How a Marketing Team in Amsterdam Built Audit-Ready GDPR Operations by Automating DSAR Intake & Fulfillment

In today’s data-driven world, complying with privacy regulations like GDPR is a complex challenge for marketing teams handling sensitive customer data. 📊 For a marketing team based in Amsterdam, managing Data Subject Access Requests (DSARs) manually led to long processing times, errors, and compliance risks. This case study explores how they built audit-ready operations aligned with GDPR by automating DSAR intake and fulfillment using RestFlow’s compliance-first automation approach.

In this article, you will learn how RestFlow analyzed the manual DSAR process, designed scalable automated workflows integrating tools such as Gmail, Google Sheets, and Slack, and delivered an end-to-end DSAR solution enforcing privacy-by-design and accountability principles. We’ll cover the technical architecture, step-by-step workflow stages, error handling, security practices, and measurable business benefits. Whether you’re a CTO, operations specialist, or automation engineer, this article shows practical insights for automating GDPR rights request management in a marketing context.

Case Context & Problem: Manual DSAR Compliance in Amsterdam’s Marketing Sector

The client is a mid-sized digital marketing agency based in Amsterdam, Netherlands, serving European clients across various industries. Their marketing department is responsible for collecting and processing personal data for campaigns, email outreach, and performance analytics. With GDPR fully enforced in the EU, managing rights requests such as access, deletion, or correction (DSARs) became a regulatory imperative.

Before automation, the marketing team handled DSAR intake mostly via email. Requests arrived through multiple channels: contact forms, direct emails, CRM entries, or social messages. Processing involved manual verification of requester identities, locating relevant data across disparate tools, composing responses confirming lawful basis, and tracking SLA deadlines in spreadsheets. This process was:

• Time-consuming: Over 20 hours/month spent collecting, verifying, and fulfilling DSARs.
• Error-prone: Frequent risk of missing SLA deadlines or misrouting requests, jeopardizing compliance.
• Lacking visibility: No centralized dashboard for tracking requests status or audit logs.
• Scalability issues: As marketing campaigns expanded, DSAR volume increased significantly.

This fragmented, manual approach posed legal and operational risks. The marketing team needed a streamlined, scalable solution with privacy-by-design principles embedded to sustain GDPR compliance without burdening resources.

Our Approach: Discovery, Process Mapping, and Automation Strategy

RestFlow began by collaborating closely with the Amsterdam marketing team through discovery workshops to understand their DSAR lifecycle from intake to fulfillment. Key steps identified included:

• Request capture from multiple sources
• Identity verification to confirm data subject rights
• Data extraction from marketing platforms and CRM
• Compliance checks for lawful basis and data minimization
• Response preparation and communication
• SLA monitoring and audit logging

We cataloged the client’s data systems: Gmail for email, HubSpot CRM, Google Sheets for legacy tracking, and Slack for team communication. The manual process also highlighted clear pain points where automation could reduce errors and accelerate throughput.

After evaluating automation platforms, we proposed using n8n as the orchestration tool due to its flexibility, open architecture, and strong integration capabilities. n8n’s ability to create modular workflows, handle conditional logic, and store credentials securely aligned with the client’s privacy and operational requirements.

The high-level architecture designed involved triggering workflows upon new DSAR submissions via webhooks, orchestrating verification and data retrieval steps, sending templated replies, logging actions centrally, and raising alerts on SLA breaches.

RestFlow’s expertise enabled a compliance-first automation strategy embedding GDPR themes: privacy-by-design through secure data handling, data minimization by extracting only requested records, managing rights requests with thorough identity checks, establishing lawful basis validation, and maintaining accountability via detailed logs.

For marketing teams seeking similar compliance automation, explore the Automation Template Marketplace for ready workflow examples.

