How a Madrid Company Created Continuous Compliance for Data Under EU Data Act Using Data Access Request Workflow

In today’s fast-evolving data landscape, companies face increasing regulatory pressure, especially under the EU Data Act. Ensuring continuous compliance with data access, portability, and interoperability requirements has become a critical challenge for data-driven enterprises. 📊 This case study dives deep into how a data company based in Madrid tackled this challenge by automating their data access request workflow, transforming manual processes into seamless, scalable operations using advanced automation tools.

In this article, you will learn about the friction caused by EU Data Act compliance, pitfalls of manual handling, and how RestFlow architected and implemented a robust automation workflow leveraging n8n and integrations with Gmail, Google Sheets, and Slack. We’ll explore the technical details, performance benefits, and how Automation-as-a-Service makes ongoing compliance sustainable. Whether you’re a startup CTO or an automation engineer, this step-by-step success story offers valuable insights to streamline your compliance operations efficiently.

Case Context & Problem: Friction in Compliance for a Madrid-Based Data Company

The client is a fast-growing data management company headquartered in Madrid, Spain, specializing in data analytics services for various industries. The compliance and operations teams within the company faced significant challenges handling data access requests from customers and regulators under the recently enforced EU Data Act. This regulation emphasizes themes such as data access, portability, data sharing terms, and interoperability — all requiring strict adherence.

Prior to automation, the company managed data access requests primarily through email and spreadsheet tracking, a labor-intensive and error-prone process. The operations team reported spending over 40 hours a month manually processing requests, coordinating approvals, exporting data, and maintaining logs. Error rates were high, causing delays that risked breaching compliance SLAs and potentially incurring regulatory penalties. Furthermore, the lack of a centralized audit trail complicated both internal reviews and external audits.

This inefficient process not only strained the teams but also impacted customer experience, leading to longer response times and reduced trust in data handling capabilities.

Quantifying the friction:

• 40+ manual hours/month spent processing data access requests
• 15% error rate due to manual data exports and approvals
• Inconsistent audit logs, risking compliance violations
• 30% delay in meeting SLA response times for requests

These challenges drove the company to seek a comprehensive automation solution that could deliver continuous compliance aligned with the EU Data Act mandates.

Our Approach: RestFlow’s Compliance-First Automation Proposal

RestFlow was engaged as the compliance-first automation partner to analyze and transform the client’s manual data access request process. Our initial phase involved detailed process discovery workshops with compliance, operations, and IT teams to map every step — from request intake to final data export and audit logging.

Key insights gathered included:

• Decentralized request intake channels (email mostly)
• Lack of automated validation or approvals
• Manual and inconsistent data exports from internal CRMs and data lakes
• No centralized system for audit trails or compliance reporting

Given the complexity and the need for scalable, transparent workflows, RestFlow recommended building an end-to-end automation architecture based on n8n — an open-source workflow orchestration platform with rich integration capabilities supporting Gmail, Google Sheets, Slack, and REST APIs.

We selected n8n for its flexibility and support for complex conditional logic essential to comply with various data access and portability rules under the EU Data Act. This also aligned well with the client’s preference for avoiding vendor lock-in and easily adapting workflows in the future.

Our proposal focused on:

• Automating data access request intake and validation
• Implementing multi-level approval gates
• Automating data export and packaging
• Generating immutable audit logs for compliance audits
• Providing real-time notifications via Slack and email

We designed the architecture to be modular and extensible to quickly accommodate regulatory updates and evolving internal processes.

The Solution: Architecture & Workflow

Automation Architecture Overview

The core architecture constituted:

• Trigger: Webhook endpoint exposed via n8n to receive data access requests submitted via a secure web form or email parser.
• Workflow Engine: n8n orchestrating the entire sequence of actions — validations, decisions, and integrations.
• Integrated Services: Gmail (for email notifications and intake), Google Sheets (as a lightweight, audit-compliant log repository), Slack (for real-time team notifications), and REST API calls to in-house data systems and CRM.
• Outputs: Automated data packages sent securely to requestors, audit logs stored reliably, status dashboards updated dynamically.

