Welcome to SimplePIA!

SimplePIA is a privacy management platform designed to help individuals and organizations create, manage, and maintain Privacy Impact Assessments (PIAs). Whether you're new to privacy compliance or an experienced professional, SimplePIA provides the tools you need.

What You Can Do with SimplePIA

• Create comprehensive Privacy Impact Assessments using structured templates
• Collaborate with team members on privacy assessments and compliance projects
• Store and organize privacy-related documentation securely

Getting Started is Easy

1. Activate the free subscription
2. Set up your subscription context and invite one team member if needed
3. Create your first Privacy Impact Assessment
4. Explore collaboration features and manage your privacy program

Need Help Along the Way?

This Help Center contains detailed guidance on every aspect of using SimplePIA. Use the search feature to find specific topics, or browse by category to explore different areas of the platform.

Your First Steps with SimplePIA

This guide walks you through the essential first steps to get up and running with SimplePIA quickly and efficiently.

Step 1: Create Your Subscription

Start by activating the free subscription. SimplePIA is free to use and does not require a donation. If you want to support ongoing development, optional donation and sponsorship options are available on the Pricing page.

Step 2: Set Up Your Account

• Complete your free subscription setup
• Update your organization information and subscription details
• Familiarize yourself with the capacity display in your header menu

Step 3: Invite Your Team (Optional)

If you're working with a team, invite colleagues to join your subscription. Team members can collaborate on PIAs.

Step 4: Create Your First PIA

Begin with creating a Privacy Impact Assessment. Our structured templates guide you through each section, making the process straightforward even for those new to privacy assessments.

How Subscriptions Work in SimplePIA

Subscriptions are the foundation of your SimplePIA experience. They determine your access to features, storage capacity, and team collaboration capabilities. SimplePIA currently provides a free subscription model with optional donations.

Key Subscription Concepts

• Capacity Limits: Each plan includes specific limits for stored PIAs, monthly creations, and team members
• Team Collaboration: Invite colleagues to work together on privacy assessments
• Flexible Management: update your subscription context and member setup anytime

Monitoring Your Usage

Keep track of your subscription usage through the capacity display in your header menu. This shows your current usage for PIAs stored (P), monthly creations (C), and team members (M) with color-coded indicators.

Understanding Capacity Colors

• Green: Under 75% capacity - you're well within your limits
• Yellow: 75-89% capacity - consider planning for capacity management
• Red: 90%+ capacity - take action soon to avoid service limitations

Managing Multiple Subscriptions

If you participate in multiple subscriptions, use your subscription list page to view and manage your subscriptions, or to select your current subscription.

Essential Tasks for New Users

Here are the most common tasks new SimplePIA users want to accomplish, with suggested help topics that will guide you through each process.

Setting Up Your Account

• Activate the free subscription → See 'Subscription Features'
• Update subscription details → See 'Subscription Management'
• Understand capacity limits → See 'Capacity Management'

Building Your Team

• Invite team members → See 'Member Management'
• Manage team delegate permissions → See 'Member Management'
• Join someone else's subscription → See 'Member Options'

Creating Your First PIA

• Start a new Privacy Impact Assessment using the dashboard
• Work through PIA sections systematically
• Save your progress regularly as you work

Managing Your Subscription

• Monitor capacity usage → See 'Capacity Management'
• Adjust team participation as needed → See 'Member Management'
• Review donation and sponsorship options → See 'Subscription Features'

Getting Help When You Need It

• Search the Help Center for specific topics
• Check capacity troubleshooting if features seem unavailable
• Review subscription status if you encounter access issues

Making the Most of SimplePIA Help

The Help Center is organized into categories that mirror your SimplePIA journey, from choosing a subscription to advanced team management and capacity planning.

Help Categories Explained

• Welcome: New user orientation and getting started guidance
• Subscription Features: Learn about subscription options
• Subscription Management: Managing your subscription details and settings
• Member Management: Team collaboration, invitations, and permissions
• Capacity Management: Understanding and managing your subscription limits
• Subscription Support: Guidance on free plan usage and optional donation support

Finding What You Need

• Use the search box to find topics by keyword or phrase
• Browse categories to explore related topics systematically
• Check 'Quick Navigation' for the most commonly accessed topics

Help Topic Structure

Each help topic includes practical guidance, step-by-step instructions, troubleshooting tips, and important alerts to help you succeed.

About SimplePIA

SimplePIA is free to use. If you find SimplePIA useful, you can support ongoing development by making an optional donation. Donations help us maintain and improve the platform, and ensure that we can continue to offer a free tier for individuals and small teams.

Key Feature Categories

• Cost: Free to use with no end date, optional donation to support development
• Core: Essential PIA management features, storage limits, and retention policies
• Collaboration and Administration: Team features, sharing capabilities, and AI assistance
• Security and Support: Data protection, compliance hosting, self-service support, fee-for-service consulting, and sponsorship options

AI Features

• AI assist: provides lightweight drafting support such as rewriting, summarizing, and suggesting content for individual sections
• Advanced PIA authoring (AI assisted): allows users to adapt a prompt-based PIA template, answer a series of questions, and generate a reasonable first draft PIA
• Headstart Privacy Analysis (AI assisted): provides preliminary analytic support by identifying potential risks, gaps, and follow-up questions based on a draft PIA
• All AI outputs are informational only and must be reviewed, updated, and approved by a qualified subject matter expert

Security and Compliance

• Data encryption at-rest and in-transit
• SOC 2 Type II & ISO 27001:2013 compliant hosting
• All SimplePIA data is processed and stored in Canada (donation payment information is processed and stored in the United States)
• Cloud hosted for consistent uptime

Getting Additional Support

SimplePIA includes self-service support through online help guides and FAQs. Additional support options are available on request for organizations that need additional privacy guidance or want to support the platform more formally.

Support Options

• Self-service: access to online help guides and FAQs
• Fee-for-service consulting: available on request for organisations that need additional privacy guidance or implementation support
• Team or organization sponsorship: available on request for organisations that want to support SimplePIA more formally, through larger contributions, or sponsorship-style support. See the Pricing page for details.

Where to Learn More

For donation and sponsorship details, see the Pricing page. For more information about features, see the Subscription Features page.

How to Ask for Help

• Search the Help Center first - most questions can be answered here
• Regular members should direct requests for assistance to the subscription owner or delegate

About SimplePIA Pricing

SimplePIA is free to use. Contributions are optional and do not unlock features or change the terms of your use. You can support ongoing development by making a voluntary donation.

What Contributions Help Fund

• Maintenance of the SimplePIA platform
• Security, privacy, and compliance improvements
• Templates, guides, and help content for privacy practitioners
• New features that make privacy work easier to manage and explain

Donation Options

• Secure online contribution via PayPal (PayPal account or credit/debit card accepted)
• Cheque by postal mail, contact us for mailing details

Team or Organization Support

If your organization wants to support SimplePIA more formally, contact Privacy Made Simple to discuss larger contributions, sponsorship-style support, or other arrangements that fit your procurement process.

Security and Privacy

Donations are processed directly by PayPal. SimplePIA does not collect or store your payment information. When you click the donation link you are taken to PayPal's website to complete the transaction. Our handling of account information is described in the Privacy Policy.

Contribution and Refund Policy

Contributions are optional and intended to support the ongoing operation and improvement of SimplePIA. Because they are voluntary payments we do not expect to issue refunds. However, if you believe a payment was made by mistake, contact us directly and we will review the request in good faith. Third-party processing or banking fees that were not charged by Privacy Made Simple may not be recoverable.