¶ 1. What is PII Tagging?
PII (Personally Identifiable Information) refers to any data that could potentially identify an individual. This includes names, contact numbers, email addresses, government IDs, or even indirect identifiers that, when combined, can reveal personal details.
PII Tagging allows you to flag such data fields as “sensitive” at the point of creation—either in an application form or a data table. Once a field is tagged as PII, the platform treats it with heightened awareness, ensuring users are alerted whenever they interact with that data point—be it during report generation, data exports, or visualizations.
¶ 2. Managing Sensitive Information with PII Tagging
In today’s digital landscape, data is more than just numbers and text—it’s an asset that, if mishandled, can become a liability. As organizations scale and data proliferates across applications and systems, ensuring proper handling of sensitive information becomes non-negotiable. To address this, Quixy introduces PII Tagging—a foundational feature in the platform’s data governance framework, designed to protect Personally Identifiable Information (PII) from misuse or accidental exposure.
PII Tagging isn’t just a technical checkbox—it’s a control mechanism that enforces responsible data handling practices across the lifecycle of your applications and data models.
¶ 3. Why It Matters
- Proactive Risk Mitigation: Prevent unintentional leaks or misuse of sensitive information.
- Compliance-Ready: Align with data privacy regulations (like GDPR, HIPAA, etc.) by clearly identifying and managing PII.
- Platform-Wide Traceability: Once tagged, the PII marker follows the field everywhere—across reports, workflows, and datasets.
- Empowered Citizen Developers: With visual cues and alerts, non-technical users are equipped to handle sensitive data responsibly.
¶ 4. How to Tag Fields as PII
¶ 4.1. In Application Forms
- Open the App
- Create a new application or open an existing one.
- Access Form Builder:
- Navigate to the Form Builder section of the app.
- Add Fields:
- Drag and drop the required fields onto the canvas.
- Enable PII Tag:
- Click on the field to open its “Properties” panel.
- Check the box labeled “Mark as PII.”
✅ Once enabled, this field is now recognized as sensitive and will carry the PII tag throughout the platform.
¶ 4.2. In Data Tables
- Open Data Table
- Create a new data table or open an existing one.
- Navigate to Form Builder:
- Go to the field creation screen within the data table.
- Add Fields:
- Add the necessary fields to the table structure.
- Enable PII Tag:
- Select the field to open the “Properties” panel.
- Check the “Mark as PII” option.
✅ Any data entered through this field will now be monitored as PII across reports, integrations, and other downstream components.
¶ 5. What Happens After a Field Is Tagged as PII?
Once a field is marked as PII:
- The system automatically appends a PII tag to it at the metadata level.
- Platform-wide alerts notify users working with PII-tagged fields in reports, exports, data sources, or integrations.
- Data governance policies can be layered on top (e.g., masking, encryption, restricted access) for enhanced security.
¶ 6. Best Practices
- Tag fields at the time of creation—retrofitting PII tags later may increase compliance risks.
- Use PII Tagging alongside other data governance tools such as Data Masking and Encryption for multi-layered protection.
- Educate citizen developers and business users on what constitutes PII in your organizational context.