Results retention period [Add-on]

error_outline Only administrators can perform this action.

In the settings of your school, you have the possibility to define the minimum required time period of how long assignment results are kept. You can set the years until results are anonymised and you can select the years until results are permanently deleted.

The anonymisation and deletion of results is a daily check. During the check, Ans looks at the end date of the timeslot in the assignment and if this has reached the set number of years until the results of that assignment have to be anonymised or deleted.

• If there are multiple timeslots in the assignment, the timeslot with the most recent end date is used.
• If the timeslot is deleted after the assignment has been taken, Ans will remember the end time of the deleted timeslot and use that date to anonymise and delete the results.
• If a timeslot is edited or created, then the end time of the assignment is recalculated.

Take for example the assignment with above timeslots. If the years until anonymisation is set for 2 years, the results of the assignment will be anonymised in the morning of November 17th, 2025. The results will be permanently deleted on November 17th 2030.

You can prevent results from being anonymised in specific assignments by using assignment protection rules. The Disable anonymising results rule ensures that results will not be anonymised in assignments with that label. More details on assignment protection rules can be found in this article.

Anonymising results

Anonymising results means that all references to a participant are made untraceable. When an assignment has been anonymised, the play_circle_outline Taking, content_paste_search Review and beenhere Results pages are then removed from the assignment, making the pages non-existing in case you try to enter the pages. This cannot be reversed. 

The metrics in the assignment insights remain after the assignment has been anonymised. This allows users to still see the details regarding the marks, points and other characteristics of the assignment. 

Once an assignment has been anonymised, this will be shown in the assignment log. The message 'This assignment has been anonymised' will appear.

Permanently deleting results

Additionally, it is possible to permanently delete results via the Results retention period. When the results of an assignment are deleted, they are permanently deleted from the Ans servers. This action also deletes the metrics in the assignment insights. This cannot be reversed. The assignment itself, including the exercises and settings, will remain.