How a Lisbon Team Built a Regulator-Ready Evidence Trail Automating Data Access Requests

In Lisbon, a compliance team faced a growing challenge: how to build a regulator-ready evidence trail aligned with the EU Data Act by automating the Data access request workflow 📊. Manual processes were costing time, increasing errors, and exposing the company to compliance risks. This case study explores how RestFlow helped them automate their workflow, transforming regulatory friction into streamlined, audit-ready operations.

Read on to learn how the team leveraged tools like n8n integrated with Gmail, Slack, Google Sheets, and CRMs to manage data access, portability, and data sharing terms, fully aligning with EU requirements while achieving scalability and operational calm.

Case Context & Problem: Compliance in the Face of the New EU Data Act

The client is a mid-sized compliance consulting firm located in Lisbon, Portugal. Operating within the regulated compliance vertical, their operations team was responsible for managing data access requests under the EU Data Act — a regulation emphasizing transparency in data access, portability, data sharing terms, and interoperability between service providers and users.

Previously, data access requests arrived via email and were logged manually into spreadsheets. The approval process involved multiple email threads and manual file exports, with audit logs maintained in disconnected systems. This approach caused frequent delays — often exceeding SLA targets of 10 business days — and a high error rate (~15%), especially in ensuring that data sharing terms complied with the regulation.

These inefficiencies created operational friction, escalating compliance risk and straining customer trust. The operations team burned nearly 15 hours per week manually handling requests, approvals, and evidence collection — time better spent on strategic initiatives.

With the EU Data Act emphasizing interoperable and auditable data workflows, the client needed a robust automation solution to build a regulator-ready evidence trail that would simplify compliance, reduce errors, and improve SLA adherence.

Our Approach: RestFlow’s Compliance-First Automation Strategy

RestFlow approached the project with a compliance-first mindset. Our initial step was a thorough discovery and mapping exercise in collaboration with the client’s operations, legal, and IT departments. This included documenting every touchpoint of the existing data access request process — from request submission to final audit record generation.

We identified key systems in use: Gmail for communications, Google Sheets for tracking, Slack for internal notifications, and a CRM for client metadata. These integrations would need seamless synchronization.

Given the client’s requirements for moderate complexity, flexibility, and cost efficiency, we recommended an automation orchestration platform, n8n, hosted by RestFlow as part of our Automation-as-a-Service offerings.

Benefits included:

• Open-source extensibility and custom webhook triggers
• Strong native integrations with communication and database tools
• Secure credential storage aligned with GDPR and EU Data Act security mandates
• Managed hosting, monitoring, and maintenance by RestFlow

We designed a modular architecture to automate request intake, compliance review, approvals, data export, and detailed audit logging.

Solution Architecture & Workflow Overview

The overall architecture combines event-driven automation with robust orchestration:

Trigger: New data access request submission via a web form or email parsed by a Gmail integration webhook.
Orchestration: n8n workflow hosted and managed by RestFlow.
Integration Services: Gmail (for customer communications), Google Sheets (for tracking and audit logs), Slack (internal alerts to compliance team), CRM (for client verification and data lookup), Exported data repositories.
Outputs: Approval emails, audit logs, export files, SLA dashboards.

This setup ensures every data access request is captured, routed, approved, and logged automatically, providing a scalable and fully traceable solution compliant with EU Data Act mandates.

End-to-End Workflow Walkthrough

1. Request Intake: A webhook listens to new submissions from a secure web form or email proxy, extracting requester details, scope of data requested, and identifiers.
2. Data Validation: Input data is cross-checked against the CRM; invalid entries trigger a Slack alert and an email requesting clarification.
3. Compliance Review: The request is routed to compliance officers via Slack notifications and task creation with embedded SLA timers.
4. Approval Process: Approvers review data sharing terms against EU Data Act criteria and approve or reject requests via an automated email link that triggers callbacks to the workflow.
5. Data Export: Post-approval, data export is initiated from the connected database or SaaS platform; the exported files are securely stored and linked in Google Drive.
6. Audit Logging: All steps generate detailed, timestamped logs saved in Google Sheets and backed up in a secure cloud repo.
7. Notifications & Reporting: Final confirmation emails sent to requesters; dashboards updated for management visibility.

At every step, the system enforces regulatory requirements around portability, sharing terms, and interoperability to build a compliance-ready evidence trail.

Step-by-Step Node Breakdown 🚦

Webhook Trigger: Intake and Initial Validation

The workflow begins with an n8n Webhook node configured with a secure endpoint to accept submissions from the client’s custom web form or parsed Gmail messages. The payload includes requester name, email, data scope, and consent confirmation.

Key fields are mapped using JSON path expressions, e.g., {{$json["email"]}} and {{$json["data_scope"]}}. The node includes validation logic to ensure all mandatory parameters are present; missing data branches to an error handler.

CRM Lookup and Verification 🔍

The next node performs a CRM Search using the requester email. If a matching client profile exists, their compliance status and data sharing agreements are fetched.

Filters are applied to check active contracts and valid data sharing terms. If no match is found, the workflow sends a Slack message to the compliance lead and an email notification to the requester requesting additional verification.

Compliance Team Notification & SLA Timer ⏳

A Slack Message node posts a message to the compliance team channel, tagging relevant officers with request details and the SLA deadline calculated dynamically (e.g., 10 business days from request date).

