Most companies store more data than they actually need, and for longer than they should. That’s both inefficient and risky. A data retention policy helps you decide what to keep, for how long, and when to safely delete it.
A good policy protects you from fines, reduces storage costs, and keeps your systems lean. It also helps your teams avoid guesswork and stay consistent when handling sensitive data.
In this guide, you’ll learn how to build a retention policy that works—from auditing your data and mapping it to regulations, to automating cleanups and aligning it with how your team works in Salesforce.
5 Key Components of an Effective Data Retention Policy
Every data retention policy needs these elements:
1. Data Classification
Sort information by sensitivity, value, and regulatory requirements. For example, customer financial records may require seven-year retention, while marketing data can be kept for just two years.
2. Retention Schedules
Set exact timeframes for each data category, aligned with legal mandates, industry standards, and business needs.
3. Legal Hold Procedures
Preserve data beyond its standard retention period when there’s litigation or an investigation. Your policy should detail how to identify and manage legal holds.
4. Archiving Methods
Define how older data is moved to more cost-effective storage while remaining accessible. It helps keep active systems lean without losing important historical records.
5. Secure Deletion Protocols
Establish standards for permanently destroying data once retention periods end. For example, when your CRM flags a customer record hitting its five-year limit, the classification triggers archiving, followed by secure deletion per your protocols.
To build these elements into a usable policy, you’ll need collaboration between legal teams who understand regulations, IT professionals who implement technical controls, and business units who define operational needs.
The final document should include:
- A clear data inventory
- A retention matrix mapping data types to timeframes
- Roles and responsibilities for data governance
- Procedures for both standard operations and exceptions
The Difference Between a Data Retention Policy and Data Archiving
Your data retention policy answers what and when. Which information to keep and for how long, based on legal, business, and regulatory needs.
On the other hand, data archiving handles how and where. The technical processes and storage systems used to execute retention rules.
The retention policy sets the rules. Archiving puts them into action using automated workflows, tiered storage, and retrieval systems that strike a balance between accessibility and cost.
Legal and Regulatory Frameworks Governing Data Retention
Regulations create strict timelines that your data retention policy must adhere to.
GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) defines strict limits. Article 5 says you can only keep personal data as long as necessary. Article 17 gives people the "right to erasure", forcing you to delete their data unless you have legal reasons to keep it.
HIPAA requires healthcare organizations to keep medical records for six years from creation or last effective date. Your audit logs and security documents must follow the same timeline.
Financial services face even tougher rules. SOX compliance requires audit documentation for seven years, while PCI DSS demands transaction logs for at least one year with three months immediately available online.
CCPA and CPRA add California-specific rules. You must handle consumer deletion requests within 45 days and keep records of these requests for 24 months. The challenge lies in balancing deletion rights against other legal retention requirements.
How to Map Regulations to the Types of Data You Have
The best approach is to create a simple table (a matrix) that connects each type of data to the laws that apply to it. For example:
- Personal data (like names, emails, addresses) – falls under GDPR and California laws (CCPA/CPRA)
- Financial data (like card transactions) – must be kept for 1 to 7 years depending on laws such as SOX and PCI DSS
- Health data – HIPAA requires a minimum of 6 years retention
- Employee records – must be stored for 1–2 years under labor laws
This table should show:
- The minimum and maximum retention period for each data type
- When and how the data should or must be deleted
- What to do if there’s an investigation or legal case (in that case, you can’t delete the data yet)
Finally, make sure to document why you chose each retention period. That way, you show regulators that your decisions are thoughtful and responsible—not just based on “keeping everything just in case,” which can lead to unnecessary risk and high storage costs.
Best Practices for Developing and Implementing a Data Retention Policy
To build a data retention policy, you need to balance legal obligations with business needs. Here's how to do it:
1. Start with a Full Data Audit and Classification
Begin by identifying what data you have. Build a complete inventory of your databases, file systems, cloud storage, and backups. Log where each dataset lives, its format, and how it's accessed.
Then classify the data based on sensitivity, business value, and compliance needs. Not all data is equally valuable. Payment records, for example, carry more risk than anonymous analytics. Map out each category and assess its exposure risk, then define who’s responsible for managing it.
