Data export and switching providers at protol.io

Exportable and excluded data

To the extent provided for in the contract, the exportable data include in particular organization and location data, audit templates, completed audits, tasks, reports, comments and the associated attachments. Excluded are in particular access credentials and security secrets that are not part of the customer export, internal operating data, legally protected trade secrets and system components, and data of other customers. The categories described in AGB § 9a and the statutory requirements are decisive.

In detail, AGB § 9a(2) excludes from the export:

• Passwords and their hashes, session and security keys, invitation keys, identifiers for push notifications, and delivery data of emails and push notifications
• Internal logs and queues about running the platform
• The provider’s trade secrets: source code and the system instructions of the AI features, and its costs, purchase prices and margins
• The database queries and analysis programs the report assistant generates to run a report; the reports and their results are exported
• In the logs, the details of the provider’s staff who acted (identifier, IP address, browser, notes); that, when, how and on what occasion the provider acted is kept
• Blocks between users: they are not in the regular export; on a documented request of the customer or the person concerned, we provide them through the procedure for data-subject requests
• Copies of earlier exports, because they have already been provided to the customer
• Platform data that is the same for all customers, and data of other customers

Email addresses of people outside your organization, ours included, are replaced in the export by a neutral label; the time, type and occasion of the entries are kept.

How the export works

• An owner of your organization starts the export at any time: in protol.io under Settings → Organization → Data export, or from a program through the documented interface.
• protol.io builds the export in the background and notifies the owner when it is ready. The notification contains neither data nor a download link.
• The download goes through a protected link that is valid for 15 minutes. A finished export is available for 7 days; after that the owner can start a new one.
• One export per organization is built at a time, and at most 3 exports can be started in 24 hours.
• On request in text form, we also provide the export ourselves.

Switching providers, deadlines and costs

Information on the steps of switching providers, the deadlines and any technical limits is described in our contract terms. The data export and the switch of provider owed by law are free of charge for our customers; to be distinguished from this are any validly agreed claims arising from early termination of the contract.

In short: at any time you can announce in text form that you want to switch to another provider or to your own systems, or have your exportable data deleted; for a switch to another provider, you name it. Then:

• The notice period is at most two months. At your request, the transition period starts earlier.
• The notice period is followed by a transition period of at most 30 calendar days. During it, protol.io keeps providing the contractual services, reasonably supports you and third parties you name with the switch, informs you about known risks to continuing the service, and protects the data in transfer. You can extend the transition period once.
• If the transition period cannot be met for technical reasons, protol.io tells you so with reasons within 14 working days of your announcement and names a transition period of at most seven months.
• The contract ends when the switch is completed successfully, at the latest when the transition period ends. If you only want deletion, it ends when the notice period ends. protol.io confirms the end of the contract in text form.

After the contract ends

After the contract has ended you can still retrieve your exportable data for 30 calendar days. During this time your organization’s owners can keep signing in and exporting; protol.io is locked for all other users. After that, protol.io deletes the data. If an export started during this time is still being built when the period ends, protol.io deletes only after it is finished; if it is finished but not yet downloaded, only once it has been downloaded, at the latest 7 days after it was finished. If an export started during this time fails on our side, protol.io deletes only once a later export is ready, unless we have provided the data another way or you waive it in text form. For a switch, the 30 days only begin when the contract ends after the switch. The return and deletion of personal data under the data processing agreement remain in place.

Costs

Compensation for ending the contract before the agreed term has run out is not a charge for switching. Such compensation applies only if the offer expressly provides for it before the contract is concluded, and it must be reasonable. Term and notice period follow from the offer and the terms of service (AGB § 9).

Technical description

The full technical description of the export data structures, formats and interfaces is provided in our current online register in the protected user manual. Prospects receive free access on request before concluding a contract. Eligible customers and new providers they have authorized receive the information required for the switch.

Customers reach the online register after signing in to protol.io. Without an account, write to info@protol.io: you receive the description free of charge as a PDF or as a time-limited read link. Every export names the version of the register that describes it.

Questions

We answer questions about the export and switching at info@protol.io. The binding rules are in the terms of service (AGB § 9a, German only) and the data processing agreement (§ 11); this page summarizes them.