bpexpdate versus nbholdutil

Don't worry about the lack of OpsCenter.  Version 7.7 removes all the HOLD GUI interfaces and degrades everything down to using nbholdutil anyway so it's a dying option.

That being said, some of the features (pre 7.7) of nbholdutil may rely on having an active indexing server configuration whereas bpexpdate definately doesn't and is still supported going forward.  And, while it is a kludge, you could use the keyword field to hold a really short description of what/why the extension exists.

All that being said, when you get into long term holds you do need some sort of strategy to either set a maximum extension or keep a record someplace as to why such-and-such is being held.  Emails get lost/deleted, you may move on and another Admin step in, etc...