Legal Center

DataBrew is a data intelligence platform built for businesses that sell products across locations in Southern Africa and beyond. We help restaurants, bars, bottle stores, tuck shops, grocery stores, franchise groups, and any retail or hospitality operation turn raw point-of-sale data into revenue insights, product analytics, and delivery tracking dashboards.

When we say "we", "us", or "DataBrew", we mean the DataBrew platform and its operators. When we say "you" or "your", we mean you as a user of our service.

We collect only what is necessary to provide our service:

• Account information: email address, name, phone number, job title, and company/venue name when your account is created by an administrator.
• Business data: sales transactions, product catalogues, location/branch information, and pricing data that your organisation sends to us for processing and analysis.
• Usage data: login timestamps, IP addresses, pages visited, and actions taken within the platform for security auditing and service improvement.
• Contact submissions: name, email, company, and message when you use the "Get Started" form on our homepage.

We do not collect payment card details, personal identification numbers, or any data unrelated to your use of the platform.

• Service delivery: processing the data you send us through our pipeline (ingestion, validation, mapping, analytics) and displaying insights on your dashboard.
• Account management: authenticating your login, enforcing role-based access, and managing your organisation's tenant.
• Security: detecting brute-force login attempts, logging access for audit compliance, and monitoring for unauthorised activity.
• Communication: responding to your enquiries and notifying you of important changes to your account or the service.

DataBrew is a multi-tenant platform. Your business data is strictly isolated from other organisations. Each tenant (client) has its own data boundary enforced at the database query level. Users from one tenant cannot access, view, or modify data belonging to another tenant. Internal DataBrew staff can only access client data for support purposes with appropriate authorisation.

We do not sell, rent, or trade your data to third parties. Your business data is shared only:

• With users within your own organisation (based on their assigned role and permissions).
• Via dashboard share links that you explicitly create, with visibility controls and optional expiry dates.
• When required by law or valid legal process (e.g. a court order under South African law).

• All data is stored in PostgreSQL databases with encrypted connections.
• Passwords are hashed using Django's PBKDF2 algorithm with SHA256 and are never stored in plain text.
• Sessions expire after inactivity to prevent unauthorised access on shared devices.
• Login attempts are rate-limited. Accounts are temporarily locked after repeated failed attempts.
• All access is logged in an immutable audit trail.

Under the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA), you have the right to:

• Access your personal information held by DataBrew.
• Correct inaccurate or outdated information.
• Request deletion of your personal data (subject to our retention obligations).
• Object to the processing of your personal information.

To exercise any of these rights, switch to the Support tab and contact us.

DataBrew uses essential cookies only. These are session cookies for authentication and CSRF protection tokens for form security. We do not use advertising cookies, tracking pixels, or third-party analytics scripts.

We may update this privacy policy from time to time. Significant changes will be communicated via the platform or email. Continued use of DataBrew after changes constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.

By accessing or using the DataBrew platform, you agree to be bound by these Terms of Service. If you are using DataBrew on behalf of a business or organisation, you represent that you have the authority to bind that entity to these terms.

DataBrew provides a data intelligence service for businesses that sell products across locations, including restaurants, bars, bottle stores, grocery shops, tuck shops, franchise groups, and any retail or hospitality operation. Our platform covers data ingestion, product mapping, analytics dashboards, and delivery tracking. These terms govern your use of all features of the platform.

• Account creation: Accounts are created by DataBrew administrators or your organisation's admin. There is no self-registration. You receive your credentials from your administrator.
• Credentials: You are responsible for keeping your login credentials secure. Do not share your password with anyone. If you suspect unauthorised access, notify your administrator immediately.
• Roles: Access is governed by your assigned role (e.g. client admin, client viewer, data engineer). Each role has specific permissions. Do not attempt to access features or data outside your assigned permissions.
• Termination: We may suspend or terminate access for violations of these terms, or at the request of your organisation's administrator.

You own your data. Sales transactions, product catalogues, location information, and any other business data provided to DataBrew remain your property. We do not claim ownership of your data.

By providing your data to DataBrew (typically by sending files to our team, who then process and upload them on your behalf), you grant DataBrew a limited licence to process, transform, store, and display your data solely for the purpose of providing the service to you. This includes:

• Receiving and ingesting data files sent by your team via email, SFTP, or other delivery methods. This includes CSV, TSV, Excel, PDF, POS exports, and any other structured data format.
• Mapping raw product names to a standardised master catalogue.
• Aggregating transaction data for dashboard visualisation.
• Generating analytics, trends, and insights from your data.

We will not use your business data for any purpose other than delivering the service to your organisation.

