Archiving and expunging case data
Configure case archiving to move historical case data from your database to a secondary file storage repository, such as the Pega Cloud File storage repository in Pega Cloud deployments or an S3 repository in On-premises and client-managed cloud deployments.
You can refine the archive process with a subsequent process to expunge (remove) archived case data from the secondary storage repository according to a data retention policy.
Archived cases in the secondary storage repository can no longer be re-opened, so do not include cases types in your archival policy if you will need to reopen the case for any reason.
Routine archiving of case data according to your business objectives for retention policies provides many benefits, including:
- Reduced operating costs
- The operating cost to support thousands of unused case data and records in a single primary database can be significant. Archiving cases and purging them from the primary database can significantly reduce those costs. Secondary storage is much cheaper than operating a heavy primary database so you save significant amount of money on the operating cost of managing that database.
- Ensured regulatory compliance
- Your case archiving and data retention policies help you implement your business compliance strategy with regulatory privacy mandates, such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).
- Improved database performance
- Faster processing of database queries reduces the risk of system timeouts and increases the speed of data retrieval and reporting.
- Simplified database management
- Routine maintenance tasks complete faster and your database maintains good health.
See the following topics to help your business realize the full benefits of archiving and deleting case data in Pega Platform:
- The case archiving process
Understand the case archiving and data expunging processes so you can manage your historical case data and thereby optimise your application database performance.
- Secondary storage repository for archived data
Configure a second storage repository in Pega Platform so your case archival policy can move your defined historical case data to a secondary storage repository and free up space on your primary database repository.
- Planning your case archiving process
Plan your case archiving process so that it is optimally efficient and meets the needs of your organization's database size.
- Configuring your data retention policy
Expunging case data from secondary storage on a regular schedule ensures compliance with your company's data retention policy and government policies, such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).
- Excluding cases from archival and expunge
Prevent Pega Platform from archiving individual case hierarchies. If you have a defined data retention policy for permanently deleting cases from the secondary storage repository, the cases are also excluded from the expunge process.
- Viewing case archiving statistics and log file entries
View details about the completion of tasks for jobs that run during case archiving processes using the Log-ArchivalSummary class or report definition. Review entries in the PegaRULES.log file for potential performance issues related to archival jobs.
- Retrieving archived case data
Retrieve archived case data that in the secondary storage location for informational purposes, such as confirming the success of the case archiving process, addressing regulatory tasks for statutes such as HIPAA, and responding to questions about business history.
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