A Bird's Eye View with Microsoft Purview

Margaret_Farmer

Microsoft

Apr 10, 2025

Discover how nonprofits can enhance security, ensure compliance, and effectively manage data governance with Microsoft Purview. This guide will also provide insights on evaluating your current data governance and compliance measures.

image of Microsoft Purview Cloud platform integration. All credits and trademarks belonging to Microsoft.

Compliance, Security, & Governance

Nonprofits are entrusted with the critical task of managing sensitive data, including Personally Identifiable Information (PII) and Protected Health Information (PHI). This responsibility underscores the importance of robust data governance. As cyberattacks become increasingly sophisticated, having a comprehensive data compliance strategy is not just advisable but essential. Nonprofits are particularly vulnerable to these attacks, which can exploit sensitive data for malicious purposes.

Moreover, grant requirements often mandate stringent security measures to safeguard individuals' data. Compliance with regulations such as the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is crucial. This regulation sets a high standard for data security and privacy, ensuring that organizations handling international data implement appropriate protective measures. By adhering to these compliance standards, nonprofits can not only protect their stakeholders' data but also enhance their credibility and trustworthiness in the eyes of donors and partners.

Small organizations should assess their risk tolerance and current privacy standards to identify areas for improvement. Implementing a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) plan is highly recommended. A DPIA helps analyze and minimize data protection risks. Utilizing a DPIA template provides a structured framework for planning and mapping data protection processes. This ensures all necessary steps are taken to protect sensitive information and comply with data protection regulations. Download the DPIA template; to begin mapping out your data protection measures, mitigate risks, and build trust with stakeholders: Microsoft Word - dpia-template-v1.docx.

Now that we have a clear understanding of the critical need for compliance measures. Let's explore how Microsoft provides organizations with the tools they need to begin protecting their sensitive data.

Microsoft Purview Portal

Welcome to Microsoft Purview Portal. Your solution for your compliance, data, and security needs. We learned about the importance of keeping sensitive data secure and the global enforcement of privacy and security standards for organizations of every size. So, what is Microsoft Purview Portal? How can it help nonprofits govern and become GDPR compliant? Microsoft Purview Portal is a cloud platform that allows you to manage solutions, monitor compliance, create policies, manage private data, Data Loss Prevention (DLP) measured, while improving your compliance posture. The features will depend on the type of Microsoft 365 license that your organization holds. Take advantage of 30-day free trials to try out scenarios with features for additional applications. Below is a list of applications and a brief description:

Microsoft Purview

Audit: Microsoft Purview Audit provides the ability to log and search for audited activities, powering forensic, IT, compliance, and legal investigations.
Communication Compliance: This solution helps detect, capture, and act on inappropriate messages that can lead to potential data security or compliance incidents within your organization.
Compliance Alerts: Compliance Manager alerts you to changes as soon as they happen, helping you stay on track with your compliance goals by setting up alert policies.
Compliance Managers: Microsoft Purview Compliance Manager helps you assess and manage compliance across your multi-cloud environment, providing pre-built assessments, workflow capabilities, and a risk-based compliance score.
Data Catalog: The Microsoft Purview Unified Catalog experience allows you to explore and understand your data categorized by governance domains, search through AI-powered copilot, and subscribe to data products.
Data Lifecycle Management: This solution provides tools and capabilities to retain the content you need to keep and delete the content you don't, helping manage risk and liability.
Data Loss Prevention: Microsoft Purview Data Loss Prevention (DLP) helps protect sensitive data by identifying, monitoring, and automatically protecting sensitive items across various Microsoft 365 services and endpoints
eDiscovery: Microsoft Purview eDiscovery solutions help you manage internal and external investigations by identifying, holding, and exporting content found in mailboxes and sites.
Information Protection: Microsoft Purview Information Protection helps you discover, classify, protect, and govern sensitive information wherever it lives or travels.
Information Barriers: This solution allows you to restrict two-way communication and collaboration between groups and users in Microsoft Teams, SharePoint, and OneDrive, helping to avoid conflicts of interest and safeguard internal information.
Insider Risk Mangement: Microsoft Purview Insider Risk Management helps you detect, investigate, and act on risky activities within your organization to mitigate potential data security incidents.
Records Management: This solution uses intelligent classification to automate and simplify the retention schedule for regulatory, legal, and business-critical records in your organization.

Associated Portals

Microsoft Defender: A comprehensive security solution that protects devices, endpoints, email, collaboration tools, and cloud apps. It includes risk-based vulnerability management, attack surface reduction, next-generation protection, endpoint detection and response (EDR), automatic investigation and remediation, and managed hunting services: Microsoft Defender Portal.
Microsoft Entra: A family of identity and network access products designed to implement a Zero Trust security strategy. It includes Microsoft Entra ID, Domain Services, Private Access, Internet Access, ID Governance, and ID Protection: Microsoft Entra Admin Center.
Microsoft Fabric: An enterprise-ready, end-to-end analytics platform that unifies data movement, processing, ingestion, transformation, real-time event routing, and report building. It integrates services like Data Engineering, Data Factory, Data Science, Real-Time Intelligence, Data Warehouse, and Databases into a cohesive stack: Microsoft Fabric.
Microsoft Priva: A set of solutions that support privacy operations across an organization's data landscape. It helps consolidate privacy protection, standardize compliance, and streamline regulation adherence with solutions like Consent Management, Privacy Assessments, Subject Rights Requests, and Tracker Scanning: Microsoft Priva Portal.
Microsoft Service Trust: The Microsoft Service Trust Portal (STP) is a one-stop shop for security, regulatory compliance, and privacy information related to the Microsoft cloud. It provides content, tools, and resources to help organizations manage cloud data security and compliance: Microsoft Service Trust.

The platform offers various tutorials to help users get started, such as those available on Microsoft Learn. These tutorials cover essential topics like safeguarding data across platforms, apps, and clouds, and improving risk and compliance posture. You can learn more about walkthrough guides here: Microsoft Purview setup guides | Microsoft Learn.

Knowledge Center

If you're looking to learn more about the key features of Microsoft Purview and how to start implementing its processes, you're in luck! Microsoft Purview offers a wealth of resources to help you get started. Whether you prefer to read through detailed documentation or watch a variety of curated videos, there are plenty of options available to suit your learning style. These resources cover everything from the basics of Microsoft Purview to best practices for data governance, risk management, and compliance. By leveraging these materials, you can gain a comprehensive understanding of how to effectively use Microsoft Purview to enhance your organization's data management strategies. So, dive in and explore the wealth of knowledge available to you!

Engage The Community

The Microsoft Purview Community is a dynamic platform where users can connect with experts, share knowledge, and explore the features of Microsoft Purview. It offers discussions, forums, and resources tailored to data governance, risk management, and compliance needs. Whether you're an experienced admin or a newcomer, the community provides valuable information and support to enhance your data management strategies. Join the Microsoft Purview Community today to leverage collective knowledge and expertise for better data management.

Conclusion

In conclusion, we have explored the extensive resources available to you for enhancing data privacy, compliance, and governance. You have discovered how to mitigate risks by conducting impact assessments, which are crucial for improving your security and compliance posture. Additionally, you have learned about the various guides and videos that provide step-by-step instructions on implementing effective measures. Microsoft Purview offers a comprehensive suite of tools designed to secure your organization and streamline your data management processes. To delve deeper into these resources, please refer to the detailed documentation and training materials provided below. These resources will equip you with the knowledge and skills needed to effectively utilize Microsoft Purview and ensure your organization's data remains secure and compliant.