You agree not to:

• Upload data you do not have the right to share (e.g. stolen or pirated data).
• Attempt to access other tenants' data or bypass access controls.
• Use the platform for any illegal purpose or in violation of South African law.
• Reverse-engineer, decompile, or attempt to extract the source code of the platform.
• Introduce malware, scripts, or malicious content through file uploads.
• Overload the platform with excessive automated requests or scraping.

We strive to keep DataBrew available 24/7 but do not guarantee uninterrupted service. Planned maintenance, infrastructure issues, or force majeure events may cause temporary downtime. We will make reasonable efforts to notify you of scheduled maintenance in advance.

DataBrew is provided "as is" without warranties of any kind, express or implied. We do not guarantee that analytics or insights generated from your data will be error-free or suitable for any specific business decision.

When you create a shared dashboard link, you are responsible for who receives that link. Shared links provide read-only access without authentication. You can control what data is visible (revenue, products, locations) and set expiry dates. You can revoke a shared link at any time.

DataBrew logs all access to shared links for security purposes.

The DataBrew platform, including its design, code, branding, icons, and documentation, is the intellectual property of DataBrew. You may not copy, redistribute, or create derivative works from any part of the platform.

Your uploaded data and any reports you export (CSV, PDF) remain your property.

DataBrew is an analytics and reporting tool. The dashboards, insights, trends, and figures we generate are based entirely on the data your organisation provides to us. We process and visualise this data, but we do not verify its accuracy at the source.

The information displayed on DataBrew should not be treated as financial advice, auditing, or professional consulting. Any business decisions you make based on DataBrew analytics are your own responsibility. We recommend verifying critical figures with your own financial records before acting on them.

DataBrew does not guarantee that the data, calculations, or insights shown on the platform are free from errors. Data quality depends on the accuracy and completeness of the files provided to us by your organisation.

To the maximum extent permitted by South African law:

• DataBrew shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, or consequential damages arising from your use of the platform. This includes, but is not limited to, loss of revenue, loss of profit, loss of data, or loss of business opportunity.
• DataBrew shall not be liable for any losses resulting from business decisions made based on analytics, dashboards, or insights provided by the platform.
• DataBrew shall not be liable for inaccuracies in the data provided by your organisation, or for errors arising from incomplete or incorrectly formatted source files.
• Our total liability for any direct claim related to the service shall not exceed the fees paid by your organisation in the 12 months before the claim arose.

Nothing in these terms excludes or limits our liability for fraud, gross negligence, or any liability that cannot be excluded under South African law.

We process personal information in accordance with the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA). As a data operator, we take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect the personal information we process on your behalf. For full details, see the Privacy tab.

If a data breach occurs that affects your organisation's information, we will notify you as soon as reasonably possible and take immediate steps to contain and address the breach.

These terms are governed by the laws of the Republic of South Africa. Any disputes arising from these terms or your use of the platform will be subject to the jurisdiction of the courts of South Africa.

We may update these terms from time to time. If we make significant changes, we will notify affected users via the platform or email. Continued use of DataBrew after changes take effect constitutes acceptance of the updated terms.

Questions about these terms? Switch to the Support tab and send us a message.

Just email your data files to data@databrew.works and our team will process everything for you. We handle the ingestion, validation, mapping, and curation. Once processed, your data will appear on your dashboard automatically. No need to log in and upload anything yourself.

We accept virtually any structured data format: CSV, TSV, Excel, PDF, POS system exports, and more. You can send files via email, SFTP, or any method that works for your business. Our team handles the rest. The only formats we don't support are image-based files (photos, scanned receipts). If your data is in a format we haven't seen before, we'll work with you to get it processed.

When we process your data, raw product names from your POS system are matched to our master product catalogue. New or unusual product names may not have a match yet. Our team will map these for you. If you notice something unmapped or incorrectly labelled, just let us know what the product is and we'll update it. Once mapped, the product will be recognised automatically in all future uploads.

Yes. From your dashboard, click the Share button to generate a read-only link. You control what's visible (revenue, products, locations), set an expiry date, and can revoke the link at any time. You can also send email invitations directly from the platform. Shared links do not require the recipient to have a DataBrew account.

Navigate to the Exports tab in your client portal. You can download your data as a CSV (for spreadsheets) or PDF (for reports). Choose your date range and optionally filter by location. The export includes all mapped transactions with revenue, quantities, and product details.

For security, accounts are temporarily locked after 5 failed login attempts. The lockout lasts 1 hour. If you can't wait, contact your administrator or use the form below and we can unlock your account manually. You can also use the Forgot Password link on the login page to reset your credentials.

South African businesses typically record sales inclusive of 15% VAT. DataBrew stores both values. The VAT toggle on your dashboard lets you switch between viewing revenue including or excluding VAT. This is configured per data source based on how your POS exports the data.