New process for account deletion

[jlauture]

I've noticed a new feature when deleting accounts in Atlassian. When I delete a user, I now see the message:

"This account is deactivated and pending deletion. Their data will be removed from all Atlassian services."

How recently was this change introduced? Could someone explain the reasoning behind it and the benefits it provides? I'm interested in understanding the impact on user management, data retention, and overall account lifecycle management.

[Aaron Pavez _ServiceRocket_]

Hi @jlauture 

There is a big difference between Remove, deactivate and delete.

https://support.atlassian.com/user-management/docs/remove-or-suspend-a-user/

Delete

https://support.atlassian.com/user-management/docs/delete-a-managed-account/

Deleting a user that worked years in work items its never a good idea. All tracking (History and such) will be changed form the user name to Former user.

never delete, just suspend. Suspended accounts wont use a license.

Regards

[Miguel Ángel]

Hi there!

One additional option worth considering is Atlassian's GDPR / personal data deletion process: https://www.atlassian.com/trust/privacy/gdpr/request-delete-personal-data This provides a separate route for requesting deletion of personal data under the right to be forgotten. For users who still have an Atlassian account, Atlassian points Org Admins and end users to its data privacy management process instead, but it may still be useful if the objective is specifically to ensure that the user's personal data is deleted rather than simply suspending access. It would be useful if Atlassian could clarify how this GDPR deletion process relates to the new "deactivated and pending deletion" state, particularly whether there is any way to expedite deletion when there is a legitimate data privacy requirement.

Kind regards,

[Tomislav Tobijas]

Hi @jlauture ,

On top of what Aaron said, I believe this has been here for a while. Definitely, it's been here since I first discovered Atlassian and that was around 6-7 years ago 👀

We only delete users when there are duplicate accounts or if someone accidentally created an account with an alias email or something like that. 

The only thing bugging me (as an admin) is that this grace period might be too long in some cases. There's an open feature request around that: ID-7244: Make it possible for Org Admins to expedite the Atlassian account deletion 

All in all, I can just agree with Aaron - suspend if you can, delete if you really must. 👈

Cheers,
Tobi