If you Google it, Google will provide you with the following breakdown of their Vault service:
“Google Vault lets you retain, hold, search, and export data to support your organization’s archiving and eDiscovery needs. Vault supports:
- Gmail messages
- Drive files
- Google Chat messages (history turned on)
- Google Meet recordings and associated chat, Q&A, and poll logs
- Google Groups messages
- Google Voice for Google Workspace text messages, voicemails and their transcripts, and call logs
- New Google Sites
- Classic Hangouts messages (history turned on)
Vault is entirely web-based, so there’s no need to install or maintain any software.”
Simply put, this core service allows you to determine what content gets preserved in the domain. It then offers easy access to searched and exported data to ensure it meets your eDiscovery and compliance needs. Its goal is not to restore data quickly but to retain critical data in an organized way so that searching for specific information becomes easier. Vault becomes a valuable tool when school administrators need to search for data for litigation or regulatory compliance.
Not a backup
While Vault is an excellent resource for retaining, archiving, searching, and exporting your institution’s email and drive data, it is not a backup solution or disaster recovery system. With Vault, you can keep data for as long as you need it and remove data when you don’t need it anymore. But once removed, there is no recovery. It is also important to understand there is no electronic recovery from Vault back to Google Workspace. The primary use for Vault should be for eDiscovery and compliance investigations and requests.
Effective backup and disaster recovery tool: Sys Cloud
If you need help with any of Google Vault's facets, CDW Amplified for Education offers regular technical training based on Google for Education procedures and EDU best practices. The training covers Vault and many other core services. We also conduct one-on-one training to ensure school Google Admins are confident in their settings and practices.
So, what data types can be retained through Vault?
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Gmail messages
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Drive files
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Google Chat messages (history turned on)
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Google Meet recordings and associated chat, Q&A, and poll logs
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Google Groups messages
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Google Voice for Google Workspace text messages, voicemails and their transcripts, and call logs
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new Google Sites
Google Vault Service Status Setting
The setting to turn on Google Vault is in this location:
Apps > Google Workspace > Google Vault
How do you access Google Vault?
You can reach Vault in a couple of ways:
Option #1
Option #2
Waffle Iron – located at the upper right corner of your admin console (if made available by your domain admin)
Retention
Once you have accessed your Google Vault, the next step is to determine your retention policies. Whose data, what data, and for how long data should be stored are the key questions that must be addressed. Setting up custom rules that are based on specific OUs, date ranges, or terms are the typical parameters used when applying retention policies. If your policies are not set to indefinite you will be asked when to expunge data. Pay close attention to the differences between the expunge options.
Note: The first option will only expunge data if the owner has deleted the data. The second option will expunge data as soon as the retention coverage period is met.
Consult with your privacy and legal team to ensure your selection meets the requirements of your policies.
Be mindful that Vault immediately begins the process of purging data that exceeds the retention coverage period as soon as you submit a new rule. This can include data that users expect to keep. It is important to not proceed to initiate any new rule until you’re sure the rule is configured correctly.
Holds
Typically, you create holds in response to an investigation or legal issue. A hold preserves data indefinitely and takes precedence over a retention rule. When a hold is deleted, data is then subject to applicable retention rules, and only those who have access to a matter can see who and what is on hold.
Export
After locating the messages or files using Vault, you can export them. The export will provide a comprehensive copy of data that matches your search, metadata linked to the data, and corroborating information to show that the data matches what exists on Google’s server. Your exports from Vault are available for 15 days after creation, and you can export in the following formats depending on the type of data for export:
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PST
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Chrome – Print as PDF or Save to Drive
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MBox format
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XML
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CSV
If you’d like hands-on support in setting up and maintaining your Google Vault, contact our Suppor team to get started with the Vault Support Stack!
If you currently have hours on a support subscription, you are one step closer to Support Stacks and you can connect with the support team by Emailing support@amplifiedit.cdw.com. To purchase a support contract, please complete this form, and an account manager will contact you.
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| Document Version | Date | Description of Change |
| 1.0 | 3/18/2024 | Updated reference of RAM to GCSS |
| 1.1 | 7/11/2024 | Removed 'hours' from support contract line |
| 1.2 | 7/31/2024 | Updated email address |
| 1.3 | 8/16/2024 | Added content block for email |
| 1.4 | 8/26/2024 | Remove quotation marks |