The Solution: Architecture & End-to-End Workflow

Global Architecture Overview
Our solution consists of an automated workflow orchestrated by n8n, triggered by DSAR submission events, and integrated with external services:

• Triggers: Incoming DSAR submissions via a secure webhook endpoint, capturing data subject information and request type (access, deletion, correction).
• Orchestration tool: n8n runs the automation workflows, implementing logic and sequencing steps from intake to response.
• External integrations: Gmail API to fetch and send emails, HubSpot CRM for data retrieval, Google Sheets for audit logging and SLA tracking, Slack for team notifications.
• Outputs: Automated acknowledgment emails, DSAR fulfillment replies, an audit-ready spreadsheet log, and alert messages for overdue requests.

End-to-End Workflow Walkthrough

1. DSAR Intake: A customer submits a rights request via a web form connected to a webhook. The webhook node in n8n receives and parses the request data.
2. Identity Verification: The workflow queries CRM records by email to verify the requester’s identity matches existing data. If verification fails, a manual review is triggered.
3. Request Type Handling: Depending on request type (access, deletion, correction), the workflow branches to appropriate data retrieval or update steps.
4. Data Extraction: For access requests, the workflow extracts relevant marketing data from HubSpot using API calls filtered by the requester’s ID.
5. Data Minimization: Only requested data fields are collected, respecting privacy-by-design principles.
6. Response Preparation: Using templated email drafts in Gmail, the workflow composes responses including confirmation of lawful basis and estimated deadlines.
7. SLA Tracking: The request details and due date are logged in Google Sheets; Slack notifications alert the team on upcoming deadlines.
8. Audit Logging: Every action, including data output, identity checks, and communication, is recorded with timestamps to maintain accountability.

This orchestration ensures DSARs are handled with minimal human intervention, faster turnaround, and full compliance visibility.

Step-by-Step Node Breakdown 🔧

1. Webhook Node: DSAR Intake Trigger 🚀

This node receives HTTP POST requests from the DSAR web form submission. It parses JSON payload containing requester details and request type.
Fields captured include email, request_type, additional_info. The webhook URL is shared securely with the marketing team.

2. CRM Contact Lookup Node 🔍

Utilizes HubSpot’s Contacts API to search for a contact by the requester’s email. If no match is found, the workflow branches to an alert node signaling manual verification is needed.
Key expression: filter=[{“property”:”email”,”operator”:”EQ”,”value”:”{{$json[“email”]}}”}]

3. Identity Verification Decision Node ⚖️

A conditional node checks if the CRM lookup was successful. If yes, the workflow proceeds; if not, a Slack alert is sent to the data protection officer for identity confirmation.

4. Data Retrieval Node 📊

For ‘access’ requests, this node calls HubSpot API endpoints to fetch marketing activity data linked to the contact ID, such as email campaigns subscribed/unsubscribed, form submissions, and tracked interactions.
The data returned is filtered to exclude any unnecessary fields to meet data minimization principles.

5. Email Response Node 📧

Uses Gmail’s send message API to send a templated response email. The template is dynamically populated with requester name, DSAR type, data retrieved (or confirmation of deletion/correction), and SLA deadlines.
Template variables references include: {{$json[“name”]}}, {{$json[“request_type”]}}, and formatted SLA dates.

6. SLA Logging Node 🕒

Appends a row to a Google Sheet tracking DSAR requests with columns: Request ID, Requester Email, Request Type, Incoming Date, SLA Deadline (e.g., within 30 days), Status.
Enables audit-ready tracking and dashboard generation.

7. Slack Notification Node 🔔

Sends real-time Slack messages to the marketing compliance channel alerting team members about newly received DSARs and near due deadlines, ensuring accountability and timely actions.

8. Error Handling and Fallback Node ⚠️

Captures any failed API calls or workflow errors, logs details to a separate Google Sheet, and triggers a high-priority Slack alert for immediate investigation by the RestFlow team.

Error Handling, Robustness & Security

Error Handling and Retries

The workflow includes retry mechanisms with exponential backoff on network or API errors. For example, failed Gmail sends are retried up to 3 times. Unrecoverable errors are caught by catch nodes directing to error logs.

Logging and Observability

All key workflow events and requests are logged with timestamps to Google Sheets providing audit trails for GDPR accountability. RestFlow monitors execution logs using the n8n cloud console and sets alerts via Slack for anomalies or failures.