2. Define Smart Retention Timelines
Your timelines should reflect both legal minimums and business logic. Financial records often require seven years of retention under SOX, while customer support emails may only need two (unless there’s an active dispute).
Use a tiered retention model: new data stays live, older data gets archived, and expired data is deleted automatically. Instead of fixed dates, set minimums and maximums so you can adjust as your business evolves.
Document your rationale for each rule for audits and long-term clarity.
3. Automate, Control, and Review
Automate deletion workflows wherever possible to reduce manual errors, but keep manual reviews for high-risk or sensitive data. Legal holds, such as those required during an investigation, should override standard deletion rules. Always verify that deletion is complete, including any backups.
Plan for regular policy reviews, evaluate high-risk data quarterly, and run full audits at least once a year. Build in procedures for exceptions and long-term preservation when required.
How to Automate Your Data Retention Policy Through Your DevOps Pipeline
Managing data retention doesn’t have to be a manual, tedious process. With AI-powered tools such as Flosum DevOps, you can build retention rules right into your DevOps workflow and enforce them automatically.
Build Retention Rules Into Your CI/CD Workflow
Start by adding data retention checkpoints to your deployment process:
- In Jenkins, use pre-deployment hooks to scan for data that’s past its retention limit. If it’s outdated, archive or delete it before anything gets pushed live.
- With GitLab CI, you can schedule scripts that clean up old data on a regular basis.
- If you’re using Salesforce DX, add retention logic during scratch org creation so every environment follows the same standards.
Store all your rules (such as what gets deleted, what gets archived, and any exceptions) in Git using YAML or JSON files. That way, you can track changes and roll back if needed.
Set up alerts too. Use Slack or email to let your team know if something’s about to be deleted or if a cleanup fails.
Make Retention Part of Your Workflow
Retention works best when it runs alongside your normal development flow:
- During sandbox refreshes, use automated scripts to wipe old data so your test environments don’t get clogged up.
- Add checks before deployment to make sure production data matches your current retention rules.
- Use webhooks to trigger cleanup tasks when key events happen, such as sandbox creation, data imports, or decommissioning an environment.
This approach keeps your policy flexible and responsive. It adapts in real time, alongside your development work.
How to Make Data Retention Easier with Flosum
Managing data retention in Salesforce doesn’t have to be complicated. Flosum Backup & Archive gives you a smart, reliable way to stay compliant without drowning in manual work. Our Composite Backup captures only what’s new, changed, or deleted, so you save on storage while keeping everything you need intact.
Flosum helps protect your Salesforce data with:
- BYOK encryption (Bring Your Own Key)
- Role-based access controls
- Detailed audit logs that track every change
It’s fully aligned with the major compliance frameworks, such as FedRAMP, GDPR, and HIPAA.
You can choose how to deploy it: hosted by Flosum, stored in your own cloud, or installed on-prem, depending on what fits your setup best.
Inside Flosum, it’s easy to:
- Create custom retention rules for different types of data
- Automate backups on your schedule (daily, weekly, or whenever you want)
- Archive older data securely so it’s still accessible, just not cluttering your active systems
If something goes wrong or data needs to be restored, Flosum lets you bring it back to the exact point in time, whether it’s a full record or just a single field. You can fix what’s broken without undoing everything else.
Take Action on Your Data Retention Policy Now
Your data retention policy isn’t something you set and forget. It needs to evolve alongside changing regulations and new technologies. The frameworks we’ve covered here are designed to help you move from reactive compliance to strategic data governance.
To get started, assess where you stand today:
- Take inventory of your data assets and classification systems
- Compare retention timelines with current regulatory requirements
- Evaluate your automation around deletion and archiving
- Ensure key stakeholders are involved in policy governance
- Identify any documentation gaps that could impact compliance
Begin with your highest-risk data or the areas under the greatest regulatory pressure. Each focused improvement builds momentum and shows leadership that you take data governance seriously.
When done right, your retention policy can improve the way you manage data, support cleaner operations, and improve customer trust within Salesforce.
Flosum makes that easier. With automated workflows, secure archiving, and field-level restore, we can help you enforce policy without adding complexity. Schedule a personalized demo to explore how Flosum can align with your compliance goals and make your retention strategy work better.
