We are very happy to introduce our new version of RESPONSUM! As it is build from the ground up, a migration of your data is required and some aspects will have been adapted and improved to add additional flexibility and future proof the application.

The migration itself

As this new version comes with a lot of improvements and is build from the ground up, a migration of your data is required to the new version.

We have an automated flow for this in place and will guide you during a few meetings to get you all settled in using the new version. In general the following steps are taken before you are completely moved to the new version of RESPONSUM:

• A first Demo call is planned to show you the new version and it’s core new features. This way you get a feel for the changes and have some an idea of the changes before diving in yourself.
• After the demo, a “Handholding session” is planned. During this call we will have your data transferred to the new version and will give you and all required colleagues access to the new environment.
  • This session will start a “Test phase” where you can use the old version and the new version next to each other to compare and spot any inconsistencies that we can look into during the follow-up calls or can be provided sooner to support@responsum.eu
  • During this phase, the new environment acts as a secondary environment where we transferred your data over to the new version in the beginning. Any changes in the old version will not be automatically reflected in the new version. If at any point you want to “Reset” your new environment with the data of the old environment, we can easily re-import the data
    • Keep in mind, this re-import will remove any data added in the new version and overwrite it with the data of the previous environment.
    • Syncing data back from the new version to the old is not possible
  • Check-in calls can be planned in case feedback is provided and additional explanation is required.
  • If you are fully satisfied with the migration, a final call is held to conclude the migration. At that point the new version becomes your main production environment. The old version will still be available for reference, but should no longer be updated.

The “Processed data lifecycle”

The Processed data lifecycle is a new concept to RESPONSUM that is closely related to the Register of processing activities. It contains all aspects of how personal data is treated in one item linked to a processing activity.

A processed data lifecycle is a combination of the following tabs known from the previous version :

• Personal data
• IM systems
• Retention periods
• Data disclosure

We migrated towards this way of working as it allows for greater flexibility in specifying which (personal) data is processed on which systems, how long the data is to be retained, and to whom it may be provided. Each PDLC (Processed Data Lifecycle) item linked to a processing activity includes all the above details. Multiple PDLC’s can be linked to one processing activity.

How was it migrated to the new version?

In the previous version, there was overlap between the data in the above mentioned tabs (for example, you could link personal data in both the “personal data” tab and in regards to the specific “retention periods”), so the import process has been structured as follows:

• All data from the “personal data” tab is consolidated into one PDLC line in the new version;
• All data from the “retention periods” tab is consolidated into one or more PDLCs, corresponding to the number of retention period entries made in the previous version (e.g. Two retention periods for different data will result in two PDLC lines with the associated data);
• All data from the “data disclosure” tab is consolidated into one PDLC line;
• The IM systems from the IM systems tab are linked to each of the above mentioned PDLC lines.

In some cases at first glance due to the split up over multiple PDLC lines, it can seem as though some data is missing. However, our default set of columns shown does not display all PDLC details and fields.

To display more data within these PDLCs, additional columns can be added to the view using the “Customize Table” option within the sub-module Privacy >> Processed data lifecycle. Changes to the table here will also be reflected within the PDLC section in the records of processing activities. (More details on customizing tables can be found in our Help Center.)

Consolidating PDLC entries

In some cases where ex. no data was disclosed or no data attributes were set, you might want to archive some Personal data lifecycles or consolidate their information into one PDLC item linked to the processing activity instead of multiple.

This can all be managed from the PDLC overview page found under Privacy >> Register of processing activities >> Selecting the “Processed data lifecycle” view:

Here you get an overview of all PDLC entries linked to all processing activities found within the register of processing activities. From here you can start either Archiving or Merging (consolidating) PDLC entries:

Archiving

Just like on any overview page within RESPONSUM, you have the option to either individually or in bulk “Archive” certain PDLC entries. The short video below shows how you can combine the filters, search and bulk actions to quickly archive all but one PDLC entry for a specific processing activity they are linked to:

Merging

Every overview page within RESPONSUM supports bulk actions. One of these actions is to “Merge” the properties of two or more items together to make it one item instead.

After in bulk selecting the items you want to combine the properties from, we will ask you to select the item (Main) you want to move the properties of all other items selected into.

We will also ask you if we should “Perform “Decoupling” when the data is merged. With the merge, we will archive the old items from which the data was merged into the “Main” item selected. With this parameter toggled on, when these old items are archived, the relations to these old items will be removed. By default this option is on and we recommend to keep this on to clean up the data and relations when merging items.

When “Save” is pressed, we will start the merge and all other items except for the “Main” item selected will be “Archived”. You will notice that only the main item is now available with more data linked to it from the other items merged into it.

Keep in mind: When merging, the selected “Main” item will have other properties be merged into it. This means that the system will try to combine the properties into one field on the main item. This however needs to be treated carefully and tested first on a small subset to see that the merging behavior is as expected for your specific use case. if you have more questions around specific scenario’s, feel free to reach out to support@responsum.eu.

Offices and departments are now Organizational units

In the new version of RESPONSUM, the prior Offices and Departments have been migrated to a new more flexible way of working that allows you to fully define your organization structure into more levels than the two limited levels before.

They are now called “Organizational Units” and can be found under Settings >> Setup >> My organization. The prior offices and departments have been merged and linked together in a hierarchy (with offices at the top and departments underneath when linked in the previous version).

When you edit for example a processing activity and modify the linked organizational units, you will also see the hierarchy between these units so you can easily identify what item(s) to link to.

The concept of “Meta data”

In the previous version of RESPONSUM, we had a lot of “Fixed” information that was provided by us and populated a lot of dropdowns throughout the tool.

In the new version we allow for these “Meta data” values to be edited at any point from the sub-menu Settings >> Customization >> Meta data. Here you will find all values that populate dropdowns throughout RESPONSUM.

So in case some dropdown values are not as expected or need to be translated in another language, the above location will allow you to alter these values.

Meta data section on items

To allow for keeping the main content of an item (Ex. a processing activity) strictly for the details specified in the legislation and are core to see at first glance, we have introduced the “Meta data” section on the top of each item to store any other fields that are more rarely used. Here a lot of the fields like status, organizational units etc. can from now on be found.

You can access the meta data section on every item by pressing on the button displayed below right under the title:

Doing so will open a pop-up containing these “Meta data” fields. Some highlights of these fields will also be displayed as visual tags on the item itself.

With the ability to now customize fields within RESPONSUM and change their location, add custom fields etc. You can also alter what fields are contained in this new Meta data section. If a field is seen as important, you can move it to a different section in the main content to have it always visible.

This customization can be done by navigating to Settings >> Setup >> My fields. Here you can use drag and drop to move fields from the meta data section to another section as shown below: