10-Year Audit Log Retention Add On required even with E5 licenses?

Question

Hi 

I have a question regarding this add on. I had read the documentation by Microsoft that talks about the long term retention log (10 years).

Advanced Audit in Microsoft 365 - Microsoft 365 Compliance | Microsoft Docs

My question is this.

I have O365 E5/M365 E5 licenses in my tenant. Do I still need to purchase this add-on? Or is it included in the E5 licensing?

This link in particular says I need it in addition to the E5, but the previous link implies that it's already included.

In my tenant, when I go to create a new audit retention policy, I can see the 10 Years option already so I am assuming that I have this feature enabled for having the O365/M365 E5 license. I do not have the 10 year retention period add-on.

Just want to make sure I understand if I need to purchase this add on in addition to having the E5 licenses or not.

My other question is regarding the following statement in the previous documentation link:

Does this means that the add-on purchase is only required for the user who will generate the audit log report only? As in, i do not need to purchase more than 1-2 of these for example if only 2  people will be responsible of generating the audit logs?  

Let me know what you guys think.

Thanks in advanced.

Answer 1

Hello Odenkaz,

Thanks for your post in Microsoft community.

Yes, to retain audit logs for 10 years, you must also be assigned a 10-year audit log retention add-on license in addition to an E5 license.

You'll need to purchase and assign those add-on licenses for any users whose audit data is covered by a 10-year audit retention policy. You can find the same information from FAQs for Advanced Audit.

Thank you so much for your precious time. Stay safe and healthy.

Regards,

Ankita Vaidya

Answer 2

Hello Odenkaz,

 

Thanks for your post in Microsoft community.

 

Yes, to retain audit logs for 10 years, you must also be assigned a 10-year audit log retention add-on license in addition to an E5 license.

 

You'll need to purchase and assign those add-on licenses for any users whose audit data is covered by a 10-year audit retention policy. You can find the same information from FAQs for Advanced Audit.

 

Thank you so much for your precious time. Stay safe and healthy.

 

Regards,

Ankita Vaidya

Okay, so here is where I'm confused.

Let me see if I understand.

If an employee has E5 and I want to generate audit log data for a SharePoint site they own, they need to be assigned the 10 year retention add-on? or not? The FAQ makes it look like it's not required.

Or is it the person generating the audit-log the one that needs the 10 year retention log add-on assigned? For example, if the Internal Audit team ask me to get audit log for a SharePoint site, of a user with E5 license, for the last 3-4 years, then I require that addon in order to generate that audit log within those 10 year capacity?

Answer 3

Update: I was told that I would need to purchase the add-on for the entire company? Is this true? From my understanding in the documentation, it would seem that only the person generating the logs would require it, not the entire population. 

Still waiting on confirmation in this thread.

Thank you!

Answer 4

Hello Odenkaz,

Yes, you'll need to purchase and assign those add-on licenses for each users whose audit data is covered by a 10-year audit retention policy. So basically if you wants that your all users retain audit logs for 10 years, you need purchase that add-ons for entire company.

Thanking you. Stay safe and healthy.

Regards,

Ankita Vaidya