Retention

How to set up and manage the Retention feature

Covered in this article:

Important notes
When the retention period starts
Steps for setting up retention
How to tell when a request or document is due for deletion
Steps for exempting a request from deletion
Steps for exempting a document from deletion

Important notes:

• Once a request or document is deleted at the end of its retention period it is gone forever and cannot be recovered. When turning on retention for your portal be sure that you have enough time to review all requests and documents before they are scheduled for deletion.
• All requests and documents have the same retention period. It is not possible to set different retention periods depending on the department/requester/type of request/etc
• Only Admins can turn on or update the retention period for a portal
• Only Admins can exempt a request or document from deletion. All internal users can view the expiration date of a request or documents
• Requests and documents are deleted on the 1st of the month following the end of their retention period. This means that files may be kept for up to 30 days after their retention period officially expires.
• All Admins will receive an email on the 15th of the month listing requests and documents scheduled for deletion on the first of the following month. They will receive another email on the 1st of the month listing all requests and documents that have been deleted.
• Please see our Retention FAQ article for answers to common questions

When the retention period starts:

• Requests: The date the request was closed
• Documents: The document date (if specified during upload or after), otherwise the date uploaded
• Links: Never

Steps for setting up retention:

1. Log in as an Admin
2. Go to Admin > Portal Settings
3. Click Retention at the bottom of the list on the left (if it’s not visible, reach out to support@nextrequest.com to have retention turned on for your portal)
4. Click the toggle ‘Enable retention schedule’
5. Enter the number of months equal to your retention schedule in the box ‘Retention Period’

• IMPORTANT: If your portal is older than your retention period, we recommend first setting the retention period for longer than you have had your NextRequest portal. This will allow you to review all requests and documents for exemption before anything is set to be deleted automatically. Once your review is complete you can update the retention period to the correct number of months
• Enter your preferred text in the ‘Retention policy text’ box. This text will show if a requester or member of the public goes to the URL for a request or document that has been deleted.
• Click the Save button
• Check the box ‘Yes, I understand’ and enter your initials in the field
• Click the Confirm button

How to tell when a request or document is due for deletion:

There are 3 ways to tell when a request or document is due for deletion:

• You can navigate to any document or (closed) request to check it’s expiration date
• On a request, the expiration date is located in the top left section, directly under the requester information.
• On a document, the expiration date is located to the bottom of the left hand side on the document page, right above the associated request number
• An email will be sent to all Admins on the 15th of the month listing all requests and documents that are scheduled for deletion on the 1st of the following month
• (Requests only) you can include the Expiration Date of requests in the downloadable report from the All Requests page

Steps for exempting a request from deletion:

Note: If you have just turned on retention for your portal, it may take up to 30 minutes for the expiration date to populate for all requests and documents

1. Navigate to a closed request (open requests are not subject to the retention period)
2. Locate the new ‘Expiration’ field in the top left section, directly under the requester information
3. Click the pencil icon next to the Expiration date
4. Check the box ‘Exempt from retention’
5. Click Save

To un-exempt a request, repeat steps 1 through 4, uncheck the box ‘Exempt from retention’, then click the Save button

Steps for exempting a document from deletion

Note: If you have just turned on retention for your portal, it may take up to 30 minutes for the expiration date to populate for all requests and documents

1. Navigate to a document view page
2. Locate the Expiration Date on bottom left-hand side of the page, right above the associated request number
3. Click the pencil icon next to the Expiration date
4. Check the box ‘Exempt from retention’
5. Click Save

To un-exempt a document, repeat steps 1 through 4, uncheck the box ‘Exempt from retention’, then click the Save button