> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.getsmartalex.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Data lifecycle

> What happens to call data on SmartAlex from the moment a call starts to the moment it is deleted: processing, card and ID redaction, AI speech marking, export, retention, and deletion when a workspace closes.

This page follows one call through the platform, then shows what happens to a workspace's data when it closes. Suppliers are described by the job they do; the [sub-processor list](https://docs.getsmartalex.com/trust/subprocessors.md) gives the categories and regions.

## One call, start to finish

```mermaid theme={null}
flowchart TB
    subgraph During["During the call"]
        direction LR
        Call["Caller speaks"] --> Media["Live audio,<br/>encrypted"] --> AI["AI providers<br/>speech and language"] --> Agent["Agent replies"]
    end
    subgraph After["After the call"]
        direction LR
        Clean["Card and ID numbers<br/>removed"] --> Mark["Recording marked<br/>as AI speech"] --> Store[("Stored encrypted<br/>in your workspace")] --> Gone["Deleted after your<br/>retention period"]
    end
    During --> After
```

* Live audio is processed to run the call and is not kept by the media infrastructure. The stored recording lives in our own storage, inside your workspace.
* The AI providers that process call content are contractually barred from training their models on it. See [Responsible AI](https://docs.getsmartalex.com/trust/responsible-ai.md).

## Card and ID numbers

Callers sometimes read out a payment card or an ID number. Three layers stop those numbers being kept:

1. **Agents refuse card details.** Every agent is instructed never to ask for, write down or repeat a card number, expiry date or security code, and to offer a callback or a transfer so your business can take payment another way.
2. **Transcripts are cleaned.** Card numbers, security codes, expiry dates and national ID numbers are replaced in the stored transcript, whether they were spoken as digits or as words.
3. **Recordings are silenced.** The same moments are silenced in the stored recording. If they cannot be placed precisely, the recording is not kept at all.

```mermaid theme={null}
flowchart TB
    Said["Caller reads out a card number"] --> Refuse["Agent declines<br/>and offers another way to pay"]
    Said --> T["Transcript: number replaced"]
    T --> Placed{"Moment placed<br/>in the audio?"}
    Placed -->|"yes"| S["Recording kept,<br/>that moment silenced"]
    Placed -->|"no"| W["Recording not kept"]
```

## Marking AI speech

* **Stored recordings** carry a machine-readable mark saying they contain AI-generated speech.
* **Texts, WhatsApp, social messages and email** written by an agent open with a line saying the message is from an AI assistant for your business.
* **Spoken disclosure.** You can have every agent say it is an AI at the start of a call: **Settings → Workspace → Say it's an AI**. Where the law requires disclosure, you must keep it on. See [Responsible AI](https://docs.getsmartalex.com/trust/responsible-ai.md).

## Your copy of your data

A workspace owner or admin can export the whole workspace in open formats, including calls, transcripts, recordings, contacts, knowledge bases and agent settings, from **Settings → Security → Your data → Export the whole workspace**. Secrets such as API keys are left out of the export.

## Retention and deletion

You choose how long recordings are kept. A recording you delete in the app is removed from every copy in active storage, including older stored versions, not only hidden. Copies in encrypted backups age out within 180 days, as described below. The retention periods for each kind of data are on the [Trust & Security](https://docs.getsmartalex.com/security.md) page.

## When a workspace closes

When a subscription ends and the workspace closes, the data is not kept indefinitely.

```mermaid theme={null}
stateDiagram-v2
    [*] --> Active
    Active --> Closed: Subscription ends
    Closed --> ExportWindow: You can ask for your data back
    ExportWindow --> Deleted: From day 60, deleted in full
    Deleted --> BackupsAgeOut: Backup copies overwritten
    BackupsAgeOut --> [*]
```

* Within 30 days of closing you can ask us to return your data.
* From day 60 the workspace is deleted in full from active storage: recordings, transcripts, files, contacts and the workspace itself. Our [Data Processing Addendum](https://docs.getsmartalex.com/trust/data-processing.md) promises deletion within 90 days.
* Copies in routine encrypted backups are removed as those backups are overwritten, on a cycle of no more than 180 days.
* Where the law requires us to keep a record, such as an invoice, we keep only that record.

## Related pages

> [card] [Data processing & the DPA](https://docs.getsmartalex.com/trust/data-processing.md)
>
> Our commitments as your processor, including deletion and return.

> [card] [Security architecture](https://docs.getsmartalex.com/trust/security-architecture.md)
>
> How the platform is protected, layer by layer.


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