This architecture enabled seamless automation while maintaining strict control and traceability.

End-to-End Data Access Request Workflow

The workflow execution followed these steps:

1. Request Intake: Customer submits data access request through a web form, triggering a webhook in n8n.
2. Validation: Workflow validates request parameters—checks for completeness, requestor identity verification via CRM lookup.
3. Approval Gate: Automated notification sent to the compliance manager via Slack and email.
   Compliance manager approves or rejects request via Slack interactive message or email response.
4. Data Export: Once approved, n8n triggers API calls to the company’s data storage systems to generate/export requested data sets.
5. Data Packaging & Delivery: Exported data is compressed and encrypted, then securely emailed or made available via a protected download link.
   An automatic confirmation email is sent to the requestor.
6. Audit Logging: All steps including timestamps, actors, approval status, and file hashes are logged to Google Sheets and internal dashboards.
7. Exception Handling: Failed exports or delays trigger Slack alerts and retry mechanisms.

Explore the Automation Template Marketplace to find ready-to-use workflow templates similar to this project for jumpstarting your own automation efforts.

Step-by-Step Node Breakdown 🚀

1. Webhook Listener (Trigger)

This node exposes a secure HTTPS webhook endpoint in n8n that listens for incoming data access request submissions.
Key features:

• Authenticated via API key in headers
• Captures JSON payload including requester ID, data scope, and justification
• Initial validation for schema correctness

2. CRM Lookup (Data Enrichment)

Using the requestor email from the webhook, this node queries the company’s CRM (via REST API) to verify identity and retrieve requestor details.
Key fields: email address, compliance tag, active contract status.
n8n expressions map the webhook input to API query parameters.

3. Validation Logic Node (Decision Branching) 🔍

Applies conditional logic:

• If request incomplete or invalid identity → sends rejection email automatically.
• If valid → proceeds to approval stage.

Uses boolean expressions and filters within n8n to direct flow.

4. Approval Notification (Slack & Gmail)

Sends an interactive Slack message to the compliance manager with request details and buttons for Approve/Reject.
Simultaneously sends an email summary.
Node configuration includes:

• Slack channel and user IDs
• Email templates with dynamic fields

5. Approval Response Handler

Listens for Slack button clicks or email reply webhooks.
Updates workflow state:

• Approved → triggers data export.
• Rejected → sends rejection notification to requestor and logs status.

6. Data Export Orchestration

Calls internal APIs asynchronously to generate data packages matching the request parameters.
Wait node polls for export completion.
Successful export outputs file URLs.

7. Data Packaging & Delivery

Retrieves export files, compresses and encrypts them.
Uploads files to cloud storage with restricted access.
Emails secure download links to requestor with expiry timestamp.

8. Audit Logging (Google Sheets)

Appends each request’s full lifecycle data—including timestamps, actors, status, and file hashes—to a central Google Sheet.
Ensures immutable records for audit purposes.

9. Error Handling & Alerts ⚠️

Any failures trigger Slack alerts to the operations team with detailed error metadata.
Retry logic with exponential backoff is implemented in case of transient API errors.

Error Handling, Robustness & Security

Error Handling and Retries

The workflow uses n8n’s built-in error workflow handlers to capture and log failures. Automatic retries for remote API calls implement exponential backoff based on HTTP status codes.

Slack notifications alert the on-call team immediately on consecutive failures or SLA breaches.

Idempotency is enforced by tracking request IDs in Google Sheets to avoid duplicate processing.

Logging and Observability

Detailed logs from each node are retained within n8n and outputted to Google Sheets for centralized monitoring.
Dashboard integrations allow team leads to monitor request volumes, approval times, and error rates in near real-time.

Security and Data Protection

All API keys and secrets are stored securely within n8n credentials vault.
Least privilege scopes are applied to integrations.
PII such as customer emails is encrypted in logs.
Access control enforced on Google Sheets audit and cloud storage links.
All external endpoints use HTTPS with MFA on Slack and Gmail accounts.