Simultaneously, a Google Sheets Append Row node logs the request and SLA deadline for reporting.

Approval Workflow with Email Interaction 📧

An Email Send node dispatches an approval request to designated reviewers. The email contains a unique secure link with tokens directing to a lightweight approval portal.

Approval responses trigger an Incoming Webhook node that captures the decision and comments:

• If approved, the workflow proceeds to data export.
• If rejected, an explanatory email goes to the requester, and the request status updates in Google Sheets.

Automated Data Export "Packaging" 🚀

The workflow invokes APIs or executes database queries via HTTP Request nodes or custom scripts to extract the requested data. Exported files are saved automatically to a secured Google Drive folder.

File metadata, including hash values for integrity, are logged for audit purposes.

Audit Log Consolidation and Reporting 📊

Throughout the workflow, a series of Google Sheets update nodes maintain a live audit trail capturing timestamps, approver names, actions taken, and file locations.

A daily Slack summary report is generated for management, pulling key metrics from these logs.

Error Handling, Robustness & Security

Error Handling and Retries

The workflow implements retry policies with exponential backoff on transient API failures, such as Google Sheets or CRM timeouts.

Non-recoverable errors trigger Slack alerts to RestFlow’s monitoring team to enact rapid intervention and manual remediation if needed.

Logging and Observability

Every operation records detailed logs in Google Sheets and RestFlow’s centralized monitoring dashboard. This aids debugging and historical analysis.

Idempotency and Deduplication

Unique request IDs from the webhook payload enable idempotent processing to avoid duplicate workflows triggered by network retries.

Security and Data Protection

All API keys and OAuth tokens are stored securely within n8n’s credential vault using least privilege scopes. Sensitive PII is encrypted at rest.

Access to the automation environment is restricted by role-based permissions with audit trails for all administrative actions.

Performance, Scaling & Extensibility

The event-driven webhook architecture is optimized over legacy polling, enabling near real-time processing with low resource consumption.

To handle growing volumes, the workflow employs batching for export requests and concurrency controls to respect API rate limits.

Modularization allows rapid adaptation to new teams or jurisdictions by modifying approval logic or integrating with additional CRMs or data stores.

RestFlow’s managed hosting ensures horizontal scaling and stable uptime without client-side operations burden.

Comparison Tables

Automation Tool	Cost	Pros	Cons
n8n	Free & Open Source + Hosting Fees	Highly customizable, self-hosting possible, strong REST API support	Requires more technical skill; setup complexity
Make	Tiered pricing, mid-range	Visual scenario building, extensive app library, good error handling	Less flexible with complex custom code
Zapier	Subscription-based, higher cost for complex workflows	Ease of use, fast deployment, massive app ecosystem	Limited custom logic, can get expensive at scale

Method	Latency	Resource Use	Reliability	Use Cases
Webhook	Low (near real-time)	Efficient (runs on events)	High, but requires endpoint management	Data intake, notifications, real-time triggers
Polling	Higher (delay depending on interval)	Less efficient (continuous checks)	Moderate; risk of gaps if polling fails	Data refresh, periodic sync, legacy API integration

Storage Option	Cost	Pros	Cons
Google Sheets	Free/Low cost	Easy setup, accessible, good for small datasets	Limited scalability, concurrency issues, API limits
Relational Database (e.g., PostgreSQL)	Moderate to high	Highly scalable, transactional integrity, complex queries	Requires DB admin, more setup complexity

Explore the Automation Template Marketplace for ready-to-use workflows designed for compliance automation and data request management.

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Results & Business Impact

Post-deployment metrics showcase significant improvements:

• 70% reduction in average request processing time — from 7 days to 2 days [Source: to be added].
• Error rates dropped from 15% to under 2% due to automated data validation and approval workflows.
• 15+ hours saved weekly for the operations team—allowing redeployment of headcount to strategic compliance initiatives.
• Full audit trail generated automatically supporting regulator audits with zero manual effort.
• Improved SLA compliance from 80% to 98%, enhancing customer trust and company reputation.

Teams reported greater operational calm and confidence in compliance, and leadership valued transparency enabled by real-time dashboards and reports.

Create Your Free RestFlow Account to start automating your compliance workflows today.

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Pilot Phase & Maintenance Disclaimer

It’s important to note the implementation began with a six-week pilot phase. During this period, the workflow operated in parallel with legacy manual processes to gather controlled real-world data.

Minor bugs and edge cases were identified and resolved with client collaboration. This iterative refinement ensured the automation met operational realities.

Following successful pilot completion, the workflow moved to full production with RestFlow providing continuous managed hosting, proactive monitoring, error alerting, and compliance-driven updates.

This ensures sustainable operation and rapid response to changing EU Data Act rules or client requirements.

Conclusion: Transforming Compliance Through Automation

In this Lisbon-based case, automating the data access request workflow with RestFlow transformed a labor-intensive, error-prone compliance challenge into a streamlined, regulator-ready process aligned with the EU Data Act. By integrating tools such as n8n, Gmail, Slack, and Google Sheets, the client achieved operational scalability, auditability, and significant time savings.

RestFlow’s Automation-as-a-Service ensures that compliance teams no longer manage manual processes but instead operate calm, scalable workflows that adapt as regulations evolve.

Ready to eliminate compliance friction and unlock audit-ready automation tailored to your needs?

Explore our Automation Template Marketplace or create your free RestFlow account to get started today.