Glossary · Privacy and data governance
Data retention
The rules and practices that determine how long data is kept and what happens when it is no longer needed.
Also called: retention period
Definition
Retention covers live systems, exports, backups, logs, communications, and third-party platforms. A usable policy connects business or legal need to a period, owner, deletion method, and exception process.
Why it matters
Keeping data indefinitely increases exposure, storage, discovery, and account-management burden without necessarily creating value.
Common misunderstanding
Deleting a visible record from one application may not remove synchronized copies, exports, logs, or backups immediately.
Related terms
Related system family: Secure Integrations & Custom Tools
Sources
Last reviewed July 16, 2026