Performance, Scaling & Extensibility

To handle scaling request volumes, queues and concurrency limits are configured in n8n.
Webhooks enable instant triggering without resource-intensive polling.

The modular workflow design permits quick extension:

• Supporting additional compliance teams by duplicating approval nodes with routing logic
• Adding integrations to new data sources or CRM systems
• Enabling multi-country compliance variants by parameter injection

RestFlow’s managed hosting infrastructure provides stable performance and uptime even during peak volume spikes.

Comparison Tables

n8n vs Make vs Zapier for Data Access Request Workflow

Option	Cost	Pros	Cons
n8n	Free Open Source with Paid Hosting Options	Flexible, self-hosted, supports complex logic and custom nodes, no vendor lock-in	Requires technical expertise to configure and maintain if self-hosted
Make	Subscription Tiers from $9 to $99+/month	Visual editor, many prebuilt integrations, easy to set up	Limits on task runs, less flexible for complex branching
Zapier	Free plan with limits, Paid plans start $19.99/month	User-friendly, great for simple automations and popular app connectivity	Limited complex logic, higher costs for large volumes

Webhook vs Polling for Data Access Request Automation

Method	Latency	Resource Usage	Reliability
Webhook	Near real-time (seconds)	Low (event-driven)	High, but depends on endpoint availability
Polling	Delayed (intervals of minutes)	High (constant requests)	Reliable if interval set correctly, but latency impacted

Google Sheets vs Database for Audit Log Storage

Storage Option	Setup Complexity	Cost	Auditability
Google Sheets	Low, simple integration	Free (within limits)	Good for small volumes, manual history limited
Relational Database (e.g. PostgreSQL)	Higher, requires DB management	Variable, can be low to moderate	Excellent, supports versioning & complex queries

Results & Business Impact

After implementing the automated data access request workflow, the client reported remarkable improvements:

• 75% reduction in manual processing hours (from 40 to 10 hours/month)
• 90% decrease in data export errors and inconsistencies
• 100% compliance with SLA response times, reducing delays by over 30%
• Improved operational visibility with real-time dashboards and automated audit logs
• Compliance managers experienced calmer, more predictable operations with fewer ad-hoc firefights

Overall, the automation transformed a high-friction, compliance risk process into a scalable, audit-ready system that improved customer trust and regulatory standing.

Such quantifiable metrics prove the business value of automating compliance tasks under complex regulations like the EU Data Act [Source: to be added].

Pilot Phase & Maintenance Disclaimer

The workflow underwent a rigorous pilot phase where it was run in parallel with manual processes on real, but controlled, request data.

During this pilot, RestFlow worked closely with the operations and compliance teams to identify and fix minor bugs, adjust thresholds, and handle edge cases.

Following the pilot success, RestFlow assumed full responsibility for hosting, monitoring, maintaining, and updating the automation workflows.

This collaborative, phased approach ensures that automation remains reliable, secure, and adaptable, safeguarding continuous compliance as regulations or company needs evolve.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Conclusion

Automating data access requests under the EU Data Act not only mitigates regulatory risks but also significantly enhances operational efficiency and customer trust. This Madrid-based data company’s journey illuminates the tangible benefits of deploying a well-architected automation workflow using n8n and complementary tools, expertly delivered by RestFlow’s Automation-as-a-Service.

The transition from a cumbersome manual process to a seamlessly orchestrated, audit-ready workflow saved hundreds of hours annually, improved data handling accuracy, and ensured continuous compliance. Moreover, RestFlow’s ongoing hosting, monitoring, and maintenance provide peace of mind that automation adapts smoothly to evolving regulations.

If your organization is navigating the complexities of EU data compliance, explore how RestFlow can help you design, implement, and sustain powerful automations at scale.

Don’t wait to start optimizing your compliance processes—Explore the Automation Template Marketplace or Create Your Free RestFlow Account today!