Six labels, applied automatically
Tab & Shift Engineering Ltd. · what each label protects, who can open it, and which AI tools may use it
| Approved by | Prepared by | Date | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Marcus Chen, CFO Priya Shah, Director of Operations | Floor 16 Technologies | Aug 3, 2026 | v1.0 · Approved |
Summary
Six labels, and most people only ever see two of them. The label decides who can open a file and which AI tools may use it, and nearly every file gets its label from where it is saved, not from someone remembering.
The design follows three rules. Most content is Internal and stays easy to work with. Protection gets heavier only where the content needs it: pricing, people and the board. And AI follows the label, so the boundary for Copilot, Claude, ChatGPT and Azure AI Foundry is set once, here, rather than tool by tool.
Licensing. In July Tab & Shift moved all 90 staff to Microsoft 365 Business Premium, which covers the labels, encryption, the default label and the site labels. Library default labels, rule-based labeling and the Copilot exclusion need the Microsoft Purview Information Protection and Governance add-on, which Tab & Shift bought for the people whose content those rules protect. Where this document says "with the add-on", that is why.
The six labels
Ordered from least to most protected. A higher label always wins: a file saved into a Restricted library is labeled Restricted even if it arrived as Internal.
- 01
Public
Approved for anyone outside Tab & Shift: published case studies, marketing collateral, job postings, issued public reports. Applied only once something is approved for release.
No protection - 02
Internal
The default for everything else: procedures, standards, templates, meeting notes, internal email. Anyone at Tab & Shift can open it. Footer marking only.
Marking - 03
Client Confidential
Client project data under contract: drawings, inspection reports, test results, site photos, correspondence. Open to the project team and the client's named guests. Not encrypted, so clients can open what they are sent.
Marking · site rules - 04
Commercial Confidential
Bids, pricing, rate schedules, contracts and supplier terms. Encrypted to the 24-person Commercial group: business development, leadership and project managers.
Encrypted - 05
Restricted · People
Employee files, payroll, performance, medical and investigations. Encrypted to HR and the payroll team. Watermarked. Never shared outside, and never used by any AI tool.
Encrypted · no AI - 06
Restricted · Finance and Board
Board papers, unpublished financial statements, legal matters and banking. Encrypted to leadership and the finance leads, plus the external auditors' domain during the audit. Never used by any AI tool.
Encrypted · no AI
Settings for each label
| Label | Encryption | Marking | Sharing outside | Site setting when used on a site |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Public | None | None | Allowed | Not used on sites |
| Internal | None | Footer: Internal | Named guests only | Private or company-wide; no Anyone links |
| Client Confidential | None | Header: Client Confidential | Guests from the client's domain only | Private; guests from named domains; guest access expires |
| Commercial Confidential | Co-Author for the Commercial group | Header and watermark | Only by adding a named recipient | Private; no guests |
| Restricted · People | Co-Author for HR and payroll | Header and watermark | Blocked | Private; no guests; browser-only on unmanaged devices |
| Restricted · Finance and Board | Co-Author for leadership and finance leads; auditors' domain in audit season | Header and watermark | Auditors only | Private; no guests; browser-only on unmanaged devices |
Encryption uses "assign permissions now" with fixed groups. Labels that let users choose their own permissions cannot be used as library defaults, so none of the six do.
How each label is applied automatically
Four mechanisms, layered, because none covers everything alone. People can always raise a label. Lowering one asks for a reason, and the reason is logged.
| Mechanism | What it does | Used for | Licensing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Default label | Every new document and email starts as Internal. | Internal, everywhere | Business Premium |
| Site labels | The site's label sets privacy, guest access and sharing for the whole site or team. | Client teams, Bids, People and Culture, Finance, Leadership and Board | Business Premium |
| Library default labels | Files saved, edited or moved into a library take its label. Moving content in is enough, so the summer move labeled it. | Client Confidential, Commercial Confidential, both Restricted labels | With the add-on |
| Rules on content at rest | A service-side rule labels files anywhere in the tenant that contain bank account numbers, government ID numbers, or Tab & Shift's keyword lists, such as "salary", "fee proposal" and "rate schedule". | Strays: a salary file saved to the wrong site, a fee proposal copied into a project team | With the add-on |
Where each label lands by default
| Location | Default label |
|---|---|
| Tab & Shift Home, Engineering Standards, Training, Health Safety and Quality, Business Services | Internal |
| Marketing › Approved | Public |
| Projects, and every client project team from the template | Client Confidential |
| Bids and Proposals › Pricing; Contracts folders on Projects | Commercial Confidential |
| People and Culture; Finance › Payroll | Restricted · People |
| Leadership and Board; Finance › Statements | Restricted · Finance and Board |
| Archive | The label of the library the content came from |
A field crew member saves job sheets and photos into a project folder and never picks a label. The folder does it.
