Edit an audience

Update members and permissions of an existing audience.

Edit an Audience

Audiences are the engine behind controlled access in DPMS. Instead of assigning permissions record by record, you create a named group — for example, "Legal Department" or "External Auditors" — populate it with users and companies, and define precisely which compliance modules those users can read or write. The Edit an Audience screen is where you configure every detail of an existing audience: its name, the companies it spans, the individual users who belong to it, and the exact read/write permissions granted per module. Compliance managers, DPOs, and IT administrators visit this screen regularly to keep access rights aligned with organisational changes.

How to open it

In the left-hand sidebar, click General Settings.
From the compliance settings menu that appears, select Audience Management.
On the Audience Management list, click any audience row (or the edit icon at the end of that row).

You need either edit-audience or create-audience permission to open this screen. If you have neither, DPMS displays a standard access-denied page instead. The Audience Management list itself also requires read-audience permission; users without it will not see the menu item at all.

What you see

The screen uses the standard DPMS layout: a persistent sidebar on the left showing the General Settings menu (with Audience Management highlighted), and a large content area on the right that takes up roughly four-fifths of the screen width.

At the top of the content area is a breadcrumb bar showing General Settings > Audiences, with the name of the active tab shown in blue. Small left and right arrow buttons in the breadcrumb let you jump to the previous or next tab without scrolling. Just below the breadcrumb is the form header, which shows a back arrow and the title Audiences, followed by a four-tab horizontal menu: General, Add Companies, Add Users, and Add Permissions. Because you are editing an existing record, all four tabs are immediately clickable.

The main card below the tab menu changes entirely depending on which tab is active. Every tab has a Save button in the bottom-right corner of the card.

Working with this screen

Updating the audience name, description, or ownership

When you first open an audience you land on the General tab. This is where you set the audience's display name and describe its purpose — details that will appear in every manage-access dropdown across DPMS, so clarity here matters.

Click into the Name field and type a clear, recognisable label such as "HR Department" or "External Auditors". The name supports auto-translation: if your DPMS instance has AI translation enabled, a small translate button appears next to the field and can fill in other language versions automatically.
The Description field is optional but strongly recommended. Use it to explain who belongs to this audience and why, so that colleagues who did not create it can understand its intent at a glance.
The Responsible Person multi-select is pre-populated with the person who originally saved the audience (or the current user if the field was empty). Click the field to search for and add one or more users who will be accountable for maintaining this audience. To remove someone, click the × next to their name. Note that super-administrator accounts are excluded from this list.
Click Save when you are done. DPMS saves the changes and automatically moves you to the Add Companies tab. Every manage-access dropdown across DPMS is refreshed immediately so the updated audience name is visible straight away.

Heads up: Changing the responsible person does not automatically notify the new owner — make sure to inform them directly.

Adding or removing companies

The Add Companies tab controls which of your consulted companies are associated with this audience. In a multi-company DPMS environment, this determines whose data the audience's users will eventually be able to see.

Click the Add Companies tab.
The Assigned Companies dropdown lists all companies your organisation has a consulted relationship with. Your own company is visually highlighted. Click the dropdown and select every company that should be part of this audience. Previously saved selections are already shown; you can add more or remove existing ones by clicking the × on any chip.
Click Save. DPMS saves the company associations and moves you to the Add Users tab.

Heads up: If you remove a company from this list and then add it back in a later session, its previously configured permissions may still be present on the server. Check the Add Permissions tab after re-adding a company to confirm the settings are correct.

Adding or removing users

The Add Users tab is where you specify exactly which individuals are members of this audience. Only users listed here will actually benefit from the permissions you configure.

Click the Add Users tab. A searchable table appears showing all eligible DPMS users. External accounts and super-administrators are automatically excluded.
Use the search bar at the top of the table to filter by name or email.
Check the checkbox next to each person who should belong to this audience. Users who are already members are pre-checked. Uncheck any person you want to remove.
Click Save. DPMS updates the membership list and moves you to the Add Permissions tab.

Tip: Always complete the Add Users step before considering the audience ready. An audience with companies and permissions but no users has no practical effect — no one will benefit from the access rights you've defined.

Configuring module permissions

The Add Permissions tab is the most detailed step. Here you decide which DPMS modules the audience can access and at what level — read-only, read and write, or no access at all — and you configure this independently for each company the audience spans.

