Flag a response as sensitive data

Occasionally, you may collect personally identifiable information (PII) from participants such as such as names, addresses, emails, birth dates, and so on. Flagging a response as sensitive data helps you manage the deletion and purging of PII later.

Important: You can purge all sensitive data in an activity, at any time, by using the sensitive data purge feature. If you want to delete or purge sensitive data for select participants while leaving the rest of your activity's sensitive data intact, you must contact Alida Technical Support or your Customer Success Manager.

In the Activity Builder, while editing a screen, select or clear Treat the response as sensitive data.

When selected, the data associated with the screen is flagged as sensitive data. A shield icon appears next to the screen name in the Activity Content area.

You can change the Treat the response as sensitive data setting after an activity has been distributed if you publish a new version. However, note that data purge only applies to data that is collected while Treat the response as sensitive data is selected. Any data collected while Treat the response as sensitive data is cleared will not be deleted or purged.

Example
On January 30, you distribute an activity with a Date Entry screen that asks participants their date of birth. After distribution, you realize you forgot to select Treat the response as sensitive data. You select this setting and publish your changes to the live activity on February 1. Any responses collected on January 30-31 are not flagged as sensitive because Treat the response as sensitive data was cleared at the time, and therefore will not be included in future data deletion and purge requests. Responses collected from February 1 onwards are flagged as sensitive and can be deleted or purged.

Example

On January 30, you distribute an activity with a Date Entry screen that asks participants their date of birth. After distribution, you realize you forgot to select Treat the response as sensitive data. You select this setting and publish your changes to the live activity on February 1.

Any responses collected on January 30-31 are not flagged as sensitive because Treat the response as sensitive data was cleared at the time, and therefore will not be included in future data deletion and purge requests. Responses collected from February 1 onwards are flagged as sensitive and can be deleted or purged.