Define the release decision
The application cycle has ended, but permitted copies, portal receipts and recommender records may have different retention responsibilities.
Tie letter copies, submission receipts and access records to application milestones and applicable institutional rules.
Run the control sequence
- 01Identify who owns each record: applicant, recommender, school, college or application provider.
- 02Map each copy to the relevant policy, agreement, legal hold and application milestone.
- 03Set a review date rather than assuming one universal deletion period.
- 04Separate the confidential letter from submission receipts and access logs.
- 05Verify authorized disposal across local devices, sync folders and removable media.
Preserve enough evidence
Record the dataset identifier, application cycle, source device or system, export date, manifest, responsible custodian, authorized recommenders, key location, encryption environment, recovery result, retention rule and next review date. Do not put passwords, recovery secrets or unnecessary applicant values in the decision record.
Keep the manifest, custodian, approved recipient, key-separation decision, restore result and retention owner together without copying applicant values into the record.
Keep surrounding controls visible
Deleting a local vault entry does not prove that provider, recipient, backup or recommender copies have been removed.
Field conditions can create extra copies on tablets, laptops, removable media, synchronization folders and recipient devices. The archive owner must address those copies separately and verify the current software release before relying on product behavior.
Questions to ask
Should the access credential travel with the dataset?
Only when the approved research purpose requires linkage and the responsible owner has authorized the same recipient. Separation is a core risk control.
Does encryption make an export anonymous?
No. Encryption restricts file access; it does not remove identifiers or eliminate reidentification risk after decryption.
Primary references
References support specific controls and do not imply endorsement.