GDPR Compliance Checklist for a SaaS Collaboration Platform
Scope and Role Definition
- Determine roles per processing activity:
- For customer workspace content: typically processor to business customers; consider joint controllership for features that determine purposes jointly (e.g., shared anti-abuse datasets).
- For vendor operations (billing, account management, service analytics, marketing): typically controller.
- Appoint roles as required:
- Data Protection Officer (Art. 37) if large-scale monitoring or special-category processing.
- EU representative (Art. 27) if no EU establishment but offering services to EU data subjects or monitoring their behavior.
- Identify main establishment in the EU to benefit from one-stop-shop with a lead supervisory authority (Art. 56).
Records of Processing and Data Mapping (Art. 30)
- Maintain Records of Processing Activities (RoPA) for both controller and processor operations, covering:
- Purposes, categories of data subjects and personal data, recipients, international transfers, retention periods, and security measures (Art. 30(1)-(2)).
- Data inventory and data flow diagrams across environments (prod, staging, backups, analytics).
- Classify data: account identifiers, content, metadata, telemetry, authentication, billing, support logs.
Lawful Basis and Transparency (Arts. 5–6, 12–14)
- Define legal bases per purpose:
- Contract (Art. 6(1)(b)) for providing the service to users.
- Legitimate interests (Art. 6(1)(f)) for security, fraud prevention, product analytics compatible with user expectations; perform and document Legitimate Interests Assessments (LIA).
- Consent (Art. 6(1)(a)) for non-essential cookies/trackers or optional features not necessary for service.
- Legal obligation (Art. 6(1)(c)) for invoicing, tax, compliance.
- Provide layered privacy notices:
- For end-users and admins (Arts. 13–14) with clear purposes, legal bases, recipients, transfer mechanisms, retention, rights, and contact details (DPO/EU rep where applicable).
- Ensure transparency for non-user personal data (e.g., invitees’ emails) and send notices where required or document Art. 14(5) exemptions if applicable.
Data Protection by Design and Default (Art. 25)
- Default-private settings for workspaces and documents; explicit user/admin actions required for external sharing.
- Minimize personal data collected and retained; disable or make optional intrusive telemetry.
- Segregate tenant data logically; apply strict purpose limitation controls in code and data pipelines.
- Provide admin-configurable controls: sharing restrictions, link expiration, watermarking, download/forwarding controls.
Security of Processing (Art. 32)
- Implement and document technical/organizational measures proportionate to risk:
- Encryption in transit (TLS 1.2+ with modern cipher suites) and at rest; key management with rotation and access separation.
- Strong authentication (MFA, SSO/SAML/OIDC, conditional access), least privilege, role-based access control, and privileged access management.
- Secure SDLC, code review, dependency management, SAST/DAST, secrets management, and change control.
- Vulnerability and patch management with defined SLAs; regular penetration testing.
- Network security (segmentation, WAF, DDoS protections), endpoint hardening, and device management for admin/support endpoints.
- Logging and monitoring of access to personal data; tamper-evident audit logs; anomaly detection.
- Data integrity protections; backups with encryption; disaster recovery plans with tested RTO/RPO.
- Support-access controls: just-in-time, ticket-based, approved and logged.
- Adopt security standards (e.g., ISO/IEC 27001) as evidence of controls (not a GDPR requirement).
Processor Obligations and Customer DPA (Art. 28)
- Execute a Data Processing Agreement with customers including:
- Processing subject matter/duration, nature/purpose, data types, data subjects, and documented instructions.
- Confidentiality, security measures (schedule), subprocessor controls, data subject request assistance, breach notification, deletion/return on termination, audits, and cooperation with authorities (Art. 28(3)).
- Maintain a public subprocessor list and change notification mechanism; allow objection process where appropriate.
- Flow down Art. 28 obligations to subprocessors and perform risk-based due diligence with periodic reassessments.
International Data Transfers (Chapter V)
- Identify all third-country transfers (hosting, support, telemetry).
- Use valid transfer mechanisms:
- Adequacy decisions where available (including EU–US Data Privacy Framework for certified US importers).
- 2021 SCCs (Modules 2/3) with Transfer Impact Assessments (TIAs) and supplementary measures per EDPB Recommendations 01/2020.
- UK Addendum/IDTA for UK transfers; Swiss addendum where applicable.
- Implement policies for government access requests: assess legality, narrow scope, challenge unlawful requests, and provide transparency reports where permitted (Art. 48 considerations).
