Put GTM Records on a Retention and Disposal Schedule
Map GTM records to an approved retention schedule and coordinate documented disposal with the responsible owners.
Start with the record and its responsible owner
Inventory the records produced by a campaign: approved assets, prospect exports, event attendance lists, supplier documents and decision logs. Identify the authoritative location and the person responsible for each category. A project folder can contain records with very different purposes.
The coordinator prepares this inventory and identifies missing decisions. The designated records, privacy or legal owner determines applicable requirements. Do not assign a single retention period to every item merely because the campaign ended on the same date.
Use an approved schedule, not a guessed deadline
For personal data subject to UK GDPR, the ICO explains that retention depends on the processing purpose rather than a universal fixed period. Its guidance calls for justified retention and review, taking applicable legal requirements into account. The page is marked under review following legislative changes; check the current guidance with the responsible adviser.
For the operational tracker, record the approved rule, its authority, the event that starts the period and the next review date. Flag records whose category or requirement is unclear. This guide does not prescribe legal retention periods or authorize deletion.
Prepare a bounded disposal request
List the specific records proposed for action, their locations and the schedule decision that applies. Ask the responsible owner to confirm whether any preservation requirement or unresolved matter affects the request. Keep uncertain items separate from items cleared for action.
Agree who can carry out the approved action in each system and what confirmation they will provide. The coordinator should not promise that moving a folder to an archive removes the underlying records. Include exported copies and connected tools in the review rather than assuming the main folder is the only location.
Example: closing an event workspace
Illustrative workflow: after an event, a coordinator finds approved presentation files, an attendee export and supplier invoices in the same workspace. They list the three categories and send each to its designated owner for a retention decision.
The approved presentation may remain available for reuse while the attendee export and financial records follow their separately approved rules. The coordinator records the decisions and authorized next actions without treating the event close date as permission to delete every file.
Record the action and follow up on exceptions
Capture the authorizing decision, scope, action date and confirmation from the person who performed it. Keep the action log proportionate: it should describe what happened without recreating a full copy of the information that was removed.
Track any systems or copies that could not be addressed and assign a responsible owner to resolve them. At the next campaign intake, use these findings to improve folder ownership and export handling. A clear record of completed and unresolved actions is more useful than an unchecked cleanup task marked done.
Sources
- Principle (e): Storage limitation, Information Commissioner’s Office. UK GDPR guidance; marked under review following legislative changes. Retention decisions require current, applicable advice.