Information About Interaction Recording and Transcript Storage and Erasure
In Bright Pattern Contact Center, voice recordings, voice transcripts, screen recordings, chat transcripts, and other types of interaction content are stored locally for defined periods of time and also can be exported to a third-party storage system. Locally stored content is deleted after a predefined period of time. Sometimes, it also may be necessary for interaction content to be erased manually, for example, in order to comply with various security/privacy regulations and standards.
This article provides information about the ways in which your contact center’s interaction recordings and transcripts can be stored and erased.
Where Interaction Content Is Stored
Depending on your contact center’s configuration for data storage, interaction content can be stored on local machines; on external servers, where data is transmitted via FTP/SFTP and a periodic export of recordings job is scheduled; and/or in Amazon Web Services (AWS) S3 buckets, if an Amazon AWS integration account is configured and a periodic export of recordings job is scheduled.
When interaction content is stored locally or in S3, the recordings may be played back from Bright Pattern Contact Center interaction records. You can search interaction records to view and/or listen to the call recordings, screen recordings, and chat transcripts that have been captured from agent sessions.
How Interaction Content Is Erased
Agents who receive a customer request to erase a particular recording or transcript can easily flag an interaction for content removal by setting a disposition. Keep in mind that agents can request that interaction content be erased, but they cannot erase it themselves.
Interaction content can be deleted either manually by an administrator, via API by an administrator, or automatically by the system.
Manual deletion means that a user with the privilege to edit and erase interaction records erases voice recordings, transcripts of voice recordings, or screen recordings manually in the Contact Center Administrator application. Specific recordings may be erased manually in either section Interaction Records Search or section Services > Results tab > Interactions Erasing.
API deletion is when a user with the privilege to access the recording export API uses the Bright Pattern Contact Center Interaction Content API’s Erase Call Recordings method to delete a call recording.
Automatic deletion is when the system’s retention period for storing content (e.g., the number of days or years to keep data) has expired and the interaction content is deleted from the system automatically during retention data cleanup. Limits for the storage of various types of interaction content are set by your service provider.
Voice Recordings
Voice recordings can be stored either locally (i.e., on the same platform that handled the voice connection) or externally via export to another storage system. There are two ways to export voice recordings: S3 and FTP/SFTP. The primary difference between these storage options is that when recordings are stored externally in S3, the recordings are still searchable and playable from Bright Pattern Contact Center interaction records, whereas with FTP/SFTP, the recordings are not.
Voice recordings can be erased manually, via API, or automatically via retention data cleanup. If voice recordings are deleted by retention, the recordings are deleted automatically when the retention period expires. If, however, the voice recording is stored locally, it will be deleted. If, however, the voice recording is stored externally on S3 or FTP, nothing will happen and the recording will not be deleted.
See Table 1 for details about the storage and erasure of voice recordings.
Table 1: Voice Recordings Storage and Erasure
| Erasure Method | Content Location | Result | What This Means |
| Manual/API | Local | Deleted | If the voice recording was stored on a local machine and the recording was flagged to be erased either manually or via API, the voice recording will be deleted from the local machine. |
| Manual | S3 | Deleted | If the voice recording was stored in an AWS S3 bucket and the recording was flagged to be erased manually, the voice recording will be deleted from the S3 bucket. |
| Manual | FTP/SFTP | No action | If the voice recording was stored on an external server (transmitted over FTP/SFTP) and the recording was flagged to be erased manually, the voice recording will not be deleted from the FTP location. |
| Auto (by retention) | Local | Deleted | If the voice recording was stored on a local machine and the retention period for storing recordings expired, the voice recording will be deleted from the local machine. |
| Auto (by retention) | S3 | No action | If the voice recording was stored in an AWS S3 bucket and the retention period for storing recordings expired, the voice recording will not be deleted from the S3 bucket. |
| Auto (by retention) | FTP/SFTP | No action | If the voice recording was stored on an external server (transmitted over FTP/SFTP) and the retention period for storing recordings expired, the voice recording will not be deleted from the FTP location. |
Screen Recordings
When screen recordings are stored locally or in S3, the recordings may be played back from Bright Pattern Contact Center interaction records. You can search interaction records to view the screen recordings corresponding to interaction handling. You can also search Agent Timeline for screen recordings of entire agent sessions.
