Self-hosted Slack alternative with eDiscovery and legal hold

Self-hosted Slack alternative with eDiscovery and legal hold: what the constraint requires

A regulated team that needs to keep, hold and export chat messages under its own control can meet that requirement with a self-hosted server, but the compliance features are not all free. Mattermost's compliance export and retention policies sit in its paid Professional, Enterprise and Enterprise Advanced plans, and Mattermost Entry caps channel history at 10,000 messages with no compliance features. Rocket.Chat's free Starter plan includes retention, while its tamper-evident audit trails of messages, files and sessions are listed on paid plans. Matrix retention settings are configured on the Synapse server itself. Confirm each product's current tier for the specific feature before committing, because the editions change. Slack's constraint is worth stating precisely. Slack's Free plan keeps 90 days of message and file history, and content on Free workspaces older than one year is permanently deleted, so a legal hold written against an older Free workspace may already have lost its data. Every Slack plan can export messages and file links from public channels, but exporting private channels and direct messages requires Business+ or Enterprise, and custom exports by member or conversation are Enterprise-only. Teams with a hold obligation should check which export tier their current plan allows before the next request arrives.

The practical decision is to map each obligation to a control before choosing a server. Write down the retention period, who may place and lift a hold, whether holds cover direct messages and private channels, what export format the reviewer needs, and whether the export must be reproducible later. Then ask each vendor or implementation partner to show the setting, role or log that satisfies each item in your own test environment. Your legal and compliance leads should confirm what counts as a sufficient record, since DeployOpen prepares systems and evidence for an assessment but does not issue the audit opinion, which independent auditors and certification bodies provide.

What eDiscovery and legal hold require from chat

Legal hold and eDiscovery depend on more than storing messages. Retention has to outlast the platform's visible history, a hold has to stop deletion, and exports have to cover the conversations that matter, with records tied to identified people. The cards below set out the requirements to check against Slack and each self-hosted option.

Retention beyond visible history

Slack's Free plan keeps 90 days of message and file history, and content on Free workspaces older than one year is permanently deleted. A regulated team cannot rely on that window for preservation. Ask whether the self-hosted platform keeps messages indefinitely by default or only under a configured retention policy, and who can change that policy. Confirm the behavior against the edition you plan to run, since retention controls may sit in paid tiers.

Legal hold that stops deletion

A retention schedule alone does not satisfy a hold. The platform must be able to place a hold on a user, channel or conversation that overrides routine deletion and expiry until the hold is released. Test this on a staging copy: delete a message under a hold, expire a retention window, and confirm the record remains and the hold action is itself logged. Check whether holds apply to edits and file attachments as well as messages.

Exports of private channels and DMs

On Slack, exporting private channels and direct messages requires a Business+ or Enterprise plan, and custom exports by member or conversation are Enterprise-only. Self-hosted options differ: the admin already holds the database, so the question becomes whether the export tool can scope output by user, channel and date range and produce a format your review platform accepts. Ask for a sample export of a private channel and a DM before you rely on it.

Audit trail of who did what

Evidence needs more than message content. You need records of who posted, edited or deleted content, who created or archived channels, who exported data, and who changed retention or hold settings. Confirm whether the platform writes these events to a tamper-evident or separately protected log, how long logs are kept, and whether they can be exported with the messages they describe. Rocket.Chat's paid plans list tamper-evident audit trails for messages, files and sessions, which is a specific item to verify.

Identity tied to records

A message exported without a reliable identity is hard to attribute. Single sign-on and directory sync keep user records linked to the corporate identity, so deprovisioning a leaver does not orphan their messages. Mattermost includes SSO and AD/LDAP sync from its Professional plan, and Synapse supports OpenID Connect, SAML2 and CAS. Confirm that the identifiers in exports match the identifiers in your directory, and document how departed users are retained in the archive.

How Mattermost, Rocket.Chat and Matrix meet retention, hold and export

This table compares how Mattermost, Rocket.Chat and Matrix with Synapse handle retention policies, legal hold and compliance export, and which paid edition each feature requires. Read each row as a question to put to the vendor before you rely on a platform for regulated records. The main takeaway is that none of the three treats legal hold as a finished product feature you can assume, so confirm the exact behavior in your own environment.

