What is the difference between an “effective date” and an “expiration date?”
Each evidence attachment has an “effective date” that defines when the attachment acts as effective evidence. It is typically the day the attachment was collected and uploaded into Strike Graph.
On the other hand, “expiration dates” state when an evidence item is no longer effective. This date depends on the expiration cycle for each evidence item, which can range from 90 to 364 days. The expiration date helps you know when to upload a fresh version of your evidence item.
The two dates are related to one another because when you change an attachment's effective date, it will also recalculate the expiration date according to how frequently you need to supply new attachments.
In other words, the attachment expiration date = effective date + expiration schedule.
When should I adjust the evidence effective date?
When an evidence item is uploaded, the evidence's effective date will automatically be set to the day the evidence was collected. However, effective dates sometimes need to be manually changed to ensure accuracy and relevancy of the evidence item.
For example:
If you onboarded a new employee last week, but you are just getting around to uploading the corresponding documentation, you should change the effective date to reflect the actual onboarding date as stated in their documentation.
If you created or reviewed a policy on a date different from when you uploaded it, you should change the effective date to reflect the date the document was created or reviewed.
If you create and upload population listings (and their associated parameters) after the conclusion of your organization’s monitoring period - which is best practice - you should change the effective date of each listing to sometime within the scope of the monitoring period.
You may want to move the effective date forward in time if the evidence in question becomes expired, but you don’t have a more recent attachment.
For example, if you have a completed incident response ticket from Q1, but it is Q2, and there have been no new incidents, you may ‘extend’ the date on the original incident response ticket to revisit this evidence item in Q3.
How can I adjust the evidence effective date?
The attachment's effective date can be easily updated with the following steps:
Navigate to your evidence repository and search for your chosen evidence item. Click the evidence item title and locate the specific attachment you want to update.
Click on the "more" menu button (the three vertical dots) on the right side of the attachment card.
Select “Change Effective Date” from the menu options.
Choose a new date from the calendar modal and click "Save Changes."
How can I adjust the evidence expiration schedule?
The evidence expiration schedule can also be easily updated with the following steps:
Navigate to your evidence repository and click on the evidence item you’d like to update.
Click “Edit” for your chosen evidence item, and locate the “Expiration Schedule” section at the bottom of the modal that appears.
Type your new expiration schedule (in days) and click "Save Changes."
Note: Changing the evidence expiration schedule will update the expiration date for all attachments associated with that evidence item.
When should I adjust the evidence expiration length?
Evidence expires after a set cadence based on the expiration schedule defined. When evidence expires, the evidence owner receives an email notification prompting them to upload new evidence files or update the effective date of the already uploaded evidence.
The expiration schedule should line up with the frequency of the control. For instance, the expiration schedule should be set to 90 days for any activities that take place quarterly. For other items, longer dates are logical. All policy-type evidence items can be set to expire every 364 days. For items like user listings and configuration screenshots, these items will need to be refreshed at least every year for audit. It may make sense to set the expiration schedule to shorter than 364 days if you want to receive email notifications reminding you about these evidence items on a more frequent basis.
It is important to note that the expiration schedule also affects when our integrations go to work pulling fresh files into Strike Graph for any evidence items set to automatic collection.