Edit a retention or deletion rule

Update legal references, periods and applicability of an existing rule.

Editing a Retention or Deletion Rule

The Edit screen for a retention or deletion rule is where you go whenever a record in your organisation's retention schedule needs to be updated. Whether a legal article has changed, the retention period has been extended by a new regulation, a misclassification needs to be corrected, or a responsible person has left and must be replaced, this screen gives you a single, focused form to make those changes and commit them back to the system. DPOs, compliance officers, IT administrators, and risk managers all visit this screen regularly as part of keeping the organisation's data lifecycle documentation accurate and audit-ready.

How to open it

In the left-hand navigation, expand Retentions & Deletions (also labelled "Retention & Deletion Periods" depending on your language setting).
The list view opens. Click any row to open that record's detail view.
From the detail view, click the pencil icon in the General section card — or use the three-dot options menu in the top-right corner and choose Edit.

You can also reach the edit form directly from the Assessment review portal if a linked retention rule has an edit shortcut there.

Heads up: The Edit button on the detail view is greyed out for users who do not have edit permission. Hovering over it shows a message such as "You do not have permission to perform this action." If you see a greyed-out button even though you believe you have an editing role, check with your administrator — your role may only permit editing records where you are personally listed as a responsible person.

Screenshot

What you see

When the edit form opens, you land on a clean, focused layout. At the very top is a breadcrumb trail — something like Retention & Deletion Periods › [Rule Name] › General — and a back arrow on the left that returns you to the detail view without saving anything.

Below the breadcrumbs, the main form sits inside a white card. A thin action buttons strip runs across the top of that card, showing the status selector on the left and the responsible person selector to its right. Both controls have a blue vertical bar on their left edge — the standard DPMS styling for editable sections.

Scrolling down, you see the form fields stacked in a clear reading order, each separated by a blue label bar: Name, then Period Type, then Duration (which contains a toggle and one or two inputs), then Period Start, and finally Legal Reference. A Save button sits at the bottom of the form. If you arrived here via an active workflow, a Cancel Workflow button may appear alongside it.

Working with this screen

Updating the legal reference and extending the duration

This is the most common reason to edit a retention rule. A regulatory update arrives: the retention period changes from five to seven years, and the underlying law article is renumbered or replaced.

Click into the Legal Reference text area and update the citation — for example, change "§ 257 HGB (6 years)" to "§ 257 HGB (10 years, as amended)". Because this field supports multiple languages, if your DPMS instance has more than one active language configured you will see language tabs. Make sure to update each language version that your teams rely on.
Scroll to the Duration section. If the rule was previously set to a numeric timeframe (for example, "5 Years"), you will see the Timeframe toggle active, with a small number field on the left and a time-unit dropdown on the right. Click into the number field, clear the existing value, and type the new amount — for example, 7. Verify that the unit dropdown still shows the correct value (e.g., Years).
Confirm that Period Type still shows the correct classification (Retention or Deletion) and that the Status at the top of the form is correct (e.g., Active).
Click Save at the bottom of the form. DPMS sends the updated record to the database and redirects you to the rule's detail view, where the new values are immediately visible. A success notification confirms the save.

Tip: The Duration number field has a minimum value of zero. If you accidentally clear the field and click Save without re-entering a value, DPMS will silently save it as "1 [unit]" rather than leaving it blank. Always double-check the Duration before saving if you have touched that field.

Switching from a fixed timeframe to a permanent or indefinite retention

Some retention obligations cannot be expressed as a number of years. Audit logs that must be kept "permanently", or categories where the period is still "unspecified" pending regulatory guidance, need a different approach.

In the Duration section, look at the toggle switch. If it currently shows Timeframe as active (meaning you can see a number field and a unit dropdown), click the toggle to switch to Definition mode. The number input and unit dropdown disappear, replaced by a single dropdown.
Open the Definition dropdown and select the appropriate value:
Unspecified — the retention period is not yet determined.
Indefinite — data is kept without a fixed end date.
Permanent — data must be retained forever.
Update the Period Start field if needed. For example, if you are marking a rule "Permanent", a note like "From the date of record creation, no expiry" is helpful for auditors.
Click Save. The Duration column in the index list will now display "Permanent" (or whichever definition you selected) instead of a number.

Heads up: Switching the Duration toggle resets the values in the other mode's fields every time. If you toggle from Timeframe to Definition and then toggle back, you will need to re-enter your numeric amount and unit — DPMS does not remember the previous values.

Reassigning the responsible person and changing the status

When a responsible person leaves your organisation, or when a rule needs to be flagged for review after an audit finding, you can make both changes here.

In the action buttons strip at the top of the form, click the responsible person selector. A search panel opens. Type the name of the new responsible person, select them, and confirm. You can assign more than one person if needed.
Click the status selector — the labelled badge or dropdown to the left of the responsible person control. The list of available statuses appears, including any custom statuses your organisation has configured (for example, a "Pending Legal Review" status). Select the appropriate one.
Click Save. The new responsible person and the new status are both written to the record at the same time. The newly assigned person will receive a notification from the platform informing them that they are now responsible for this rule.

