Among the many enhancements in IRM 11g, we have introduced a couple of new rights expiry options that may be applied to any role. These options were supported in previous versions, but fell into the "advanced configuration" category. In 11g, the options can be applied simply by selecting a check-box in the properties of a role, as shown by the rather extreme example below, where the role allows access for just two minutes after they are sealed.

The new options are:

• To define a role that expires automatically some period after it is assigned
• To define a role that evaluates expiry relative to the time that each document is sealed

These options supplement the familiar options to allow open-ended access (limited by offline access and the ever-present option to revoke rights at any time) and the option to define time windows with specific start dates and end dates.

The value of these options is easiest to illustrate with some publishing examples:

• You might define a role with a one year expiry to be assigned to users who purchase a one year subscription. For each individual user, the year would be calculated from the time that the role was assigned to them.
• You might define a role that allows documents to be accessed only for 24 hours from the time that they are published - perhaps as a preview mechanism designed to tempt users to sign up for a full subscription. Upon payment of a full fee, users can simply be reassigned a role that gives them greater access to exactly the same documents.

In a corporate environment, you might use such roles for fixed term contractors or for workflows that involve information with a short lifespan, or perhaps as part of a compliance process that requires rights to be formally re-approved at intervals.

Being role-based, the time constraints apply to any number of documents - including documents that have not yet been created. For example, a user with a one year subscription would have access to all documents published in the relevant classification during the year without any further configuration.

Crucially, unlike other solutions, it is not the documents that expire, but the rights of particular users. Whereas some solutions make documents completely inaccessible for all users after expiry, Oracle IRM can allow some users to continue using documents while other users lose access. Equally crucially, a user whose rights have expired can always be granted fresh rights at any time - for example, because they renew their subscription or because a manager confirms that they still need the rights as part of a corporate compliance process. By applying expiry to rights rather than to documents, Oracle IRM avoids the risk of locking an organization out of its own information.