Who this is for
Analyst or office manager who wants to use an AI tool on a spreadsheet of customer or staff comments but must remove personal details first.
A spreadsheet of free text is ready for analysis, and nobody is comfortable that the names and contact details are gone.
The result
A script you run replaces names, emails, phone numbers and ID-like numbers with consistent tokens, so the same email or phone number gets the same token, and the key stays with you. Misses are measured on a planted synthetic set we make (a smoke test) and on made-up details you add to your own copy, and a sample of your own rows is checked by your person. It is not a guarantee.
What is included
- A script for one operating system, run by you on your own computer
- One spreadsheet of up to 50,000 rows with up to 10 text columns
- Pattern types: names, emails, phone numbers and ID-like numbers
- A planted synthetic set of 300 rows, 150 held back with at least 100 planted items of each of emails, phone numbers and ID-like numbers, to measure misses
- A sample check of 100 of your own masked rows by your named person
You receive
- The masking script and run steps
- The token key file, created on your side
- Misses by type on the held-back planted set
- Your 100-row sample check, recorded
- A plain-words page on what the script cannot catch
What is not included
- A guarantee that all personal details are removed
- Reversing tokens for anyone but you
- Advice on whether you may process the data
- Images, attachments or audio
- Sending your spreadsheet anywhere
What we need from you first
- What the spreadsheet holds and how many text columns it has
- Which operating system you would run the script on
- No real records, personal data or credentials in the first enquiry
Never send passwords, keys, customer records or confidential code in the first enquiry. Secure handover is agreed after scoping.
How we check it is done
- On the held-back planted set, at least 95 of 100 planted items of each of emails, phone numbers and ID-like numbers are masked, reported by type with the list of misses (95 of 100 shows the true rate is at least 89% with 95% confidence). We plant this set ourselves, so it is a smoke test of the script. In a copy of your own spreadsheet you add 20 made-up emails and 20 made-up phone numbers that we are not told about; at least 18 of each are masked (at least 71% with 95% confidence). Names are reported but not passed or failed.
- The same planted email or phone number always gets the same token, and different ones get different tokens.
- Run with the network blocked, the script gives the same output, and a connection monitor shows no outbound connection.
- Your named person checks 100 of your own masked rows, and the number of personal details found is recorded. No pass mark is promised for this check.
- The token key file is not in the delivered script or output files.
You inspect the misses table, the no-network test and your own sample check, and sign off in writing. Payment follows sign-off. Whether the masked file is fit to use is your decision.
When we would stop or decline
- You want a guarantee or a compliance certificate
- You want your spreadsheet sent to us to be masked
- The text is mostly in languages other than English
- Special-category details, such as health, appear throughout the text
Questions
Is the masked file anonymous?
Not necessarily. Masking reduces personal details; it does not prove they are gone. Your person checks a sample, and the decision to use the file is yours.
Do you see my spreadsheet?
No. You run the script yourself.
Can the tokens be reversed?
Only with the key file, which is made on your side and stays there.
Price and terms
£245 · untested offer price. £245 after the agreed test passes on the held-back part and you sign off. No payment before sign-off.
This is a new service with no published client results. The price is a starting point we have not yet tested with buyers. Nothing is ordered or charged by the enquiry. The full specification is on the Synthetic Industry catalogue.