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NovaVMS Manual

Delete organisation

Only the Owner can delete the organisation. During the 7-day grace window the org is marked pending_deletion: data is retained, all logins are refused, and every user receives an email explaining when final purge occurs. The Owner — and only the Owner — can cancel during the window.

Before you start: download any clips you need as evidence, export the audit log as CSV, export users as CSV, and confirm billing is settled. Anything not exported will be gone.

Procedure

  1. Export critical data first. See Export audit log, Export users, and Export a clip as evidence for each clip you need. NovaVMS does not auto-archive on delete.

  2. Open Owner → Danger zone from the left nav.

  1. Click Delete organisation. A confirmation dialog opens.
  1. Re-enter your password.
  1. Type your organisation name exactly to enable the confirm button. Case-sensitive.
  1. Wait out the 10-second cooldown. The Delete button enables.
  1. Click Delete. NovaVMS writes org.deletion_initiated to the audit log, emails every user, and signs everyone out.

What happens after you confirm

  • The org enters pending_deletion. All logins (Owner, Admin, Operator, Viewer) are refused with a banner explaining the purge date. API keys stop working.
  • Every user is emailed: who initiated the delete, when the final purge runs, and how to contact the Owner to cancel.
  • Data is retained, not purged, for 7 days (D79). Clips continue to occupy object storage during this window; you are still billed for the period.
  • After 7 days, a background job hard-deletes every camera, event, user, recording, and audit entry. The final org.deleted event is written to the platform audit log (D80) because your org’s audit log is itself deleted in the same transaction.
  • Payment on file is charged for usage up to the purge date, then the payment method is deleted with the org.

Common variations

  • Cancel during the grace window: sign back in as Owner (the only role that still works). Open Owner → Danger zone and click Cancel deletion. The org returns to active immediately; all users can log in. Audit log records org.deletion_cancelled.
  • Re-delete after cancelling: the 7-day clock restarts from the new Delete click. There is no penalty for cancelling.
  • Need more time before final purge: cancel, export more data, re-initiate. There is no way to extend the 7 days once the clock is running.

If this didn’t work

  • If the Delete button will not enable, confirm the org-name field matches exactly — including capitalisation and punctuation. The displayed name above the field is the source of truth.
  • If you are locked out during the grace window and need a platform admin to cancel, contact NovaVMS support. A platform admin can cancel via scoped impersonation (D80). See the Platform admin support window (Phase 2).
  • If the org re-appears after the 7-day window, you have found a bug. Contact NovaVMS support immediately with the org.deletion_initiated audit entry.