Question

How to purge user records, carefully? If a user is deleted or purged, it is not possible to restore them, unless by creating the user again (manually, through the SIS XMLs or APIs).

Answer

The steps are:

• If you will change the users to be in a specific User Group, or wish to assign a Purge Date, or to asses the population of the job -- Create a Set of Users. 
  • In Analytics, create what will be a basis for an Itemized Set. Ensure that the first column has the Primary IDs. The Header should be: USERNAME or Primary ID.
  • Or ,create a Logical Set of Users, from the Advanced Search.
• As a precaution, some libraries create a distinct User Group (e.g. Graduates 2021).  Ensure that conditions such as the Expiry Date defines exactly the group which should be deleted. If so, run the job "Update/Notify Users" to change the users' Purge Date.
  • However, the impact is this (shared by others): The Request subject area in Analytics only offers the user's current user group (or presumably their user group at the time of purge or anonymization). This should be the case for other Subject Areas too. 
     
• Users can be removed from Alma from: Administration > User Management > Purge User Records.
  • The "User Group" will be visible after selecting "User Record Type". 
  • Number of Days after Purge Date can be blank (more in the Online Help, link given below)
  • Specify the User Group, e.g. "Graduates 2021", or expiry date.
  • "Waive Threshold" -  our experience leads us to recommend using the value of "1" or higher.

Additional Information

• NEW! See a "Best Practices" toolkit
• Find the Online Help page regarding "Purging Users".  
• Read more on "Configuring Delete User Policy Settings".
• How to create a Users Set? Visuals in: "Create User Set based on Analytics".

A movie (with clear instructions, albeit using outdated user interface) is attached: Attached file

Last Updated: 28-JUN-2025