System integration projects create new data flows between systems—and with those flows come new governance and compliance considerations. Data that was appropriately protected within a single system may face new risks when shared across boundaries. Regulations that applied to isolated datasets may impose additional requirements when data is combined.
Why Integration Amplifies Compliance Risk
Integration changes the risk profile of data in several ways:
- Broader access: Data that was accessible only to specific users in one system may become available to users of connected systems.
- Data combination: Separately innocuous data elements may become sensitive when combined. A name in one system plus a diagnosis in another creates protected health information.
- Jurisdiction expansion: Data stored in one country may flow to systems in other countries with different privacy laws.
- Audit complexity: Demonstrating compliance becomes harder when data flows through multiple systems, each with its own logging and control mechanisms.
- Third-party exposure: Integration often involves vendors, cloud services, or partners who may have access to data in transit.
Common Regulatory Considerations
The specific regulations that apply depend on your industry and geography, but several frameworks commonly affect integration projects:
Privacy Regulations
GDPR, CCPA, HIPAA, and sector-specific privacy rules govern how personal information can be collected, processed, shared, and retained. Integration that moves personal data between systems must comply with applicable consent requirements, purpose limitations, and data subject rights.
Financial Regulations
SOX, PCI-DSS, and banking regulations impose controls on financial data. Integration involving financial systems typically requires specific security controls, access restrictions, and audit capabilities.
Industry-Specific Requirements
Healthcare, government, education, and other sectors have their own data handling requirements. Integration designs must account for sector-specific rules that may not apply to general business systems.
Governance Principles for Compliant Integration
Data Classification
Before designing integration, classify the data that will flow between systems. Understand which data elements are sensitive, which are regulated, and which carry specific handling requirements. This classification drives security and access control decisions.
Minimum Necessary Data
Share only the data required for the integration's purpose. Don't send entire records when only specific fields are needed. Don't grant broad access when limited access would suffice. This principle—embedded in privacy regulations as data minimization—reduces risk and simplifies compliance.
Purpose Limitation
Document why data is being shared and ensure the receiving system uses it only for stated purposes. Integration that enables data to be used for new, unapproved purposes creates compliance exposure.
Access Control
Integration shouldn't circumvent access controls. If certain users aren't authorized to see specific data in the source system, they shouldn't gain access through the integrated system. Design access controls that span the integration, not just individual systems.
Encryption and Security
Data in transit between systems should be encrypted. Data at rest in integration middleware or staging areas should be protected. Security controls should match or exceed those of the most sensitive data flowing through the integration.
Audit and Logging
Maintain audit trails that capture what data moved, when, between which systems, and triggered by what events. These logs serve both operational troubleshooting and compliance demonstration.
Practical Implementation Steps
- Engage compliance early: Include compliance, legal, and security stakeholders in integration design, not just review.
- Map data flows: Document exactly what data moves between systems, how it's transformed, and where it's stored.
- Assess regulatory impact: For each data flow, identify applicable regulations and their requirements.
- Design controls: Build compliance requirements into the technical design—access controls, encryption, logging.
- Document decisions: Create records of compliance assessments and the rationale for design decisions.
- Test compliance: Include compliance validation in integration testing—verify access controls work, logs are complete, encryption is in place.
- Plan for change: Regulations evolve. Design integrations that can adapt to changing requirements.
The Cost of Getting It Wrong
Compliance failures in integration projects can result in regulatory penalties, breach notification requirements, reputational damage, and expensive remediation. More fundamentally, they can expose the people whose data you handle to real harm.
The investment in proper governance and compliance during integration design is far less than the cost of addressing violations after the fact.
Integration that ignores governance is technical debt with regulatory interest. Build compliance into the design, not onto it afterward.