Microsoft Loop’s November 2023 Ignite summary for IT Admins

It's November 2023, and we're making the Loop app generally available for customers with Microsoft 365-Business Standard, Business Premium, E3, and E5-on web and mobile.

As a Compliance Manager or IT administrator, it's important to keep current on governance, data lifecycle, and compliance for your organization's software solutions. We're pleased to announce that as of November 15, 2023, Microsoft Loop is now generally available! Loop is a multi-player application that’s designed to help your teams think, plan and create together.

We've put together this brief roadmap of upcoming governance, data lifecycle, compliance, and admin management capabilities so you can make an informed decision on Loop in your organization. We welcome your questions and feedback in the comments section as we embark on this journey together, and we hope the timelines for anything that looks critical are close enough to give Loop a try today! And if you need to enable or disable these experiences, that's documented too for Loop app and workspaces, Loop components.

Also, we have recently updated our full list of supported capabilities, which can be found here: Summary of governance, lifecycle and compliance capabilities for Loop. Please give that a read!

Loop Storage

First, a quick aside on where Loop content is stored, as the admin management, governance, data lifecycle, and compliance capabilities are a function of the storage location. Putting that a different way...

Think of Loop more like you do Word, Excel or PowerPoint. Loop is an app that integrates with the SharePoint platform, Purview, and other Microsoft management capabilities in your organization. And like Word, Excel or PowerPoint, Loop experiences create files in SharePoint - in fact, Microsoft Loop is built on top of SharePoint, OneDrive, and Microsoft Syntex repository services, which means Loop content is just like the existing files in your ecosystem.

To help you understand how Loop content is stored in the Microsoft ecosystem, here's a high-level diagram showing where the Loop content was originally created determines its storage location:

Summarizing the created in A > stored in B:

Let's say that with a summary statement. Created in the Loop app > Microsoft Syntex
Created outside the Loop app in places that have dedicated shared storage (e.g. Teams channels) > SharePoint
Created outside the Loop app in all other places that don’t have tightly associated collaborative storage (e.g. Teams chat, Outlook email, Word for the web, Whiteboard) > OneDrive

Roadmap for governance, data lifecycle and compliance capabilities not yet available

If you're looking for the big picture, the full list of all capabilities, refer to: Summary of governance, lifecycle and compliance capabilities for Loop. In this section, we'll put the capabilities listed in that article as not yet available in roadmap format so you can plan for their availability.

Targeting early 2024

Data Loss Prevention, Information Protection

Data Loss Prevention (DLP) policy tips displayed for ALL Loop content, whether it’s stored in OneDrive, SharePoint or Microsoft Syntex
Sensitivity Labeling (MIP/CLP) for ALL Loop content, whether it’s stored in OneDrive, SharePoint or Microsoft Syntex

Targeting mid 2024

Admin Management for Loop workspaces

Third-Party tools for export and eDiscovery, migration, etc. to programmatically access Loop workspaces and content
PowerShell ability to
- View storage in the enumeration list of loop containers
- Multi-Geo re-home of Loop workspaces and .loop files as needed
- get and set conditional access policy, block download policy
SharePoint Admin Center
- Enterprise management capabilities in Admin Center for Loop workspaces
- Capability to delete, recover & permanently delete workspaces
- Capability to add and update sensitivity labels in the Admin UX
- New admin role integration with Admin UX and PowerShell

Data Lifecycle Management for Loop workspaces

Setting or overriding the all SharePoint sites Retention policy on an individual Loop workspace
Retention labels

Conclusion

By reviewing the above information, you can make an informed decision on whether Microsoft Loop is ready for use as a software solution in your organization. Up to date and full documentation can be found here: Summary of governance, lifecycle and compliance capabilities for Loop to help you make the best decisions for your organization.