Last Updated on August 18, 2023 by Rakesh Gupta
Data security should be one of your main priorities if you collect, store, and manage personal information. Protecting data is especially important if your Salesforce data collection workflows integrate with multiple tools, such as a web form builder or payment system.
Many regions and industries have strict data privacy laws — including GDPR, GLBA, HIPAA, and others — that govern how organizations handle data. You can ensure data security and compliance throughout your Salesforce data collection workflows in several ways, including data masking and encryption, access control and permissions, and regular monitoring.
Understanding the Importance of Keeping Data Secure
Sensitive data is any data that can be used to identify an individual or bring harm to them if it is lost or stolen. Sensitive data types include:
- Personally identifiable information
- Protected health information
- Financial or educational records
- Ethnic, political, and biometric data
Keeping personal data secure helps build trust with the individuals who are sharing their personal information with you. It also ensures your organization avoids penalties for noncompliance with data privacy laws.
Security Best Practices When Collecting Data
Your organization is responsible for making sure the data collection tools you use have the right security measures in place. You’ll be able to better safeguard sensitive data from the moment it is collected, as it moves through your workflows, and when it moves into Salesforce.
Mask Sensitive Fields
Field masking helps ensure that sensitive data is kept confidential and not unnecessarily exposed to unauthorized users.
Encrypt Data
Data encryption helps safeguard sensitive data against unauthorized access, use, or theft whether this data is at rest or in transit.
Limit Data Access
Implementing access control and permissions ensures that data can only be accessed or modified by authorized users.
Monitor & Audit Workflows
Constant vigilance helps ensure that data collection workflows maintain the proper level of security to keep sensitive data safe.
2 Ways to Improve Security in Salesforce Data Collection Workflows
A multi-step data collection workflow will have different entry points with potential security risks, such as forms, emails, and file uploads. It is important that within every step of your data processes, you have safeguards in place to ensure no data or files are accessed by unauthorized individuals.
Be sure to also continuously test your Salesforce data collection workflows for security vulnerabilities. Catching threats early will decrease the chance for a data breach or other serious consequences.
Implement Data Retention Rules
Creating a clear data retention policy is critical for defining how your organization handles data for compliance purposes. It is important to set rules for what data needs to be retained and for how long as well as rules for who has access and how to dispose of data properly once it is no longer needed.
Data Access
Setting data access rules as part of your data retention policy will make sure that only authorized users in a workflow have access to sensitive data. Administrative controls can also include requiring users to login to view or modify workflow response lists.
Data Purge
Within your workflow, configuring data purge rules can ensure that any response data is permanently deleted once you no longer have use for it. Customize these data purge settings, such as how often a purge is completed, based on your data retention requirements.
Leverage Workflow Approvals
Setting approval steps within workflows is important for ensuring accountability during the data collection process. Approval steps within a workflow mean that no single user has full control over data changes or decisions, which helps improve security and confidentiality.
Error Detection
Approval steps in a workflow provides a standard data review process before any data is officially accepted or used. This helps to reduce inconsistencies and errors as well as helps ensure compliance with relevant data privacy regulations.
Audit Trail
Audit trails for workflow approvals simplify the process by logging every approval step and creating a historical record of changes made to data. They can also be used during investigations in case of security breaches or data problems.
Simplifying Salesforce Data Collection Workflows with FormAssembly
When it comes to securing data workflows, it’s crucial to have data security and privacy policies in place. Your organization may benefit from using a single data collection and workflow platform like FormAssembly, which makes it easier to centralize threat protection and ensure compliance. This approach allows you to scale more easily, audit data flows centrally, and increase efficiency, while maximizing security throughout your Salesforce data collection workflows.
FormAssembly’s powerful, Salesforce-connected platform combines secure, compliant data collection with a smart, visual process builder that lets you build out complex processes that include forms, emails, integrations, and more — all without code.
Learn how FormAssembly can help streamline your Salesforce data collection workflows while keeping sensitive data safe.
👉 Learn About FormAssembly Workflow
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