What we hold, why we hold it, and how to get it back
This page covers the software and this website. Each organisation using Backbone decides what it collects from its own customers, students and staff, and answers for that itself — we hold it on their behalf and under their instruction. Where the two differ, this page says which is which.
Five kinds of record, and what each is for
An account, the work done in it, how it was reached, what was paid and what was sent. There is no sixth kind.
A name, an email address, a phone number and the organisation you belong to. Enough to let you in and to address a message to you.
Invoices, receipts, payroll runs, stock counts, registers, student records — the work itself. It belongs to the organisation that entered it, and it is the reason the software exists.
The time of each sign-in, which second factor answered, and the device a trusted-device choice was made on. Kept because an account that cannot show how it was reached cannot be investigated after it is misused.
Subscription invoices and the reference Paystack returns. Card numbers reach Paystack and never this system — we store the reference and the amount.
The email and SMS messages the software sent on an organisation's behalf, with their delivery result, so a message somebody says they never received can be answered with a fact.
Each record earns its place in one of four ways
Ghana's Data Protection Act, 2012 (Act 843) asks for a reason before a record, rather than after it. These are the four this software uses.
An invoice cannot be raised without a customer on it, and a payslip cannot be produced without a salary. Most of what this software holds is here.
VAT records, withholding certificates and payroll filings have retention periods set by the GRA and by SSNIT, and those periods outlast any decision we would make about them.
Sign-in attempts, second factors and trusted devices. A record kept to protect an account is a record that account holder benefits from.
Marketing email, and nothing else. Consent is asked for once, recorded with its date, and withdrawn from any message it sent.
How long each kind stays, and what ends it
Where a period is set by an organisation rather than by us, that is what you will read in the table — the number is in their own settings and differs between firms.
| Record | Kept for | What ends it |
|---|---|---|
| Your account | As long as you belong to an organisation | The organisation removes you, or closes |
| The work recorded in it | The retention period that organisation sets | Their own schedule, which they can shorten |
| Tax and payroll records | As long as the GRA and SSNIT require | The statutory period, which we do not shorten |
| Sign-in and second-factor history | The window set in the organisation's security settings | The window passing |
| Messages we sent for you | The retention period that organisation sets | Their own schedule |
Get a copy, a correction or a deletion
Four steps, and the first one is usually the fastest: most of what we hold about you is on a screen you can already reach.
- Look first
Your profile, your sign-in history and your trusted devices are all editable from inside the software. A correction you can make yourself takes a minute rather than a month.
- Ask your organisation
For the work recorded about you — a student record, a payslip, an attendance register — the organisation that entered it is the one that answers. They hold it; we host it.
- Ask us
For anything held about you as an account holder rather than as somebody's customer, write to the support address on the contact page. We acknowledge within one working day.
- Ask the Commission
Ghana's Data Protection Commission takes complaints about how a controller handled a request, including ours. Going to them does not cost you the right to come back to us.
Three details we will publish the day they exist
Each of these is a field in the platform's own settings, empty today. The day one is filled in it appears here, because this page reads them rather than repeating them.
The company behind Backbone is being incorporated. Until the registration completes there is no registered name to print, and printing a trading name in its place would be worse than the gap.
Act 843 requires a controller to register with the Data Protection Commission. The application is being prepared; the certificate number goes here.
A person rather than an address. Until the role is filled, requests reach the support address on the contact page and are answered from there.
Last reviewed when this page was published. A change to any of the four bands above is published with its date.
Ask before you sign, rather than after
A procurement office that wants this in writing on headed paper can have it. The same pack carries the security answers and the documents a tender usually asks for.