Requirement	Mattermost	Rocket.Chat	Matrix with Synapse and Element
Compliance export	Compliance export is a paid feature in Professional, Enterprise and Enterprise Advanced. Team Edition does not include it.	Audit trails of messages, files and sessions are listed on paid plans. Confirm the export format and tooling with the vendor.	No built-in compliance export in Synapse. Export typically comes from the database or a tool you build, so plan it as custom work.
Retention policies	Retention is configured by administrators. Confirm that it is included in your chosen paid edition before relying on it.	Retention is listed on the free Starter plan. Confirm how it interacts with audit trails on paid plans.	Synapse retention settings exist, but they apply per room and server policy. Confirm they meet your schedule and test deletion.
Legal hold	Confirm in writing whether a hold suspends deletion for specific users or channels, and how it is audited.	Confirm whether a hold overrides the retention policy for chosen rooms and whether it is logged.	Holds are not a documented Synapse feature in the sources reviewed. Plan a process that preserves rooms and database backups.
Edition needed for paid controls	Professional, Enterprise or Enterprise Advanced, sold as annual seat subscriptions. Pricing requires a sales quote.	Commercial, Government or Defense plans, priced by quote. Starter does not include air-gapped use.	Element Server Suite Pro includes Synapse Pro. Confirm which compliance features the Pro edition provides.
License	Source under AGPL v3.0 with a commercial option. Compiled binaries under MIT.	MIT outside enterprise directories. The ee directories use a separate enterprise license.	Synapse is AGPL-3.0 with commercial exceptions from Element. Review AGPL obligations with counsel.
Support window	Server releases are monthly. Check which version line your edition covers before planning upgrades.	Standard releases are supported for 6 months and LTS for 12. Older versions get no security fixes.	Upgrades can change database schema, and rollback can be difficult. Test each upgrade on a copy.
Database and operations impact	PostgreSQL based. Clustering and shared storage need an Enterprise or higher plan.	MongoDB 8.0 or later as a replica set. Retention and holds depend on database backup design.	PostgreSQL recommended. Retention and holds depend on database backup and worker design.

Which paid edition covers compliance export on each platform

Mattermost gates compliance export behind its paid editions. The free Entry tier of the commercial build caps channel message history at 10,000 messages and has no compliance features or high availability. The open-source Team Edition is aimed at teams under 250 users that do not need single sign-on, and the free tiers do not include compliance export. Compliance export is included in Professional, Enterprise and Enterprise Advanced, which are sold as prepaid annual subscriptions based on seat licenses. The pricing page lists no public prices and directs buyers to sales.

Professional: includes compliance export, along with SSO (SAML, OIDC, OAuth) and AD/LDAP user sync.
Enterprise: adds high availability clustering and FIPS 140-3 compliance on top of Professional.
Enterprise Advanced: adds air-gapped deployment for disconnected networks.
Free tiers: Team Edition and Entry leave out compliance export, so a legal hold process cannot rely on them.

Confirm with Mattermost whether legal hold is a named feature in the plan you buy, which retention policy options that plan includes, and whether the export format meets what your reviewers and outside counsel require.

How to deploy retention and legal hold on a self-hosted server

This sequence turns a retention and legal hold requirement into a tested, documented configuration on a self-hosted chat server, so counsel can rely on what the system actually keeps and exports.