Data Subject Rights Enablement (Arts. 15–22)
- As controller (vendor operations): implement processes to handle access, rectification, erasure, restriction, portability, objection, and profiling/automated decision-making requests within one month, with identity verification and logging.
- As processor (customer content): implement mechanisms and APIs to assist controllers in fulfilling DSARs; do not respond directly without controller instruction, unless legally required.
- Provide self-service export and deletion tools where feasible; document exceptions and legal holds.
DPIAs and Risk Assessments (Arts. 35–36)
- Conduct DPIAs for high-risk processing such as:
- Large-scale monitoring of user behavior, extensive profiling/analytics, use of AI on user content, or processing special-category data at scale.
- Document risk mitigations; if high risk remains, consult supervisory authority before processing.
- Maintain a DPIA register and review upon major changes.
Incident and Breach Response (Arts. 33–34)
- Maintain an incident response plan with roles, runbooks, and 24/7 escalation.
- Assess reportability: notify competent authority within 72 hours of awareness unless the breach is unlikely to result in risk to rights and freedoms.
- Notify affected data subjects without undue delay when there is likely high risk; include nature of breach, likely consequences, measures taken, and contact point.
- Notify customers promptly under the DPA with sufficient detail for their own assessments.
Retention and Deletion
- Define and publish retention schedules per data category and purpose.
- Implement secure deletion and irreversible pseudonymization where applicable; propagate deletions to replicas, caches, and search indexes.
- Manage backups: document retention, ensure deletion on lifecycle expiry, or ensure erased data is not reintroduced when restoring.
- Provide tenant-level retention and legal hold features for enterprise customers.
Cookies and Tracking (ePrivacy + GDPR)
- For marketing sites: implement a consent management platform for non-essential cookies; collect prior consent and provide granular controls and withdrawal.
- For the app: limit to strictly necessary cookies for service; obtain consent for additional tracking; document purposes and vendors.
Special Categories and Children’s Data
- Avoid processing special-category data unless necessary and lawful (Art. 9); if customers may upload such data, provide warnings, support safeguards, and ensure appropriate security.
- If offering services directly to children in the EU, implement age-gating and parental consent where national laws require (digital consent age varies, 13–16).
Accountability and Governance (Arts. 5(2), 24)
- Maintain privacy policies, SOPs, training records, data breach register, DSAR logs, and compliance metrics.
- Conduct periodic internal audits and management reviews; track remediation to closure.
- Vendor/counsel review of major product changes; Privacy Review embedded in SDLC.
- Maintain documented roles, responsibilities, and board-level oversight of privacy and security.
Customer-Facing Documentation Pack
- Public privacy notice and cookie notice.
- DPA with security schedule and subprocessor list.
- Transfer mechanisms (SCCs/DPF) details and TIA summaries upon request.
- SOC 2/ISO 27001 reports or equivalent assurances (if available).
- Support access policy and transparency report.
Product-Specific Controls for Collaboration Platforms
- External sharing governance: domain allow/deny lists, guest management, link types (restricted/org/public), expiration, password protection.
- Content management: admin audit logs, eDiscovery/export, data classification labels, and DLP integrations.
- Search and indexing: respect access controls; implement privacy-preserving telemetry.
- Optional E2EE for sensitive spaces or items if offered; document key management and limitations.
- Admin APIs and SCIM provisioning with least privilege scopes and comprehensive logging.
Testing and Continuous Improvement
- Run periodic DSAR handling drills, breach tabletop exercises, and restoration/deletion tests.
- Validate RoPA accuracy and data flow diagrams at least annually or upon major changes.
- Monitor regulatory updates and guidance from EDPB and national authorities; adjust controls accordingly.
Operational Ready-to-Verify Items
- RoPA completed and reviewed.
- Lawful bases mapped; LIAs and DPIAs on file.
- DPO/EU representative appointed if required.
- Customer DPA and subprocessor contracts executed; subprocessor page live.
- Transfer mechanisms implemented; TIAs completed; UK/CH addenda in place where relevant.
- Security controls implemented and evidenced; pen test report available.
- DSAR workflows operational; metrics tracked; SLAs met.
- Retention schedules enforced; deletion propagation verified.
- Incident response tested within the last 12 months; breach templates ready.
- Consent management live on marketing properties; records of consent maintained.
Note: This checklist addresses GDPR requirements and related ePrivacy obligations as they apply to a SaaS collaboration platform. Adjust to your specific processing operations, risk profile, and the jurisdictions of your users and infrastructure.
