Data Retention Policy Automation

This page describes a feature available in version 7.5 and above

The length of time you must keep data for is often governed by the laws and regulations of your local jurisdiction. One thing most jurisdictions share in common however is that you should only keep personal data for as long as is necessary.

The Data Retention Policy Automation introduced in WHMCS 7.5 allows you to have WHMCS automatically enforce your data retention policy in relation to the length of time you keep your client records for.

Data Retention Settings

The new Data Retention Settings can be found in Setup > Automation Settings located in a new section of the same name.

Automatically Delete Inactive Clients

This setting allows you to configure client records to be automatically deleted after a given number of months with no invoice or transaction history. This setting defaults to off.

To enable this, you must select the radio option for removing clients automatically and specify a number of months that is greater than 0.

When you enable it, the system performs the Data Retention Pruning task daily and will remove clients that meet the following conditions:

• Are in a status of Inactive or Closed
• Have no invoices that have been marked paid within the given number of months you specify
• Have no transactions that have been entered or applied within the given number of months you specify
• Is an affiliate with a balance greater than 0 or has made a referral within the specified retention period

Important Note: It is the presence of paid invoices or transactions within the given timeframe that defines client records which are kept. Enabling this feature with clients in an Inactive or Closed status, that have no invoice or transaction history, will result in those clients being deleted immediately.

The client status can be changed automatically by the system. This is controlled by the Setup > Automation Settings > Client Status Update setting.