Data Retention & Deletion Policy
How we govern data lifecycles and ensure secure destruction in alignment with ST4S standards.
1. Overview
This policy governs how long Inkcraft Education Pty Ltd retains data across both Inkcraft Studio and Inkcraft Report platforms, and the mechanisms by which data is securely destroyed or anonymised, in alignment with ST4S data lifecycle guidelines.
2. Dedicated Cloud Infrastructure (Inkcraft Studio)
Inkcraft Studio securely stores user databases and content databases in the cloud (Fly.io, Sydney). Every school is provisioned its own separate, dedicated database to ensure strict tenant isolation. The school retains primary control over the data lifecycle within their dedicated database via the administrator dashboard.
3. Cloud-Hosted Data (Inkcraft Report)
Inkcraft Report is hosted on Australian cloud infrastructure (Fly.io, Sydney). Teacher report comments submitted for AI-assisted proofreading are processed transiently — de-identified text is sent to Google Gemini for processing and the response is returned in real-time. Comments are not stored on Inkcraft or Google servers beyond the active processing session. User account data and subscription records are retained for the duration of the subscription plus the post-termination period outlined below.
4. Retention Schedule
The following table outlines specific retention periods for each data category:
| Data Category | Platform | Retention Period |
|---|---|---|
| School account & contact data | Studio & Report | Duration of contract + 90 days |
| Student PII (tenant databases) | Studio | Controlled by school (cloud database) |
| Anonymised curriculum analytics | Studio | Up to 5 years (anonymised) |
| Teacher report comments | Report | Transient — not stored beyond active session |
| Teacher account & subscription data | Report | Duration of subscription + 90 days |
| Payment records (via Stripe) | Report & Studio | As required by tax/financial law (typically 7 years) |
| Technical & error logs | Studio & Report | 12-month rolling window |
| Encrypted backups | Studio & Report | 30-day rolling cycle |
5. Student PII and Anonymisation
Schools have access to the Privacy & Data Subject Rights Dashboard within the Inkcraft Studio platform. This tool allows administrators to permanently purge Student Personally Identifiable Information (PII) upon request, graduation, or unenrolment.
Action
Purging a student removes their name, username, and identifiers permanently.
Retention of Analytics
Historical test scores and curriculum mastery data are retained in a strictly anonymised format to preserve school-wide statistical integrity for up to 5 years.
6. End of Contract / Subscription Termination
If a school or individual teacher chooses to terminate their relationship with Inkcraft Education, or upon the conclusion of a subscription period or pilot program:
- Inkcraft Studio: Inkcraft Education will securely decommission and destroy the school's dedicated cloud database within 90 days of contract termination. Any telemetry, support tickets, or configuration data held on Inkcraft Education servers related to the school will also be securely deleted within this timeframe.
- Inkcraft Report: Teacher account data and subscription records will be securely deleted within 90 days of the subscription expiry date. Since report comments are processed transiently and not stored, there is no comment data to delete.
7. Backups
Any automated backups generated by the system are encrypted using AES-256 encryption and stored off-site using Tigris Data. Backups follow a 30-day rolling cycle — deleted or purged PII will naturally age out of backup retention within this period.