How RestFlow Automated Trust & Safety Evidence Logs for DSA Compliance in Copenhagen

Compliance teams across Europe face mounting challenges with new regulations like the Digital Services Act (DSA). For organizations based in Copenhagen, ensuring seamless automation of Trust & Safety evidence logs is key to meeting the DSA’s strict demands. 🚀 This case study reveals how a compliance leader partnered with RestFlow to turn manual, error-prone processes into efficient, auditable workflows.

In this detailed article, you will learn about the friction points created by the DSA, the risks tied to manual compliance efforts, and the robust automation architecture designed and implemented by RestFlow using tools like n8n. We’ll walk you through the step-by-step workflow design, explore integration choices, and show how Automation-as-a-Service delivers sustainable compliance at scale.

If you’re a startup CTO, automation engineer, or operations specialist looking to streamline compliance under evolving EU regulations, this case study will offer practical insights and actionable guidance.

Case Context & Problem: Challenges of DSA Compliance in Copenhagen’s Compliance Sector

The client is a compliance leader based in Copenhagen, Denmark, operating within the Compliance vertical of a fast-growing European technology platform. Their key department involved was Trust & Safety, responsible for enforcing platform policies, conducting risk assessments, and generating evidence logs to satisfy the Digital Services Act (DSA) mandates.

Before automation, Trust & Safety evidence logs were managed manually using spreadsheets, emails, and disconnected tools. This process was time-consuming, prone to human error, and lacked transparency. The team spent an estimated 40 hours per week compiling and validating logs, delaying incident responses and exposing the company to audit risks. Delays in documentation hindered the platform’s notice-and-action responsiveness and jeopardized platform accountability under DSA.

Moreover, the absence of centralized, real-time data resulted in poor visibility into compliance activities, impacting internal governance and increasing the potential for regulatory penalties. With the DSA emphasizing transparency and comprehensive risk assessments, the manual approach was unsustainable as volumes of safety decisions scaled rapidly.

Our Approach: RestFlow’s Compliance-First Automation Strategy

RestFlow’s team started with a discovery phase, mapping the client’s existing Trust & Safety evidence workflows in detail. We conducted stakeholder interviews, process audits, and systems integration assessments to understand data sources and pain points.

Key systems identified included Gmail for internal communications, Google Sheets for record-keeping, Slack for real-time team alerts, and the client’s internal CRM for case management. Given the diverse toolset and necessity for custom logic, RestFlow chose n8n as the orchestration engine due to its flexibility, transparency, and open-source foundation, which aligned with DSA’s transparency theme.

The objective was to automate the end-to-end lifecycle of Trust & Safety evidence logs: from capturing incident reports, validating and enriching data, applying compliance controls, to generating audit-ready reports. This would minimize manual overhead, reduce errors, and ensure timely, transparent documentation.

The high-level proposed architecture involved event-triggered workflows, API integrations, multi-step data validation, conditional decision nodes, approval gates, and multi-channel notifications. This approach treated compliance as a first-class citizen, embedding regulatory controls within automation rather than as an afterthought.

The Solution: Automation Architecture & Workflow Design

The automation architecture designed by RestFlow centers around the following components:

• Triggers: Webhooks from the client’s internal case management system and scheduled polls for new incident reports.
• Orchestration: n8n cloud-hosted workflows orchestrate data collection, validation, and processing.
• Integrated Services: Gmail (email parsing), Google Sheets (persistent logs), Slack (team alerts), CRM APIs (case data), and cloud storage for evidence archiving.
• Outputs: Audit-ready Trust & Safety evidence logs stored centrally, Slack notifications for action items, and compliance dashboards updated in near real-time.

This architecture supports the DSA themes of platform accountability, transparency, notice-and-action, and risk assessments by automating data capture, approvals, and reporting workflows.

End-to-End Workflow Walkthrough

1. Incident Report Trigger: When a Trust & Safety event occurs, a webhook sends incident details (case ID, timestamp, action taken) to the n8n workflow.

2. Data Collection: n8n fetches related information from the CRM via API, extracts supplementary context from Gmail threads, and cross-references data in Google Sheets for historical context.

3. Data Validation & Enrichment: Workflow nodes validate mandatory fields, check for duplicates (idempotency), and enrich data with risk assessment scores sourced from internal databases.

4. Decision Logic & Approvals: Conditional nodes evaluate compliance controls—if risks exceed thresholds, an approval task is created and routed via Slack to compliance managers for review.

5. Evidence Logging: Approved incidents are logged into Google Sheets with timestamps, links to supporting documents stored in cloud storage, and metadata for audit trails.

6. Notifications & Dashboards: Real-time Slack notifications update teams on status changes. Aggregated metrics feed into dashboards for transparency reporting.

Step-by-Step Node Breakdown 🚦

Trigger Node: Webhook Receiver

This node listens for HTTP POST requests from the client’s case management system. It validates payload structure to confirm presence of key attributes like case ID and action type. The webhook endpoint is secured with token authentication to prevent unauthorized access.

Gmail Integration: Email Thread Parsing 📧

Using the Gmail API node, the workflow fetches email conversations linked to a case by searching sender and subject. Parsed messages are transformed into structured JSON for easier analysis later.

