Working with retention policies
Retention policies determine how long email is kept in GFI OneConnect. During the archival process, every message is checked against the Retention Policies in place. If a match is found the message is stamped with the policies settings including the number of days the message should be retained.
A default policy of 1825 days (5 years) is used if no specific policy is applied to a message.
Changes to policy membership and policy retention periods can have a significant impact to the way that mail is stored for your organization.
Retention policy best practices
Retention policies should be carefully constructed and implemented to achieve organizational objectives. The following best practices help you avoid unintended consequences.
- Determine your business requirements before setting up a retention policy. Before setting up any retention policies, determine what you are trying to achieve, under what constraints your organization works (financial, organizational, statutory), and rank the types of retention you want to achieve from most to least important. Planning for your needs in advance can save the time and frustration from having to change retention policies after implementation.
- Retention policies with a higher priority always override those of a lower priority, even when the lower priority policy has a longer duration. For example, if the Executive retention policy specifies a retention duration of three years and is ranked higher than a Legal retention policy that specifies a retention of five years, then a CEO who was a member of both groups would only have his messages retained for three years.
Types of retention policies
GFI OneConnect offers the following policy types:
| Policy Types | Description |
|---|---|
| Capture |
Under a capture-based policy, messages are retained based on the user’s group membership at the time the message was sent or received. Capture-based policies stamp the email with the policies retention variable. Emails are maintained even if the user leaves the policy. The policy variable changes if the retention is changed. If the policy is deleted, the emails are subject to purge unless held by another policy. This feature is useful if your organization is subject to regulations mandating the amount of time you must store email for employees in certain roles, such as accountants, sales representatives or executives. |
| Membership |
Under membership-based policies, a message is retained based on whether the sender or recipient is a member of the policy. The message is retained only as long as the user remains a member of the group to which the policy applies. When a user is no longer part of the policy group, the message is eligible for purging. Updates to membership-based policies occur after a directory synchronization or when an administrator modifies the policy. Retention rules apply to users currently in the policy. Membership-Based policies are appropriated for temporary workers. |
| Retention Hold |
A Retention Hold is set up for a group of messages that are to be retained and prevented from being purged regardless of any other Retention Policies that may apply to it. This feature is particularly useful during a litigation process where messages must be kept for an undetermined period. When a Retention hold is created it is listed at the top of Retention Policies and ranks higher than other membership-based or capture policies. When a Retention Hold is deleted, messages are then available to be retained or purged based on each individual message’s applicable Retention Policies. |
| Default |
The default message policy holds mail for any users in the system who are not controlled by any other policy. The scope of this policy cannot be changed. Note that Increasing or decreasing the length of the policy may result in re-exporting messages.
|