Data purge

Purging data from your database permanently deletes certain types of data at set time intervals.

Data purges automatically delete data from your database that is past its retention date. This helps keep your database up-to-date and helps avoid lag time due to large volumes of data.

You can set schedules to purge data at the intervals that align with your retention periods. The system divides data into five categories. This allows you to customize your retention periods for different types of data, depending on your needs. By default, the data retention across all categories is set to 2 years. The maximum retention period is eight years.

Note: Purge settings can only be changed by users with a company-wide Administrator role. To access this feature, ensure that you have the Administrator user type.

Data purge categories

MyGeotab divides data into five categories to allow you to set custom purge schedules for different data types.

Using data categories for your purge schedules allows you to keep the data you need for as long as you need it. Any data that you don’t need to retain for a longer period of time can be set to purge on a shorter schedule.

MyGeotab separates data into five categories.

Note: If the database contains HOS or Asset Inspection data, the system now requires a matching retention schedule for the following three categories: Driving Data & Exceptions data, HOS data, and Asset Inspection data.

Driving data and exception data

The following data is included in this category:

  • GpsData

  • TripsData

  • StatusData

  • FaultData

  • BinaryData

  • ExceptionEventData

  • DriverChangeData

  • DebugData

  • NotificationData – Related data is deleted more frequently, not just in the purge.

  • BinaryMessageData

  • TextMessageData

  • Notification – Notification and NotificationData refers to system notification logs.

  • ZoneData

  • RouteData

  • TrailerAttachmentData

Driving data and exceptions data can be retained for:

  • 2, 3, or 6 months

  • 1, 2, 3, 4, or 8 years

Fuel transactions data

The following data is included in this category:

  • FuelTransaction

Note:

Fuel based Status Data will not be purged with this category.

Fuel Transactions data can be retained for:

  • 1, 2, 3, or 6 months

  • 1, 2, 3, 4, or 8 years

Note:

Enabling the purge schedule for fuel transactions will permanently remove all historical fuel transaction data from your database, regardless of the group selection you made for your schedule.

HOS data

The following data is included in this category:

  • DutyStatusLogs

  • ShipmentLogData

  • AnnotationLogData

HOS data can be retained for:

  • 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, or 11 months

  • 1, 2, 3, 4, or 8 years

Asset inspection data

The following data is included in this category:

  • DVIRLogs

Note:

This was previously known as DVIR.

Asset Inspection data can be retained for:

  • 3 or 6 months

  • 1, 2, 3, 4, or 8 years

Personal trip data

The following data is included in this category:

  • Private data

Note:

This applies if trips are considered private, or some trip data and log records are documented during private trips.

Personal trip data can be retained for:

  • 1 day

  • 1 or 2 weeks

  • 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, or 11 months

  • 1, 2, 3, 4, or 8 years

Creating purge schedules

Learn how to create a schedule to purge data at specified times.

  1. Click the Profile icon in the top toolbar and select System Settings.
  2. Navigate to the Data purge tab.
  3. Click + Schedules.
  4. Select the group you want to purge data for.
  5. Select how long you want to keep each data type using the dropdown menus.
    New purge schedule window showing the data categories to customize your retention periods.
  6. Click Confirm.
Your new schedule will appear in the list of the Retention Schedules on the Data purge tab.

Deleting purge schedules

Learn how to delete purge schedules in MyGeotab.

  1. Click the Profile icon in the top toolbar and select System Settings.
  2. Navigate to the Data purge tab.
  3. Locate the purge schedule you want to delete in the list.
  4. Click the Trash icon to delete the scheduled purge.
    The Data Purge tab highlighting the trash icon to delete a purge schedule.
Schedules are deleted immediately and cannot be recovered. If you want to reactivate a deleted schedule, you'll need to create a new schedule with the same retention periods.