Note that playback of screen recordings is only possible in the Bright Pattern Contact Center environment because screen recordings must be synchronized for playback with voice recordings, metadata about the call, and so forth.
See Table 2 for details about the storage and erasure of screen recordings.
Table 2: Screen Recordings Storage and Erasure
| Erasure Method | Content Location | Result | What This Means |
| Manual | Local | Deleted | If the screen recording was stored on a local machine and the recording was flagged to be erased manually, the screen recording will be deleted from the local machine. |
| Manual | S3 | Deleted | If the screen recording was stored in an AWS S3 bucket and the recording was flagged to be erased manually, the screen recording will be deleted from the S3 bucket. |
| Auto (by retention) | Local | Deleted | If the screen recording was stored on a local machine and the retention period for storing recordings expired, the screen recording will be deleted from the local machine. |
| Auto (by retention) | S3 | Deleted when the corresponding call detailed record is deleted | If the screen recording was stored in an AWS S3 bucket and the retention period for storing recordings expired, the screen recording will be kept for as long as the detailed record of the corresponding interaction is stored locally. (The reason it is deleted at that time is that the screen recording cannot be played back without call metadata.) |
Chat Transcripts
Chat transcripts can be stored and erased in the same way as voice recordings. See section Voice Recordings for more information.
See Table 3 for a breakdown of how chat transcripts are stored and erased.
Table 3: Chat Transcripts Storage and Erasure
| Erasure Method | Content Location | Result | What This Means |
| Manual | Local | Deleted | If the chat transcript was stored on a local machine and the chat was flagged to be erased either manually or via API, the chat transcript will be deleted from the local machine. |
| Manual | S3 | Deleted | If the chat transcript was stored in an AWS S3 bucket and the chat was flagged to be erased manually, the chat transcript will be deleted from the S3 bucket. |
| Manual | FTP/SFTP | No action | If the chat transcript was stored on an external server (transmitted over FTP/SFTP) and the chat was flagged to be erased manually, the chat transcript will not be deleted from the FTP location. |
| Auto (by retention) | Local | Deleted | If the chat transcript was stored on a local machine and the retention period for storing chats expired, the chat transcript will be deleted from the local machine. |
| Auto (by retention) | S3 | No action | If the chat transcript was stored in an AWS S3 bucket and the retention period for storing chats expired, the chat transcript will not be deleted from the S3 bucket. |
| Auto (by retention) | FTP/SFTP | No action | If the chat transcript was stored on an external server (transmitted over FTP/SFTP) and the retention period for storing chats expired, the chat transcript will not be deleted from the FTP location. |
Voice Transcripts
Voice transcripts can be stored and erased in the same way as voice recordings. See section Voice Recordings for more information.
See Table 4 for a breakdown of how voice transcripts are stored and erased.
Table 4: Voice Transcripts Storage and Erasure
| Erasure Method | Content Location | Result | What This Means |
| Manual | Local | Deleted | If the voice transcript was stored on a local machine and the call recording was flagged to be erased either manually or via API, the voice transcript will be deleted from the local machine. |
| Manual | S3 | Deleted | If the voice transcript was stored in an AWS S3 bucket and the call recording was flagged to be erased manually, the voice transcript will be deleted from the S3 bucket. |
| Manual | FTP/SFTP | No action | If the voice transcript was stored on an external server (transmitted over FTP/SFTP) and the call recording was flagged to be erased manually, the voice transcript will not be deleted from the FTP location. |
| Auto (by retention) | Local | Deleted | If the voice transcript was stored on a local machine and the retention period for storing call recordings expired, the voice transcript will be deleted from the local machine. |
| Auto (by retention) | S3 | No action | If the voice transcript was stored in an AWS S3 bucket and the retention period for storing call recordings expired, the voice transcript will not be deleted. |
| Auto (by retention) | FTP/SFTP | No action | If the voice transcript was stored on an external server (transmitted over FTP/SFTP) and the retention period for storing call recordings expired, the voice transcript will not be deleted from the FTP location. |