Project data deletion

At the completion of a research project your organization may require the deletion of project data, including research design and all submitted research content from participants. Dscout can support this with a new setting that automates project deletion.

Overview

When the data deletion feature is turned on, a project that is marked complete will have its research design and all submitted research content deleted. Selected recipients will receive multiple reminders that this is a serious and irreversible action. Notifications that a project has been marked complete and is scheduled for data deletion are sent to the Account Owner (by default) and there is an option to have the project creator and/or any Admins on your account receive these notifications (if applicable). The high-level project details, including title, launch date and number of completes are preserved in the Account Management section in the platform.

Triggering data deletion

To trigger the data deletion, start by marking a project “complete” from the homepage. This will move projects to the Completed Projects tab on the home page. Please note that it is not possible to reverse the action of marking a project as complete.

Once all projects to be deleted are marked as “complete,” navigate to the “Settings” tab found within the ‘Account Management’ section on the homepage. To enable data deletion, turn the feature on and set the ‘Scheduled number of days’ until deletion from the drop-down menu (14 days - 6 years). You can also customize who receives the data deletion emails. Account Owners will always receive email notifications regarding project deletion when enabled. Additional recipients include Admin(s) and the project creator.

Once you set your data deletion timeline and manage notifications, click on “Save Updates.” A new window will appear showing the amount of projects that will be immediately deleted based on the schedule you set, if applicable. As a safety measure, you will be required to type “I Understand” for the changes to be saved, since this action is irreversible.

Additional deletion countdown warnings will appear in the header of the project card, which you will find in the “Completed Projects” tab on the project home page.

Additional feature details

Once the deletion counter has started, the Account Owner and team members with notifications enabled will receive a warning email 60, 30, 5 and 1 day from deletion, if applicable. A final email is sent confirming deletion.

To support research operation needs, deleted projects remain in the Account Management section. Their status is changed to ‘Deleted’ and the only available information is the project and mission names, project owner name, number of participants and participant completes, and the launch dates.

If you wish to export your data prior to deletion, read more here.

Ad-hoc deletion requests

The process outlined below should only be used when utilizing the automated data deletion feature is not feasible. We strongly encourage you to use our built-in data deletion feature whenever possible.

If you have a project that needs to be deleted for legal or other compliance-related reasons, but you cannot use the data deletion feature, please follow the steps below:

Step 1: Request submission

1. Account Owner must submit a ticket to our Support team (here). The ticket must include:
   1. A CSV containing the project names and project IDs targeted for deletion (one column for project name, one column for project ID). To find your project ID, navigate to the project folder from your Dscout homepage, then copy the string of numbers found at the end of the URL.
   2. Statement of agreement: the Account Owner must include this verbiage in their communication to Support in order to confirm the data deletion request:
      1. "I confirm that the Project IDs in the attached list should be deleted. I acknowledge that data deletion is permanent and irreversible. I also understand and agree that Dscout must keep some data (for example, administrative information about your account) for our legitimate business purposes."

Step 2: Request completion

1. Upon receipt of request, our Support team will reply to confirm receipt of request and to communicate data deletion SLA (30 days from the date all information required is received from requester*). If you have not provided all of the required information, we will notify you of the remaining information needed.
2. Within 30 days*, our Support team will delete the data requested and confirm completion of the request.

*This SLA only applies to project deletion requests. SLAs for deletion requests regarding individual missions, screeners, interviews, etc. may have varying SLAs, which our Support team will notify you of at the time of confirming your request.

Looking to delete a single interview session or a single entry in a diary study, usability test, or media survey? Account Owners should contact privacy@dscout.com and our team will be happy to assist.