MSP client onboarding questionnaire: archive and retention questions

An MSP client onboarding questionnaire can flag potential data licensing fits by asking five things: tenant age, retention settings, system count, backups and peak headcount. Admin access is not licensing authority, so any match goes to the owner or another authorized sponsor, and the MSP never touches the records.

Why add archive questions to MSP onboarding

Your onboarding questionnaire already records what a client runs, where it lives and how long it has existed. A few extra questions turn that file into a quick read on whether the client holds years of connected records, which is the first thing to check before anyone considers a data licensing introduction.

The questionnaire never asks the client to hand over records. It captures facts about systems and retention that you would collect anyway, plus one thing that most MSPs overlook: who has the authority to license the data. Your admin access to a tenant is not that authority.

The 5-signal screen

Score each client on five signals. A client that shows four or five is worth a conversation with its owner; two or fewer is not.

Tenant age: the email and collaboration tenant has run for several years, and older mailboxes still exist.
Retention: mail, chat and files are retained rather than auto-deleted on a short schedule.
System count: the client uses many systems (email, Teams or Slack, shared drives, CRM, finance, support, engineering and operations tools); strong companies often run 10-15+.
Backups: historical backups or archived systems exist and can be restored by someone.
Peak headcount: the company reached 50+ full-time employees at peak (contractors excluded).

Onboarding questions that surface each signal

Tenant and mailbox history

When was the current tenant created, and was there an earlier one?
Were mailboxes migrated from a previous provider, and were old archives kept?
Is there any journaling or archiving product in place?

Retention and deletion

What retention policies are set on email, chat and files?
Is there a litigation hold, or have departed employees' mailboxes been deleted?
Has anyone purged an old platform after a migration?

Systems in use

Which line-of-business systems does the client run: CRM, accounting, ticketing, project management, code repositories, field service?
Which systems were retired, and do exports of them still exist?
Who in the client company owns each system?

Backups and archives

What do backups cover, and how far back do restore points go?
Are there cold archives, tape or cloud storage from earlier years?
Who can run a restore test?

Size and structure

What was peak full-time headcount, and when?
Has the company been acquired, merged or split?
Is it a US company with an owner, CEO, CFO or authorized representative?

Admin access is not licensing authority

An MSP administrator can usually open mailboxes, shared drives and system settings. That access exists to run IT services. It does not give you, or the MSP, the right to license, describe or move the client's records.

Licensing decisions belong to the company's authorized sponsor: an owner, CEO, CFO or other authorized representative. The data must also be rights-cleared: the company created it, and its contracts, employee notices and policies allow licensing. Records that belong to the client's own clients, or that are mainly consumer personal data, are red flags.

Partners make introductions and give basic fit information only. Do not export, upload or describe confidential records, and do not use admin access to look. If the questionnaire answers suggest a fit, take the facts to the owner and let them decide.

How to read the results

Result	What it suggests	Next action
4 to 5 signals	Possible fit with deep records	Raise it with the owner or CFO at the next review
2 to 3 signals	Partial fit, gaps in history or retention	Note it, and revisit after the next migration or retention change
0 to 1 signals	Unlikely fit	Do nothing; do not push
Headcount below the baseline	Cannot qualify	Stop; the baseline is 50+ full-time employees at peak
Retention just changed to short	Records may disappear	Tell the owner the retention setting matters before anything else

Red flags that stop the conversation

Most records belong to the client's own customers and those customers have not consented.
The data is mainly consumer personal information or protected health information.
Old archives were deleted, or nobody can export a system.
A court, trustee or assignee controls the assets.
The data has already been licensed for AI training.
The owner will not consider an exclusive license for an agreed term.

What to say to the owner

Pair this with the advisor discovery questions when an advisor is also in the room, and see the wealth advisor email templates for a written version. If a former client reconnects, the LinkedIn message templates cover the opener, and the accounting firm newsletter blurbs show how finance contacts hear about the topic.

Rewards and your client contracts

Partners earn 25% of the eligible platform fees SourceX actually collects from the referred company's licensing deals, capped at $100,000 cumulative per referred company, paid only after the buyer pays and SourceX receives its fee. No reward is guaranteed. Check your MSP agreements for conflict-of-interest or referral clauses before you introduce a client.

Next step

Add the five questions to your next onboarding form and review your current clients against them. Read the managed service provider page for the full role playbook, check the baseline on who qualifies, and register as a partner. The introduction email builder prepares an owner-approved message.

Step 1Share your linkSend your personal link to a company you know.
Step 2Company appliesThe company applies itself at /apply.
Step 3Buyer selects and paysThe buyer selects and pays for the data and SourceX receives its fee.
Step 4You get your rewardYour share of SourceX fees becomes payable.

Common questions

Do I have to look inside a client's mailboxes to answer these questions?

No, and you should not. The questions concern settings, dates and system names you already see during onboarding, not message content. Partners never export, upload or describe confidential records. If something looks promising, take the facts to the owner and let them decide.

Does being the client's MSP give me the right to introduce them?

You can make the introduction with the owner's permission, but your admin access gives no right to license or describe the data. The authorized sponsor, such as the owner, CEO, CFO or authorized representative, decides. Check your MSP contract for conflict or referral clauses too.

What if the client's retention policy deletes old email?

Short auto-deletion can erase the history that makes a company attractive. Tell the owner the setting affects what records remain and let them decide whether to change it, ideally with their counsel. Do not change retention settings on your own authority, since that is a business and legal decision.

Which clients are the strongest fit?

Private US companies with 50+ full-time employees at peak, several years of documented operations and records across many systems. B2B software, IT services, professional services, engineering, logistics and distribution back offices tend to screen well. Long histories and archived systems help.

How many of the five signals should a client show?

Four or five is worth an owner conversation, two or three is a partial fit to revisit after a migration, and zero or one is not worth raising. Peak headcount is a hard gate: a company below 50 full-time employees at peak does not meet the baseline.

Free resources

Business exit readiness assessment — A preliminary exit readiness score and checklist for advisors.
SDE vs EBITDA calculator — Seller's discretionary earnings next to market-rate EBITDA.
IRR calculator — Internal rate of return on annual cash flows.
All free tools · MCP resource center

By SourceX Partnerships Team · Published 2026-10-09 · Updated 2026-10-09

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