Form templates / Software & IT
Data Export Request Form
A data export request form has to establish two things before anything is extracted: what exactly is wanted, and whether the requester is entitled to it.
For software teams, IT departments and managed service providers.
Scope creep in an export is a data breach waiting to happen
"Send me the customer data" is the request that ends badly. Someone exports a whole table to be helpful, it lands in an unencrypted spreadsheet in an inbox, and you've created a problem that didn't exist an hour earlier.
So this template asks for specific tables, fields and a date range, and asks whether personal data is included. It also asks about the delivery method, because the most common failure in a legitimate export is emailing it as an attachment.
A record with a timestamp
Every submission is stored with the moment it was made, and exports as a spreadsheet. If a report ever has to be produced - for an insurer, a regulator, a review - it exists, dated, unedited.
A bug report that doesn't need three follow-ups
"It's broken" costs a developer an hour of guessing. Steps to reproduce, expected versus actual, browser and version turn a report into something that can be triaged without a conversation.
Fields make people answer the questions they'd otherwise skip - and being able to filter a month of reports by area or severity tells you where to spend the next sprint.
Route it to the right person
Send every report to whoever needs to act on it by email the moment it arrives, so nothing sits in a queue waiting to be noticed.
One minute to make it your own
Every label, option and placeholder on this template is editable, and you can add whatever this template doesn't ask. Save to publish, share the link, and export the responses whenever you need them in a spreadsheet.
What this template asks
- Your name
- Work email
- Department
- Your manager
- What's the export for?
- Exactly what data do you need?
- Which period?
- Do you need row-level data or aggregates?
- Roughly how many records?
- Does the export include personal data?
- Which categories?
- Could the export be reduced or anonymised?
- What's the lawful basis for this use?
- Format
- How should it be delivered?
- How long will you keep it?
- When do you need it?
- Who owns this data and has approved the request?
- I will store and handle the export according to our data policy, and delete it when it's no longer needed
- I will not share it outside the people named in this request
More Software & IT forms
Questions
Should exports be emailed?
Not for anything containing personal data. Use a secure transfer or a time-limited link, and make that the default option on the form rather than an afterthought.
Who should approve an export?
Whoever owns the data, plus a data protection sign-off if personal data is involved. Ask for both on the form so the record shows who agreed.
Can reports be submitted anonymously?
Yes, if you make the name optional. Nothing about the submitter is recorded otherwise - no IP address, no account, no tracking.
Can this go to more than one person?
Yes. Notification recipients are a list, so a report can reach a manager and a safety lead at the same time.
Can I export everything for an audit?
Yes - one click gives you a CSV of every response with its timestamp, which is usually exactly what an auditor or insurer asks for.
Can this feed into our issue tracker?
Point a webhook at your tracker and every submission is posted to it as JSON as it arrives, or pull responses from the REST API. There's also a CSV export for bulk import.
Publish your data export request form today
Start from this template and change anything you like. Free to begin.