Layer8 practical worksheet
Donor and payment data review
Map record categories, exports, permissions, retention and the division of responsibility with payment providers.
Make the first discussion useful.
Follow the information from collection to disposal. Begin with categories and system ownership, then identify unnecessary copies, unclear permissions and decisions to confirm with the payment provider.
Prepare before the discussion
- The giving, accounting, email and program systems that handle or receive records.
- A category-level data-flow sketch and current access roles.
- Retention decisions, provider contacts and the merchant's existing compliance documentation.
Work through the prompts.
Describe each record category
Separate contact details, giving history, payment tokens, tax records and sensitive program records. Record why each category is needed without including personal values.
Trace collection and sharing
Identify forms, processors, imports, integrations, mailing lists, spreadsheets and exports. Assign an owner at each transfer.
Confirm payment scope
Ask the processor or acquiring bank to confirm payment handling, the applicable merchant validation process and responsibility boundaries. Outsourcing a payment channel still requires understanding the merchant's duties.
Review access and exports
Identify who can view, edit, export and administer records. Check access approval, MFA and removal after staff or volunteer changes.
Reduce unnecessary copies
Look for duplicate exports, personal mailboxes and files kept after a task ends. Agree a protected working location and a disposal owner.
Agree retention and disposal
Confirm retention with the responsible business owner, counsel and accountant as appropriate. Identify what happens to exports and backup copies.
Separate sensitive program records
Evaluate children's, guardian, assistance and pastoral records separately from routine fundraising. Limit access to the people who need it for an approved purpose.
Clarify provider commitments
Review incident notice, subcontractors, data location, deletion and export terms. Record missing answers for the provider owner to obtain.
Plan a safe verification
Use synthetic records to verify permissions and exports. Do not send card numbers, security codes, donor histories or children's records through public contact forms or this website.
Record the decisions
Agree the permitted data flow, role changes and disposal actions. Assign owners and verify one representative completed change.
Agree the result and the next action.
Use these outputs to judge whether the preparation is useful:
- A category-level record and transfer map with named owners.
- Confirmed provider and merchant responsibilities, with unresolved questions recorded.
- Approved access, copy-reduction and retention actions with a completion check.
Review prompt: Revisit when adding a payment channel, integrating a new platform or changing record use and retention.
Record the next decision
Use your secure workspace to record the issue, what you know, who is responsible and what happens next. Add a due date and a way to check completion. The PDF includes a printable worksheet.
Use the guide within an agreed scope.
Edition 1.0 · Updated October 4, 2026
This worksheet is preparation for a scoped review, not a PCI validation or a legal determination. Confirm payment obligations with the processor or acquiring bank and qualified advisers.
Primary references for further reading
These are original Layer8 preparation prompts. The linked organizations do not endorse this guide.
Bring the question. Agree the work.
Cybersecurity can help scope this work. Assess the authorized scope, prioritize improvements and verify agreed safeguards.