Structured Data
Data organised into a predefined schema — rows and columns in a database, fields in a form, keys and values in a structured document.
Full Definition
Structured data lives in systems that enforce a schema: relational databases, data warehouses, column-stores, structured document stores. Columns have defined types; records have defined fields; relationships between records are explicit. For personal data, the structured surface is the easier governance problem: columns can be tagged (customer_name is PII, email is PII, address is PII), access policies apply at column granularity, DSR fulfilment is a parameterised query, and retention automation is a scheduled DELETE.
The harder half of the data estate is unstructured — files, chats, support tickets, call recordings — where personal data is embedded in free-form content rather than labelled by column name. Mature governance programmes treat structured and unstructured data as parallel pipelines with different discovery strategies: pattern-based column classification for structured, content classification (ML, pattern, context) for unstructured. The data catalog unifies the two under one inventory.
Related terms
Unstructured Data
Data without a predefined schema — documents, emails, images, chat transcripts, call recordings, PDFs, source code.
Data Classification
The process of labelling each data asset with its sensitivity, regulatory category and handling requirements.
Data Store
Any system — database, object store, data warehouse, SaaS application, file share — that holds personal or sensitive data.
Relevant regulations
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