Software Engineering

11.2.11 
Identify data persistence and retention functions
The data elements must be evaluated to identify requirements for temporary trans-
action persistence and long-term retention. Temporary data persistence is needed 
if there is an intention to capture the state of a transaction to support undoing or 
reversing transaction steps to return the operational state to a previous condition. 
Long-term retention is needed when historical records must be maintained to 

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CHAPTER 11 
Functional Analysis and Allocation Practice
support transaction recordkeeping, statistical analysis, or other business functions. 
Data persistence and retention requirements must be specified to support the defini-
tion of the data retention mechanisms needed to support the software operations.
Additional functions should be integrated into the behavioral model and 
functional hierarchy that address the need for data persistence actions. Data storage 
and retrieval transactions may need to handle database reliability issues, data veri-
fication procedures, or possible transaction deadlock situations. As the functional 
architecture matures, data storage and retrieval functions may be grouped, speci-
fied, and documented in a database transaction document. A database transaction 
block diagram should identify the data records, data types, and definitions that are 
necessary to the design of a database to support the operational or business data 
retention requirements.