Overview
Data retention analysis is a new feature in iDNA Applications version 3.3.0. It is the combination of collecting document age information from databases and analyzing it based on data retention policies configured for this database.
The obligation to retain data for varying periods of time is a legal necessity in many industries and fields across the globe. Since Notes/Domino applications have been an integral part in business processes for companies of all industries over decades, this is a critical topic for nearly any organization who aims to be compliant with their legal requirements.
Here is a brief excerpt of common retention periods by industry in the European Union:
- Financial Services: 5–10 years (e.g., accounting records, transaction logs)
- Healthcare: 10–30 years (patient records, depending on country)
- Telecommunications: 6 months to 2 years (metadata, call logs—subject to national laws)
- Employment/HR: 2–10 years (contracts, payroll, disciplinary records)
- Tax Records: typically 7–10 years (subject to national laws)
- Construction & Real Estate: 10+ years (project documentation, safety records)
Example:
- Our database has approximately 141k documents which were last modified between 2009 and 2025.
(If no later modification occurred, the creation time of a document is the last modification time) - We set a retention policy of 4 years (starting at the current date), for which documents have to be retained
- That results in a retention cutoff date of September 23, 2021 (assuming the current date is September 23, 2025)
- Looking at that history, iDNA summarizes that approximately 115k of documents (~82%) are still inside the retention period
- Organizations benefit immediately by understanding which databases are ready for archiving immediately. Other applications, where not a all of the documents are out of retention obligation, but are nearing 100% may be good candidates to be set to read-only mode. Thereby assuring that no new modifications "reset" the earliest archiving date.
On the flip-side an organization can get insights quickly and transparently as to which applications are still active elements in their business processes from the content angle, rather than iDNA's usual user activity recording. This provides great value in scenarios where iDNA has been running for a shorter period of time and no extensive usage history may be available.
It also shows which applications may be a challenge when considering migration scenarios. Re-developing an existing application in a new target system is one thing; making sure a decade's worth of data is migrated flawlessly is quite another. Not only has the data to be available in the application itself, it needs to be available to other elements of the business process in a lossless fashion.
Configuration
Prerequisites
- License: Content Age analysis is licensed as a separate module and not included in previous licenses. The new module is purchasable as an add-on for all currently active subscription licenses and new licenses.
- DB Access: A minimum of Reader access is required on databases which should be analyzed.
Content Age Collection and Processing
- License: Content Age data collection will only be performed if a valid license is found that includes the Content Age module.
- Default Schedule: The collection is linked to the design analysis process. As such, it will adhere to its defined schedule as well. The default and recommended setting for design updates is "Weekly, on Saturday", but may be different in your installation. Please check the menu item [Settings] → [Database design re-scan options] for details. No automatic collection will happen before the scheduled time.
- Schedule Customization: iDNA avoids accessing individual non-system DBs on a regular basis. That is why DB design is - per default - only re-scanned on weekends and then only changed since last scan. Since this Content Age collection would connect to each Focus DB every week, we added a config parameter that allows specifying an interval in weeks that should pass between scans. Example: setting the ETL parameter "ia_profile_rescan_interval_weeks" to "2" will basically mean "Only scan every second week on Saturday". ETL parameters can be configured in the admin interface ([Settings] → [System configuration...]) in the menu item [Advanced Settings] → [ETL] → [ETL Properties].
- (Re-)Collection can be triggered manually for one or more databases via the menu item [Settings] → [Design analysis status]. Note: if code analysis is licensed, using this option this will also trigger a re-collection and re-processing of design data. This may take several days, depending on the amount of databases to process. The regular scheduled scan on Saturday will only re-collect design data if changes in DB design occurred.
- DB Scope: Content Age information will be collected from all Focus DBs (database categories "Application" and "Mail-in DB"), excluding files with the NTF extension.
- Processing: Before collected data is visible in iDNA's user interface it needs to be processed by the nightly data warehouse update.
Retention Period Configuration
Summary (Example Scenario)
- A new Content Age analysis license is applied on Wednesday
- Retention config for the first half of databases is configured throughout Wednesday and Thursday
- Content Age collection is automatically triggered on the following Saturday and is completed on Sunday
- Nightly processing from Sunday to Monday combines the two sets of data
- Content Age analysis is available in the UI on Monday morning
- Retention config is added for another batch of DBs on Tuesday
- Nightly processing from Tuesday to Wednesday combines the two sets of data again
- On Wednesday morning, the UI displays updated information based on most recent Retention Config changes
Evaluating Results
Licensing
Please note that this type of analysis is licensed separately and not included in previous licenses. The new module is purchasable as an add-on for all currently active subscription licenses.