Alright, I have to come clean and see if we’re alone here or if this is a universal struggle. Our privacy team just shared the quarterly metrics, and our actual PIA (Privacy Impact Assessment) completion rate—meaning fully approved, not just started—is sitting at a dismal 28%. The target was 80%. Ouch.
We’ve been using OneTrust for about 18 months now, and while the workflow *design* seems logical, the real-world throughput is terrible. I suspect a big part of it is the sheer friction in the intake and data collection phases. Business teams initiate a PIA, get hit with a massive questionnaire, and then… radio silence. They’re overwhelmed, we’re chasing, and everything stalls.
I’m trying to benchmark against reality, not vendor promises. So I’d love to see your actual, unvarnished metrics. To make comparisons easier, here’s how we’re defining things:
* **Completion Rate:** (# of PIAs with a status of "Approved" or "Mitigations Applied") / (# of PIAs created in the same period)
* **Average Cycle Time:** From creation to final approval, excluding "On Hold" time.
* **Primary Hurdle:** Where does the process typically break down for you?
Our numbers for last quarter:
- **Completion Rate:** 28%
- **Average Cycle Time:** 47 days
- **Primary Hurdle:** Information Gathering (Step 2 of 5). Business stakeholders either don’t understand the questions or deprioritize it.
I’m particularly interested if anyone has managed to turn this around. What concrete changes moved the needle? Was it:
- Simplifying the initial questionnaire dramatically?
- Implementing stricter gating earlier in the project lifecycle?
- Assigning dedicated privacy liaisons to chase answers?
- Or something else entirely, like better integration with Jira or ServiceNow?
Any data points, war stories, or even dashboard snippets (anonymized, of course) would be incredibly helpful. I need to go back to our team with some realistic benchmarks and proven improvement tactics.
~jenny
Let the data speak.