System Profiles

System Profiles allow you to document the use of a system within your organization, its inherent risk, and the Processing Activities it supports. DataGrail provides prefilled information for most third-party systems to make your data mapping efforts easy.

System Details

The System Details section offers a concise summary of key information about a system, helping you quickly understand its purpose, associated risks, and how it was added to your organization's System Inventory.

Field	Description
Risks	This column surfaces specific risk criteria based on standard use cases of a system. This list is continuously updated to help you surface risk across your system inventory.
Last Updated	When a System Profile page was last edited.
Description	When available, DataGrail will include a description of the system to help you quickly get acquainted with what processing activities are commonly associated with the system. You can override the existing text with custom descriptions that capture your organization's unique use case of that system.
Source	The way in which this system was added into your Inventory.
Resources	When available, DataGrail will include links to the system's privacy policy or subprocessor URL. The subprocessor URL is how we source "AI subprocessors," which is one of the criteria used to flag "AI Detected" risk.
Notes	Any additional customer-provided context or resources relating to the system.

Contacts

The Contacts Section in the left-hand sidebar of a System Profile page allows you to define and track relevant contacts associated with a given system or your overall privacy program.

• Data Protection Officer or Data Controller: The DPO and the Data Controller will be included in the Contacts section for each system by default. These individuals are defined within your DataGrail Settings.
• System Contacts: System Contacts are defined at the system level and allow you to define distinct owners for different systems in your inventory.

Adding Reporting Contacts

Data Protection Officers, Representatives, or Data Controllers defined for all systems in your inventory are managed in the Settings page:

1. Navigate to Settings in the DataGrail sidebar.
2. Select the Reporting Contacts section.
3. Use Add Contact to add default contacts for your systems.

Defining a Data Protection Officer

If you do not have a designated DPO, we recommend adding the contact details of your Privacy Team.

System Overview

The System Overview is your central hub to document how a system is used within your organization. DataGrail Instant Risk Categories pre-populate system metadata based on the most common use cases of that system. This helps you understand which systems are more likely to have privacy risk based on the personal data they process and associated use cases.

The System Overview Section can be populated from two places:

1. DataGrail's Pre-filled Metadata: DataGrail's Intelligence Library has pre-populated processing risk information based on common use cases of a known system.
2. Editing System Data: Editing the System Data directly allows you to document how a system is used at the system-level.

Intelligence Library

DataGrail's Intelligence Library is a frequently updated, curated dataset of system risk metadata. When a system is added to your inventory, the Intelligence Library automatically populates its System Overview with processing risk information based on known use cases and publicly available resources.

The Intelligence Library follows a risk-presumptive approach — it surfaces every potential risk associated with a system rather than risk missing one. This gives you full visibility into what a system could process, with the ability to remove any categories that don't apply to your organization's specific use of that system by selecting Edit System Data.

Example: Location Data as a personal data category

A system may show Location Data as a pre-filled personal data category. This can mean the system collects IP addresses, tracks geographic regions for analytics, or stores physical addresses. If this category doesn't apply to how your organization uses the system, you can remove it by selecting Edit System Data.

Pre-filled Data Behavior

Intelligence Library data is populated when a system is first added to your inventory. Updates to the Intelligence Library do not retroactively modify existing systems. If you have manually edited a system's data, your entries always take precedence over pre-filled values.

Editing System Data

A System Data Report is a live document — there's no separate edit mode and no save button. Select Edit System Data in the top right of the System Overview page to open the report, then select into any field to update it directly. Your changes save automatically as you type.

1. Select Edit System Data in the top right of the page.
2. Populate the relevant Categories.
3. (Optional) Add stakeholders in other parts of the organization by selecting Add External Contributors. They will instantly receive an email notification with a link to an editable version of the report.
   • Select Resend Invite to send a new email link to the recipient, as invite links expire after 7 days.
   • Select Remove External Contributor to mark the contributor as "removed".

DataGrail periodically saves a snapshot of the report as you and your contributors work, so you can always review how it has changed over time. Select the Change History tab to see previous snapshots.

No Manual Review Step

System Data Reports no longer require a Mark as Reviewed action to save changes — every update is saved automatically, and there's no locked "reviewed" state that blocks further edits.

Field Configuration

Admins can manage the customer-wide labels and selectable options used in System Profile and RoPA fields from Settings > Field Configuration. These settings apply across Live Data Map and Risk Manager.

The Aliases tab lets admins rename preset fields, options, and sub-options. The default taxonomy value stays visible in the table, while the alias is the label users see when completing supported System Profile and RoPA fields.

