Why a self-hosted Mural alternative for data residency is a transfer question first
If your renewal, GDPR review or sovereignty assessment has surfaced a requirement that a default US-hosted whiteboard cannot meet, self-hosted Excalidraw or Nextcloud Whiteboard keeps boards where your organization decides, on servers you control. The question to answer first is not which whiteboard has the better templates. It is where board content is stored, who can reach it, and which legal regimes apply to each of those locations and access paths.
Under GDPR Article 44, every transfer of personal data to a third country, including onward transfers, must meet Chapter V conditions, and the EDPB's Guidelines 05/2021 treat storage in a cloud outside the EEA, and remote access from a third country even only to display data, as transfers. Sticky notes, stakeholder names and workshop notes on a board are often personal data, so a board hosted outside the EEA, or supported by staff outside it, falls inside this analysis. Ask your vendor where data is stored, where support sessions originate and which sub-processors touch the service, and record the answers in your transfer register.
Hosting location alone does not settle access. The US CLOUD Act provision at 18 U.S.C. 2713 applies regardless of where data sits, and the EDPB's Recommendations 01/2020 state that where a provider must access data in the clear and foreign authority powers exceed what is necessary and proportionate, no effective technical supplementary measure can be envisioned. Your decision should therefore cover the hosting region, the operator's jurisdiction and the lawful basis for any transfer. Confirm the current status of the Data Privacy Framework with counsel, since the appeal in Case C-703/25 P is pending.
What GDPR and sovereignty rules require of a whiteboard host
A whiteboard holds workshop notes, customer journeys and sometimes personal data, so where it is stored and who can reach it matters as much as its features. The cards below set out the transfer rules, access laws and processor duties that apply to a board host, and what each one means when you choose between a vendor cloud and a server you run yourself.
Transfers need a Chapter V basis
Article 44 of the GDPR requires every transfer of personal data to a third country, including onward transfers, to meet the conditions in Chapter V. For a whiteboard, a sticky note with a customer name or a journey map with account details can fall under this rule once it leaves the EEA. Ask your vendor which regions hold boards, backups and support copies, and whether any onward subprocessor sits outside the EEA.
Storage and remote access both count
The EDPB's Guidelines 05/2021 treat storage in a cloud outside the EEA as a transfer, and also treat remote access from a third country as a transfer, even when a support engineer only views data on a screen. For a board host, this means a vendor's support staff abroad can create a transfer even if the data never leaves the EU region. Ask where support access is granted and logged.
Fines reach 4% of turnover
Infringements of Articles 44 to 49 fall under the higher fine tier in Article 83(5)(c) of the GDPR, which sets a ceiling of EUR 20 million or 4% of worldwide annual turnover, whichever is higher. A board that carries personal data across a transfer boundary without a valid basis puts the whole organization at that exposure. Treat the board host as part of your transfer inventory, not as a convenience tool outside it.
US providers face the CLOUD Act
Under 18 U.S.C. 2713, electronic communication and remote computing service providers must preserve or disclose data in their possession, custody or control, wherever that data is stored. A US-headquartered vendor can therefore be compelled to produce EU-hosted boards, which is why a regional region setting alone may not settle the question. Ask the vendor how it handles government requests and whether it commits to notifying you.
Third-country orders need a treaty
Article 48 of the GDPR says a third-country court judgment or administrative decision that requires disclosure of personal data can be recognized or enforced in the EU only if it rests on an international agreement, such as a mutual legal assistance treaty, in force with the Union or a Member State. For a whiteboard host, this shapes how the vendor must respond to a foreign order and whether it has to reject a direct request. Put the handling procedure in your processor contract.
Data Act Article 32 duty
Article 32 of the EU Data Act (Regulation (EU) 2023/2854) requires providers of data processing services to take technical, organizational and legal measures against third-country governmental access to non-personal data held in the Union when that access would conflict with EU or national law. Board content such as design concepts and internal strategy is often non-personal, so this duty applies alongside GDPR. Ask the vendor to show the measures it has in place.
Where Mural's default hosting and Enterprise residency leave gaps
Regional residency settings decide where Mural stores data, but they do not decide which legal authority can reach it. Mural stores data in the United States on Azure by default, and regional residency is available only on its Enterprise plan. A US provider remains subject to US law wherever its servers sit. Under 18 U.S.C. 2713, which was added in March 2018, electronic communication and remote computing service providers must preserve or disclose data in their possession, custody or control, whether that data is inside or outside the United States. A European storage region therefore narrows the physical location of boards without removing that exposure. Read the statute text on GovInfo before your legal team scopes the question.
Put the residency questions to Mural in writing and get written answers before you sign. Ask where data is processed, not only where it is stored, and where support and engineering staff access it from. EDPB Guidelines 05/2021 treat remote access from a third country as a transfer, even when data is only displayed on a screen. Ask for the current subprocessor list, including any Azure services in the processing chain, and confirm the regions each one uses. Ask how government requests are handled, including whether Mural notifies customers, challenges overbroad demands and what it discloses. Request the answers as contract terms, since a sales deck or help page is not binding on how requests are handled.
Peers gate residency in different ways, so compare the actual terms rather than the marketing summaries. Miro offers EU data residency on all plans, with Ireland as the primary data center and Germany as the backup, while US, Australian and Japanese residency require its Enterprise plan. Lucid's global residency, covering US, EU (Germany) and Australian regions, is Enterprise only and is not available on FedRAMP accounts. Figma's data residency is also Enterprise only, and comments, file names, plugins, fonts and preview thumbnails are not hosted in the chosen region. Verify current terms with each vendor, because these plan and region details change. Whichever tool you choose, list every data type that sits outside your chosen region.
Which open-source options keep boards on your own servers
This table compares three self-hosted options for keeping boards and diagrams inside your own environment, plus one hosted option to assess separately. Read each row as a residency question: where the data is stored, how collaboration traffic is handled, and what the platform does not cover. The main takeaway is that self-hosting moves storage control to you, but the trade-offs in templates, facilitation and upkeep remain.
| Option | How it meets residency | Trade-offs to weigh | When to choose it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Excalidraw with excalidraw-room (MIT) | Drawings save as open .excalidraw JSON files on your storage. The MIT-licensed excalidraw-room server can run on your own infrastructure for live sessions. | No templates or facilitation features like Mural. You must run and secure the room server and confirm end-to-end encryption behaves as you expect in your setup. | Teams that need a lightweight, open-format whiteboard and can accept fewer workshop tools. |
| Nextcloud Whiteboard (AGPL-3.0) | Built on Excalidraw, it stores boards inside your Nextcloud instance, so content stays in the same location as your files. | You must run Nextcloud and keep it upgraded one major version at a time. Confirm the collaboration backend and feature set in your release before committing. | Organizations that already run Nextcloud and want SSO and permissions through an existing file platform. |
| draw.io (Apache 2.0) | Diagrams are saved where the user chooses, on a device or connected storage, and not on draw.io's servers. Imports cover Visio, Gliffy and Lucidchart files. | Strong for diagrams but not a live whiteboard. The maintainers do not accept pull requests, so fixes depend on the upstream project and your own patching plan. | Teams moving architecture and process diagrams off a hosted diagram tool and keeping files on their own storage. |
| Excalidraw+ (hosted, not self-hosted) | Data is stored in Excalidraw's cloud. The provider states SOC 2 Type 2 compliance and encryption at rest and in transit, but location must be confirmed. | Not self-hosted, so it does not meet a strict on-premises requirement. Ask where data is stored and processed and what transfer terms apply. | Only where a hosted service is acceptable after a written review of storage location, transfers and access by the provider. |
| Residency evidence to request | Written statement of where boards, files and logs are stored, and whether any copy leaves the EEA. | Vendors may describe storage differently from how sessions are relayed. Ask for the data flow diagram and the subprocessor list. | Before any migration decision, so the choice rests on documented locations rather than marketing claims. |
How to deploy Nextcloud Whiteboard inside your own residency boundary
This sequence takes a Nextcloud Whiteboard deployment from a confirmed hosting location to a tested, backed-up instance that keeps board data inside your own network. Each step closes with a check you can record as evidence for your residency and GDPR review.
