Upcoming changes to voicemail message retention

  • IST
  • 21 November 2022

On December 21, a voicemail aging and cleanup process will be applied to voicemail boxes to align the system with operational best practices.

Should you need to retain messages as part of your business practices (be they operational, legal, or other reasons) ensure that you move these messages from voicemail to your unit’s filing system BEFORE March 7, 2023. Ensure that you are following procedures as outlined in the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Policy and Records Management Policy.

The process will work as follows

  1. New messages would be considered “New” for 15 days.
  2. Messages would then be transitioned from “New” to “Saved” status and be kept as a “Saved” message for 30 additional days. These messages would remain accessible as usual.
  3. Messages would then be transitioned from “Saved” to “Deleted” status and be kept as a “Deleted” Message for 30 days. These would still be reviewable using the “Review Old Messages” options.
  4. On day 76 after receipt the system will permanently delete messages. Messages can be manually deleted at any time prior to this point if more direct management of messages is desired.

Note: Messages can be manually deleted as usual at any time.

This system change is scheduled to be implemented on December 21, 2022, at which point all messages in the system will begin the aging schedule. Timers on existing messages will behave as if the messages were received at the time of the change. This process will ensure that messages are kept for a suitable period to ensure business continuity while still managing resource utilization within the voicemail system.

The voicemail system is a central system supporting diverse business groups each with different, potentially conflicting, requirements and should not be considered or used as an archival or record management system.

What if I need to retain old messages?

If you have a need for retaining messages beyond the new voicemail retention period, the most efficient and effective method to do so is via a feature for sending voicemail messages as attachments to your CCID email. This feature can be enabled allowing you to locally handle retention as appropriate for your unit needs.

You must be the current named user on the account to be able to request this directly, otherwise please speak with your Telecom Admin Contact.

Any new voicemail account created as of November 15, 2022 will also have the email feature enabled by default.