The Custom Options tab lets admins add selectable options under an existing field or option. For example, an admin can add a new Data Subject under Data Subjects, or a new sub-option under Personal Data Categories > Contact Information. Custom options are available in System Profile and RoPA forms as soon as they're saved.

Deleting a custom option removes it from forms going forward. Previously saved snapshots keep the labels and selections that were present when they were captured.

Categories

The following categories are available within the System Overview and Processing Activity reports to document the use of particular system in your organization.

Personal Data Categories

Personal Data, also called personal information or PII, is information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person.

If a system has any of the below categories, we will also show that the system contains Sensitive Personal Information within the report:

Sensitive Personal Information (SPI) Categories

• Political Affiliations
• Religious Beliefs
• Philosophical Beliefs
• Race or Ethnicity
• Sexual Orientation
• Health Data
• Biometric Data
• Criminal History
• Credit or Financial Data
• Trade Union and Membership Information
• Personal Identification (ID) Numbers (License, Social Security, State ID Cards, Passports)

Data Subjects

A Data Subject is a natural person who can be identified, directly or indirectly, using various online and offline identifiers, characteristics or inferences. Specific legal definitions vary.

Available Data Subject Options

The following Data Subject options are available within DataGrail:

Data Subject Type	Description
Customers	Individuals with whom you have a business transaction or user relationship in a Business-to-Business or a Business-to-Consumer context.
Children	Individuals under the age of 16.
Employees	Current or prospective employees, contractors or other hired representatives.
Job Applicants	A prospective employee undergoing a recruitment process.
Patients	A consumer of health, fitness, medical and prescription services.
Prospects	Prospective business or individual customers.
Vendors	Service providers, suppliers and business partners.
Website Visitors	Unique individuals visiting a page or multiple pages on a website.
Other	Custom categories directed by DataGrail Customers. For example, a "California household".

Processing Purposes

Processing refers to any operation that is performed on personal data, such as collection, recording, storage, alteration, use, transmission, or erasure.

If data is collected for one reason but is used for another, this can raise privacy concerns. This is one of the reasons for regularly reviewing your privacy notices against your actual data uses. For example, if you intend to use collected data for order fulfillment only, but someone within your organization decides to sell this data to a marketing data company, order fulfillment is the primary purpose and data selling is the secondary purpose.

Available Processing Purposes

The following Processing Purposes are available within DataGrail:

Processing Purpose	Description
Access Provisioning & Management	User account provisioning, management and de-provisioning.
Automated Decision Making	Machine-based decisions concerning individuals.
Backup & Archiving	Data stored to ensure its availability for recovery.
Benchmarking & Reporting	Measurements comparing the methods, performance and positions of an organization against internal or external standards.
Consent & Preference Management	Collecting and managing permissions and choices provided by individuals.
Content & Knowledge Management	Creating, curating and sharing information such as wikis, learning experiences, news, media, or social posts.
Correspondence	Communicating directly with individuals, including to respond to their inquiries and complaints.
Customer Relationship Management	Maintaining business relationships and databases.
Customer Support	Providing technical, administrative, operational or other kinds of support.
Data Storage & Access	Storing and accessing information on a storage system, browser or device.
Direct Marketing	Delivering audience-based or personalized marketing that may be based on an individual's demographics, preferences, interests or other characteristics.
Personalization	Improving or tailoring an individual's user experience or the content they receive or interact with.
Event Registration & Management	Hosting and administering in-person or virtual events.
Finance & Accounting	Record keeping related to financing, invoicing, payment collections and remittance, and related activities.
Fraud Prevention	Detecting and preventing fraudulent activity.
Human Resource Administration	Maintaining employee relationships, data, benefits and HR information systems.
Job Application Management	Talent acquisition and hiring process management.
Law Enforcement & National Security	Responding to lawful requests from law enforcement and other government agencies.
Legal Obligations & Compliance	Fulfilling legal obligations and protecting legal rights, terms, positions and claims.
Loyalty Program Administration	Administering program participation, rewards and redemptions.
Measurement & Analytics	Measuring the performance and effectiveness of content, products, service and promotions.
Payment Processing	Sending, receiving and processing payments.
Profiling	Aggregating and analyzing an individual's preferences, characteristics, psychological trends, predispositions, behavior, attitudes, intelligence, abilities, and aptitudes.
Research	Archiving or analytics for scientific, historic or statistical purposes.
Sales & Demand Generation	Business lead and demand generation, outreach and related record keeping.
Security Management	Ensuring the security, confidentiality and availability of system and data.
Selling & Monetizing Data	Transferring or exchanging data for monetary or other valuable considerations.
Service Delivery & Fulfillment	Delivering products or services in accordance with contractual agreements and terms of service.
Service Management & Improvement	Managing or improving the performance and value of systems, products or services.
Targeted Advertising	Serving advertising tailored to an individual's preferences, characteristics, psychological trends, predispositions, behavior, attitudes, intelligence, abilities, and aptitudes.
Tracking	Monitoring the behaviors, interactions and movements of an individual.
Other	Custom purposes directed by DataGrail Customers.

