What is the Version History Feature?
Simply put, lists and libraries now retain 500 historical versions of each file by default; users can revert to older Versions if they make a mistake, a new Version is created every time a file is saved, and each Version counts to storage consumption in full. This means that just one person working on a PowerPoint presentation can have a real effect on that month’s storage Overage Fee; a series of high-resolution images, saving every few minutes… the total footprint of one such pptx is measured in GB within the first hour of its creation, and tens of GB before it’s finished.
How can Northern reduce unnecessary Version History?
Northern offers a standard workflow in its software solution (NSS) that enables customers to remove low and zero-value Versions. It offers the possibility to keep Versions for newer files, to skip-over small files, and to prioritize sites where cleanup will have the greatest impact. The goal is to maximise GB/hour clean-up rates and immediately impact Overage Fees.
The workflow for new customers:
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- Usually an annual subscription
- Based primarily on the number of Data Contributors, with a generous data limit
2-4 hours depending on customer Change Control process.
- NSS is installed in the customer environment on one or more virtualized application servers
- NSS uses an SQL instance in the customer environment
- No data leaves the customer environment
- A Microsoft Entra app with Read and Write privileges on the M365 tenant or target sites is required (no cost)
1hr configuration, 24-72 hours scanning time depending on scope.
- The whole tenant can be targeted or a subset of sites
1-2hrs
- Results are displayed in dashboards with summary statistics and charts.
- A Cleanup Rating is provided so sites can be prioritised for action.
- Sites are listed with additional metrics, useful not only for Version cleanup
2-3 minutes
- Within the same dashboards where analysis results are displayed, sites are selected for cleanup.
1-10hrs per site, depending on site properties and filters used.
- Normally a schedule is used where more Versions are removed for older files
- Normally a minimum file size is used, to ensure the process doesn’t get bogged down with small files that have little impact
Cleanup runs at 5-150 GB/hr, depending on site properties and filters used.
- Dashboards are updated as cleanup progresses, for management control and up-stream reporting
- Metrics highlight overall impact and site-level statistics provide a granular audit log
- Extend savings
Conclusion
Even a conservative cleanup rate of 30GB/hour gives monthly savings of 20TB and $4,400 (using $0.2/GB/month rates). This is an annual saving of over $52,000. If you’re an M365 client struggling with storage Overage Fees, the next step is to contact Northern and to do the math.
After that, you can start researching how to relinquish Extra File Storage back to Microsoft – a luxury problem you’ve almost certainly never dealt with before.