Revisions in preeco | datenschutz: documenting and comparing document versions

Revisions capture the state of a document at a specific point in time — immutably. preeco | datenschutz creates them automatically; you do not (and cannot) create a revision by hand. This article explains what revisions are, when they are created, which organization units they are created for, and how to compare two revisions.

What is a revision?

A revision is a PDF version of a document (a ZIP file for data processing agreements) that was created at a specific point in time and can no longer be changed. Revisions can neither be edited nor deleted — which is exactly what makes them evidence: in an audit or towards supervisory authorities, they prove which state of a document was released at which time and that it has not been altered afterwards.

You will find a document's revisions on its detail page in the Revisions tab. The number on the tab shows how many revisions already exist.

How are revisions created?

Revisions are created automatically when a document changes status — there is deliberately no "create revision" button. The most common trigger is the release: when you click Release on the detail page, the dialog explicitly confirms that releasing creates a revision and changes the document's status. After confirming, the new revision appears in the Revisions tab — creation runs in the background, so it may take a moment.

The trigger differs by document type:

• Release: processing activities (including processing activities on behalf), technical and organisational measures (including AI TOMs), data processing systems, assets and AI systems, policies, information duties, privacy policies, and risk analyses.
• Signature: data processing agreements, joint controllership agreements and declarations of consent receive their revision as soon as they are marked as signed.
• Assessment result: data protection impact assessments and transfer impact assessments when an assessment result is reached, personal data breaches on review or completion, AI compliance assessments on completion.
• Every save: the risk methodology (Settings / Risk management) creates a downloadable PDF revision with every saved change.

Releasing requires the "release" permission for the respective document type. If an already released document is edited and released again, another revision is created — the previous one remains unchanged. If you cannot see the Release button, first check the organization selected in the top right: if it does not match the document's affiliation, preeco | datenschutz hides the action.

Which organization units are revisions created for?

What matters is the document's affiliation — not the organization you currently have selected in the top right:

• A separate revision is created for each organization in the document's affiliation. Each of these PDF files is generated for that specific organization — with its letterhead, logo and document settings.
• If the document is assigned to "All organizations", one revision is created per organization of the team. Exception: data processing agreements, joint controllership agreements and declarations of consent receive exactly one shared revision with the affiliation "All organizations" in this case.
• Departments do not receive their own revision — they are assigned to the revision of their parent organization. Only if the parent organization itself is not part of the affiliation does the department get its own revision.

A revision's affiliation is frozen: if the document is later assigned to different organization units, existing revisions remain unchanged. This keeps it traceable who a version originally applied to.

Viewing and downloading revisions

The Revisions tab shows all revisions of the document in a filterable table with the columns file, affiliation, user, and the time and date of creation. The newest revision is marked as the current revision, older ones as previous revisions. Clicking a row downloads the respective file.

Two useful additions: the overview tables of many document types offer a "Last revision at" filter, and in your notification settings you can subscribe specifically to "New revisions" of a document.

Comparing revisions

Two versions of a document can be compared directly:

1. Open the document's Revisions tab.
2. Select exactly two revisions using the checkboxes.
3. Open the Actions menu and click Show differences.

The "Compare revisions" view opens: additions are highlighted in green, removals in red with strikethrough. preeco | datenschutz determines the order automatically — the older revision is always compared with the newer one, regardless of your selection order.

Notes on the comparison:

• The comparison is available for revisions created since the feature was introduced (version of 7 July 2026). Older revisions cannot be compared retroactively.
• For revisions of uploaded files (document-based documents) and for signed contracts, no comparison is available — in this case a corresponding message appears.
• The comparison is most meaningful between two revisions with the same affiliation, since each revision is generated for its organization and organization-specific details would otherwise differ as well.