Confirm retention and hold requirements with counsel
Legal, compliance and the chat platform owner agree in writing on the retention period for each channel type, who can place a legal hold, how holds are released, and which export format the matter team needs. Confirm whether any of this is already set by your records policy or by regulators in your sector. The step is done when the requirements sit in a signed document that names the owner of each rule. Ask your counsel to confirm these points before any platform is chosen, because the answers decide which edition you must buy.
Choose the platform and the paid edition
Map the written requirements against the editions documented for each platform. Mattermost lists compliance export, SSO and AD/LDAP sync as paid features (Professional, Enterprise and Enterprise Advanced), while Rocket.Chat lists tamper-evident audit trails of messages, files and sessions on its paid plans. Confirm with each vendor which plan includes the specific export and hold behavior you need, since a free edition may not cover it. The step is done when a named edition is chosen and the vendor has confirmed in writing that it includes the required feature.
Deploy the database tier
Your platform team builds the database layer the chosen server requires. Mattermost runs on PostgreSQL. Rocket.Chat 8.x requires MongoDB 8.0 or later running as a replica set, and a three-member replica set is strongly recommended for high availability. Synapse, if chosen, recommends PostgreSQL for production. Plan backups of this database as part of the retention design, because deleted or purged messages may be unrecoverable without them. The step is done when the database is reachable, backed up, and passes a restore test on a separate host.
Configure SSO and user sync
Connect the server to your identity provider so that every message is tied to a named, deprovisionable account. Mattermost supports SAML, OIDC and OAuth for SSO, and AD/LDAP sync on paid plans. Rocket.Chat supports LDAP, Active Directory and SSO. Synapse supports OpenID Connect, SAML2 and CAS. Confirm that a user removed from the directory loses access, since holds and exports depend on accurate identity records. The step is done when a test user is created, suspended and removed through the directory, and the server reflects each change.
Set retention policies and export controls
Apply the retention periods agreed in step one to each team, channel and direct message class, and restrict which roles can run exports. Confirm how the chosen server handles deletion by users, whether purged content can still be recovered from backups, and where export files are written. Keep export storage inside your own boundary with access logging. The step is done when a written retention matrix matches the configured settings, and a sample channel shows the expected retention behavior.
Test a legal hold and export end to end
Using a test workspace with seeded conversations, place a hold on one user and one channel, post new messages, then run the compliance export. Check that the export contains messages, edits, files and identities in the format counsel specified, and that held content survives a scheduled deletion run. Confirm that the audit trail records who placed and released the hold. The step is done when the exported package is reviewed by the requester and the test results are recorded, including any gaps such as integrations or user groups that the platform does not carry.
Document the procedure and train the custodians
Write the runbook covering how a hold is requested, placed, verified, exported and released, along with the owner for each action and the backup restore path. Include the upgrade steps, since regular upgrades are part of operating these platforms and the rollback path can be difficult after schema changes. Train the administrators and the legal team on the runbook, then repeat the end-to-end test after each platform upgrade. The step is done when the runbook is approved by counsel and the most recent test record is attached to it.

Questions buyers ask before choosing a self-hosted eDiscovery setup

What drives the cost of a self-hosted eDiscovery setup?

The cost depends mostly on which paid edition you need, how many users you run, and how much of the work your own staff can absorb. Mattermost's compliance export sits in paid Professional, Enterprise and Enterprise Advanced plans, which are prepaid annual subscriptions priced by seat licenses, and Mattermost does not publish list prices, so ask sales for a written quote. Rocket.Chat's tamper-evident audit trails are in its paid Commercial, Government and Defense plans, also priced by quote. Matrix with Element Server Suite has a free AGPL Community edition, but compliance tooling depends on what you build or buy around it. Recurring costs include licenses, hosting, storage for retained messages and staff time for upgrades. One-time costs include design, migration and the first hold test.

How long does a deployment and legal hold test take?

No timeline is supplied for this page, so treat any duration you hear as a proposal to check, not a fact. The length depends on the platform, the number of channels and users, the size of the existing history you must import, and how many custom exports your counsel expects. Ask any provider to split the work into written phases: architecture, installation, identity integration, retention settings, a test hold on a sample set of channels, and a documented export. A fixed scope agreed in writing before work starts makes the schedule easier to compare across options.

What does our team need to provide before the project starts?

You will need named owners for legal hold decisions, retention periods and the export process, because those choices come from your legal and compliance functions, not from the platform. Engineering must supply a Linux environment, PostgreSQL for Mattermost, MongoDB 8.0 or later as a replica set for Rocket.Chat, or PostgreSQL 14 or newer for Synapse, plus shared storage and backups. Identity staff should provide the directory or SSO provider. Keep a current Slack export plan decision in hand, since Slack's own export rules decide which private channels and direct messages you can obtain at all.

Can our own team run eDiscovery and legal hold without outside help?

Yes, if you have engineers who can operate the chosen database, the chat server and the backup process, and if your compliance staff can document what the export shows. The harder parts are proving that holds are applied before a deletion job runs, keeping export logs and writing a repeatable procedure that counsel accepts. Mattermost and Rocket.Chat publish administration documentation, and Synapse publishes upgrade notes, but none of them replaces your own retention policy. Confirm with your legal team which evidence they need before you decide what to build internally.

When is outside help with self-hosted chat worth paying for?

Outside help is most useful when the deployment must meet a documented assessment, when the environment is air-gapped, or when the team has no one to cover on-call and upgrades. DeployOpen plans, implements, integrates, hardens, backs up, upgrades, documents and supports self-hosted platforms in your own infrastructure, and prepares systems and evidence for compliance assessments. It does not issue audit reports or certifications, which independent auditors and certification bodies provide. Most engagements are fixed-scope, and ongoing support is available as a retainer.

