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
  

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 that 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 if changed. 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 a very long time, 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

• Summary

Retention Period Configuration

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.