Data Inventory

Data Inventory is your live-updated base truth of all data silos, objects, vendors, purposes, and other metadata.

Introduction to Data Inventory

In today's data-driven landscape, maintaining a comprehensive understanding of where personal data resides across your organization is not just a regulatory requirement—it's a fundamental business necessity. The Transcend Data Inventory provides this critical visibility, serving as the central source of truth for all personal data in your organization.

What is the Data Inventory?

Data Inventory is a dynamic, living catalog of all your data assets, including:

• Data Silos: All systems and locations where data is stored (databases, SaaS tools, file storage)
• Datapoints: Specific objects and tables within those silos
• Properties: Individual fields and columns that may contain personal data
• Metadata: Critical context about the data, including data categories, purposes of processing, vendors, data subjects, and more

Unlike static spreadsheets or outdated surveys, Transcend's Data Inventory is continuously updated through automated discovery processes, ensuring your data map always reflects reality.

Why Data Inventory Matters

Having a comprehensive Data Inventory enables your organization to:

• Meet Regulatory Requirements: Fulfill GDPR Article 30 Record of Processing Activities (ROPA) obligations and similar requirements in CPRA, VCDPA, and other privacy regulations
• Identify Risk: Spot overcollection, sensitive data exposure, or unauthorized data sharing
• Drive Data Minimization: Identify opportunities to reduce data footprint and implement retention rules
• Streamline Compliance: Simplify vendor assessments, DPIAs, and privacy impact assessments

Key Features of Data Inventory

Transcend's Data Inventory offers several powerful capabilities:

• Rich Categorization: Organize data by categories, purposes, vendors, business entities, and custom metadata
• Interactive Visualization: Navigate your data landscape through intuitive interfaces and comprehensive views
• Custom Reporting: Generate tailored reports for stakeholders, from technical teams to executives and regulators
• Robust API Access: Programmatically read and write data to keep your inventory in sync with other systems
• Audit Trail: Track all changes to maintain a complete history of your evolving Data Inventory

How Data Inventory Integrates with Transcend

Data Inventory serves as the foundation for Transcend's comprehensive privacy platform:

• Powers DSR Automation by mapping where user data lives and how to access it
• Supports Preference Management by connecting user choices to data systems
• Leverages and enhances Discovery products by providing context to discovered data

Before you can fully govern your data, you first need to know where that data is. Transcend Data Inventory is a live view of your data systems and their data objects inside them. It is the base-truth representation of the data in your business, representing what data you collect, how it's used, and where it goes.

Data Discovery

The Data Inventory can be automatically populated via data discovery, using Transcend's suite of discovery products:

• Silo Discovery finds your databases, SaaS tools, and vendors.
• Structured Discovery scans your databases and SaaS tools and classifies the data stored inside them, right down to the field or column level.
• Unstructured Discovery scans your unstructured file and object stores to find and classify personal data inside documents.