Who can see what
| Who | Public | Internal | Client Conf. | Commercial Conf. | Restricted · People | Restricted · Finance and Board |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Any Tab & Shift staff member | Edit | Edit | Nounless on the project | No | No | No |
| Project team member | Edit | Edit | Edit | No | No | No |
| Commercial group (24) | Edit | Edit | Edittheir projects | Edit | No | No |
| HR and payroll (6) | Edit | Edit | No | No | Edit | No |
| Leadership and finance leads (9) | Edit | Edit | Open | Edit | NoHR grants case by case | Edit |
| Client guest | Open | No | Edittheir project only | No | No | No |
| External auditor | Open | No | No | No | No | Openaudit season |
| Anyone else | Open | No | No | No | No | No |
Which AI tools may use each label
Every tool below answers as the person asking, so it never sees more than that person can open. The label then narrows it further. Read across a row to see what one label means for every tool.
| Label | Copilot in Microsoft 365 | Copilot agents | Claude | ChatGPT Enterprise | Azure AI Foundry agents |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Public | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yesmarketing agent |
| Internal | Yes | Yessites the agent is given | Yes | Yes | Only what is indexedstandards, AP mailbox |
| Client Confidential | Team | Teamproject agents | Team | Team | Nonot indexed |
| Commercial Confidential | TeamCommercial group | Teambid agent | Noencrypted | Noencrypted | No |
| Restricted · People | Noexcluded, with the add-on | No | Noencrypted | Noencrypted | No |
| Restricted · Finance and Board | Noexcluded, with the add-on | No | Noencrypted | Noencrypted | No |
How each "No" is enforced
Microsoft tools
- Copilot uses encrypted files only for people whose label permissions allow it, which is why the Commercial group can use it on bids.
- A Purview rule keeps Copilot from using either Restricted label in any answer, including for HR and leadership. It may still cite the file with a link; it does not read it.
- Restricted content discovery keeps People and Culture, Finance, Leadership and Board, and the Archive out of Copilot and company search for anyone who has not worked in them recently.
- Copilot agents only read the sites and lists they are given. None is given a Restricted site.
Tools outside Microsoft 365
- Claude and ChatGPT Enterprise read SharePoint through connectors that act as the signed-in person. Tab & Shift's rule is that they may use Public, Internal and Client Confidential content, never an encrypted label.
- In the boundary test, neither returned the contents of an encrypted file. Both can still show a file's name, so names must not carry sensitive detail.
- Azure AI Foundry agents read only the sources Floor 16 connects to them. No labeled Commercial or Restricted content is ever indexed.
- Vendor behavior can change, so the boundary test is repeated every quarter. See the sample boundary report.
What AI makes, it labels. When Copilot drafts from labeled files, the draft carries the highest label it drew on. A summary of a Commercial Confidential bid is itself Commercial Confidential.
What labels do not cover
| Gap | Why | What covers it instead |
|---|---|---|
| Photos, CAD files, zip files | Labels apply to Office files and PDFs. | Site permissions and restricted discovery; scans saved as PDF |
| File names | A name is visible wherever the file appears in a list. | No personal names or sensitive detail in names of HR and pricing files |
| Teams chat and email bodies | Mail is labeled Internal by default; chat is not labeled. | The approved-tools guideline; Restricted content stays out of chat |
| Copy and paste | A person who can open a file can retype it anywhere. | Training, the guideline, and Copilot's own label inheritance |
Rollout
| Step | Who | When |
|---|---|---|
| Publish the six labels to IT and the pilot owners; test on sample files | Floor 16, Sam Okafor | Aug 3 to 7 |
| Publish to all staff with Internal as the default | Sam Okafor | Aug 10 |
| Site labels on the 44 sites; library defaults on the sensitive libraries | Floor 16 | Aug 10 to 14 |
| Rules for content at rest, in simulation first, then on | Floor 16 | Aug 17 to 28 |
| Twenty-minute session for all staff; a one-page guide | Floor 16, Elena Rossi | Aug 19 and 20 |
| Copilot exclusion for both Restricted labels | Sam Okafor | Aug 31 |
| Check: unlabeled Office files and PDFs left in sensitive sites | Floor 16 | Sep 4 |
| Boundary test before any AI tool is connected | Floor 16, Sam Okafor | Sep 14 to 25 |