CompTIA Data+ (DA0-002)Data Governance, Quality and ControlsMedium
A company's records management policy states that tax-related financial documents must be kept for exactly 7 years to comply with IRS requirements, after which they are automatically purged from the archive system. This policy is an example of which governance control?
- ALegal hold
- BLeast privilege policy
- CData lineage policy
- DRetention schedule
Show answer & explanationAnswer & explanation
Correct answer: D. Retention schedule
A retention schedule defines how long different categories of records must be kept before disposal, based on regulatory or business requirements. A legal hold is a temporary suspension of normal deletion due to litigation or investigation, which is not described here.
Why the other options are wrong
- A. A legal hold suspends deletion due to litigation, not a routine scheduled purge.
- B. Least privilege is an access control principle, not a retention rule.
- C. Data lineage tracks data's origin and movement, unrelated to retention timing.
Retention Schedule
A governance policy specifying how long each category of records must be retained before secure disposal, based on legal, regulatory, or business needs.
- Different record types may have different mandated periods (e.g., 7 years for tax records)
- After the period expires, records are typically purged unless a legal hold applies
- Helps reduce storage costs and legal exposure from over-retention
Memory trick: Retention schedule = a countdown timer ⏳ on a filing cabinet 🗄️