Tip: The status selector on the edit form works differently from the status badge on the detail view. On the detail view, changing the status saves immediately. On the edit form, the status change is only a local selection — it is not committed to the database until you click Save. If you close the browser tab after changing the status but before clicking Save, the change will be lost.

Correcting a period type misclassification

If a rule was originally saved as "Deletion" but should be "Retention" (or the other way around), the fix is straightforward — but it is worth understanding the knock-on effect.

Open the Period Type dropdown. Select the correct type: Retention or Deletion.
Review the rest of the form to confirm nothing else needs updating as a result of the reclassification.
Click Save.

Heads up: The Period Type field is used by the workflow system to determine which workflow templates apply to this rule. If the record already has active workflows triggered under the old type, changing the period type means future triggered workflows will use templates for the new type. Review any active workflows before making this change.

Updating the rule name or period start description

To correct a typo, improve clarity, or add a translation in a newly activated language:

Click into the Name field and make your changes. If your DPMS instance has multiple active languages, a translation button allows you to expand the field and edit each language version side by side. An automatic translate option can pre-fill sibling language fields based on the primary language value.
To update the description of when the retention countdown begins, click into the Period Start text area. This is free text — for example, "Upon termination of the contractual relationship" or "From the date of the last transaction with the customer". Update it to reflect the accurate trigger event.
Click Save when all changes look correct.

Field reference

Name — The human-readable label for this rule. Appears in the list view, the breadcrumb on the detail page, and wherever this rule is referenced from linked objects. Supports one value per active language. Required for the record to be meaningful. Pre-populated from the existing record.
Period Type — Whether this rule governs how long data must be kept (Retention) or when it must be destroyed (Deletion). Required. Also drives which workflow templates apply to this rule.
Duration — Timeframe / Definition toggle — Selects the input mode for the retention period. Use Timeframe when you can express the period as a number and unit; use Definition when the period is Unspecified, Indefinite, or Permanent.
Duration — Amount (Timeframe mode only) — The numeric quantity. Minimum value is 0. If left empty when you save, DPMS will save it as 1. Required in Timeframe mode.
Duration — Unit (Timeframe mode only) — The time unit: Days, Weeks, Months, or Years.
Duration — Definition dropdown (Definition mode only) — Qualitative period: Unspecified, Indefinite, or Permanent.
Period Start — Free text describing the event that starts the retention clock. Not required, but strongly recommended for audit transparency. Supports multiple languages. Examples: "End of contract", "Date of last transaction".
Legal Reference — The specific law, regulation, or internal policy that mandates this obligation. Not required by the system, but essential for compliance documentation. Supports multiple languages. Examples: "Art. 17 GDPR", "§ 257 HGB (10 years)".

How this connects to the rest of DPMS

Retention and deletion rules sit at the heart of DPMS's data lifecycle module. The record you edit here is referenced in several other areas of the platform:

Record of Processing Activities (ROPA): Any ROPA linked to this rule displays the current duration and legal reference sourced directly from this record. If you update the retention period here, linked ROPAs immediately reflect the new value.
Assets: IT assets linked to this rule show the rule's status and responsible person in their linked-objects panel.
Tasks: Tasks linked to this rule reference its name and status when displaying context.
Assessments / DPIAs: Assessments linked to this rule display the current period type, duration, and legal reference. If you arrived at the edit form from an Assessment review portal, clicking Save will return you to that portal rather than to the rule's detail view — this is intentional.
Workflows: Editing the Period Type affects which workflow templates are applicable the next time a workflow is triggered from the Trigger Workflow tab (which is part of the same edit shell as the General form).

After saving your changes, consider whether any linked assessments, ROPAs, or tasks need to be reviewed in light of the update — particularly if you have changed the duration or reclassified the period type.

Tips & common pitfalls

Heads up: Clearing the Duration amount field and clicking Save without re-entering a value causes DPMS to silently save the amount as "1" rather than showing a validation error. Always confirm the Duration field before saving.

Heads up: Toggling the Duration switch (Timeframe ↔ Definition) resets all values in the fields for both modes to their defaults every time you toggle. If you switch accidentally, clicking back will not restore your previous values — you will need to re-enter them.

Status changes on the edit form are not auto-saved. Unlike the status badge on the detail view (which saves instantly), the status selector on the edit form is part of the full form submission. If you change the status and then navigate away without clicking Save, the change is lost.
Multi-language fields need separate attention per language. The Name, Period Start, and Legal Reference fields each store a separate value per active language. Editing the English value and saving does not automatically update the German, French, or other language versions unless you use the automatic translate feature. If your teams work in multiple languages, review all language tabs before saving.
"Edit only on assigned" permission affects visibility. Users whose role only grants editing on records where they are a responsible person will see the Edit button greyed out on records they are not assigned to. If someone reports that they cannot edit a rule despite having an "edit" role, check whether their permission is the restricted variant and whether they are listed as a responsible person on that specific record.
FilersKeeper-imported records retain their source link. If the rule was originally imported from the FilersKeeper compliance database, that link is preserved when you edit the record manually. You can safely update any field; the connection to the external source record is not affected.
The Cancel Workflow button only appears in the workflow context. If you do not see it, that is normal — it only appears when you are on the workflow Overview tab and an active workflow is in progress for this record.