Confirm the hosting region and legal entity
Before any installation, the CISO or data protection lead records where the servers will sit, which legal entity operates them, and which jurisdictions can reach the operator and the cloud accounts or data centers involved. Include backups, logs and any support access in that list, because the EDPB guidelines treat remote access from a third country as a transfer. Done means a signed boundary document that names every location and every party with access, and that the team can check against the architecture later.
Install Nextcloud with All-in-One or a supported stack
The platform engineering team installs Nextcloud on hardware or cloud accounts the organization controls, using Nextcloud All-in-One, which Nextcloud describes as its official installation method and which bundles caching, PostgreSQL, backups and optional Talk and Office. Teams that already run a stack can use a manual install instead. Done means the admin login works on a private hostname and the instance reports no outstanding setup warnings in the administration overview.
Choose a supported database and PHP version
The engineering team checks the Nextcloud 35 system requirements and selects a database and PHP version from the supported lists, which currently recommend MariaDB 11.8 or PostgreSQL 18 and PHP 8.5, with older versions accepted in the ranges the documentation lists. Confirm the web server choice too, Apache 2.4 or nginx with php-fpm. Done means a written record of the chosen versions with the matching requirements page, and a green system check in the administration panel.
Connect your identity provider
The identity team connects Nextcloud to the directory or identity provider that already governs staff access. Nextcloud's LDAP app lets Active Directory and LDAP users log in with their directory credentials, and the platform also documents OpenID Connect and SAML backends. Confirm the mapping of groups to whiteboard access and disable local accounts that are not needed. Done means a test user from each relevant group signs in through the chosen method and a removed directory account loses access.
Install Whiteboard and its collaboration backend
An administrator installs the Whiteboard app from the Nextcloud app store and sets up its collaboration backend, the component that handles real-time editing for multiple users. Because Whiteboard is built on Excalidraw and stores boards inside Nextcloud, confirm in the admin settings that the backend runs on your internal network and not on a public service you do not control. Done means two test users edit the same board in real time, and the backend address is recorded in the boundary document.
Block third-party egress and verify no board data leaves
The network team restricts outbound traffic from the Nextcloud and Whiteboard hosts to the update and mail destinations you have approved, and blocks everything else at the firewall. Then the security team runs a board session with monitoring on, reviews the outbound connection logs and checks that no board content, file name or user identifier is sent to an external address. Turn off or review any app that calls outside services. Done means a logged test session with no unapproved destinations, saved with the boundary document.
Define backups and test a restore
The operations team configures backups for the database, the data directory and the application configuration, using the backup approach in All-in-One or an approved tool, and stores copies in the same residency boundary. A restore into a separate environment must succeed before the instance is accepted. Done means a documented restore that brings back a test board, plus a recorded retention policy that the data protection lead has approved.
Plan upgrades one major version at a time
Set a schedule for upgrades and follow Nextcloud's rule that major releases cannot be skipped, so each jump goes one major version at a time. Take a fresh backup before every upgrade, disable third-party apps until their compatibility is confirmed, and apply the monthly maintenance releases that address critical bugs and security problems. Nextcloud 35 is supported until September 2027, so track end-of-life dates against your plan. Done means a runbook listing the upgrade order, the rollback steps and the owner who signs off each change.
What auditors and data protection officers ask for
What records of processing do auditors expect for a self-hosted whiteboard?
