1. Traceability & Accountability:
   
1. WeldTrace, as a SaaS platform that deals with traceability, quality management, and document control must preserve:
   
1. who created/modified what and when;
   
2. history of changes and deletions;
   
3. deleting data could break the chain of traceability, leading to loss of accountability.
   
2. Data Integrity & Referential Constraints:
   
1. In relational or graph-based systems, deleting one entity (like a user or a document) might leave orphaned records or break relationships;
   
2. Instead, the system marks items as inactive, archived, or soft-deleted (hidden from the UI);
   
3. Legal Liability & Evidence Preservation:
   
1. Deleting data could open the company to liability, especially if that data is later needed in a legal dispute;
4. Business Continuity and Recovery:
   
1. Retaining historical data helps businesses
   
1. recover from user errors;
   
2. analyze past trends;
   
2. Deleting records could disrupt this continuity;
   
5. Audit and Compliance Requirements: 
   
1. Industries like finance, healthcare, and manufacturing are subject to strict regulatory requirements.
   
2. Data related to actions, records, or users may need to be retained for a fixed period (e.g., 7 years) to meet audit trail or traceability obligations.
   
3. E.g., ISO 9001, FDA 21 CFR Part 11, and SOX compliance all expect immutability in records.
   

Exceptions:

1. Weld numbers can be deleted. Please check this article on how to go about deleting them: https://support.weldtrace.com/portal/en/kb/articles/weld-log#Edit_Locked_Welds_Edit_Welds__Delete_Welds. Deleted weld joints are soft deleted, to preserve traceability;
   
2. Some Welder qualifications can be deleted. Please check this article for the conditions that must be satisfied to delete the WPQs: https://support.weldtrace.com/portal/en/kb/articles/edit-a-welder-s-record;