M365 Changelog: Microsoft Purview eDiscovery – Retiring User Data Search Case tool

MC664475 – The User data search case tool is retiring, and its functionality is merging with eDiscovery Standard as of August 30th, 2023. The previous cases created will be available in the eDiscovery Standard solution going forward.

Key points

Today, Microsoft has the User data search case tool which helps to create a case for investigation of a Data Subject Rights (DSR) request. The user data search tool has built in search option. However, with the increase in DSRs, users of the User data search might want more detailed search capabilities. With the eDiscovery Standard solution, you can control the search capabilities and add more variables as per the requirements. With the intent to ease the search and manage the capabilities, Microsoft is merging the eDiscovery Standard and User data search. All the User data search tool cases and searches will now be available under the eDiscovery Standard solution as of August 30th, 2023. For all these cases, you will also have access to eDiscovery Standard functionality.

How this will affect your organization:

• With this change, all your existing User data search cases and searches will appear in the eDiscovery Standard solution.
• You can leverage eDiscovery Standard features in these cases.
• When you create a new case in eDiscovery Standard and want to be able to get the same search results as available in the User data search tool, you can refer to the following query: 

participants:”<user name>” OR author:”<user name>” OR createdby:”< user name>”(c:c)(ItemClass=IPM.Document)(ItemClass=IPM.Note)(ItemClass=IPM.Note.Microsoft.Conversation)(ItemClass=IPM.Note.Microsoft.Missed)(ItemClass=IPM.Note.Microsoft.Conversation.Voice)(ItemClass=IPM.Note.Microsoft.Missed.Voice)(ItemClass=IPM.SkypeTeams.Message)” 

Please note that this query should be run for all the SharePoint and Exchange locations.

What you need to do to prepare:

Assess if the changes will change your organization’s eDiscovery workflow. Provide training to all eDiscovery users in your organization and update relevant documentation if needed.