Retention Solution
Efficient document management
Securely manage retention periods
Many documents are no longer needed over time. Others are subject to statutory retention obligations and may not be deleted or may only be deleted after a certain period of time. Both too long and too short a retention period entail risks:
On the one hand, excessive storage costs can arise, and on the other hand, there is the threat of severe penalties, especially in the context of the GDPR. A balanced storage strategy is therefore essential.
Document management with a system
Document retention management refers to the structured management of document lifecycles. This involves defining, extending or deleting retention periods in order to comply with regulatory requirements relating to the obligation to retain documents and to optimize storage costs at the same time. The Retention Solution automates this process and offers secure, traceable management for company documents. It is based on IBM FileNet Content Manager (formerly IBM FileNet P8) and IBM Content Navigator and simplifies the management of deadlines and deletion locks, saves storage costs and avoids penalties.
The right solution for growing data volumes
Retention Solution functions
Deadline management
Rule-based deletion
Documents are deleted according to individually defined rules and workflows as soon as their retention period has expired in order to efficiently meet compliance requirements.
Deletion locks (holds)
Manual and automatic deletion locks prevent documents from being deleted accidentally or prematurely, especially in legal or regulatory scenarios.
Approval processes
Multi-stage approval processes (e.g. dual control principle) ensure that critical documents are only deleted or extended after an authorized review.
Intuitive user interface
Full integration into IBM Content Navigator enables simple, transparent operation by business users, without complicated configurations or additional tools.
Reporting & audit logs
Comprehensive reporting functions provide a clear overview of expired retention periods and document all deletion processes in an audit-proof manner.
Ensure compliance and reduce costs
Advantages at a glance
Many companies rely on manual processes to manage retention periods - at great expense and risk. The Retention Solution ensures that deletions are documented in a traceable manner, important documents are protected and unnecessary data is removed. This not only helps to meet compliance requirements, but also reduces storage costs in the long term.
- Cost savings: Reduction of storage and administration costs
- Error prevention: Reduction of manual error sources through predefined processes and criteria as well as automated execution of tasks on request
- Minimization of risks: adherence to regulatory requirements and avoidance of compliance violations
- Increased efficiency: Automated workflows for deadline management and deletion processes
- Security: controlled and traceable deletions with logging
- Seamless integration: easy integration into existing ECM systems
Seamless integration
Technology that adapts to your processes
The Retention Solution is based on IBM FileNet Content Manager and is fully integrated into the IBM Content Navigator (ICN). It extends the existing basic functions with powerful deletion and deadline management processes and provides intuitive user interfaces, automated workflows and flexible reporting.
components and functionality:
- IBM Content Navigator (ICN) serves as a central user interface. Here, users can create, manage and remove deletion locks and define automatic locking rules.
- The Retention Plugin takes control of these processes and enables multi-level approvals - for example, according to the dual control principle or with additional approval steps.
- IBM FileNet Content Manager acts as a repository for the documents to be managed.
- The retention services implement deletion locks and carry out deletion processes in accordance with the rules.
- The Service Manager takes over the automated background processing of reports, blocks and releases so that processes run efficiently and manual effort is minimized.
Intuitive user interface and powerful functions
A look inside the tool
The Retention Solution offers a clear and easy-to-use user interface that is fully integrated into the IBM Content Navigator. With predefined workflows and a clear structure, users can quickly and securely manage retention periods, set deletion locks and delete documents in accordance with compliance guidelines.
Management of temporary locks
The management of deletion locks (holds) is an essential part of the Retention Solution. In this view, users can set manual or automated holds to protect documents from accidental deletion. Filter criteria help to quickly identify relevant documents and apply or remove holds in a targeted manner.
Definition of approval processes
The Retention Solution offers a multi-level release logic to ensure that only authorized persons can release documents for deletion. In this area, administrators can configure individual release processes, e.g. according to the dual control principle or with extended check steps for critical documents.
Process-oriented deletion release
This view shows how users can obtain a list of documents awaiting deletion and check them randomly. If necessary, individual documents can be excluded from deletion via a manual lock. If no release is given, the retention period of the document is automatically extended.
Presentation of the reports
The Retention Solution offers extensive reporting functions to ensure transparent tracking of all deletion and retention processes.
Frequently asked questions about the
Retention Solution
The Retention Solution enables the management of all documents subject to retention within the IBM FileNet Content Manager. Regardless of the object class or storage location, documents can be archived in a structured manner, assigned retention periods and deleted based on rules.
Yes, the Retention Solution allows both manual and automated management of retention periods. Deadlines can be extended or deleted individually - either through user actions or through predefined rules and workflows.
The solution relies on multi-stage approval processes to ensure that deletions do not occur unintentionally. Sensitive documents can be protected by manual or automatic deletion locks (holds). If a deletion is not approved, the retention period can be automatically extended.
The Retention Solution offers comprehensive standard and customized reports that ensure complete transparency of retention settings and deletion processes. The reports can be filtered by object class, storage location or document properties and regularly forwarded to the responsible persons.
Our partnership with IBM
From Cognos to FileNet: Our partnership with IBM is almost as old as our company history itself! Since 1995, we have been one of the top-qualified business partners offering and providing the development and implementation of associated solutions in the areas of document, case and input management as well as data analysis and insights.
Also an IBM Platinum Partner since April 2023. ISR has already received the Innovation Award from IBM several times for special solutions.
Specialists for efficient document management
Our expertise - your advantage
Our expertise - your advantage
With our many years of experience in ECM consulting and implementation, we offer solutions for your document management. Our retention solution helps you to meet regulatory requirements, reduce costs and make your information management more efficient.
Not only protect your company from compliance risks, but also optimize your IT infrastructure. By selectively deleting unnecessary documents, you save storage space, reduce operating costs and ensure structured data storage. Our experts will support you from planning to implementation to ensure that your solution is perfectly tailored to your business processes.
Contact us now at
We will be happy to advise you!
Would you like to find out more about the Retention Solution or do you have specific requirements for your document management? Our experts will be happy to help you find the right solution for you.
Andreas Carlsen
Senior Manager
Application Management
andreas.carlsen@isr.de
+49(0)151 527 451 25