What the GDPR Export and Delete Leads permission does

When a customer asks for a copy of their data or asks you to erase it, you need a tool that touches everything tied to that person, not just one screen. The GDPR-Compliant Export Delete Leads permission is that tool. It lets a manager pull or delete all customer data for a single Lead in one operation. This is meant for satisfying data-subject requests under privacy law, so it deserves careful handling.

Why this is its own permission

Ordinary lead editing changes fields on a record. A GDPR request goes further: it asks for a complete export of everything you hold on a person, or a complete erasure of it. Because that scope is so much wider and the delete is irreversible, VICIdial keeps it on a dedicated setting rather than folding it into normal lead editing. The default is 0, which means disabled. Keeping it separate also makes your access review simpler, because you can answer the question who can delete customer data by looking at one field instead of reasoning across several edit permissions.

The three values

There are three meaningful values. A 0 leaves the feature off entirely. A 1 enables downloading the full data set for a lead, so the manager can hand a customer everything you hold without being able to erase anything. A 2 enables both downloading and deletion, including any call recordings tied to that person. That recording clause matters, because a Call recording holds the customer's voice and is some of the most sensitive data you keep.

There is also a hard guardrail: you cannot set this user permission higher than the current system setting. If the system caps GDPR handling at 1, no individual user can be granted 2, no matter how senior they are. That keeps deletion power from being handed out below a deliberate system-wide decision, and it gives you a single place to switch erasure off for everyone at once if you ever need to. In practice you set the system ceiling first, then grant each user a value at or below it.

Who should hold it

Grant deletion sparingly. The 2 value is permanent erasure, so reserve it for a privacy owner or a senior manager who handles formal requests, not a general supervisor. Many teams give a wider group the 1 value for exports while keeping deletion with one or two named people, which lets staff fulfill the common access request without anyone being able to wipe a record by mistake. Tie that split to the right User group so it is consistent for every Campaign those users oversee. Because the delete also removes recordings, treat it like any other one-way action and confirm the request is genuine before you run it.

How a request is handled

flowchart TD
  A[Customer privacy request] --> B{Permission value}
  B -->|0| C[Feature disabled]
  B -->|1| D[Download all data for lead]
  B -->|2| E[Download or delete all data]
  E --> F[Includes call recordings]
  F --> G[Erasure is permanent]
  B --> H{Above system setting}
  H -->|Yes| I[Blocked by system cap]

A dedicated GDPR permission, plus the system-level cap, is how VICIdial keeps privacy work auditable instead of accidental. To see how it sits beside every other user control, read our guide to VICIdial users and groups. For the everyday editing side rather than the privacy side, see the five Modify Leads settings. VICIfast keeps your customer data on a single-tenant server you control, which makes honoring erasure requests far simpler. See our plans to begin.