How to Tag the Fields in Your Database as PII
Insycle gives you granular control over which fields in your database are identified as Personally Identifiable Information (PII). This field-by-field control is essential for data privacy and becomes especially important when using Insycle's AI-powered features, which may share data with third-party AI Service Providers. By properly tagging your PII fields, you can use the Non-PII data access level to exclude sensitive information from being processed by these external services while still benefiting from AI assistance for non-sensitive data.
Insycle does not classify fields as PII on your behalf. Since every organization’s data structure is unique, you are responsible for evaluating your fields and determining what constitutes PII based on your specific data and privacy requirements.
Getting Started
To manage PII field settings, you'll need an Owner or Admin user role for each database you want to configure. You can review user roles by navigating to Settings > Users.
We recommend carefully reviewing all fields for each object type in your database. If you're unsure whether a field contains PII, the Cleanse Data module provides a helpful way to preview actual field values before making your determination.
Tag Your PII Data Field-by-Field
Navigate to Settings > Fields. Select the database and object type.
The table shows all available fields for the selected object type. The PII column indicates which fields are tagged as PII. When the toggle is yellow (to the right), that field is considered PII.
Tag Fields as PII
Go through the list of fields, page by page, and use the toggle to tag those that qualify as PII. Changes are automatically saved.
The image above shows the Settings > Fields page for the Contacts object type with the columns Label, Name, Type, Writable, and PII. An arrow points to the PII toggle for the Student ID field (student_id, string), which is on (yellow, right position) and marks the field as PII. The PII toggles for Stripe Address, Success Owner, and Suffix are off (grey, left position).
If you're unable to make changes, it's likely because you don't have the appropriate permissions. You must have an Admin or Owner user role to manage fields.
Tips for Reviewing Your Fields
- Expand the list of results using the 'Rows per page' control.
- Click a column header to sort the fields.
- If you are unsure if a field contains PII, use the Cleanse Data module to review the field data.
Use Cleanse Data to Analyze Fields
Get a clear view of which fields contain PII data by using the Cleanse Data module.
Navigate to Data Management > Cleanse Data, then select a database and object type from the top menu.
Under Step 1, the system lists all fields for the object type. This is not the record data itself but the metadata about the fields in the database.
Enter the field name you want to explore in the Search, then check the box by the Field Label.
The image above shows the 1. Review Statistics step in the Cleanse Data module, with “email” entered in the Search box and 3 fields listed, sorted by Field Label. The columns are Field Label, Name, Type, and Value. The box for Associated Contact Email (hs_associated_contact_email, string) is checked. The boxes for Connected emails count v2 and Email Count are unchecked.
Explore the values in the Record Viewer at the bottom of the page and determine if this field should be tagged as PII.
The image above shows the Record Viewer in the Cleanse Data module, with the columns Count and Value, sorted by Count in descending order. Four rows are listed, each with a Count of 1: matt@everstring.com, max.andrews@randatmail.com, maxie.scott@randatmail.com, and mbush@cington.com. The checkboxes in the header and in all four rows are unchecked.
Additional Resources
Related Help Articles
- Configure How Your Data Is Used with Insycle's AI Features
- How Insycle Works
- My Company Uses Insycle, and I’m a New Admin—What Should I Do?
- Setup Guide
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