How do upgrades affect retention settings and audit evidence?

Upgrades can change the database schema, the retention behavior and the logs you rely on, so every upgrade needs a test on a copy of production data. Synapse's upgrade notes warn that rolling back can be difficult because of schema changes between releases, which makes a tested backup before each upgrade essential. Rocket.Chat standard releases are supported for 6 months and LTS releases for 12 months, and after end of life a version gets no security or bug fixes. Mattermost v11.7 is an Extended Support Release with support ending 2027-05-15, so record the version in use and the date of each change alongside your retention evidence.

Which retention and export features do the paid editions unlock?

Compliance export and advanced retention controls are paid features on Mattermost, while Rocket.Chat lists retention on its free Starter plan but places tamper-evident audit trails in paid plans. Slack's own export limits matter for comparison: every Slack plan exports public channels, but private channels and direct messages need an approved Business+ or Enterprise application, and custom exports by member or conversation are Enterprise-only. Confirm with each vendor in writing which features your chosen edition includes, because edition contents change between releases.

Evidence auditors and counsel ask for

Retention settings, hold decisions, exports and admin records are what an auditor or outside counsel will request when messages become evidence. The cards below list the records to produce from any self-hosted chat platform, and what to confirm in each product before you rely on it. DeployOpen prepares these records and controls, but independent auditors and certification bodies give any opinion on them.

Retention configuration exports

A dated export of the retention settings in force, showing which channels, teams or message types were kept, for how long, and who could change them. Auditors compare this against the written retention policy to check that the system did what the policy says. Mattermost keeps compliance and retention settings in its system console and config, so confirm that changes to these settings are recorded and can be exported. Rocket.Chat and Matrix retention behavior should be checked the same way before you rely on it.

Legal hold logs

A record of each hold: who requested it, the scope (users, channels, date range), when it was applied, when it was released, and who approved each step. Counsel needs this to show that relevant messages were preserved from the moment a duty to preserve arose. Confirm whether your chosen platform applies holds natively or whether you must enforce them through retention rules and backups, and document that choice in the hold procedure.

Export manifests

For every eDiscovery export, a manifest listing the scope, the export time, the requester, the file count, and a checksum for each output file. The manifest lets a reviewer confirm that the production set is complete and unchanged since it was generated. Mattermost's compliance export and Rocket.Chat's exports differ in format and metadata, so run a test export on a sample channel and compare it with the source before the first real request.

Access and admin audit records

Logs of administrator actions, privilege changes, and access to archived or exported content. Rocket.Chat's paid plans list tamper-evident audit trails covering messages, files and sessions, which is the kind of record auditors look for. For any platform, confirm that audit logs are written to storage the chat administrators cannot edit, and that they are retained for as long as the messages they describe.

SSO and user provisioning records

Evidence of who could sign in, through which identity provider, and when accounts were created, changed or disabled. Identity records explain who authored or accessed a message, which is often the first question in an investigation. Mattermost lists SSO and AD/LDAP sync as paid-plan features, and Synapse supports OpenID Connect, SAML2 and CAS. Export identity provider logs alongside chat logs so departed users' access can be reconstructed.

Upgrade and version records

A change log of each server upgrade: the version before and after, the date, the reviewer, and the test results. Auditors check that a platform receiving security fixes was kept on a supported release. Mattermost publishes a release every month with defined support windows, and Rocket.Chat standard releases are supported for 6 months. Record which versions were in production at each date so you can show the retention controls were running on a supported build.

What to do with existing Slack history before cutover

Before any export runs, confirm which Slack plan the workspace is on, because the plan decides what the export contains. Every Slack plan can export messages and file links from public channels, but private channels and direct messages need a Business+ or Enterprise export request, and custom exports by member or conversation are limited to Enterprise. On Free, the visible history is 90 days and content older than one year is permanently deleted, so a Free workspace may already have lost records that a hold would have covered. Ask the Slack account owner for the plan and the approved export scope in writing, and record what the export does not include so the gap is documented rather than discovered later.

Mattermost and Rocket.Chat can both import a Slack export with their documented tools, and each path is covered in the sibling migration pages. For this topic, the question is evidentiary: an imported copy is a new system of record with its own timestamps, user mappings and retention settings, so it does not prove what Slack held on a given date. Keep the original export archive, its hash and the export approval under legal hold, and confirm with counsel whether a copy in the new platform is acceptable as a substitute. Ask the migration partner to document any field, thread or attachment that the importer drops.

