Data Handling & Customer Data
How SmartForms is designed to process Customer information.
Last Updated: September 2026
1. Core Principle
Process what is needed. Deliver according to configuration. Do not permanently store Customer submission data by default.
SmartForms is designed by default not to permanently store Customer submission data. It is designed as a processing platform, not as the Customer's permanent repository for submitted business data.
2. Platform data vs submission data
Platform / configuration data may include:
- tenant configuration;
- form definitions;
- branding;
- languages;
- business rules;
- version history;
- destination references;
- operational telemetry;
- usage counters;
- audit metadata.
Customer submission data may include:
- form responses;
- uploaded documents;
- generated outputs;
- business records.
Platform data is what SmartForms needs in order to run a Customer's configured process. Submission data is the Customer's business content moving through that process, and it is handled according to the configured workflow and lifecycle rules.
3. Transient processing
Submission data may be processed transiently only as necessary to validate, generate, deliver or make the configured output available.
4. Customer destinations
Depending on the plan and configuration, outputs may be:
- downloaded by the participant;
- delivered to supported Customer-authorized destinations.
When an external Customer-authorized destination is configured, SmartForms processes the submission as necessary and delivers the configured output to that destination. For download-only configurations, the submission may be processed transiently to generate and provide the output without establishing SmartForms as the Customer's permanent record repository.
5. Attachments
Where attachments are enabled:
- source files should be treated as original evidence;
- processing may include security and integrity controls;
- configured lifecycle rules apply.
6. Data minimization
SmartForms forms should collect only information appropriate to the Customer's business purpose.
7. Customer responsibility
Customers determine:
- what they collect;
- why they collect it;
- required privacy notices;
- retention after delivery or download;
- legal and regulatory requirements.
8. No analytics on Customer payloads by default
SmartForms operational reporting is intended to use platform and operational metadata rather than reading Customer submission payloads for analytics, unless expressly agreed for a specific capability.