Not keeping things forever.
WHY RETENTION MATTERS
Data kept beyond its purpose is risk without benefit.
WHAT THE PRINCIPLE IS
Keep it only as long as necessary.
WHAT DETERMINES NECESSARY
The purpose Legal obligations Limitation periods for claims
WHAT TO PRODUCE
A schedule: for each category, how long and why.
WHAT CATEGORIES TO COVER
Customer records Financial records Employment records Recruitment records Support communications Logs Marketing data Recordings
WHAT PEOPLE FORGET
Unsuccessful job applicants Former customers Old backups Email
WHAT TO DO ABOUT EMAIL
Set a retention period, and enforce it.
WHY
Mailboxes accumulate more personal data than any other system.
WHAT TO AUTOMATE
Deletion at the end of the period.
WHY AUTOMATE
Manual deletion is postponed indefinitely.
WHAT TO BE CAREFUL WITH
Deleting something subject to a legal hold.
WHAT A LEGAL HOLD IS
A requirement to preserve data relevant to a dispute or investigation.
WHAT TO DO
Suspend deletion for that data, and record why.
WHAT TO REVIEW
The schedule, annually.
WHAT TO DOCUMENT
The reasoning for each period.