Legal holds on Slack data must be settled before the workspace is changed, downgraded or retired. Decide who owns each hold, which custodians and channels it covers, and whether the hold survives the cutover. Run the retention and hold settings in the old platform to completion before the Slack subscription is cancelled, since deleting the workspace removes the data that the hold protects. Freeze user deactivation and channel renames for held custodians until the hold is released, and log each change. Confirm the final state with counsel in writing before turning off the old workspace.

How to keep retention and holds working after go-live

This sequence keeps retention policies, legal holds and compliance exports working through every upgrade and admin change, and leaves a dated record that shows the controls stayed in place.

Set the upgrade cadence per platform
The platform owner writes down which release line runs in production and how it will move to the next one. For Mattermost, the server publishes a new binary on the 16th of each month, and the support window for each version is listed on its releases page, so the team should decide whether it follows monthly releases or an Extended Support Release such as v11.7, which the releases page lists with support ending 2027-05-15. For Rocket.Chat, standard releases are supported for 6 months and LTS releases for 12 months. For Synapse, the upgrade notes warn that rolling back can be difficult because of schema changes, so the database must be backed up before each step. The cadence is done when the calendar, the owner and the rollback plan are stored with the compliance documentation.
Back up the retention database before each upgrade
The database administrator takes a verified backup of PostgreSQL for Mattermost or Synapse, or the MongoDB replica set for Rocket.Chat, before any version change, along with the file store that holds attachments. Retention jobs and legal hold records live in these stores, so a restore is the only reliable way back if a migration alters them. The backup is complete when a test restore has been run on a separate host and the team has confirmed that message counts and hold flags match the source. Ask the vendor or your database team to confirm the restore steps for your exact version before you rely on them.
Test active holds and retention rules on staging
Before production is upgraded, the compliance lead and an administrator restore a copy of production to a staging environment and run the upgrade there. They then check that every active legal hold still blocks deletion, that retention rules still apply to the right channels, and that a compliance export of a held channel still returns the expected messages and attachments. Any hold that fails the test is documented and fixed before production moves. The step is complete when the test results, with the version tested and the names of the people who checked, are filed as evidence.
Re-test holds and exports after each production upgrade
Once production is upgraded, the same checks run again against live data in a controlled way. A compliance officer confirms that a sample of held conversations is still protected, that a deletion attempt on a held item is refused, and that an export produces a complete file. Where Mattermost compliance export, Rocket.Chat audit trails or Synapse retention settings are used, the checks cover each of them separately. The check is done when the results match the staging run and any gap has an owner and a fix date recorded.
Review administrator and system access
The security team reviews every account that can change retention settings, place or release holds, run exports or access the database, and compares the list with the approved roles. Administrator accounts for the chat server, the database and the object store are reviewed separately, and single sign-on group mappings are checked so that departed staff no longer hold rights. Synapse and Rocket.Chat changes made through configuration files are reviewed against the same list. The review is complete when unneeded rights are removed and the signed list is stored with the change records.
Record every change for evidence
Each upgrade, configuration change, retention edit, hold placement or release, and access change is logged with the date, the person, the reason and a link to the approval. The log should also keep the version history of the platform, because a reviewer will ask which release was running when a given message was retained. Store the log in a system that administrators cannot quietly edit, and confirm with your auditor which format they will accept. The step is done when a sample entry can be traced from a hold to its approval and to the release that was active at that time.
Schedule the recurring review
The compliance lead sets a recurring review that repeats the hold test, the access review and the change log check on a fixed schedule agreed with the business. Each review reads the upcoming support end dates for the platform version, so an end of life is not discovered after it passes. The team confirms the schedule with its own compliance framework and with the independent auditor, since DeployOpen prepares the controls and evidence but does not issue assessments. The review is in place when the next date is on the calendar and the previous review record is linked from it.

Ongoing questions after the first deployment

How often do I need to upgrade a self-hosted Mattermost server?

Mattermost publishes a new server version in binary form on the 16th of each month, so a steady upgrade rhythm is part of running it. Extended Support Releases are the slower option: v11.7 is an ESR released on 2026-05-15 with support ending 2027-05-15, and the previous ESR, v10.11, reached end of life on 2026-08-15. Each monthly release has its own support window, for example v11.11 (released 2026-09-16) with support ending 2026-12-15. Before choosing a line, check the support dates on the server releases page and plan a test upgrade against a copy of your retention settings and compliance export jobs. Ask your implementation partner to document the upgrade procedure and the rollback steps for your environment.

