Copilot for M365 Prep -- Purview or SharePoint Advanced Management?

When I used to be a sales rep working with customers on renewing or purchasing Microsoft Enterprise Agreements, one of the first points I would bring up was to look at tool rationalization. ?Are there products in your Microsoft licensing bundle (at the time I was talking about Core vs. Enterprise CAL – Let the licensing PTSD commence!) that you can deploy to your enterprise instead of paying for separate point products? Everyone would agree that the smart, frugal decision was to cut out some costly third party products and roll with what was included in the Microsoft EA (and then we’d say ‘fare thee well’ and I would leave on horseback because this was 600 years ago).

I bring this scenario up because not until recently did I realize I would have to have these same conversations in a deconstructed manner, showing why one Microsoft product was more acutely aligned than another, and must stave off two different products from eating each other up.?

But here we are, and thus is the case when looking at Microsoft Purview vs. SharePoint Advanced Management.

You are likely familiar with Microsoft Purview, the unified platform that provides comprehensive data governance mapping of your entire data estate, on-or off prem, across multi-cloud environments and looking at everything to do with compliancy.? This is a fantastic service when needing to be mindful for regulatory requirements or industry standards

You may not be as familiar with SharePoint Advanced Management (hereby abbreviated as SAM), something we at Sparkhound have talked about quite frequently as a component of SharePoint Premium (for which we were a product launch partner in 2022).? SAM is used only for OneDrive or SharePoint environments but is targeted at specific content governance: controlling lifecycle, access, oversharing and sprawl.?

Now – to make the connection.? Unless you’ve been under a rock for the last few years you have probably heard about Microsoft Copilot (which – eek to all those advertising dollars!! --? will be going through another name change), and are being told that it can change the way you work.? Which, it can!? But as a smart person in the year 2025 you probably also are asking lots of questions about security.? Which, you should!? And this is where our products intersect.

When you have a product with as much buzz around it as Copilot, you get people asking you how soon until they can use it (if they bother to ask at all) and you’ll want to show some quick wins or safe starting points about how powerful this tool really is.? Just getting started, most people like to ask Copilot ‘summarize my week’ or ‘outline a presentation based off this customer activity’ – things that are run of the mill situations for searching against files and services within the Microsoft Graph.? These quick questions and rapid responses against Copilot should prompt you to ask as yourself: Does this person have the proper access to the files they should be receiving?

And if the answer is no, that’s ok!? There is a quick fix, and that is done with SAM.? SAM allows you to apply simple access controls and review processes but gives you quick reports for simple visibility and remediation recommendations.? Its purpose is to be very tactical.

This isn’t to say its scope or usability is basic.? Let’s say you want to run your restricted access controls via SAM to lock sites or block downloads.? Doable!? And SAM has you covered.

Getting back to Purview, talking with customers who have looked to Purview to aid their Copilot preparedness they have all echoed that the ‘paralysis by analysis’ idiom rang true.? If your data estate already isn’t fully mapped out with policies as directed by Purview, beginning to do this before unleashing Copilot would be biting off more than you can chew.?

Also, while we would NEVER suggest trying to skirt working with your tireless security staff…these are the people who will be most tuned into leveraging Purview.? And these compliance and security administrators may not have the best understanding of your file structure for which things might be searched against.? Turning this quick, cool new pilot project into something that is now extending across departments…and taking………forever………………..to get………………………………………approved.

Most importantly – let’s not forget about cost.? Remember when I talked about breaking out the abacus to identify savings in Microsoft bundles?? At Ignite this past November it was announced that SAM would be included in subscriptions for Copilot for M365.? This is HUGE news; previously SAM had a separate cost of $3/user prior.? As your pilot groups get planned and the handful of test users will have their Copilot licenses assigned, they will have the added bonuses of SAM vs. trying to gauge your Purview consumption metrics.

Now don’t get me wrong – Purview is an incredible tool!? Fantastic, even!!? And these two, Purview and SAM can totally live in perfect harmony.? In fact – we would suggest you do this; having a content management governance strategy paired with data security and compliance is best practice all the way.?

There are two huge ways in which they can really pack a punch: retention and sensitivity labels.? Building retention labels in Purview can be applied in SharePoint via SAM to make sure that things like are being kept for their required duration and/or disposed of appropriately.? Also, you can add in sensitivity labels for SharePoint files through the Purview Portal to help streamline your encryption efforts.

Being able to understand both your content types, confidentiality labels, and assigning these in libraries is a huge time-saver and something that your content admins of yore would pine for.? Pine, I say!

When you are looking for quick wins showing the value of Copilot however – start with SAM.? Tactical, easy, and now, don’t pay any extra.?