What is a Personal Data Inventory?
A personal data inventory is precisely what it sounds like: an inventory of all Personal Identifiable Information (PII) resident in an organization, being processed by that organization, or being handled by suppliers for that organization.

Personal Data Inventory: What to Include?
Building a personal data inventory is also the first step in creating an organization-wide data privacy program. Modern privacy laws demand that inventories be structured based on organizational procedures like “website feedback,” “job applications,” “visitor management,” and “student admission” in order to comply with their standards.

Here’s an example PDI structure at a glance. Depending on the organization, it may contain other information:  

• Names or titles of data owners (like “Customer Relations”)
• What kinds of information (such as “new subscriber data”)
• Where the data is stored in your system (for example, “CRM Server”)
• Subjects of data (like “Customers”)
• Data collection methods and locations (example: “online customer loyalty form”)
• What is the processing’s purpose (such as “Marketing”)?
• What is the retention of data for each process?
• Who has access to this data?
• Disposal or preserving policies.
• Is data shared with any third party?
• It takes a lot of effort to oversee, report, and update inventory when organizations keep PDI on excel spreadsheets.