Use a TeleMessage connector in the Microsoft 365 compliance center to import and archive Short Messaging Service (SMS) and Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) messages from the Bell Network. After you set up and configure a connector, it connects to your organization's Bell Network once every day, and imports SMS and MMS messages to mailboxes in Microsoft 365.

After the SMS and MMS messages are stored in user mailboxes, you can apply Microsoft 365 compliance features such as Litigation Hold, Content Search, and Microsoft 365 retention policies to Bell Network data. For example, you can search Bell Network SMS/MMS using Content Search or associate the mailbox that contains the Bell Network connector data with a custodian in an Advanced eDiscovery case. Using a Bell Network connector to import and archive data in Microsoft 365 can help your organization stay compliant with government and regulatory policies.

1. Your organization works with TeleMessage and Bell to set up a Bell Network connector. For more information, see Bell Network Archiver.

2. Once every 24 hours, SMS and MMS messages from your organization’s Bell Network are copied to the TeleMessage site.

3. The Bell Network connector that you create in the Microsoft 365 compliance center connects to the TeleMessage site every day and transfers the SMS and MMS messages from the previous 24 hours to a secure Azure Storage location in the Microsoft Cloud. The connector also converts the content of SMS and MMS messages to an email message format.

4. The connector imports the mobile communication items to the mailbox of specific users. A new folder named Bell SMS/MMS Network Archiver is created in a specific user's mailbox and the items are imported to it. The connector does this mapping by using the value of the User’s Email address property. Every SMS and MMS message contains this property, which is populated with the email address of every participant of the message.

   In addition to automatic user mapping using the value of the User’s Email address property, you can also define a custom mapping by uploading a CSV mapping file. This mapping file contains the mobile phone number and corresponding Microsoft 365 email address for users in your organization. If you enable both automatic user mapping and custom mapping, for every Bell Network item the connector first looks at custom mapping file. If it doesn't find a valid Microsoft 365 user that corresponds to a user's mobile phone number, the connector will use the values in the email address property of the item it's trying to import. If the connector doesn't find a valid Microsoft 365 user in either the custom mapping file or in the email address property of the Bell Network item, the item won't be imported.