Overview

nVIRO’s record retention functionality provides a flexible and configurable framework for purging records that no longer need to be maintained in the system. Record retention rules can vary in many ways based on the:

• state / agency

• environmental program area

• type of record or document

To accommodate needs across various agencies, program areas, and record types, nVIRO provides the ability to configure the retention rules in the system which allows fine tuning of when specific record types are eligible for purging. Once identified, the records may be approved for purge or exempted from purge for a user defined period of time.

The following diagram shows the process flow:

Records/Documents Retention (and Purging) are configured under Admin > Records Retention in the navigation menu.

View Records Retention Rules List

To manage record retention rules, navigate to Admin > Records Retention. The Retention Rules List screen displays all available (record)retention rules.

Click the Open button to view or edit the retention rule configuration for the selected rule.

Click the View Purge List button to view purge list for the selected retention rule.

Click the View Docs List button to view (purge)documents list for the selected retention rule.

Configure (Add/Edit) Records Retention Rule

New Records Retention Rule may be created by clicking Add New Retention Rule from the Retention Rules List page. A configuration page is displayed that is separated into the base system action Configuration Details, Filters, and Actions.

The Configuration Details allows specification of the name, description, functional area/program area, retention duration along with unit (right now it is set to Year(s)).

The Filters section allows for sub selecting the retention records based on the retention types and document categories. Both the retention types and document categories are filtered based on the selected functional area/program area combination. If there are no retention types selected, then the configuration rule is defined by the functional area/program area combination along with the retention duration/interval.

“Document Only” Retention Rules

In some situations, there may be documents associated with a record that do not need to be retained for the same duration as the record. For example, for a submission record it may be important to keep a pdf record of the submission copy of record. However, there may be various other working documents on the submission that do not need to be retained for as long a period. In this situation a “Document Only” retention rule may be defined to specify purge of documents belonging to a certain document category.

To define a “Document Only” retention rule, one or more “Document Categories” need to be selected under the Filters section.

Identify Purge Candidates

A nightly process background process that runs nightly as well as when a retention rule is added or edited, assesses the records and/or documents in the system against the defined retention rules. Records identified for purging are staged as purgeable records or as purgeable documents list (if the retention rule included Document Category selection).

Review Purge Candidates

Purge Candidates List

Records identified for review are displayed in a purge candidates list. There are two types of lists - one for records identified for purge, and one for documents identified by a “Document Only” rule.

To view the purge candidates list

Export Purge Candidates

Records identified for review may be exported to an Excel spreadsheet (.csv format) for analysis.

To export a list of records:

Do filters apply to the export?

Approving Records for Purge

Records and documents identified for purge are reviewed and approved for purge. Approved records are then queued for deletion which will occur whenever the purge records system process runs. Depending on configuration, it may be scheduled to run nightly or on a weekend. Note that once a record has been approved for purge, when the purge process is executed, the record is permenantly deleted.

To exempt a record:

• x

Exempting Records from Purge 

Records and documents identified for purge may be exempted from purging for a user specified period.

To exempt a record:

• x

Purge Records

A nightly (or weekly) system process deletes the records that have been approved for purging.

When functional area records are purged, all records belonging to those record (documents, workflows, events, etc.) are permenantly deleted.

When documents identified by a ‘document only’ rule are purged, only the document record and document content (file) are permenantly deleted.