Single retention policy
View Patent ↗The invention provides instructions to a retention-base archiving application or other enterprise content management application (such as EMC Documentum) for identifying which data objects should share the same retention policy based upon content and context, even if the retention policies for each data object was originally selected by different archiving applications. By matching together data objects with the same retention interval, and/or matching together data objects with the same policy name (i.e., policy ID), a single retention policy can be assigned to related data objects, no matter the source of each related data object or which application selected the particular retention policy for each data object.
1. A method for retaining a plurality of data objects, comprising:
receiving, by an archive store, a first data object having associated metadata that includes retention information for the first data object;
receiving, by the archive store, a second data object having associated metadata that includes retention information for the second data object;
comparing, by the archive store, the retention information of the first data object with the retention information of the second data object;
determining if the retention information of the first data object and the retention information of the second data object match any existing retention policies;
assigning, by the archive store in response to the comparing the retention information step, a single retention policy with both the first data object and the second data object if the retention information of the first data object matches the retention information of the second data object; and
creating, by the archive store in response to the comparing the retention information step, a first new retention policy for the first data object and a second new retention policy for the second data object, each of the first new retention policy and the second new retention policy incorporating respective retention information, and assigning the first new retention policy with the first data object and the second new retention policy with the second data object, when the retention information of the first data object does not match the retention information of the second data object and when neither the retention information of the first data object nor the retention information of the second data object match any existing retention policies.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the retention information includes a retention interval.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the retention information includes a retention policy identifier (policy ID).
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the archive store performs the method of claim 1 using an archiving connector layer.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first data object's retention information or the second data object's retention information is provided by a retention-based archiving application.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first data object's retention information or the second data object's retention information is provided by software for an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system.
7. A computer program product, comprising a non-transitory computer usable medium having a computer readable program code embodied therein to be executed by one or more processors, the program code including instructions to:
receive, by an archive store, a first data object having associated metadata that includes retention information for the first data object;
receive, by the archive store, a second data object having associated metadata that includes retention information for the second data object;
compare, by the archive store, the retention information of the first data object with the retention information of the second data object;
determine if the retention information of the first data object and the retention information of the second data object match any existing retention policies;
assign, by the archive store in response to the comparing the retention information step, a single retention policy with both the first data object and the second data object if the retention information of the first data object matches the retention information of the second data object; and
create, by the archive store in response to the comparing the retention information step, a first new retention policy for the first data object and a second new retention policy for the second data object, each of the first new retention policy and the second new retention policy incorporating respective retention information, and assign the first new retention policy with the first data object and the second new retention policy with the second data object when the retention information of the first data object does not match the retention information of the second data object and when neither the retention information of the first data object nor the retention information of the second data object match any existing retention policies.
8. The computer program product of claim 7 , wherein the retention information includes a retention interval.
9. The computer program product of claim 7 , wherein the retention information includes a retention policy ID.
10. The computer program product of claim 7 , wherein the computer program product is run by an archiving connector layer on the archive store.
11. The computer program product of claim 7 , wherein the first data object's retention information or the second data object's retention information is provided by a retention-based archiving application.
12. The computer program product of claim 7 , wherein the first data object's retention information or the second data object's retention information is provided by software for an ERP.
13. A method for retaining a plurality of data objects, comprising:
receiving, by an archive store, a first data object having associated metadata that includes retention information for the first data object;
receiving, by the archive store, a second data object having associated metadata that includes retention information for the second data object;
comparing, by the archive store, the retention information of the first data object with the retention information of the second data object;
determining if the retention information of the first data object and the retention information of the second data object match any existing retention policies;
when the retention information of the first data object matches the retention information of the second data object:
assigning, by the archive store in response to the comparing the retention information step, a single retention policy with both the first data object and the second data object if the retention information of the first data object matches the retention information of the second data object, and
when the retention information of the first data object does not match the retention information of the second data object:
creating, by the archive store in response to the comparing the retention information step, a first new retention policy for the first data object, and assigning the first new retention policy to the first data object when the retention information of the first data object does not match any existing retention policy,
creating, by the archive store in response to the comparing the retention information step, a second new retention policy for the second data object, and assigning the second new retention policy to the second data object when the retention information of the second data object match does not match any existing retention policy, and
assigning, by the archive store in response to the comparing the retention information step, an existing retention policy to one of the first or second data objects when the one of the first or second data objects has retention information matching the existing retention policy.
14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the retention information includes a retention interval.
15. The method of claim 13 , wherein the retention information includes a retention policy ID.
16. The method of claim 13 , wherein the archive store performs the method of claim 1 using an archiving connector layer.
17. The method of claim 13 , wherein the data object's retention information is provided by a retention-based archive application.
18. The method of claim 13 , wherein the data object's retention information is provided by is software for an ERP.
19. A computer program product, comprising a non-transitory computer usable medium having a computer readable program code embodied therein to be executed by one or more processors, the program code including instructions to:
receive, by an archive store, a first data object having associated metadata that includes retention information for the first data object;
receive, by the archive store, a second data object having associated metadata that includes retention information for the second data object;
compare, by the archive store, the retention information of the first data object with the retention information of the second data object;
determine if the retention information of the first data object and the retention information of the second data object match any existing retention policies;
when the retention information of the first data object matches the retention information of the second data object:
assign, by the archive store in response to the comparing the retention information step, a single retention policy with both the first data object and the second data object if the retention information of the first data object matches the retention information of the second data object, and
when the retention information of the first data object does not match the retention information of the second data object:
create, by the archive store in response to the comparing the retention information step, a first new retention policy for the first data object, and assigning the first new retention policy to the first data object when the retention information of the first data object does not match any existing retention policy,
create, by the archive store in response to the comparing the retention information step, a second new retention policy for the second data object, and assigning the second new retention policy to the second data object when the retention information of the second data object match does not match any existing retention policy, and
assign, by the archive store in response to the comparing the retention information step, an existing retention policy to one of the first or second data objects when the one of the first or second data objects has retention information matching the existing retention policy.
20. The computer program product of claim 19 , wherein the retention information includes a retention interval.
21. The computer program product of claim 19 , wherein the retention information includes a retention policy ID.
22. The computer program product of claim 19 , wherein the computer program product is run by an archiving connector layer on the archive store.
23. The computer program product of claim 19 , wherein the data object's retention information is provided by a retention-based archive application.
24. The computer program product of claim 19 , wherein the data object's retention information is provided by is software for an ERP.