5 Key Strategies for RTBF and Data Portability Automation in Salesforce

Table of Contents

What

How can you automate and simplify handling RTBF and Data Portability requests in Salesforce?

Who

Salesforce Architects, compliance officers, and data privacy specialists are involved in handling RTBF and data portability requests.

Why

To meet GDPR compliance while reducing the manual effort and risk associated with processing RTBF and data portability requests in Salesforce.

What can you do with it?

  • Simplify Request Submission

  • Secure Identity Validation

  • Automate Data Handling
 

Here are five key steps to simplify and automate your Salesforce org’s RTBF and data portability requests.

 

Make Request Submission Easy

First and foremost, make it super easy for data subjects to submit RTBF and portability requests.

Many companies include an email address on their privacy policy page, leading to additional manual work.

Instead, set up an email-to-case address so requests automatically generate a case in Salesforce that can be tracked and processed using standard functionality.

Alternatively, embed a simple Web-to-Case form on your site to capture requests.

Or deploy a self-service preference center using Salesforce’s out-of-the-box functionality or a solution like Cloud Compliance’s Privacy Center.

The key is to provide an intuitive, low-friction process for data subjects.

 

Validate Requestor Identity

The next critical step is to validate that the individual submitting the request is who they claim to be. It is essential for data security and to prevent social engineering attacks.

If using Email-to-Case, you can automatically send a validation link to the email address on file in Salesforce. When clicked, this confirms the request originated from that address.

For extra assurance, you might require data subjects to provide proof of identification, log in to a community, or enter a code sent via SMS.

Work with your legal and compliance teams to define appropriate validation methods.

 

Automate RTBF and Portability Fulfillment

With the request validated, it’s time to locate and process the individual’s data. And this is where automation becomes crucial for consistency and efficiency.

 

For RTBF, you need to find and erase or anonymize the data subject’s information everywhere it resides – contact records, accounts, opportunities, tasks, files, chatter, field history, and more.

For portability, you must be able to extract and provide a machine-readable copy of their data easily.

Solutions like Cloud Compliance can fully automate these processes across standard and custom objects, parent-child relationships, lookups, and so on.

Alternatively, you can use Salesforce APIs to build your automation, which requires more development effort to ensure completeness.

Manually managing requests for the right to be forgotten (RTBF) and data portability poses too many risks due to the complexities of modern data models.

Even a mid-size company can easily face thousands of requests per year.

Standardizing and automating fulfillment is well worth the investment.

 

Maintain Robust Audit Trails

Whenever processing RTBF or portability requests, it’s critical to log detailed audit trails.

You need to be able to show what data was erased or provided, the Salesforce objects and records involved, and when processing occurred.

Eventually, you may purge the request details by retention policies.

Until then, maintain thorough records to demonstrate compliance and for investigation in the event of complaints or anomalies.

Let automation handle the audit logging to ensure consistency.

 

Adapt to Data Model Changes

A final consideration, especially for companies with large, complex, and fast-changing Salesforce orgs, is the need to adapt automation as data models evolve easily.

As you add new objects, fields, and relationships, your RTBF and portability processes must accommodate those changes. Look for solutions with declarative configuration to modify in-scope data sets without code.

If building in-house, architect with maintainability in mind, leveraging metadata and abstraction layers to minimize hardcoding.

By keeping these five principles in mind – easy request capture, robust validation, end-to-end automation, comprehensive auditing, and adaptability – you can implement RTBF and portability processes that are efficient, secure, and compliant.

The investment upfront will pay dividends in reduced effort and risk over the long run.

 

TL;DR / Summary:

  1. Easy Request Submission: Implement Email-to-Case and Web-to-Case forms for streamlined RTBF and data portability requests.

  2. Secure Identity Validation: To ensure authenticity, use automated email validation and additional proof of identity methods.

  3. Automate Data Handling: Use solutions like Cloud Compliance for automated data erasure and extraction.

  4. Maintain Audit Trails: Keep detailed records of data processed and ensure compliance.

  5. Adapt to Data Changes: Ensure processes can adapt to changes in the Salesforce data model.

    Automating these steps ensures compliance, reduces manual effort, and mitigates risk, making GDPR compliance manageable.
 

By leveraging tools like Cloud Compliance’s Privacy Rights Automation, businesses can confidently navigate the complexities of CCPA/CPRA compliance, ensuring a secure, efficient, and compliant data management process.

 
Picture of Saurabh Gupta
Saurabh Gupta

Saurabh is an Enterprise Architect and seasoned entrepreneur spearheading a Salesforce security and AI startup with inventive contributions recognized by a patent.

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