OIAD-2085
30 June 2022
Shane Gibson
[FYI request #19559 email]
Tēnā koe Shane
Thank you for your Official Information Act request to the Department of Conservation,
received on 02 June 2022 in which you asked for:
I note on your website https://www.doc.govt.nz you are using Google Tag Manager
and Google Analytics to record details of visits to your website.
Can you please provide the following:
1) The length of time this Google Analytics data is retained for.
2) A copy of the Information Management policy that this data retention period is
based upon.
Your questions and our responses are listed below:
1. The length of time this Google Analytics data is retained for.
The length of time the Google Analytics data is retained for depends on the version of
Google Analytics that we’re using. We currently have two different versions of Google
Analytics implemented on our website, Universal Analytics and Google Analytics 4.
Universal Analytics will only be in use until 1 July 2023, from which point Google will cease
collecting data through Universal Analytics. Google has advised that data from Universal
Analytics will be accessible to us for at least six months following 1 July 2023. A final date for
accessing the data has not been released by Google. We have set Universal Analytics to
retain data for 38 months. Once Google has fully retired Universal Analytics, all data will be
inaccessible. More information on the retirement of Universal Analytics can be found here:
Universal Analytics will be going away - Google.
Due to the upcoming retirement of Universal Analytics, we implemented Google Analytics 4
using Google Tag Manager in May 2022. We have set Google Analytics 4 to retain data for
14 months (maximum allowed by Google).
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2. A copy of the Information Management policy that this data retention period is based
upon.
Item
Date
Document description
Decision
1
26 August
Information Management Policy (docCM - Released in full
2019 (last
Policy - Information Management)
reviewed)
Please note that this letter (with your personal details removed) and enclosed documents
may be published on the Department’s website.
Nāku noa, nā
Vicki Connor
Director Customer Engagement
Department of Conservation
Te Papa Atawhai
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