Click the Add Permissions tab. A single-select dropdown labelled Assigned Companies shows the first company from your companies list, pre-selected. The checkbox table below it immediately shows that company's current read and write settings.
Review the table. Each row represents a DPMS module: ROPA, TOMs, Assets, DPIA, Assessments, Legitimate Interest, Documents, Project, Incidents, and Data Subject Requests. Each row has two checkboxes: Read Access and Write Access.
Checking Read Access for a module means audience members can view records of that type that have this audience assigned.
Checking Write Access means they can also create and modify those records.
A Select All checkbox at the top of each column lets you grant or revoke all permissions in bulk.
Click Save to save the permissions for the currently selected company. DPMS persists the changes for that company only.
If your audience spans more than one company, use the Assigned Companies dropdown to select the next company, configure its checkboxes, and click Save again. Repeat for every company.

Heads up: Each company must be saved separately. Switching to a different company in the dropdown without saving first will discard any unsaved checkbox changes for the current company. There is no "save all companies at once" option.

Tip: Saving on the Add Permissions tab does not refresh the audience dropdown lists used in manage-access panels elsewhere in DPMS. Those lists are refreshed only when you save on the General, Add Companies, or Add Users tabs. The permission changes themselves take effect on the server immediately, however.

Field reference

Name — The audience's display name. This label appears in every manage-access dropdown across DPMS, so make it descriptive and unambiguous. No hard character limit, but short names are easier to read in dropdowns. Not technically required, but an unnamed audience is not useful.

Description — A freeform explanation of the audience's purpose — who it is for and why it exists. Optional, but very helpful for administrators who did not create the audience.

Responsible Person — One or more DPMS users accountable for maintaining this audience. Pre-populated with the creating user when a new audience is saved. Super-administrators are excluded from the selection list. Effectively always populated because of the default behaviour.

Assigned Companies (Add Companies tab) — A multi-select list of consulted companies to associate with the audience. Only companies your organisation has a consultation relationship with appear here. Selecting a company here is a prerequisite for configuring permissions for it on the Add Permissions tab.

Assigned Companies (Add Permissions tab) — A single-select dropdown that lets you choose which company's permission matrix to view and edit. Defaults to the first company in the list. Switching selection updates the checkbox table below.

Read Access / Write Access (checkbox table) — Per-module boolean flags, one pair per row (one per company). Read Access allows viewing records; Write Access allows creating and modifying them. Both default to unchecked when a company is first associated with the audience.

How this connects to the rest of DPMS

The audience you configure here becomes a selectable option in the Manage Access panel on every compliance record in DPMS — including ROPA entries, DPIAs, vendor records, TOMs, assets, documents, legitimate interest assessments, projects, incidents, data subject requests, meeting activities, and data collection points. When a compliance officer attaches this audience to a record, DPMS immediately uses the read/write permissions you configured here to determine what the audience's users can see and do.

The manage-access dropdowns that appear throughout DPMS are populated from a shared audience list that is refreshed every time you save on the General, Add Companies, or Add Users tabs. This means a newly created or renamed audience becomes available to other users almost instantly.

After finishing all four tabs, verify the audience is working as expected by opening one of the compliance records where it should appear and checking that it shows up in the Manage Access panel. If the audience does not appear in filtered dropdown lists (for example, when bulk-assigning access), check that at least one company on the Add Permissions tab has Read Access enabled for the relevant module — audiences without any company permissions are filtered out from those lists.

Tips & common pitfalls

Heads up: When you create a brand-new audience, the Add Companies, Add Users, and Add Permissions tabs are locked until you save the General tab first. If you find these tabs greyed out, return to General and click Save.

Tip: Think of the four tabs as a checklist in order: General → Companies → Users → Permissions. Each step depends on the previous one. Companies must be saved before permissions can be configured for them; users must be added before anyone can actually use the access rights.

Each company's permissions must be saved individually. If your audience spans three companies, you must select each company in the Add Permissions dropdown, configure its checkboxes, and click Save three separate times. Navigating away from a company without saving loses those changes.
Removing a company on Add Companies does not automatically clear its permissions. If you remove a company and later add it back, you may find its old permission settings are still present. Always review the Add Permissions tab after re-adding a company.
External users cannot be added to audiences. DPMS filters out Azure AD guest accounts and similar external users from the Add Users table. If external stakeholders need access, discuss with your IT administrator whether they can be given a standard DPMS account.
The responsible person defaults to whoever is currently logged in when a new audience is first saved. If you are setting up audiences on behalf of another colleague, remember to update this field before saving the General tab.
An audience with no users assigned has no effect. It is easy to configure companies and permissions carefully and then forget to add users, particularly when editing an audience across multiple sessions. Always double-check the Add Users tab before considering the audience complete.