Governata documents your processing activities in full, from purpose and legal basis through to data categories, recipients, and retention periods.
Documented activities
Purpose and legal basis
Data categories
Recipients
Retention periods
Each department collects data for its own purpose and shares it onward, with no record bringing those activities into one picture.
The record answers the questions a regulator usually asks before they are asked, rather than after.
Recording each processing activity and the purpose the data is collected for.
Recording the legal basis the processing rests on, so it can be reviewed at any query.
Setting out the categories of personal data processed and the categories of individuals concerned.
Documenting the internal and external parties that receive the data within each activity.
Defining how long data is held for each activity before it is disposed of.
Identifying the department or person responsible for each activity, making accountability clear.
Identifying the processing activities running across your different departments.
Recording the purpose, legal basis, data categories, and data subjects for each activity.
Documenting the recipients and retention periods associated with each activity.
Updating the record as activities change or new processing is introduced.
Clarity on what processing their department documents and what responsibility follows from it.
One record gathering processing activities, so privacy decisions rest on a complete picture.
A ready document representing the organization’s position to any regulator, with no later preparation.
A reference showing the legal basis for each activity when assessing any risk or obligation.
The reason the data is collected and processed, stated specifically rather than generally.
The grounds permitting the processing, whether consent, a legal obligation, or another basis.
Data categoriesThe types of personal data the activity covers and their level of sensitivity.
The categories of individuals the data concerns, such as customers, employees, or applicants.
It is any operation carried out on personal data, such as collecting, storing, using, sharing, or destroying it, within a defined purpose.
It is a document capturing the processing activities across an organization and documenting the details of each, serving as a reference at any regulatory review.
Because every processing operation needs grounds permitting it. An undocumented basis is hard to prove later, even where it genuinely exists.
The activity is the operation itself, the purpose is the reason it is carried out. One activity may serve more than one purpose, and those should be separated.
Because holding data beyond the purpose it was collected for becomes risk without benefit. Defining the period is part of controlling the processing.
No. Activities change as services and systems change, so the record needs continuous updating to stay accurate.
Purpose, legal basis, data categories, recipients, and retention periods, documented for every activity in one reference.