Processing Activities

The Processing Activity management feature enables you to more easily add and manage processing activities within Live Data Map. Seamlessly navigate between processing activities and systems to empower cross-functional collaboration on privacy and security initiatives.

Relationship With Systems

Multiple systems can be assigned to a given Processing Activity. The data defined for each system is then aggregated to allow you to report across multiple systems at the Processing Activity level.

For example, let's assume the systems 15Five and Box are both assigned to the Engineering Processing Activity. If 15Five is classified as containing Address data and Box is classified as containing Biometric data at the system level, the aggregate Engineering Processing Activity will include both values under the Personal Data category.

When a Processing Activity is assigned to a system, it will aggregate data from the prepopulated DataGrail Intelligence Library. If changes have been made to the System Profile Overview, this data will also be used to populate the Processing Activity.

Creating Processing Activities

Processing Activities can be added to your account manually, automatically through DataGrail's AI Agent, or by importing an existing RoPA.

Suggested Processing Activities

DataGrail can help you auto-populate Processing Activities based on what we know about the systems in your inventory. Our AI agent analyzes each system detected in your inventory to understand its function and automatically recommends relevant processing activities.

Powered by Vera

Suggested Processing Activities are powered by Vera, DataGrail's AI agent, which analyzes your system inventory to recommend relevant activities. Learn more about Vera's capabilities.

For example, after identifying Rippling, our AI agent recognizes its role as a workforce platform and will suggest activities like "Payroll Administration" and "Recruitment & Talent Acquisition."

How to Use Suggested Processing Activities:

1. Find Your Suggestions: Select the Suggested Processing Activities card on your dashboard to see a list of AI-generated recommendations for your systems.
2. Review and Select: Review the list and select the processing activities you want to add to your RoPA.

3. Choose Your Import Option: You have two simple options for adding your selections:
   • Add Activities & Systems (Recommended): This will create the processing activities and automatically link the relevant systems to them. This is the fastest way to build your data map.
   • Add Activities Only: This will create the processing activities, but you will need to manually link the systems yourself later.

Once you've made your choice, the selected activities will be added to your RoPA, giving you a powerful head start on completing your data map.

Manually Adding Processing Activities

1. Select Add New Processing Activity in the top-right of the Processing Activities page.
2. Select a Processing Activity from the default list provided by DataGrail. If you would like to create a custom Processing Activity, you can do so by entering the name in the box.
3. Select Add New Processing Activity to complete the process.

Once created, Processing Activities can always be renamed by selecting Edit Processing Activity. If you would like to remove a Processing Activity, just select Archive Activity.

Archiving Processing Activities

When a Processing Activity is archived, it will automatically be removed from all associated Systems.

Importing Processing Activities

If you already maintain a RoPA outside DataGrail, you can upload it and let Vera build your Processing Activities from it — pre-filling each activity's RoPA answers and linking the systems it mentions — instead of recreating everything by hand. Nothing is added to your account until you review and confirm Vera's suggestions.

You must be an Admin or Live Data Map Admin to import Processing Activities.

Preparing Your File

Before you start, make sure your RoPA file meets these requirements:

Requirement	Details
File format	Excel (.xlsx, .xls), CSV (.csv), or PDF (.pdf)
File size	Up to 10 MB
Files per import	One file at a time
Content	Include clear column headers or questions so Vera can match them to your RoPA template

Running an Import

1. From the Processing Activities page, select Import RoPA.
2. Select your RoPA file to upload it. Vera scans and parses the file in the background, which can take a few minutes. Keep the window open to advance automatically when parsing finishes, or close it and return to the import later.
3. On the Review Template step, review the questions Vera matched to your RoPA template and any custom questions it suggests adding. Clear any custom questions you don't want to add.
4. On the Review Processing Activities step, review the activities Vera discovered, choose whether to link systems, and select the ones you want to import.
5. On the Summary step, confirm what will be added and select Complete Import.

After you select Complete Import, DataGrail creates the selected Processing Activities and applies their RoPA answers. You'll see a confirmation once the import is complete.

Reviewing Activities Before Import

Each discovered activity is marked Ready or Needs Attention and shows how many of its RoPA answers Vera was able to map. Select any activity to review it in detail, edit its answers, and see the systems Vera detected for it. Answers that Vera couldn't confidently map are left blank for you to complete — you can still import an activity that needs attention and finish it later.

Linking Systems

On the Review Processing Activities step, select Include system associations to link the systems named in your RoPA to each activity. For each system, DataGrail matches the name against its systems catalog and adds the matching system to your System Inventory. If a system isn't in the catalog, DataGrail adds it to your inventory as a custom entry so the association isn't lost. Select Don't include system associations to create the activities on their own and assign systems yourself later.

Imports Only Add To Your Data Map

Importing never removes or overwrites existing data. Vera creates activities that don't already exist and fills in blank RoPA answers, but it leaves answers you or your contributors have already entered untouched. Only one import can run per account at a time — if a teammate has an import in progress, you can start yours once theirs is finished.

Assigning Systems

Processing Activities can be assigned to a system in two ways.

To assign systems in bulk, select the Processing Activity, Edit Activity, and lastly Edit Systems. All systems in your inventory will be available for selection. Once complete, select Save Systems.

You can additionally assign a System to a Processing Activity when viewing the System Profile. Select Manage Processing Activities from the right sidebar and enter the name of the Processing Activity. Once complete, select Save Processing Activities.

With your systems assigned to Processing Activities, you can start to complete your RoPA for each activity.

Exporting Processing Activities

Processing Activities can be exported from DataGrail as a PDF. The exported PDF will include a title page with your logo, a list of systems associated with the Processing Activity, and the relevant RoPA information. This PDF export enables granular reporting for specific audits and stakeholder reviews.

1. Navigate to the relevant Processing Activity.
2. In the top menu, select the RoPA tab.
3. Select Download PDF in the bottom corner.