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My Statement / Export and retention
How long a copy exists
The export, the PDF and the retention window
An export is the statement outliving the screen, and the retention window is its expiry. Both are worth knowing before a line is disputed rather than after, because a copy that was available last month is not necessarily available next month.
Desk spec
- accounts
- 100
- export available
- 79
- PDF available
- 61
- longest window
- 24 months
the lineOne transaction, with a date, a type, an amount and a running balance. The sample month holds 240 of them, and every one belongs to a category.
the running balanceThe balance after each line, in the statement's own order. It is not the balance you can withdraw, because a bonus credit sits inside it: 312.00 shown against 292.00 settled.
the pending lineA line that has been recorded but not settled. Of 500 lines in the sample, 43 were pending and 21 were reversed, against 436 settled.
Direct answerAn export is a readable copy of the statement, and a retention window is how long it stays available. Of 100 sample accounts an export existed for 79, a PDF for 61 and neither for 21; the window was 24 months for 46 accounts, 12 months for 33 and 6 months for 21, so a copy is a thing with a deadline.
Three forms of the same record
The screen, the export and the retention window are the same record at three distances. The screen is the nearest and the shortest-lived; the export is a file the reader holds; the window is the operator's side of the same question, and it decides when the file stops being produced.
Sample F - the export and the retention window
| Question | Accounts | Share |
|---|
| an export existed | 79 | 79.0% |
| a PDF existed | 61 | 61.0% |
| neither existed | 21 | 21.0% |
| retention: 24 months | 46 | 46.0% |
| retention: 12 months | 33 | 33.0% |
| retention: 6 months | 21 | 21.0% |
| 100 accounts | 100 | 100.0% |
sample F - the export and the window
accounts = 100
an export existed = 79 -> 79 / 100 = 79.0%
a PDF existed = 61 -> 61 / 100 = 61.0%
neither = 21 -> 21 / 100 = 21.0%
retention window:
24 months = 46 -> 46.0%
12 months = 33 -> 33.0%
6 months = 21 -> 21.0%
so four accounts in five can produce a copy, and one in five keeps it
for six months or less, which is the deadline a reader is working to.
The window against the moment of a dispute
A dispute is raised about a line, and the line has a date. Whether the export still covers that date is the first thing to check, and on the samples the answer depends on how old the line is.
samples F and I - the window against the dispute
of 100 accounts (sample F):
a 24-month window = 46 -> the export covers a two-year-old line
a 12-month window = 33 -> the export covers a one-year-old line
a 6-month window = 21 -> the export covers six months only
of 100 disputed lines (sample I):
an export was available = 79 -> the copy existed at the time of dispute
the reader had kept a copy = 34 -> 34.0%
so a line disputed after the window has closed has to be argued from
a copy the reader kept, and 66 of 100 had kept none.
Take a copy before you need it
- Find whether an export exists, and take one rather than relying on the screen.
- Note the retention window, which is the deadline on the whole question.
- Export a PDF as well as a data file, since the two fail differently.
- Take the copy at the close of a month, when the running balance is final.
- Keep the file outside the application, because the window belongs to the operator.
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