Rules by workflow
Teams can avoid one blanket retention period for every record and output.
Security
Data retention and governance
Set how long records and published outputs stay available, apply different rules by workflow, and keep policy changes visible. Polytrace supports retention rules, reviewable policy changes, and logged cleanup.
Highlights
Core capabilities
Explicit policy changes
Changes to retention and governance rules are meant to be visible and reviewable.
Logged cleanup
Cleanup runs as a tracked process instead of a silent background side effect.
History where it matters
Earlier published outputs can remain represented in history even after a newer version becomes active.
Lifecycle
Policy lifecycle
Set the rule
Choose how long a workflow or published output should remain available.
Review the change
Make changes in a way that can be reviewed later instead of quietly changing the expectation.
Apply cleanup
Run cleanup according to policy with logged activity rather than silent deletion.
Keep necessary history
Retain the historical evidence needed to explain what existed before the latest version.
Checklist
Review checklist
- Confirm whether different workflows can have different retention periods.
- Check who can change retention and governance rules.
- Review what evidence remains after cleanup or replacement.
- Verify how published output history is preserved.
- Ask how cleanup activity is logged.
01
How retention stays controlled
Retention settings need to be clear enough that teams can answer simple questions with confidence: how long records stay available, whether one workflow can keep data longer than another, who can change the rule, and what happens after a policy update.
That matters when the same deployment supports legal review, compliance monitoring, customer operations, and internal investigations. Polytrace is designed to let each workflow follow the right schedule without forcing one blanket retention period across everything.
02
How Polytrace handles retention rules
Polytrace lets teams apply retention and governance rules in a way that matches the workflow instead of forcing one blanket rule across every record and output. Changes to those rules are explicit and reviewable, which helps teams understand when a retention decision changed and what followed from it.
Cleanup is handled as a tracked process rather than a silent side effect. Teams can keep the history they need for governance while still removing older material according to policy. Where shared or published outputs are refreshed over time, Polytrace can keep history about what existed earlier even after the newest version becomes the active one.
03
Why that matters in practice
Good retention practice keeps teams from holding data on a just-in-case basis while still preserving the trail needed for review. It also reduces confusion during audits, because people can see the governing rule behind what was kept, limited, or cleaned up.
That is especially useful when legal, compliance, procurement, and business teams all have a stake in the same workflow but different expectations about how long information should remain available.
04
What to validate before sign-off
Before sign-off, the team should confirm retention rules by workflow, who can approve changes, how cleanup is logged, and what historical evidence remains available after a newer output replaces an older one.
Related pages
Go deeper from here
Use the closest product, workflow, or security page to continue the evaluation.
Security overview
Start with the broader security overview if your team wants the full trust and governance picture.
Open pageSecurity review guide
Use the guide to prepare for retention, governance, access, and audit questions.
Open pageAccess controls, redaction, and audit
See how governance rules connect to access limits, redaction, and review history.
Open pageFor legal and compliance teams
See how legal and compliance teams use Polytrace to control access, preserve evidence, and support review.
Open pageFAQ
Common questions
Can retention differ by workflow?
Yes. Polytrace is designed so teams can apply different retention approaches where the workflow calls for it instead of forcing one schedule onto everything.
What happens when a policy changes?
Policy changes are meant to be explicit and reviewable. That helps teams understand when the rule changed and assess the effect of the change instead of discovering it after the fact.
Does Polytrace preserve evidence of earlier published outputs?
Yes. Even when a newer published output becomes active, Polytrace can keep historical evidence about the earlier output for governance and review purposes.
Why is this useful before legal or procurement review?
Because it helps teams answer simple but important questions about how long information stays available, who can change the rules, and how those decisions can be checked later.
Next step
Review retention rules against a real workflow
A live review with one workflow and one published output usually makes the retention model much easier to assess.