Can Rocket.Chat upgrades be skipped if the audit trail must stay intact?

Skipping upgrades is not a safe way to protect held data, because Rocket.Chat standard releases are supported for 6 months and LTS releases for 12 months. After end of life, a version gets no security or bug fixes, and cloud services such as the push notification gateway, Marketplace and Omnichannel integrations stop working. Rocket.Chat also says unsupported versions may lose the ability to connect with the official mobile and desktop clients. Tamper-evident audit trails of messages, files and sessions are listed on its paid plans, so confirm with Rocket.Chat which plan and release line your audit requirements depend on. Plan upgrades as a recurring task with a documented test step, not as an occasional project.

What happens to held messages if a Synapse upgrade goes wrong?

Rolling back a Synapse release can be difficult, because database schema changes between releases may not reverse cleanly. The upgrade notes say this directly, so the safe pattern is a full PostgreSQL backup taken immediately before each upgrade, tested restores on a separate host, and a read of the upgrade notes for every version you pass through. Synapse 1.143.0 and later require PostgreSQL 14 or newer, and 1.142.0 and later require Python 3.10 or newer, so check those prerequisites before you start. Ask your partner to define who signs off a legal hold restore and how the restored data is verified against the hold list.

How do I back up and restore held data on self-hosted chat?

A legal hold is only as good as the backups behind it, so back up the database, the file store and the server configuration together. For Mattermost high availability, file storage must be shared, on Amazon S3, an S3-compatible service or NAS mounted on each node, because local file system storage will not work correctly and risks corrupting files. For Rocket.Chat, the MongoDB replica set and the uploaded files need matching snapshots. For Synapse, PostgreSQL and the media store are the critical pair. Test a restore on a separate host at least once per cycle, and record the restore time and the completeness checks in your compliance evidence. Ask your partner for the backup schedule, retention of backups themselves and the restore runbook.

Does a Matrix homeserver keep working after its version reaches end of life?

Synapse drops support for Python and PostgreSQL versions once they reach upstream end of life, so the platform beneath it can force an upgrade even when Synapse itself still runs. Check the Python and PostgreSQL versions on each host against the upgrade notes before each Synapse release. Element's Server Suite offers a free AGPL Community edition, a Pro edition with Synapse Pro and a Sovereign edition for air-gapped deployments, and the support terms differ between them. Confirm with Element which edition gives you the support window and patch cadence your retention policy requires, and plan around that window rather than the release date.

Who should own upgrades, backups and legal hold exports after go-live?

Ownership should be written down before cutover, because the work recurs: monthly or periodic version upgrades, backup and restore tests, compliance export runs and access reviews for the people who can place or release holds. Your internal team keeps the knowledge if it owns the runbooks, while a retainer can cover upgrades, continuous testing and support. DeployOpen offers ongoing support, upgrades and continuous testing as retainers, and most engagements are fixed-scope with scope and deliverables agreed in writing. DeployOpen prepares systems, controls and evidence for compliance assessments but does not issue audit reports or certifications, so ask your auditor which evidence they expect from each recurring task.

How DeployOpen implements chat retention and legal hold

DeployOpen plans, implements and hands over self-hosted chat retention and legal hold inside your own infrastructure, after the retention rules and evidence needs are agreed in writing. The work covers the chosen platform, its retention and export settings, the identity and storage it depends on, and the runbooks your legal and security teams use.

How we scope

Engagements are fixed-scope, with deliverables and timelines agreed in writing before work starts.
We confirm which platform, edition and retention periods your legal and compliance teams require.
We document which channels, direct messages and file stores fall under retention and hold rules.

How we build

We configure retention policies, legal hold exports and admin audit settings on the chosen platform.
We confirm with the vendor which compliance features your chosen edition includes before building.
We test hold, export and deletion behavior against your written scope in a non-production environment.

How we hand over

You receive documentation of retention settings, hold procedures and export steps for your legal team.
We document the evidence each control produces so your auditors can review it independently.
We provide runbooks for placing and releasing holds, and for reviewing export results with counsel.

How we support

Ongoing support, upgrades and continuous testing are available as retainers after handover.
Retention and export settings are rechecked whenever the chat platform releases a version update.
DeployOpen prepares systems and evidence for compliance assessments; independent auditors issue any formal conclusions.