How to set up Workflows in TrustWorks

Workflows in Trustworks automate key privacy, security and compliance processes, so less of your team's time goes into manual follow-up. You can use them to handle Data Subject Requests (DSRs), run assessments, and react automatically to changes in your data map, risks, initiatives and connected tools. This guide covers the workflow types, the building blocks of the Workflow Builder, and how to set up each type.

Getting started with workflows

To access the workflow builder, go to Workflows in the left-hand menu.

To create a new workflow:

1. Click + New Workflow.
2. Choose a workflow type:
   • Data Subject Request: automate how DSRs are received, verified, executed and closed.
   • Assessment: define the steps that follow when an assessment is created, such as reviews, approvals, emails or tasks.
   • Templates: build event-driven automations that run when something happens to an object in Trustworks (for example, an asset is detected or an initiative is created) or in a connected tool.

Understanding Workflow Elements

Every new workflow starts with a Start and an End point. You build the workflow by dragging elements from the panel onto the canvas:

• Triggers: the event that starts the workflow, for example "Assessment is created" or "Asset is detected". Every workflow needs at least one trigger.
• Actions: what happens next, such as creating a task, sending an email, sending an assessment or making an HTTP request.
• Flow elements: Parallel, Conditional Choice and Merge, used to split the workflow into branches and join them back together.

Connecting elements

1. Delete the default connecting line between Start and End (hold backspace and click on the line).
2. Drag a trigger onto the canvas. Click the dot underneath the trigger and drag it to the dot on top of Start.
3. Add your actions and connect them, from top to bottom, in the order the workflow should run.
4. Connect the last element to End, then save and activate the workflow.

Canvas tools

The toolbar in the bottom-left corner of the canvas lets you:

1. Zoom in
2. Zoom out
3. Fit the workflow to the screen
4. Lock the workflow, so elements can't be moved by accident
5. Straighten the workflow layout

Flow elements

The Workflow Builder offers additional connectors to create more complex workflows:

1. Parallels: Perform multiple actions in parallel, improving efficiency and reducing processing time.

Important to notice that parallels actions must ALL be completed in order for the subsequent actions to take place.

Example:

In order for the Confirmation action to take place, it's necessary that all the Test actions (Test 1, Test 2 and Test 3) are completed.

If only one of the tasks are completed, the workflow will remain waiting for previous actions in order to proceed

2. Conditional Choice: Specify DSR types and origin types to filter and route requests accordingly.

In order to define conditional rules, it's necessary to click on the Configure Conditional Rules button, as it will open a popup window.

The popup window allows defining the Variable which will be evaluated, the Operator which the Variable will be checked upon, and the Value itself.

- Creating a conditional with AND logic:

For the same Variable, create two different lines in the conditional rules, one for each different Value desired

In a request, if the only value defined for this example is A, the condition won't be achieved, and the workflow will proceed to the Fallback option

• Creating a conditional with OR logic:

  In a single line of conditional rule, for a specific Variable, include all possible Values that would satisfy the condition

  

  In a request example, no matter the value defined by the subject (A or B), the condition will be met and the workflow will proceed to the Match option

  

  

3. Merge: Combine multiple workflow branches into a single flow for streamlined processing.

Important to notice that every action in a workflow that branches into different actions MUST BE reconnected through the Merge option. If subsequent branches happen between prior branches, the

Workflow types

Data Subject Request Workflows

For the Data Subject Requests (DSRs), you will see the request types that you’ve enabled in Settings > Data Subject Requests > Request Types

Next, you select the Subject Type (which you also enable in the Settings > Data Subject Request > Categories of Individuals).

You can now create your workflow, name it, and add the needed elements.

You can read more about the DSR workflows here.

Assessment workflows

You can create workflows for assessments for either Asset, Initiative, or Processing Activity: 

The triggering event will always be: ‘Assessment is created’ from the corresponding entity. 

The available actions for the assessment workflows are: Approve, Send Email, Survey, Task: 

You can read much more about workflows for assessments here.

For a standard assessment, you don't need to build a workflow yourself. When you publish an Assessment Template under Assessments › Templates, Trustworks creates the assessment workflow for you automatically.

Open the Workflow Builder when you need a more advanced process, for example adding extra tasks, emails, a second assessment, or approval branches. You can open the workflow linked to a template straight from the template.

Template workflows

Template workflows are event-driven automations. Each one is linked to a related object and runs automatically when a selected event happens to that object, or when a connected tool sends an event to Trustworks. Use them to notify the right people, create tasks, ask for approval, or update records in Trustworks and other systems without manual steps.

Creating a template workflow

1. Go to Workflows and click + New Workflow.
2. Select Templates as the workflow type.
3. Select the Related Object.
4. Add a trigger (event) and connect it to Start.
5. Add and configure your actions, then connect them through to End.
6. Save and activate the workflow.

Related objects and triggers

You can also start a template workflow from an external tool with the Webhook trigger. Zip and Wrike are currently supported.

Actions

• Task: create a task for a user or team. Task fields can be filled in automatically with variables (see below).
• Send Email: notify users or teams, for example when a new asset is detected.
• Approve: ask someone to approve or reject, then continue on a different branch for each outcome.
• HTTP Request: call the Trustworks API or an external system through a Generic API integration, for example to create a processing activity or update a record.
• Conditional Choice, Parallel and Merge: route the workflow based on event data or previous responses.

Using variables

Template workflows support Jinja2 notation, so actions can use data from the event that started the workflow. Wrap a variable in double curly brackets, for example:

• {{event_data.processing_activity_id}} : the ID of the processing activity that was updated
• {{mitigation_measure.name}} : the name of the mitigation measure, used as a task name

Variables can be used in task fields, Conditional Choice rules, and the URL and body of HTTP Request actions.

Examples

• Reduce shadow IT: when an asset is detected in the Staging Area, email the privacy team and ask an owner to approve the asset. If it's approved, create a task to complete its details. If it's rejected, create a task to block the tool.
• Review new initiatives: when an initiative is created, check its type with a Conditional Choice and notify the right reviewer.
• Vendor onboarding from Zip: when a purchase request is approved in Zip, create the vendor as an asset in Trustworks.

Learn more:

• Template Workflow for Mitigation Measures
• Webhook Trigger Setup (Zip Integration)
• Generic API Integration

Trustworks' no-code workflows make it simple to automate DSRs, assessments and everyday privacy operations, so your team can spend less time on manual follow-up and more on the decisions that matter.