Auditors expect the entry for the whiteboard to sit in your records of processing under Article 30 of the GDPR, with the purpose, the categories of people whose data appears on boards, the recipients, the retention period and the security measures. For a self-hosted tool, the entry should name the servers, the hosting location and the administrators who can reach the data. Keep the entry tied to the actual deployment: if you add a new board app, a new storage backend or a new collaboration server, update the record before go-live. A data protection officer will also check whether board content is personal data, since sticky notes from workshops often contain names, customer details or HR topics.
When do you need a transfer impact assessment for a whiteboard vendor?
You need one whenever personal data leaves the EEA, or is reachable from a third country, through a vendor you still use. The EDPB Guidelines 05/2021 treat storage in a cloud outside the EEA and remote access from a third country, even only displaying data on a screen, as transfers. If your self-hosted board runs fully on your own servers in the EEA and no vendor component touches board content, the assessment may be short or unnecessary. If you keep a hosted service for part of the stack, such as a SaaS collaboration relay or a support tool with remote access, document the transfer, the safeguards and the assessment of foreign government access. Ask the vendor which of its staff and subprocessors can view content and from where.
What subprocessor and data location lists should you keep?
Keep a written list of every component that handles board data, with its operator, its country of hosting, its role and the data it sees. For a self-hosted stack this usually covers the application server, the database, the file storage, any reverse proxy or CDN, email for notifications, and backups. Include the physical locations of your data centers or cloud regions and the backup copies, since backups are a common gap. Note whether each subprocessor can access content in the clear. Review the list at each upgrade and whenever you add a hosted add-on, and confirm the locations with your hosting provider in writing.
What access control and SSO logs will an auditor sample?
Auditors usually sample who can sign in, who holds administrator rights, and how accounts are removed when people leave. Keep the directory or identity provider configuration for single sign-on, the group mapping that grants board access, and the logs of logins and failed logins for the board service and its host. Nextcloud documents LDAP, OpenID Connect and SAML backends, so your evidence should show which one you use and the settings that enforce it. Keep a dated record of access reviews, with the names of reviewers and the changes they approved. Confirm log retention with your security team, because logs that roll over quickly leave gaps in an investigation.
How do you prove backups and restores work for board data?
Show a backup schedule, the scope of what is backed up, the encryption used and the retention period, then show a dated restore test that recovered a board and its attachments. Auditors care more about the restore test than the backup job, because a backup that has never been restored is an untested assumption. Test both the database and the file storage, since a board may reference images stored elsewhere. Record the time the restore took, who ran it and what was checked afterwards. The Nextcloud All-in-One documentation describes BorgBackup-based backups, which you can use as a starting point, but the test evidence must come from your own environment.
What upgrade and patch record does a whiteboard need?
Keep a change log that shows the version running at each date, the release notes you reviewed, the date of each upgrade, the backup taken before it, and the test that followed. Nextcloud publishes a new major version every four months and supports each for one year through monthly maintenance releases, so the log should show that you stayed on a supported line. Nextcloud does not allow skipping major releases, so the log should show each step. Also record when you disabled third-party apps and when you confirmed them compatible again. Excalidraw and its collaboration server are maintained on GitHub, so track the versions you deploy and their release dates from the project's releases page.
Can you switch away from a cloud whiteboard under the EU Data Act?
Yes, the EU Data Act gives customers of data processing services the right to switch to another provider or to on-premises infrastructure. Article 25 sets the switching process, including a maximum two-month notice period and a 30-day transition, and Article 29 covers the rules on switching charges, which are banned from 12 January 2027 under Article 50. For a whiteboard, this means you can ask your current vendor for an export of your data in a usable format, and then move to your own servers. Ask the vendor for its written switching terms and for the export formats it supports, because the Data Act sets the right but the practical export depends on what the product offers.
What evidence does DeployOpen prepare, and what does it not issue?
DeployOpen prepares the systems, controls and evidence that an assessment will review, including the records of processing inputs, the subprocessor and location lists, access configuration, backup and restore test records, and the upgrade log for the self-hosted platform. It does not issue audit reports, attestations or certifications. Independent auditors and certification bodies carry out those assessments and decide what the evidence proves. The scope and deliverables for this work are agreed in writing before work starts, so ask for the evidence list in that scope and confirm with your auditor which items they need in their own format.