Google Sheets: Centralized Logging

The workflow queries Google Sheets to verify whether a given incident ID exists already, ensuring no duplicate entries are created (idempotency). New or updated records are appended or modified, respectively.

Conditional Nodes: Compliance Controls ⚠️

Decision nodes evaluate if the incident requires additional approval based on risk scores retrieved. If so, an approval task is created and assigned; else, it proceeds directly to logging.

Slack Notifications

Upon key events (approval requests, completions), Slack message nodes send alerts to designated channels, providing clickable links and action buttons.

Cloud Storage Uploads

Attachments and evidence files are uploaded securely to cloud storage via API, with links embedded in the logs.

Error Handling, Robustness & Security

Error Handling & Retries

Each node includes configured retry logic with exponential backoff to handle transient API failures. Errors trigger fallback notifications to a dedicated Slack error channel for rapid investigation.

Logging & Observability

All workflow runs are logged with detailed metadata accessible via n8n’s monitoring dashboard. This visibility facilitates continuous improvement and troubleshooting.

Idempotency & Duplicate Prevention

Before creating or updating logs, the workflow checks for existing records by unique identifiers, preventing duplicates that would skew compliance data.

Security & Data Protection

API keys and tokens are stored encrypted in environment variables. Access scopes follow the least-privilege principle. Personally identifiable information (PII) is masked or encrypted as required. All access is logged for audit purposes.

Performance, Scaling & Extensibility

The automated workflows were designed for scalability. Webhook triggers enable near real-time processing without polling overhead. Where polling was required, intervals were optimized to balance load and timeliness.

Parallelization of approval tasks allows multiple cases to be processed concurrently. Modular workflow design enables easy extension for new compliance requirements, additional teams, or other geographies.

RestFlow’s managed hosting ensures robust uptime, scaling compute resources as usage grows, and providing failover backups.

Comparing Automation Tools for this DSA Compliance Use Case

Tool	Cost	Pros	Cons
n8n	Free self-hosted; Cloud plans start at $20/month	Open-source, flexible, granular control, extensive integrations	Requires technical expertise for complex workflows
Make (formerly Integromat)	Free tier; Paid plans from $9/month	Visual scenario builder, strong API support, numerous integrations	Less flexible for custom code than n8n
Zapier	Free tier; Paid plans from $19.99/month	User-friendly, vast app ecosystem, fast setup	Limited multi-step logic, less suited for complex compliance workflows

Webhook vs Polling for Integration Triggers

Trigger Method	Latency	Resource Usage	Use Case Suitability
Webhook	Milliseconds to seconds	Low, event-driven	Ideal for real-time compliance event processing
Polling	Minutes to hours, depending on interval	Higher, repetitive API calls	Suitable when no webhook support; less real-time

Google Sheets vs Database for Evidence Logging

Option	Performance	Scalability	Ease of Use	Compliance Features
Google Sheets	Good for small to medium datasets	Limited; slows with large volumes	User-friendly, spreadsheet interface	Basic versioning, but manual backup needed
Database (e.g., PostgreSQL)	High performance, complex queries	Highly scalable for large datasets	Requires DB expertise	Advanced audit trails, access control

Results & Business Impact

Following the implementation of RestFlow’s automated Trust & Safety evidence logs, the client realized significant improvements:

• 70% reduction in manual logging time — freeing approximately 28 hours weekly for higher-value compliance activities [Source: to be added].
• Near-zero errors in evidence logs due to automated validation and idempotency checks.
• Improved SLA adherence for incident reporting and notice-and-action timelines, meeting DSA deadlines consistently.
• Enhanced audit readiness with centralized, tamper-evident documentation accessible for regulators anytime.
• Increased transparency through real-time dashboards and Slack notifications, improving team responsiveness.

The compliance team now operates with greater confidence and calm, knowing that critical Trust & Safety logs are generated timely, reliably, and securely.

Pilot Phase & Maintenance Disclaimer

It is important to note that the automation rollout included a careful pilot phase. During this controlled deployment, RestFlow worked alongside client teams to test workflows with real but limited data volumes, addressing edge cases and optimizing performance.

Minor bugs identified in error handling and API integrations were remediated swiftly. Post-pilot, RestFlow continues to provide comprehensive Automation-as-a-Service, including hosting, continuous monitoring, incident alerting, and workflow maintenance to ensure sustainable compliance support.

Frequently Asked Questions About Automating Trust & Safety Evidence Logs for Digital Services Act Compliance

Conclusion: Transforming Compliance with RestFlow Automation-as-a-Service

In this case study, we saw how RestFlow successfully partnered with a Copenhagen compliance leader to automate their Trust & Safety evidence logs, tackling formidable challenges posed by the Digital Services Act. By replacing slow, error-prone manual methods with a robust, scalable n8n-powered workflow, the client achieved remarkable gains in efficiency, accuracy, and regulatory readiness.

RestFlow’s end-to-end Automation-as-a-Service model ensured that design, implementation, secure hosting, ongoing monitoring, and maintenance were covered, enabling the compliance team to focus on strategic priorities rather than firefighting operational burden.

If you’re ready to take your compliance operations from manual frustration to automated excellence, explore the Automation Template Marketplace or create your free RestFlow account to get started today.