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Use Case: Automated Retention Expiry Logic for Leads

Overview​

Automatically update the Retention Expiry Date (new_expirydate) on Lead records based on GDPR policy requirements.
This use case is part of an investigation-only initiative to explore how retention expiry could be managed programmatically in Dynamics 365 CE.

Business Scenario​

To support GDPR compliance and internal retention policy rules, Leads must have a Retention Expiry Date that updates based on:

  1. Lead creation date
  2. Lead category and applicable retention period
  3. Positive actions extending retention
  4. Business-unit–specific rules (future investigation)

The logic below demonstrates how an automated update could work when a Lead is modified.
Since the source record is the target Lead itself, updates are applied directly using source.leadid.

Prerequisites​

  • Template Engine solution available
  • Lead entity (lead)
  • Field new_expirydate added (date only)
  • Business logic conditions for determining 1-year vs. 2-year retention
  • Audit trail enabled in Dataverse to track changes to retention fields
  • No production implementation yet — this is an investigation outcome only

Configuration​

Template Group​

FieldValue
NameLead Retention Expiry Automation
Source Entitylead
Filter Expressionleadid != null

Template Item: Update Lead Retention Expiry​

Target Entity: lead (source is updated record)

{
    "leadid": "{{ source.leadid }}",
    "new_expirydate": "{{ !source.address1_line1? (source.new_expirydate ?? date.now | date.add_years 2) : (source.new_expirydate ?? date.now | date.add_years 1) }}",
    "leadqualitycode": "{{ !source.address1_line1? 1 : 3 }}"
}

Explanation:

  • The record being updated is the same as the source → use leadid = source.leadid
  • If address1_line1 is empty, apply 2-year retention
  • If address1_line1 is present, apply 1-year retention
  • Existing expiry date is kept unless missing
  • Updates leadqualitycode to reflect lead categorization (hot if address is filled in by the lead. Otherwise categorized as cold)

This is just a simple example for 1 criteria