Contractual relationships: linking DPAs to processing activities and systems

The Contractual relationships section shows which data recipients of a processing activity are covered by a data processing agreement – and which are not. You establish missing connections by hand.

Available from the release of 12 August 2026.

Where to find the contractual relationships

The section sits in the Relationships tab – on both sides of the connection:

1. on the processing activity, the processing activity on behalf of a controller and the data processing system: there it states which data recipients are covered by which contract;
2. on the data processing agreement itself: there it states which processing activities and systems it is connected to.

Automatic and manual connections

The Origin column distinguishes two cases:

1. Automatic – the connection arose by itself because the contractual partner is listed as a data recipient in the processing activity and both names match.
2. Manual – a person established the connection.

The distinction remains permanently visible, so it is clear what the name matching found and what somebody decided. Manually set connections are not removed again by the matching.

When a contract is shown as "Missing"

A data recipient without an assigned contract does not disappear from the list; instead it appears as its own row with the note Missing in the contract column. These rows are precisely the open work.

A frequent reason for such a gap is differing spellings: the contract is in the name of the legal entity, while the record of processing activities uses the short form common in-house. The name matching cannot bring these together – that is what manual linking is for.

Establishing a connection

1. Open the processing activity and switch to the Relationships tab.
2. Click the row with the note Missing. Alternatively, click New.
3. In the Contract for order processing field, select the appropriate contract. The list shows the status and the association for each contract.
4. The Data recipients section then appears, asking what the connection is based on. If you started from a Missing row, the correct data recipient is already selected. Using Create a new data recipient you can record a new one instead.
5. Click Save and confirm with Link.

The confirmation prompt expressly points out that both documents remain unchanged in terms of content – only the relationship is linked.

Disconnecting a connection again

Open the relevant row in the Contractual relationships section and disconnect the relationship there. The row then appears again as an open Missing row, provided the data recipient is still listed in the processing activity.

Searching, sorting and tracing

The list can be searched and sorted; the Linked on column shows when the connection arose. Every link and every disconnection is recorded in the activity log of the document.

Permissions

Contracts for which you lack read permission do not appear in the list – not even as a gap. To create a link you need edit permission on the document you are working in.