DSAR & FOI

DSAR & FOI — AI speed, human oversight

Automatically classify what’s in scope, surface evidence and rationale, apply consistent redactions, and export a defensible response pack. Built for privacy teams handling email, chat, and documents at scale.

Simply Discover DSAR is case-based DSAR/FOI handling (case type 4) with automated aboutness detection, scope override with reason, highlight-driven redaction, personal data extraction with occurrences, and redacted PDF export packs — deployed inside your Azure environment.

When the request arrives, the clock starts

DSAR and FOI work isn’t “search and export.” It’s scope, risk, exemptions, redaction, and defensibility — across scattered sources.

Deadline pressure

Due dates matter. Your process needs to be visible, repeatable, and auditable.

Multi-source reality

Email, Teams/Slack, SharePoint/OneDrive, archives — request scope rarely sits in one place.

Risk on both sides

Over-disclose third-party data or under-disclose the requester’s data — both are painful and avoidable.

The DSAR workflow, done properly

Simply Discover runs an “aboutness” pipeline, writes scope and evidence into the case, then gives reviewers fast tools to redaction-review, override, and export.

Scope classification with evidence

Case items come back with in-scope / out-of-scope flags plus rationale and evidence. Reviewers can override scope and record a reason.

Redaction that learns

Highlight-driven redaction supports global (case-wide), document-wide, and instance-specific changes — designed for high-volume review.

Extraction with occurrences

The Document Extraction tab lists personal data items, supports approval workflows, and shows exactly where data appears in context.

What you get

Automated aboutness detection

DSAR case creation triggers an auto query (“Determine which emails are ABOUT the data subject”) queued into the processing pipeline.

Result: in-scope/out-of-scope classification is written back to the case items with rationale and evidence.

Scope override with audit trail

When the AI is wrong (or the context changes), reviewers override scope and capture a reason — the system keeps the trail.

Communication redaction workflow

Review DSAR case items (email/doc/chat) with done/pending toggles, scope banners, and evidence. Export per item or as a full pack.

Global and per-item highlights

Case-wide and case-item highlights support AI vs user sources and allow instance overrides. Highlights “consume” smaller matches when needed.

Personal data extraction

CRUD personal data items, approve/reject status, and view occurrences in the original context with a split-pane viewer.

Redacted PDF export packs

Create exports for a single case item or the full case. Packs include cover page + table of contents, and redaction priority is consistent.

How it works (in practice)

01

Create DSAR case

Case type 4 with data subject details. Due date, sources, and metadata live in the case dashboard.

02

Run aboutness detection

Server queues the DSAR aboutness query. Pipeline writes scope classification and entity highlights back to the DB.

03

Review & redact

Scope filters + mailbox filters, evidence banners, highlight editor, and global rules speed up consistent redaction.

04

Extract personal data

Review extracted personal data items and occurrences. Approve/reject with an auditable workflow.

05

Export defensibly

Export redacted PDFs per item or full case. Background processing + poll + download is built in.

Redaction that stays consistent

Confirm once. Apply everywhere. Global highlights let you reuse decisions across the case, while instance overrides handle the edge cases that matter.

Scope banners with rationale + evidence
Global/document/instance highlight scopes
Export all as PDF with background processing
Animated DSAR redaction: consistent masking of third-party data across emails and documents
Confirm once, apply everywhere — with overrides when needed.

Who it’s for

Best suited for

Privacy and governance teams handling DSAR/FOI at volume across M365, chat, documents, and archives — where defensibility and speed matter.

Not the best fit

Lightweight “one mailbox only” DSAR handling where a spreadsheet and manual PDF export is considered acceptable.


DSAR & FOI FAQs

Straight answers based on how the DSAR module actually works.

What is “aboutness detection”?

It’s the pipeline step that classifies whether an item is ABOUT the data subject. DSAR cases auto-create a query and queue it to processing. Results write in-scope/out-of-scope flags plus rationale and evidence.

Can we override scope decisions?

Yes. Reviewers can override scope classification and store the reason. The UI surfaces the scope banner with rationale and evidence, then records overrides defensibly.

How does redaction work?

Redaction is highlight-driven with multiple scopes: instance, document/case item, and global (case). Priority rules ensure consistent outputs: AI detection-wide < case highlight < user detection-wide < user instance-specific.

Can we export a full response pack?

Yes. You can export a single item or “Export All as PDF” for the full case. Export processing runs in the background and provides download links once complete.

Does it support personal data extraction?

Yes. The Document Extraction tab lists personal data items, supports approve/reject actions, and shows occurrences in email/document context.

Is it customer-hosted?

Yes. Simply Discover is designed for customer-hosted deployments inside your Azure environment so data stays under your control.

Ready to modernise your DSAR workflow?

See the DSAR dashboard, scope evidence, redaction, and export flow in a short walkthrough.