How Organizations Can Prepare for Data Subject Rights Requests

Sameer Ahirrao -

With the global rise of data privacy regulations, such as the GDPR (EU), PDPL (Saudi Arabia), and DPDPA (India), Data Subject Rights Requests are becoming increasingly common. Whether it’s a request to access, correct, delete, or port personal data, organizations must be ready to respond efficiently, accurately, and within stipulated timelines.

But preparation isn’t just about compliance, it’s about trust. A proactive approach shows customers and stakeholders that your organization takes privacy seriously.

In some jurisdictions such as Europe (GDPR) and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (PDPL), an individual to whom personal data belongs is referred to as a Data Subject. In India (DPDPA), the same individual is referred to as a Data Principal. They have the right to control how their personal information is collected, processed, and used by Data Controllers. Ensuring their rights are upheld is essential for compliance with global data protection laws.

Here’s how your organization can prepare for and streamline the handling of Data Subject Rights Requests (DSRRs).


1. Understand the Scope of Data Subject Rights

Different regulations define different rights. But in general, Data Subject may have the right to:

  • Access their personal data
  • Correct inaccuracies
  • Delete data (right to erasure)
  • Port their data to another provider
  • Withdraw consent
  • Restrict processing or object to it
  • Know who their data is shared with

Ensure your legal, compliance, and data teams understand the rights relevant to your operating regions.

2. Map and Classify Personal Data

To respond accurately to a request, you need to know where personal data resides across your systems. Conduct a data discovery and mapping exercise to:

  • Identify what personal data is collected
  • Understand why and how it’s processed
  • Know where it’s stored (databases, SaaS tools, backups)
  • Tag data owners or custodians for each source

Using data inventory and classification tools can significantly accelerate this process and ensure it's continuously updated.

3. Build a Centralized DSRR Response Workflow

Avoid siloed efforts. Instead, build a centralized, automated, and auditable process to handle requests. A good workflow typically includes:

  • Intake: A secure and user-friendly portal/form for individuals to submit requests
  • Verification: Mechanism to authenticate the identity of the requester
  • Routing: Automatically send requests to the right data custodians or departments
  • Fulfillment: Pull, review, and process the requested data
  • Response & Documentation: Share the data securely and maintain audit logs

4. Establish Response Timelines and SLAs

Data privacy laws often come with strict response windows. For instance:

  • GDPR: 1 month (with a possible 2-month extension)
  • CPRA: 45 days (with a 45-day extension)
  • DPDPA (India): Specific timelines may be prescribed by the Data Protection Board

Define internal SLAs that are shorter than the legal requirements to allow room for escalations and verifications.

5. Ensure Data Security During Response

Even while fulfilling a request, your obligation to safeguard data doesn’t go away. Ensure:

  • Data is shared through secure channels (not email attachments)
  • Access is limited and auditable
  • Responses do not inadvertently expose personal data of other individuals

Consider leveraging secure portals or encrypted file sharing solutions to deliver requested data.

6. Continuously Monitor and Improve

After processing each request, log and analyze:

  • Time taken
  • Types of requests received

Use these insights to refine workflows, train teams, or upgrade tools. A feedback loop ensures your system becomes more robust and efficient over time.

7. Plan for Scale

Today, you may receive 5 requests a month. Tomorrow, it could be 50. As data subjects become more privacy aware, the volume of requests is expected to rise.

Invest in scalable technologies and modular workflows that can grow with your business. Automating routine steps will save valuable time and reduce risk.

How Ardent Privacy Helps Enable Data Subject Rights Requests

Ardent Privacy addresses the complexity of fulfilling Data Subject Rights Requests (DSRRs) through its TurtleShield Data Subject Rights Management (DSRM) solution, which integrates discovery, automation, security, and compliance into a single platform:

1) Automated data discovery & mapping

The platform continuously scans both structured (databases, CRM) and unstructured (documents, emails) repositories to locate personal data. It classifies and tags records, so when a subject requests access, correction, or deletion, TurtleShield can instantly generate a comprehensive report of every relevant data point

2) Privacy-by-design data protection measures

During report generation and delivery, sensitive fields can be automatically masked or redacted according to policy. All data exported for a DSRR is encrypted in transit and at rest, and detailed audit logs capture every action for future compliance reviews

3) Compliance orchestration & regulatory alignment

Workflows within TurtleShield are pre-built to align with major global privacy laws (GDPR, DPDPA, Saudi PDPL, etc.), but are also fully configurable. This means your legal and compliance teams can adapt timelines, escalation paths, and exception rules to match local requirements without custom coding

4) Real-time analytics & continuous improvement

Dashboards provide visibility into request volumes, average response times, and common bottlenecks. Armed with these insights, organizations can optimize resource allocation, refine verification thresholds, and identify recurring data-schema gaps that slow down DSRR fulfillment

Ardent Privacy enables organizations to operationalize Data Subject Rights Requests through intelligent automation, secure workflows, and privacy by design architecture. By doing so, businesses not only ensure compliance with DPDPA, GDPR, and CCPA, but also enhance customer trust and reduce regulatory risk.

In Conclusion

Handling Data Subject Rights Requests isn’t just a legal requirement, it’s a strategic differentiator. Organizations that can efficiently, respectfully, and transparently respond to these requests will win consumer trust in an increasingly privacy-conscious world.

Start by laying the foundation: know your data, align your teams, and deploy the right tech. The rest will follow.