Data protection rule

Introduction

Data protection rules (also known as PII Data Protection Rules) define how personally identifiable information (PII) is anonymized in Casewhere. They support GDPR compliance — specifically the "right to be forgotten" — by allowing you to configure field-level anonymization logic for any data class.

A data protection rule is a configuration entity that ties a data class attribute to an anonymization rule. The anonymization rule itself is a standard scalar-function rule that transforms the original value into an anonymized one.

Configuration

In Casewhere Admin, navigate to PII Data Protection Rules to create and manage anonymization rules.

A data protection rule has the following properties:

Name	Type	Description
Data Class	string	The data class to which the rule applies.
Attribute	string	The attribute (field) to anonymize.
Is Identified	bool	Marks the attribute as an identity field (e.g., CPR, email) used to match anonymization requests against the database.
Anonymization Rule	Rule	A scalar-function rule that transforms the original value.
Is Active	bool	Whether the rule is active.

Anonymization rule syntax

The anonymization rule is a scalar-function rule that receives the original value through @parameters.OriginalValue and returns the anonymized value.

Keywords

Name	Type	Description
@parameters	DynamicDataObject	Contains OriginalValue — the current value of the field being anonymized.
@apiFactory	IManagedApiFactory	To construct Casewhere API objects.

Examples

Example 1: Generalize email

Convert john@domain.com to Anonymous<random-id>@domain.com.

#predicate
var parts = @parameters.OriginalValue.Split(new char[]{ '@' }, StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries);
var id = Guid.NewGuid().ToString().Replace("-", "");
parts[0] = $"Anonymous{id}@";
return String.Join("", parts);

Example 2: Mask phone number

Convert 50-12-34-56 to 50-xx-xx-xx.

#predicate
return @parameters.OriginalValue.Substring(0, 2) + "-xx-xx-xx";

Example 3: Replace with fixed placeholder

Replace a name with a fixed anonymous string.

"Anonymous"

Anonymization workflow

After defining rules, create a workflow to execute the anonymization process. A typical workflow includes:

1. Form activity — Collects the individual's identity (e.g., CPR number, email) for matching.
2. Scripted activity — Calls the IPIIDataAnonymizationApi to execute anonymization.

var pIIDataAnonymizationApi = ctx.Use<IPIIDataAnonymizationApi>(); 
var task = pIIDataAnonymizationApi.CreateAndAnonymizeTask(ctx.Ref("AnonymizationRequest").Identifier);

The anonymization process ensures data is anonymized across all Casewhere databases — event source, snapshot database, audit logs, system logs, and encrypted fields.

Note

Learn more about GDPR compliance in Casewhere in the GDPR - Right to be forgotten guide.