When managing the secure file-sharing process within TitanFile for our business users as subscription administrators, we constantly strive to strike a balance between accommodating user preferences and adhering to our firm-wide data retention and governance policies.
The intended use for TitanFile is to securely and easily share files. Files will then be downloaded to and stored on your firm’s document management system/long-term file repository. Data retention options effectively ensures that TitanFile is not utilized as a long-term file repository (if that is the intended use case).
For Subscription Administrators, TitanFile offers two sets of options to globally control data retention found within Options and then Channels.
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Channel Expiry - With channel expiry, we can allow users to set their own expiry via their individual channel options, or we can set a global default. To enforce a global default you’ll first need administrative rights. With these capabilities, you’ll then want to go to Channels within the Admin Panel and toggle the first option off and the second option on. Once a channel expires, it will soft delete but will still be retrievable by our Support Team for 30 days. Beyond the 30-day period, the channel and its contents become irrecoverable.
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File Retention - With file retention, we can allow users to set their own file retention, set and enforce a global default, or set and not enforce a global default. In this case, when a file expires it becomes irrecoverable by our support team.
How can we set up our Data Retention Options to Strike the Right Balance?
Below are a few methods we see our larger enterprise customers manage the delicate balance of data retention and user preferences.
Method 1 - Enforcing Channel Expiry with an option for a Subscription Admin to change the date
Rather than offering end users the ability to change expiry, we can allow the subscription admin to use the impersonation feature to manually augment channel expiry dates that are not visible to the end user.
The workflow is as follows:
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Globally "Show option for channel expiry" toggled off and "Channel will expire by default" toggled on.
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End-user to contact the internal help desk to extend the channel expiry date, when needed.
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Subscription Admin would impersonate the user via manage users.
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Subscription admin to change the channel expiry date within an individual channel's channel options.
This option allows the team to globally enforce a policy with some flexibility offered to end-users at the discretion of the subscription admin team.
Method 2 - Enforcing Channel Expiry with no offer to change
Globally enforced policies allow you to stay in line with data retention/governance policies and ensure that channels and their contents aren't left sitting within TitanFile as a long-term repository. The con is that users may intend to use channels for longer than set which reduces their flexibility. This will also require for users to recreate channels with their intended contacts when the channel expires.
Method 3 - No Channel Expiry, Enforcing File Retention
For your users, it may be valuable to retain channels as collaborative workspaces. This option allows users to retain the channels but at the same time makes sure no content sits there longer than intended. The cons here are that the metadata from the channel remains (user emails, messages etc.) and it may use more licensing due to channels remaining active.