Retention Policy Playbook

This playbook helps operators convert legal/compliance requirements into concrete values for Settings > Retention.

[!IMPORTANT] Use this as implementation guidance. Final retention periods must be approved by your legal/compliance function.

What You Can Configure

At organization scope, you can configure:

• transaction retention window (days),
• customer-data retention windows for:
  • IP addresses,
  • billing address,
  • shipping address,
  • customer email,
  • transaction items,
• country-retention behavior.

Suggested Starting Profiles

1) B2C Digital Services (EU-heavy)

• Transaction data: medium-to-long retention (finance/tax records).
• IP addresses: short retention (fraud + troubleshooting window).
• Address fields: short-to-medium unless tax/legal obligations require longer.
• Customer email: medium retention for billing/service history.

2) B2B Invoicing

• Transaction/invoice-linked fields: long retention aligned with accounting law.
• IP addresses: short-to-medium retention.
• Shipping address: optional depending on physical-goods relevance.
• Customer email/contact: medium-to-long where contract/service support requires.

3) Strict Data Minimization Posture

• Set shortest legally permissible values by field type.
• Use 0 for immediate deletion only where legally acceptable.
• Keep country retention if required for tax/compliance evidence.

Decision Workflow

1. Map each field class to business purpose.
2. Map legal basis and minimum retention obligations.
3. Choose retention values and approve internally.
4. Configure in Settings > Retention.
5. Validate deletion behavior in non-production.
6. Re-review quarterly or on regulation change.

Common Pitfalls

• Using one blanket value for all field types.
• Setting very short windows without finance/legal confirmation.
• Forgetting to re-check retention after entering new markets.
• Treating backups as exempt from lifecycle policy.

Change Management Template

For each policy change, record:

• date and approver,
• old value and new value,
• reason (legal, operational, minimization, incident),
• validation result after rollout.

Related Pages

• Data Protection Guide
• Shared Responsibility Matrix
• Evidence & Audit Checklist