Auto-Forget Inactive Participant

Auto-Forget Inactive participants' data from Mercer|Mettl platform is a powerful feature that allows administrators to automatically delete user data from the platform after a certain period. We will be using the Anonymization of the Participants as a route to delete them from the platform.

Let’s dive right in to understand what the feature is.

What is the Auto-Forget feature?

The auto-forget feature in Mercer|Mettl is designed to periodically remove inactive participants' data like their reports, proctoring data, etc. from the platform. This feature ensures that participants' data is only stored for a limited period and is automatically deleted once the participants are inactive.

1. It is important to note that the Auto-forget Inactive Participant feature should be used with caution as once deleted, the participants’ data is irretrievable. We will share email communications highlighting who will be auto-forgotten 1 week before the activity.

2. This feature is enabled only for Enterprise accounts as of now.

What are the Inactivity criteria?

The inactivity of a participant in Mercer|Mettl is defined as the passing of the following criteria for some time:

1. No attempts on any assessment.

2. No resumption of an unfinished assessment.

3. No regrade of any Assessment Report.

This definition of inactivity serves as the criteria for the Auto-Forget feature to determine which participants' data will be deleted from the platform.

Who can Access Functionality?

The Auto-forget feature in Mercer|Mettl, which has a major impact on how participants use the platform, is only available to a limited number of users. Mercer Mettl has a concept of Teams, which is a collection of users who can interact with the platform according to their roles. These teams also have their own set of Assessments, Participants, and Team admins. For every team, the Auto-forget feature can only be managed by the Team Admin and their Account Owner. Other team members or sub-users do not have access to this feature.

The role of a team admin cannot be changed.

How to Access Functionality?

Team Admins must follow the navigation to reach the setting:

1. Click on the User Icon on the top menu bar

2. Hover over Account and click on Details

3. Scroll down to Data Security Setting

Post reaching this section, enable the Auto-Forget Inactive Participants and input the number of days that will be used for calculating eligible Inactive Participants. The dates and communications involved have been explained in the next section.

Location in Account Settings

Auto-Forget Setting

Schematic of Activation and Deactivation Process

What are the Eligibility criteria?

The eligibility of Participants will be determined by using a value, X, entered by the team admins. The calculation process is outlined in the following table:

Timelines for activity

Sno	Timeline	Description
1	Activation Date	The date and time when the Team Admin activated the setting
2	Activation Date Rounded	The date remains the same, but the time is rounded to 00:00:00 UTC
3	Days Input	The number of days entered by the Team Admin in the setting
4	Cooling Off Period	A 90-day period during which the activity will not occur. The cooling-off period will be reconsidered if the setting is disabled and enabled again.
5	1^st Inactivity Cut-off deactivate	Activate Date Rounded + Cooling off – Days Input
6	1^st Scheduled Date of activity all	All the participants that have been inactive post the 1^st Inactivity Cut-off date would be deleted from the platform
7	2^nd Inactivity Cut-off deactivate	Activate Date Rounded + Cooling off – Days Input + 7 days
8	2^nd Scheduled Date of activity all	All the participants that have been inactive post the 2^nd Inactivity Cut-off date would be deleted from the platform

Now, let’s explain the timeline with an example:

Example with dates added

If you no longer need the Auto-Forget setting or want to take a break, you can turn it off by using the toggle switch. Once it's turned off, any future actions will be canceled, and the process will start over. Also, the cooling-off period will be reset if the setting is re-enabled. Currently default cooling period is of 90 days.

Communications and Notifications:

As this setting would impact the data of the Participants and their existence on the platform, weekly communications would be shared with the admins about:

1. When will the activity happen?

2. Who are eligible?

3. Who all have been deleted?

4. What was the status of the activity?

Here is a summary of all the communications that will happen over time. Also, all communications will happen to Team Admin, Account Owner, and Account Executive.

Summary of all communications

Audience Acronyms:

Team Admins - TA
Account Owner - AO
Account Executive - AE

SNo.	When	Communication	Audience
1	Setting Activation	Email sent when the setting is enabled and saved. Same communication will happen when the setting is disabled and re-enabled	TA AO AE
2	2 weeks before the activity	Sent 2 weeks before the scheduled activity. Only 1-time notification after enabling the setting. If the days in the setting are changed and saved, then this notification will not be shared.	TA AO AE
3	1 week before activity	Weekly email shared 1 week before the Auto-forget activity. It will contain a link to the participants' email Ids who will be eligible for the activity next week. The link will be Mercer Mettl authenticated page where users will have to log in via their Team-account credentials.	TA AO AE
4	Complete failure	Shared in case of complete failure of the activity. Also, the participants will be forgotten in next week’s cycle.	TA AO AE
5	Status of activity	Weekly email shared post the Auto-forget activity. It will also contain a link to participants' email Ids who were forgotten in that week’s activity. The link will be Mercer Mettl authenticated page where the user will have to log in via their Team-account credentials.	TA