GDPR and data protection GDPR and data protection

GDPR erasure and retention in an ERP.

A customer asks you to delete their data. Your accounts need the invoice for years. Both are true, and the design has to handle both.

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Why ERP erasure is different

An ERP holds transactions that must be kept for tax, audit and company-law reasons, and those same transactions reference people. The right to erasure is not absolute, and a legal obligation to keep a record is a recognised ground for keeping it.

Patterns that work

We apply the pattern that fits each data type.

Keep the transaction and remove or anonymise the personal fields that are not needed to keep it
Block a contact or customer from further processing while the record is retained
Delete data that has no retention duty, such as marketing preferences and unused contacts, on a schedule
Separate personal data into fields that can be anonymised without breaking posted documents
Archive old records out of day-to-day access

A retention schedule you can defend

Retention periods for accounting, tax, payroll and employment records are set by law and differ by country and record type. We help you document them with your adviser, apply them in the system and record the lawful basis for each.

Subject access requests

A request for a copy of data needs the answer from several places: ledger, sales, projects, HR, attachments and email. We build the search and export route in Design and test it with a dummy request before go-live.

How an engagement runs

It starts with a 45-minute consultation, then a discovery and fit-gap workshop on your own processes. You receive a written fit-gap and a phased plan before a programme is agreed. Four phases follow, each with something you can use and review.

01

Discover

Process workshops, data audit, and a fit-gap against the standard product.

02

Design

Solution blueprint, integration map, and the extensions we will actually need.

03

Deploy

Configuration, migration rehearsal, role-based training, UAT and phased cutover.

04

Support

Hypercare, managed services, client portal, scheduled optimisation reviews.

What drives the cost: users, legal entities and currencies, integrations, data migration and the gaps found against standard. See how pricing works or run the three-minute readiness score.

Frequently asked questions

Can an ERP delete personal data?

Yes, where there is no duty to keep it. Where a record must be kept, the personal fields can often be anonymised or access blocked, and the record retained.

How long do we keep invoices?

The period is set by tax and company law in each country and differs by record type. We document it with your adviser and apply it in the system.

How fast can we answer a subject access request?

Within the legal time limit, if the route has been designed and tested. Without a designed route the search is manual and slow.

Statutory rates, filing rules, mandate dates and data-protection requirements are set by the relevant authorities and change; we confirm the current position with you and your advisers before configuration. General information, not tax, legal or data-protection advice, and not a statement that any product or service is certified or approved by a regulator.

Last reviewed 2026-10-16

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