Data Security & Privacy

All API credentials are stored encrypted within n8n credentials manager with least-privilege scopes. Personally Identifiable Information (PII) is handled in compliance with GDPR, avoiding unnecessary data retention. The workflow uses scoped tokens for HubSpot and Gmail APIs.

Performance, Scaling & Extensibility

The architecture supports scaling by using webhooks for instant DSAR intake rather than polling, reducing load and latency. Requests are queued and processed asynchronously to avoid bottlenecks. The modular design allows easy adaptation for new marketing teams or additional request types.

Version control and staged deployments ensure safe rollout of workflow updates. RestFlow’s managed hosting platform provides stable uptime and real-time monitoring at scale.

Automation Platform Comparison

Platform	Cost	Pros	Cons
n8n	Open source tier; Cloud from $20/month	Highly customizable; strong privacy controls; self-hosting option	Learning curve for complex workflows; requires maintenance if self-hosted
Make	Free tier; paid plans from $9/month	Visual flow builder; robust integrations	Less flexible for complex logic; limited privacy configurations
Zapier	Free tier; paid plans from $19.99/month	User-friendly; large app ecosystem	Limited customization; costly at scale; less compliance-focused

Webhook vs Polling for DSAR Intake

Method	Latency	Resource Usage	Complexity	Reliability
Webhook	Low (near real-time)	Low (event-driven)	Medium (requires secure endpoints)	High (immediate trigger)
Polling	Higher (interval dependent)	Higher (constant checks)	Low (simple schedules)	Medium (missed data risk)

Google Sheets vs Database Storage for DSAR Logs

Storage Option	Setup Complexity	Cost	Scalability	Accessibility
Google Sheets	Low	Free/low cost	Limited (thousands of rows max)	High (easy sharing/view)
Database (e.g., PostgreSQL)	Medium (requires config)	Variable (hosting fees)	High (millions of records)	Medium (requires tools)

Results & Business Impact

Post automation deployment, the marketing team in Amsterdam observed significant improvements across DSAR processing:

• Time Saved: From 20+ hours to under 6 hours per month on DSAR tasks, a 70% reduction in manual effort. [Source: to be added]
• Error Reduction: SLA breaches dropped to near zero as workflow enforced deadlines and alerts.
• Faster Response: Average DSAR fulfillment time improved from 15 days to 5 days.
• Improved Visibility: Centralized dashboards and logs allowed compliance officers to audit requests anytime.
• Operational Calm: Marketing staff gained confidence handling rights requests without constant firefighting.

This automation empowered the marketing and compliance teams to maintain GDPR-aligned operations at scale, enhancing trust with clients and regulators.

Pilot Phase & Ongoing Maintenance Disclaimer

As with all RestFlow Automation-as-a-Service projects, there was an explicit pilot phase where the DSAR workflow ran alongside the manual process using real but controlled data. During this period, the RestFlow team closely monitored performance, resolved edge cases, adjusted error handling, and ensured full GDPR compliance.

After successful piloting, RestFlow assumed responsibility for ongoing hosting, monitoring, updates, and audits to keep the workflow stable and compliant as regulations and internal processes evolve.

This approach ensures that automation is continuously refined in live operation, with RestFlow as a long-term compliance-first automation partner.

FAQ

Conclusion

In this case study, we explored how a marketing team in Amsterdam transformed their GDPR DSAR intake and fulfillment process by adopting a compliance-first automation workflow designed and implemented by RestFlow. Automating manual, error-prone DSAR operations not only saved over 70% of processing time but also enhanced compliance with privacy-by-design and accountability principles.

Leveraging n8n’s flexible orchestration combined with integrations to Gmail, HubSpot, Google Sheets, and Slack, the solution created audit-ready, scalable, and calm operations aligned with GDPR’s complexity.

With RestFlow’s Automation-as-a-Service model, clients benefit from turnkey automation: from bespoke workflow design and development to managed hosting, ongoing monitoring, and maintenance—ensuring workflows remain compliant and effective as regulations and business needs evolve.

If your team faces similar challenges, don’t wait to streamline your DSAR or other compliance processes. Explore automation templates or create your free RestFlow account to get started today.