SC-900 Practice Question: Describe the capabilities of Microsoft compliance solutions
Exhibit
{
"PolicyName": "Retain-Financial-7Years",
"Locations": ["Exchange", "SharePoint", "OneDrive"],
"RetentionAction": "Delete",
"RetentionDuration": 2557,
"RetentionType": "ModificationAgeInDays"
}Refer to the exhibit. A Microsoft Purview retention policy is configured as shown. Which statement about this policy is accurate?
⚠ Common exam trap
Watch out — candidates often confuse 'retain items for 7 years then delete' with 'delete items 7 years after last modified,' assuming a retention period exists when the policy is purely deletion-based.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
The policy will delete items 7 years after they were last modified.
The exhibit shows a retention policy configured with the action 'Delete items' and a period of '7 years' based on 'When items were last modified.' This means the policy will delete items 7 years after their last modification date, not from creation. Option C correctly states this behavior.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
The policy will delete items after 7 years from the date they were created.
Why it's wrong here
This statement is incorrect because the retention policy explicitly specifies 'ModificationAgeInDays' as the duration type. This means the 7-year period is calculated from the last time an item was modified, not from its original creation date. Therefore, any item's deletion trigger is based on its most recent activity, not its initial inception.
- ✗
The policy will retain items for 7 years from the last modification date.
Why it's wrong here
This option is inaccurate because the policy's defined 'Action' is 'Delete', not 'Retain'. While the duration (7 years) and the start of the period (last modification date) might be correct, the fundamental outcome of the policy is to remove items, not to ensure their preservation. A retention policy configured to 'retain' would prevent deletion during the specified period.
- ✓
The policy will delete items 7 years after they were last modified.
Why this is correct
This statement accurately describes the policy's behavior. The 'RetentionDurationType' is 'ModificationAgeInDays', meaning the the 2557-day (approximately 7 years) period begins from the item's last modification date. Upon reaching this duration, the policy's 'Action' of 'Delete' will be enforced, resulting in the permanent removal of the item.
- ✗
The policy will keep items for 7 years and then delete them.
Why it's wrong here
This option is misleading as it implies a 'RetainThenDelete' action, which is not configured here. While items are implicitly "kept" until the deletion trigger, the policy's explicit 'Action' is solely 'Delete'. It does not guarantee retention in the same way a 'Retain' or 'RetainThenDelete' policy would, which actively prevents deletion during the retention period.
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Related to this question
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Microsoft Entra ID
Key term
Policy
A policy is a set of rules or guidelines that defines how an organization manages, secures, and operates its IT systems and services.
Key term
Retention policy
A retention policy is a set of rules that determines how long an organization keeps its data and what happens to it when the retention period expires.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This SC-900 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Microsoft certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the SC-900 exam.