Legal Roles

The legal relationship between your company and the given system.

Legal Basis

Modern privacy and data protection laws require that you identify valid grounds for processing personal data. To be lawful, processing must meet the criteria (usually itemized) set out under the law. These are considered legal bases or lawful grounds for processing and will depend on your specific purposes and the context of processing. We recommend considering why you want to process the data, and apply which legal basis best fits the circumstances.

European Union & UK

The lawful grounds for processing personal data as itemized under the EU GDPR and UK GDPR.

Legal Basis	Description
Contract	Where the processing is necessary for a contract you have with the individual, or because they have asked you to take specific steps before entering into a contract.
Legal Obligation	Where the processing is necessary to comply with the law, including a lawful request from a court or another public authority (not including contractual obligations).
Vital Interests	Where the processing is necessary to ensure the life or safety of the individual.
Public Interest	Where the processing is necessary to fulfill an official task or is for the public good.
Legitimate Interests	Where the processing is necessary to fulfill reasonable business / commercial interests and these interests are not overridden by the privacy rights and freedoms. (This cannot apply if you are a public authority processing data to perform your official tasks.)
Consent	Where the individual has freely given their specific, informed and unambiguous consent for a specific purpose or closely related set of purposes.

US & California

The lawful grounds for processing personal data as itemized under the EU GDPR and UK GDPR.

Legal Basis	Description
Business Purpose	Where the processing of personal information is for one or more of the business’s or a service provider’s reasonable operational purposes, or other notified purposes.
Auditing Interactions with Consumers	Auditing related to counting ad impressions to unique visitors, verifying positioning and quality of ad impressions, and auditing compliance with this specification and other standards.
Security	Helping to ensure security and integrity to the extent the use of the consumer’s personal information is reasonably necessary and proportionate for these purposes.
Debugging/Repair	Debugging to identify and repair errors that impair existing intended functionality.
Certain Short-term Uses	Short-term, transient use, including, but not limited to, nonpersonalized advertising shown as part of a consumer’s current interaction with the business, provided that the consumer’s personal information is not disclosed to another third party and is not used to build a profile about the consumer or otherwise alter the consumer’s experience outside the current interaction with the business.
Performing Services	Performing services on behalf of the business, including maintaining or servicing accounts, providing customer service, processing or fulfilling orders and transactions, verifying customer information, processing payments, providing financing, providing analytic services, providing storage, or providing similar services on behalf of the business
Internal Research for Tech Development	Undertaking internal research for technological development and demonstration.
Quality and Safety Maintenance and Verification	Undertaking activities to verify or maintain the quality or safety of a service or device that is owned, manufactured, manufactured for, or controlled by the business, and to improve, upgrade, or enhance the service or device that is owned, manufactured, manufactured for, or controlled by the business.
Commercial Purpose	Where the processing of personal data is for a commercial or economic interest, such as by inducing another person to buy, rent, lease, join, subscribe to, provide, or exchange products, goods, property, information, or services, or enabling or effecting, directly or indirectly, a commercial transaction.
Consent	Where the individual has freely given their specific, informed and unambiguous consent for a specific purpose or closely related set of purposes.Consent means any freely given, specific, informed, and unambiguous indication of the consumer’s wishes by which the consumer, or the consumer’s legal guardian, a person who has power of attorney, or a person acting as a conservator for the consumer, including by a statement or by a clear affirmative action, signifies agreement to the processing of personal information relating to the consumer for a narrowly defined particular purpose.

Processing Countries

The locations where personal data is being processed or stored.

Personal Data Origins

Personal data origins refers to how the personal data was originally collected for the system named in the report.

Data Distribution

Data distribution refers to personal data transferred from the system name in the report to other systems in your inventory.

Data Subject Consent Origins

Where consent is the legal basis the methods by which valid consent is obtained. Consent refers to any freely given, specific, informed and unambiguous indication of the data subject's agreement to the processing of their personal data.

Protective Measures

Protective measures refer to any steps taken to safeguard data.

Assessments

Risk Assessments associated with a given system will be linked in the Assessments tab in addition to being available within the Risk Assessments section of the DataGrail app.