Retention

The web is an access point for constituent business, not a repository. Agencies are responsible for keeping original copies of all data and documents posted to the web. The Office of Information Technology makes no guarantees of long-term retention online.

Unless otherwise required by law, content shall remain accessible on Baltimore County webpages only so long as it is relevant and valuable to the majority of the page’s audience. Web Services will review web analytics annually to identify content that is not being accessed by users.

Documents and data that are required by law to be retained for a period greater than three years will not be stored online unless the law specifically requires them to be. Requirements for retention and public access do not equate online storage.

Listed below are the retention timelines for varying online content. Any exceptions to the retention policy must be documented by the Web Coordinator and approved by Web Services.

FILES

  • Meeting agendas, meeting minutes, publications, presentations, images, and newsletters: 3 years after first published*
  • All other content: 3 years after last update 
  • Files not in use: 1 years after unpublishing 

*The Office of Information Technology reserves the right to remove PDFs and other documents that are accessed infrequently, as determined by web traffic analysis. Once this occurs, the Office of Information Technology may deny posting similar documents in the future.

PAGES

  • Published: 3 years after last update 
  • Pages not in use: 2 years after unpublishing 

PAGE HISTORIES AND METADATA

This includes page histories, metadata, approval histories and audit logs in Drupal. All data beyond that point will be truncated. Metadata may be truncated sooner if page performance becomes impacted by extensive histories.

  • 4 years

BLOG POSTS

  • 2 years after last update
  • Police Crime Blotters: 90 days

PAST MEETINGS AND EVENTS

  • 1 year, unless recurring

FORMS AND FORM DATA

All web forms will be audited yearly and any data will be exported. The data will be sent to the agency Web Coordinator to decide to store elsewhere, if appropriate. Once data has been exported by Web Services and submitted to the Web Coordinator, it will be permanently deleted from Drupal.

Inactive forms no longer linked to web pages will be deleted annually.

ARCHIVED PAGES AND FILES

  • 3 years