What the migration and hosting work involves
The work splits into four components: hosting in a region you choose, identity integration, content migration and adoption. Hosting means deciding where the servers sit (your own data center, or a cloud account in a region your residency rules accept) and then running the application stack, database, backups and TLS. For Nextcloud Whiteboard, that stack is a Nextcloud instance with the whiteboard app and its collaboration backend, and the database, storage and backup location are the decisions that determine where personal data actually lives. Confirm the region and the sub-processors of any cloud provider in writing before you provision anything.
Identity integration is usually the largest variable. Nextcloud can authenticate users against LDAP or Active Directory through its LDAP app, and documents OpenID Connect and SAML backends, so the choice depends on your existing directory. Plan the group mapping that controls who can create boards and who can only view them, and test deprovisioning, because a leaver should lose access to boards as well as to files. Data export is the second component. Murals can be exported as PDF or PNG, but these static exports lose editable sticky notes, connectors and comments, so decide early which boards are archived as images and which are rebuilt. Rebuilding priority boards, replacing workshop templates and training facilitators on the new tool are recurring effort that scales with how many boards and workshop formats your teams run.
Cost drivers are the number of users and concurrent sessions, the number of boards to rebuild, the complexity of identity setup, and who operates the platform after go-live. Nextcloud's server and Whiteboard carry no license fee under AGPL-3.0 and MIT-licensed Excalidraw, so the recurring costs are infrastructure, staff time for operations and upgrades, and any external support you buy. Nextcloud's pricing page lists Enterprise subscriptions at 71.29 euros per user per year for the Standard tier and higher for Premium and Ultimate, but these are support and maintenance subscriptions, not a requirement to run the software. Ask any implementation partner for a written scope that lists each component, the environments covered, who maintains upgrades (Nextcloud requires one major version at a time), and what happens after handover.
Questions buyers ask about self-hosting Mural for data residency
Does self-hosting Mural alternatives alone satisfy GDPR?
Hosting on your own servers keeps the board data under your control, but it does not by itself make your processing compliant. GDPR Article 44 applies to transfers of personal data to third countries, so self-hosting in an EU data center mainly removes the need for a transfer of board content to a vendor outside the EEA. You still need a lawful basis, records of processing, access controls, retention rules and a check of any subprocessors such as email providers or hosting firms. The Article 83(5)(c) fines for infringing Articles 44 to 49 reach EUR 20 million or 4% of worldwide annual turnover, so have your data protection officer review the setup. Confirm the hosting location and every service the platform calls with your legal team.
How long does a Nextcloud Whiteboard or Excalidraw migration take?
No fixed duration can be given here, because the time depends on the number of boards, how many are live workshop templates, the identity integration and how much of the archive you need to keep. The work typically splits into inventory, a pilot with a few teams, the server build, identity setup and cutover. Murals exported as PDF or PNG keep their look but lose editable objects, so rebuilding active boards takes more effort than archiving finished ones. Ask any implementation partner for a written scope with deliverables and a timeline before work starts, and ask them to list which boards they will rebuild and which they will archive.
Can our own team run the migration without outside help?
Yes, if your team already runs Linux servers, a database and a web server, and can manage user accounts. Nextcloud Server documents its requirements, including MariaDB or PostgreSQL, PHP and Apache or nginx with php-fpm, and Nextcloud All-in-One packages the installation with backups and caching. Teams without that operational background usually need help with the initial build, upgrade planning and the identity link. Outside help can be scoped as a fixed engagement covering planning, implementation, hardening and documentation, or as an ongoing retainer for upgrades and support. Confirm your team's skills against the system requirements before deciding.
What does the work require from our IT and legal staff?
