can have any of these Retention tags

Retention Policy
Retention Policy is a group of Retention Tags applied that can be applied to a mailbox.. Also only one Retention Policy can be applied on a mailbox.
Managed Default Folders option introduced in Exchange Server 2007 are not available in Exchange Server 2013.

Default Messaging Records Management Policy
Installation of Exchange 2013 will have a default Messaging Records Management Policy which can be used when creating a new mailbox. The default MRM policy will have these default Retention Tags



Implementing Message Records Management in Exchange Server 2013
Below are the steps that are to be followed to implementing Message Records Management in Exchange Server 2013

1. Create the Retention Tags
2. Create Retention Policy
3. Link Retention Tags to Retention Policy to have one default policy tag and one or more Retention Tags and Personal Tags
4. Apply Retention Policy to Mailbox

Step 1: Create a Retention Tags
This shows how to create a Retention Tags on Exchange Server 2013 using Exchange Control Panel
To create a Retention Tags -> Login to Exchange Control Panel -> Compliance Management -> Retention Tags and Click on New (+) to create a New Retention Tags



To create a Default Policy Tag click on applied automatically to entire mailbox (default) and to create a Retention Policy Tags click on applied automatically to a specified folder and to create a Personal Tag click on applied by users to items and folders (Personal)

On the background, I create 3 Retention Tags, One Default Policy tag to move 60 days old emails to Archive Mailbox



One Retention Policy Tags to permanently delete 30 days old emails from Deleted Items folder



and One Personal Tag with settings not to archive



Step 2: Create a Retention Policy
To create a Retention Policy -> Login to Exchange Control Panel -> Compliance Management -> Retention Policy and Click New (+) -> Type a Name and Click Save

Step 3: Linking Retention Tags to Retention Policy
To Link Retention Tags to Retention Policy-> Login to Exchange Control Panel -> Compliance Management -> Retention Policy -> Select the Policy to which you want link addition Retention Tags and Click edit -> add the Retention Tags as shown below and click save



Step 4: Assign the Retention Policy to a Mailbox
To apply a Retention Policy on a Mailbox -> Login to Exchange Control Panel -> Recipients -> Mailbox -> Select the Mailbox and Click edit ->



Click on Mailbox Features -> Select the Retention Policy and click Save



I believe the above procedure gives a good idea on how to implement Messaging Records Management in Exchange Server 2013. If you need any help on the above please inform us. Please don’t forget to have a look on the Second Part of this article to have more idea on MRM in Exchange Server 2013