Privacy Policy.

Scope and operator

Anderson Porter Design (“APD,” “we,” or “us”) operates APD Studio for its internal business purposes. This policy explains the handling of information within APD Studio. It is separate from the policies governing APD's public website, Intuit, payroll providers, and other independently operated services.

APD Studio is currently in development. Its QuickBooks integration uses sandbox companies, while administrators may enter authorized internal business and employee information into other features. Connection to real QuickBooks records and hosted production use require separate preparation and authorization. This notice will be updated before changes in deployment or data practices take effect.

Information the application handles

Depending on enabled features and the information supplied, APD Studio handles:

- Account information, including names, business email addresses, assigned roles, password hashes, and login sessions.

- Project information, including job numbers, customer/job mappings, phases, fees, assignments, completion estimates, billing requests, and internal notes.

- Timesheet and leave information, including work dates, hours, activities, hire dates, requests, decisions, and entered balances.

- Authorized payroll-review information, including employee identifiers, wage amounts, deduction and employer-cost amounts, payroll periods, and portal-user links.

- Imported QuickBooks information, including customer/job and account references, invoices, payments, bills, expenses, credits, journal entries, and financial report snapshots.

- Integration and operational information, including company identifiers, authorization tokens, import results, selected change histories, and technical records used to operate or troubleshoot the application. Session records may include an IP address and browser information.

Information comes from authorized users and administrators and, when connected, from Intuit's APIs. APD Studio does not need users' QuickBooks passwords; authorization takes place through Intuit.

Do not enter medical diagnoses, Social Security numbers, full bank-account numbers, or other sensitive information that is unnecessary for the relevant workflow.

How information is used

APD uses this information to administer projects, plan billing, display imported invoices, record time, manage leave, review payroll allocations, analyze financial performance, maintain selected audit histories, and troubleshoot the application.

QuickBooks information is used to support these internal application functions. APD determines its own purposes for processing information and does not process it on Intuit's behalf.

Who can access information

Application permissions depend on the assigned role. Regular employees can access their own timesheets and leave information. PMs and administrators can view team timesheets and the full invoicing log. PMs can view profitability for their assigned projects. Payroll-review details, confidential cost information, and firm-wide profit reporting are restricted to administrators.

Permissions inside the application do not describe access to its underlying files or database. People specifically authorized by APD to administer the installation can have broader technical access and must handle that information confidentially.

Storage and security

The current development installation stores application records in a local database and associated files on an APD-controlled workstation. A hosted production installation and its backup arrangements are still being evaluated.

The application uses authenticated accounts and role checks. Passwords are hashed, and selected sensitive records, including saved QuickBooks authorization tokens and payroll-review entries, use application-level encryption. These protections do not mean that every database field or file is encrypted, or that the application is independently certified or free from security risk.

Users should report suspected unauthorized access to APD promptly. They should not send passwords, authorization tokens, or sensitive financial documents by ordinary email.

Service providers and disclosures

The current integration exchanges authorization and requested accounting information with Intuit. Intuit handles its services under its own terms and privacy notices. APD does not sell APD Studio information or use it for targeted advertising.

APD may disclose information to specifically authorized technical service providers when necessary to operate or support the application, to professional advisers for authorized business purposes, or when required by law. Such access must be limited to the purpose and subject to appropriate confidentiality and data-protection requirements. Any hosted deployment will require review of its actual providers and corresponding updates to this notice.

Cookies and operational records

APD Studio uses session cookies and browser storage for login-related functions and interface preferences. It does not implement advertising trackers or third-party marketing analytics. This statement applies to APD Studio itself; the public website hosting this notice may have its own cookies and analytics.

Retention, disconnection, and deletion

Records are retained for the internal functions described here and applicable recordkeeping obligations. The current development version does not implement a general automatic deletion schedule or self-service account deletion. APD must review and handle retention and deletion requests manually; ending an employee's access does not automatically erase business or employment records.

An authorized administrator can disconnect the QuickBooks integration. The application's disconnect function removes its saved authorization tokens and attempts to revoke authorization with Intuit. If Intuit does not confirm revocation, the administrator must also remove the connection through QuickBooks. Disconnection does not automatically delete imported records, reports, or historical copies.

Requests to end use of connected QuickBooks information or delete retained copies should be directed to APD. APD will stop further retrieval and use of affected information when consent is withdrawn and will handle deletion subject to applicable legal recordkeeping requirements and its obligations to Intuit. This is a manual administrative responsibility; the disconnect button is not an automatic data-erasure service. Copies held outside the active database, including any backups, must be considered when fulfilling a deletion request.

Access, corrections, and questions

Contact info@andersonporter.com with the subject “APD Studio privacy request” to ask about access, corrections, account access removal, disconnection, or deletion. Identify the type of request without including sensitive records. APD may verify identity and authority before acting and may need to retain information required for legal recordkeeping. Applicable privacy and employment rights are not limited by this policy.

Changes to this policy

APD will update this notice when its data practices change and identify the current version by its last-updated date. Material changes affecting users will also be communicated through APD's internal communication process.

Contact

Anderson Porter Design operates APD Studio. For privacy questions or requests, contact info@andersonporter.com and identify the request as relating to APD Studio.