Privacy Assessments
DPIA Software that Turns Assessments into Evidence
Privacy360 guides your team from screening to sign-off. Every answer, risk and decision is recorded. As a result, your DPIA stands up to a regulator, an auditor or a board.
Built by Formiti Data International, a global privacy advisory and outsourced DPO firm.
Why Spreadsheet DPIAs Break Down
Most teams start with a Word template or a spreadsheet. At first, this works. However, problems appear as volume grows.
Version chaos
Copies live in inboxes, so nobody knows which DPIA is current.
No link to your records
The DPIA rarely matches the ROPA entry or the vendor file.
Weak review
Reviewers sign off without challenging vague or missing answers.
No audit trail
When a regulator asks who decided what, the answer is hard to prove.
In short, the document exists, but the accountability does not. DPIA software fixes that gap.
What Is DPIA Software?
DPIA software manages the full life cycle of a Data Protection Impact Assessment. It replaces static templates with a guided, tracked workflow.
Under Article 35 of the GDPR, a DPIA is required where processing is likely to result in a high risk to individuals. The UK GDPR applies the same test. Therefore, most organisations running new technology, profiling or large-scale sensitive data need one.
Article 35(7) sets out what a DPIA must contain. Good DPIA software builds each element into the workflow:
- A systematic description of the processing and its purposes
- An assessment of necessity and proportionality
- An assessment of the risks to individuals' rights and freedoms
- The measures planned to address those risks
In addition, where high risk remains after mitigation, Article 36 requires prior consultation with the supervisory authority. Privacy360 flags this automatically. Learn more in our guide: When is a DPIA required?
How Privacy360 Runs a DPIA, Step by Step
Screen the project
A short screening questionnaire checks for high-risk indicators, such as profiling, special category data and new technology. Consequently, low-risk projects exit early and save effort.
Describe the processing
Pull purposes, data categories and recipients straight from your ROPA. As a result, the DPIA and the record always match.
Assess necessity and risk
Score likelihood and severity for each risk. Then link each risk to a control or mitigation.
AI-assisted DPIA Review
The built-in DPIA Review challenges thin or inconsistent answers before sign-off. A human reviewer always makes the final call.
Sign off and schedule review
The DPO approves, rejects or requests changes. Next, Privacy360 sets a review date so the DPIA stays current.
Export the evidence
Generate a PDF or DOCX executive report with the full decision history attached.
DPIA Software Features Built for Real Privacy Teams
Ready-made assessment templates
Start from DPIA, LIA, TIA and vendor assessment templates. Moreover, you can adapt questions to your own policy.
Embedded AI review
DPIA Review and LIA Review flag gaps, contradictions and missing mitigations. Your team decides what to accept.
Connected registers
Each DPIA links to your ROPA, vendor assessments and AI system register. Therefore, a change in one place is visible everywhere.
Risk scoring and actions
Rate inherent and residual risk. Then assign remediation actions with owners and due dates.
Full audit trail
Every edit, comment and approval is time-stamped. Consequently, you can show exactly who decided what, and when.
Board-ready reporting
Export executive summaries as PDF or DOCX. In addition, dashboards show open DPIAs, overdue reviews and high-risk projects.
DPIAs for AI Systems and the EU AI Act
AI projects can trigger a DPIA where processing is likely to result in a high risk to individuals. They often involve new technology, profiling or automated decisions. At the same time, the EU AI Act adds its own risk classification and, for some deployers, a fundamental rights impact assessment.
Privacy360 connects both views. For example, a DPIA can link directly to the matching AI assessment and AI system record. As a result, privacy and AI governance teams work from one set of facts.
Explore AI governance in Privacy360.
When Do You Need a DPIA?
The European Data Protection Board lists nine criteria that point to high risk. As a rule of thumb, processing that meets two or more usually needs a DPIA.
- Evaluation or scoring, including profiling
- Automated decisions with legal or similar effect
- Systematic monitoring
- Sensitive or highly personal data
- Large-scale processing
- Matching or combining datasets
- Data about vulnerable people, such as employees or children
- Innovative use of technology, including AI
- Processing that prevents people using a service or exercising a right
Privacy360's screening questions are built around these criteria. In addition, national regulators such as the ICO publish their own lists. Read our privacy impact assessment guide for the detail.
DPIA Software vs Templates and Spreadsheets
| Capability | Templates & spreadsheets | Privacy360 |
|---|---|---|
| Guided screening | Manual | Built in |
| Link to ROPA and vendors | Copy and paste | Live link |
| Reviewer challenge | Depends on the reviewer | AI-assisted DPIA Review plus human sign-off |
| Version control | File names | Single source of truth |
| Audit trail | None | Every change time-stamped |
| Review reminders | Calendar notes | Scheduled automatically |
| Reporting | Manual | PDF/DOCX export and dashboards |
Specialist DPIA Software vs Microsoft 365 and Large GRC Suites
Many teams first try to run DPIAs in Microsoft 365. Forms, SharePoint lists and Word templates are already licensed. However, they do not know what a DPIA needs. Screening logic, risk scoring, ROPA links and sign-off history must all be built and maintained by hand.
At the other end, large GRC suites and enterprise privacy platforms such as OneTrust cover DPIAs alongside many other modules. They suit organisations with dedicated administrators. Even so, set-up and configuration can take months.
Privacy360 sits between the two. It provides privacy impact assessment automation out of the box, connected to your wider privacy operations. Consequently, your team can start without a long configuration project.
Who Uses Privacy360 for DPIAs?
DPOs and privacy leads
Run a consistent DPIA programme. Furthermore, see every open risk at a glance.
Legal and compliance teams
Prove accountability to regulators, auditors and clients.
Product, IT and AI teams
Answer plain-language questions without needing privacy expertise.
Need expert help as well? Formiti's outsourced DPO team can review and sign off DPIAs for you. Explore Formiti's DPO service
DPIA Software FAQs
Make Every DPIA Defensible
Replace scattered templates with one accountable workflow. Book a demo and see a full DPIA workflow end to end.