M365 Changelog: Microsoft Graph privacy controls to fully replace the classic Office Delve control in May

MC251870 – Updated May 18, 2021: Microsoft has updated the rollout timeline below and are extending the transition period for the classic Office Delve controls. Thank you for your patience.

In August 2020, Microsoft announced that Microsoft Graph privacy controls (MC219941) would be available in the fourth quarter. These Microsoft Graph privacy controls allow administrators to more granularly configure the visibility of Graph-derived insights which includes documents and sites across Microsoft 365 apps and services. Microsoft also announced a six-month transition period before the new controls would replace classic Office Delve controls. 

The transition and end-of-support for the classic Office Delve control and its respective settings will occur at the beginning of July (previously mid-May 2021). Microsoft is also introducing controls that allow people in your organization to customize insights that are available to them and to their colleagues.  

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 68863 

When this will happen

• Before July 1 (previously May 15), Microsoft will transfer the opted-out statuses of any Office Delve privacy settings to the new Microsoft Graph privacy controls configuration.
• After July 1 (previously May 15), you will need to use Microsoft Graph privacy controls to configure insights such as recommendations in the Outlook Mobile app and Office applications. 
• After July 1 (previously May 15), any Office Delve or other insights-based experiences that have been disabled will remain in a disabled state. Re-configure with Microsoft Graph privacy controls.

How this will affect your organization

The Microsoft Graph privacy controls replace and improve on existing Office Delve privacy controls with the exception of a sub-set of controls.

Microsoft is also introducing controls when insights-based experiences are enabled either at the organization or to select users/groups. These controls allow your users to manage how their activities are used to calculate recommendations for themselves and their colleagues. These controls can be enabled via PowerShell: How to configure item insights setting via PowerShell

What you need to do to prepare

Review the following:

If you have changed Office Delve or item insights privacy configurations within the past three months, you must thoroughly review the new item insights configuration at the administrator level.

• Before July 1 (previously May 15), you must ensure that you have the correct values for new item insights settings. Microsoft’s transfer process migrates a single snapshot of your Office Delve privacy configuration which may have already occurred.

If you have disabled Office Delve at the organization level in the SharePoint Admin Center, Microsoft recommends implementing the Microsoft Graph privacy controls rather than the Office Delve settings. In addition, you can enable other insights-based experiences on a select group of users by using admin-controllable item insights settings.

Note: Disabling Delve does not disable Microsoft Graph. Office Graph and Microsoft Graph are different concepts despite their similar names. For more info about Microsoft Graph, see Overview of Microsoft Graph.

Learn more

• Customizing item insights privacy in Microsoft Graph 
• Introducing new privacy controls with the Microsoft Graph (August 2020)