IT needs to provide the hosting environment, database, storage, backup target, TLS certificates, directory integration and monitoring. If you use LDAP or Active Directory, the Nextcloud LDAP app lets directory users log in with their credentials, and OpenID Connect or SAML backends are also documented. Legal and privacy staff need to review where data is stored, who can access it, how long boards are kept and whether any support access from outside the EEA is allowed, since EDPB Guidelines 05/2021 treat remote access from a third country as a transfer. Agree these decisions before cutover, and record them in the processing register.
What recurring costs remain after a self-hosted setup?
The license fee for the open-source software is zero, but the recurring costs are servers or cloud instances, storage, backups, monitoring, staff time for administration, security patching and upgrades, and any paid support. Nextcloud Enterprise is an optional paid offering, and its list prices start at 71.29 euros per user per year for the Standard tier with a 100-user minimum, according to Nextcloud's pricing page. Standard includes one year of maintenance, Premium adds a lifecycle of five years or more, and Ultimate adds support up to 24/7. Ask any vendor or partner for a quote that separates one-time setup from annual run costs, and ask what each recurring line assumes about headcount and uptime.
Does Excalidraw+ solve data residency for our boards?
Excalidraw+ is a hosted service, so it does not keep boards on your own servers. Its pricing page lists a Free plan and a Plus plan at $6 per user per month with a 14-day trial, and it states SOC 2 Type 2 compliance and encryption at rest and in transit. Those statements are relevant to security assessment, but they do not show where data is stored or whether the hosting location meets your residency rule. If residency is the requirement, ask the vendor in writing for storage regions, subprocessors and any third-country access, and compare the answers with a self-hosted option. The open-source Excalidraw code can be run on your own infrastructure.
How does the Nextcloud release cycle affect maintenance?
Nextcloud publishes a new major version every four months and supports each for one year with monthly maintenance releases for critical bugs and security problems. Nextcloud 35 was released on 16 September 2026 with end of life in September 2027, and Nextcloud 36 is scheduled for 17 February 2027. Nextcloud does not allow skipping major releases, so each upgrade moves one major version at a time, with a backup before every upgrade and third-party apps disabled until they are confirmed compatible. Budget staff time for this cadence, and confirm your upgrade window and test environment in the operations plan. The Nextcloud maintenance and release schedule is the reference to check.
Confirm the residency requirement before choosing an option
Start by writing down the requirement in one sentence that your legal or privacy team can sign off: which personal data, which people, and whether the rule is a GDPR transfer restriction, a sector regulation or an internal policy. A requirement such as "all board content about EU customers stays in the EU and no third-country authority can compel access" leads to different options than "data must be stored in the EU." Without this sentence, vendor answers cannot be tested. Next, ask Mural and every other vendor in the shortlist, in writing, where data is stored, where it is processed, where support staff can view it, and which sub-processors have access. Remote access from a third country counts as a transfer under the EDPB Guidelines 05/2021 even when data is only displayed, so ask about support access specifically. Ask for the answer on the regional tier you would actually buy, since Mural's regional residency is limited to Enterprise.
Then decide whether you already run Nextcloud. If you do, a whiteboard inside an existing instance keeps boards, accounts and access rules on servers you already control, and the comparison with Mural is mostly about sharing, permissions and facilitation features. The sibling page on Mural vs Nextcloud Whiteboard sets out those trade-offs. If you do not run Nextcloud, the cost and staffing question becomes larger, and the Mural cost comparison shows which components to price. Confirm which Nextcloud release you would deploy and its support window before you commit, because major releases are supported for a limited period and upgrades must be done one major version at a time.
Finally, request a fixed-scope written proposal from an implementation partner such as DeployOpen. The proposal should name the hosting location and accountable owner, the identity integration, the backup and restore approach, the upgrade plan, and the evidence you will keep for your records. It should also state what the partner does not do: DeployOpen prepares systems and evidence for assessments, but independent auditors issue any report. Treat the residency decision as settled only when your legal team has reviewed the written vendor answers and the proposal together.
