Data Retention Manager (version 1)

Version 1
This documentation is for version 1 of the DRM and will be removed once version 2 has been deployed to all environments. Version 1 does not have the ability to delete process instance data, distinguish between sealed/unsealed histories, or set the retention period based on open/last modified date. For version 2 see Data Retention Manager

The Data Retention Manager (DRM) lets you set up schedules that will delete data saved using the Digital Platform's History Service. Histories are, by default, created whenever a user engages with a workflow process on your site. Histories can also be written by individual form submissions.

You can set up bespoke schedules for each type of history, or save "global" schedules that can be reused and applied to multiple histories. Each schedule has a retention period and can target all histories, or just those with specific "labelc" values. A background task (a scheduled End Points) runs each day, checks your schedules, and deletes any data that falls outside of your retention periods.

The DRM has been designed to be used via an iCM Form App shortcut so that it can be secured to an appropriate iCM administrator group of users. It also integrates with the My Account template, allowing your site users to see records of the data they have created and delete the corresponding history.

Assumptions

The standard DRM assumes that the histories saved in the iCM database follow our standard conventions for labels and subject data, described in the History Conventions knowledge base article. When creating schedules our "labelc" policies (notes, attachments, reporting etc) can be found in the Labelc Histories and Reporting Data article.

What Happens to the Data?

History records that have DRM policies applied to them are deleted. When a history record is deleted, any history digests that include the data are automatically updated (this is a standard feature of the history service).

The DRM keeps an audit log of what has been deleted.

Other Data Stores

The default DRM behaviour deletes data from the platform's history service. It does not delete workflow process data or form data stored in iCM objects. Custom deletion plugins (for example for Case Management) may behave differently and are documented separately.