Content Lifecycle Analytics View

Content is being created by users across industries at a rate that has never been seen before. Users increasingly create more content as they collaborate with others, create files, backups, and store photos, training videos, logs, and reports. When content is created, it is valuable and purposeful. However, with time, as circumstances evolve, information tends to lose business value, but the risk of sensitive information always remains. Most privacy regulations such as GDPR and CCPA mandate organizations that data should only be retained for as long as it is required to achieve the purpose for which data were collected and processed. Privacy regulations also require organizations to adhere to the minimization principle, which applies to the amount of personal data stored and the length of time the information is retained.

The Content Lifecycle view was designed to provide a quick, scalable, and easy-to-use way to address such needs of our customers. The view provides detailed analytics about the type of content that is contained within each folder. It enables users to quantify and visualize the precise locations of files based on key file attributes, files affected by the lifecycle policies which are currently in effect, and sensitive files based on regulatory compliance policies. 

View Folder Details

1. Navigate to the Content Lifecycle tab. 
   
   
2. You can, by default, view the details of the root folder: Shared. You can view detailed folder analytics, including the total number of files and versions, total size, number of files currently under retention, files with retention policies expiring this month, and files with retention expired last month.
   
   
3. Click on the dropdown to see an expanded list of the entire folder structure in your source. You can view the same details as mentioned above for each folder.
   
   

Visualize Folder Usage

1. You can view the growth of content based on file size and the total number of files in your folder over the last twelve months or the last ten years.
   
   
2. You can also view the distribution of the files over the last ten years by clicking on the dropdown: Period and selecting the “Last 10 years” option.
   
   
   
   
3. The number of files created is a good indicator of whether the folder is being actively used by a user and can be viewed using the “Files by Age” widget.
   
   

Visualize Lifecycle Policy Impact on Folders

1. Navigate to the Content Lifecycle tab.
   
   
2. Scroll down to the Content Lifecycle widget to view the distribution of files by number or size that fall under a lifecycle policy (e.g., retention, deletion, archival) and the time period in which those policies take effect. For retention policies, you can view the total number of files/size of files that would be held under retention at any given time. And, for archive and deletion policies, you can view all the total number/size of files that would be deleted or archived in a given time period.
   
   
3. You can also view the number of files matching a particular lifecycle policy that is effective on a particular folder by using the “Files by Policy” widget.

Heatmaps and Filtered locations

These filters can help you visualize the distribution of all your files in your locations by helping you quickly drill-down and find content distributed by file size, count, or age. You can select either one of them as a criterion by clicking on the dropdown.

Visualize Folders Containing Duplicate Files 

Using the Lifecycle Analytics view, you can now quickly identify duplicate files within your content source. This allows you to take appropriate actions to optimize your storage. The Duplicate Files quick filter helps you filter out locations that contain files duplicated elsewhere.

This filter can be found in the quick filters pane. Turning this ON would highlight only locations in the Filtered Locations pane that contain duplicate files.

For each folder location containing duplicates, you can view the total number of duplicate files and the details about the location of the duplicate files by following the steps below:

1. Navigate to the Content Lifecycle tab.
2. Turn ON the Duplicate Files quick filter. Turning this ON would reduce the number of folder locations in the filtered locations. 
3. Click on a folder location for which you would want to visualize the duplicate files. On the Duplicate Files widget, you can see the total number of files duplicated elsewhere.
4. Now click on the Export List to download the Duplicate File report. The report lists the locations of files within the folder that have been duplicated elsewhere. It also contains the locations of all the duplicated files within the content source. Note: Since it’s impossible to determine the original file, the report lists the oldest file and its duplicates.
5. Depending upon the number of duplicate files, the duplicate file report might be available immediately, or a separate email with a link to the report would be sent to you when it is ready.

Quick filters and Filtered Locations

You can easily filter the locations where files are stored within your content source. Filters can be based on built-in regulatory compliance policies that you have enabled, file creation date, and file size.