Primary sources to verify residency and licensing claims
This sequence gives your team a short reading path through the vendor residency pages, the Nextcloud release schedule, the open-source licenses and the EU texts, so each claim in this comparison can be checked against its original source before a decision. The output is a dated verification note that records what each source says and where it was read.
Confirm the current Mural residency terms
Ask your Mural account team in writing where your boards are stored, which Azure region applies, and which plan includes regional residency. Mural's own published terms and your contract are the sources to rely on, since no residency page for Mural is included in the sources for this comparison. The step is done when you hold a written answer that names the region and plan tier for your workspace.
Read the residency help pages for the alternatives
Have your security or compliance lead read the Miro data residency article, the Lucid global data residency article and the Figma localized file hosting article. Note which regions each vendor offers, which plans include them and what sits outside the chosen region, such as comments and thumbnails in Figma. The step closes when you have a table of vendor, plan, region and exclusions, which you can compare with your own requirements.
Check the Nextcloud release and maintenance schedule
Have your platform owner open the Nextcloud maintenance and release schedule and record the current major version, its end-of-life date and the next scheduled release. Confirm which supported version you plan to deploy and how often you will need to upgrade. The step is complete when your deployment note names a supported version and a review date tied to the published schedule.
Verify the licenses of the whiteboard components
Have your legal or procurement contact read the license statements in the Excalidraw and Nextcloud Whiteboard repositories and the Nextcloud Server repository. Confirm that Excalidraw is MIT licensed and that Nextcloud Whiteboard and Nextcloud Server are under AGPL-3.0, and record how the AGPL terms apply if you modify the code. The step closes with a license note that your legal team has reviewed.
Read the GDPR text on EUR-Lex
Have your data protection officer read the GDPR on EUR-Lex, focusing on the Chapter V transfer rules and Article 44. Use the reading to define what counts as a transfer for your organization, including remote access and storage outside the EEA. The step is done when your team has a written statement of which transfer conditions apply to your whiteboard data.
Compare the transfer guidance from the EDPB
Have your data protection officer read EDPB Guidelines 05/2021 and EDPB Recommendations 01/2020, noting the examples on remote access, cloud storage outside the EEA and third-country authority requests. Map each example to your deployment choices, such as hosting in your own data center or a provider in the EEA. The step closes with a list of open questions for your legal counsel or supervisory authority contact.
Record the findings and assign owners
Collect the outputs from the previous steps into one dated verification note, listing each claim, its source, the date you read it and the person responsible for it. Mark any point that depends on a contract, a vendor answer or a legal opinion as open. The step is complete when the note has an owner and a review date for each open item and is filed with your architecture or compliance records.
How DeployOpen deploys a whiteboard inside your residency boundary
DeployOpen plans, implements, hardens, documents and supports self-hosted open-source platforms inside your own cloud accounts, data centers or air-gapped networks. For a residency-driven whiteboard, that means the board data, the collaboration service and the backups all sit within the boundary your compliance team defines.
How we scope
- Map which teams, boards and attachments must stay in the chosen region or on your own servers
- Confirm the target platform, Nextcloud Whiteboard or Excalidraw with excalidraw-room, against your identity and access requirements
- Agree deliverables, timelines and responsibilities in writing before any work starts, as a fixed-scope engagement
How we build
- Deploy the whiteboard, collaboration backend, database and storage inside your infrastructure, with no third-party data path
- Connect directory sign-in through your existing identity provider, and test permissions against the access model you approved
- Test the deployment for data flows and exposure, then record what was tested and what remains open
How we hand over
- Document architecture, data locations, backup and restore steps, and the upgrade path one major version at a time
- Provide evidence for your compliance assessment, which auditors and certification bodies then review independently
- Walk your operations and security staff through administration, monitoring and exit or export procedures
How we support
- Offer ongoing support, upgrades and continuous testing as a retainer after handover
- Apply Nextcloud or Excalidraw maintenance releases and validate them against your residency controls before rollout
- Revisit the residency boundary when transfer rules, hosting regions or your processor contracts change
