Daily Archives: May 15, 2018

GDPR: Are you a Controller or a Processor (Part VI)

Today’s guest post is from Tony Bridger, an experienced provider of Procurement Consulting and Spend Analysis services across the Commonwealth (as well as a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt) who has been delivering value across continents for two decades. He is currently President of UK-based TrainingWorx Ltd, a provider of a wide range of Procurement and Analytic business training programs (inc. GDPR, spend analysis, project management, process improvement, etc.) and focussed short-term consulting solutions. Tony can be contacted at tony.bridger@data-trainingworx.co.uk.

It was Glen Hoddle (English Soccer player) that wrote:

“I have a number of alternatives, and each one gives me something different”.

For many spend analysis providers (or other procurement tools providers) and their clients that manage personal data, the alternative may be simply to change nothing technically – and keep going with the status quo. In effect, implement the requirements of the GDPR regulations.

Like most alternatives there are trade-offs. If eliminating personal data is practicable – then that may be the first viable alternative for suppliers. However, leaving the process as-is and implementing the EU required controls may be the better option longer term.

However, there are several key changes required by 25th May. To be GDPR compliant requires those controls to be in place prior to that date.

The key concept in this article is ensuring that analytics suppliers understand the difference between a controller and processor. For commercial data that contains no personal data, this concept is inapplicable and no further action is required.

Under GDPR, the controller means:

“ … the natural or legal person, public authority, agency or other body which, alone or jointly with others, determines the purposes and means of the processing of personal data.”

In most cases, the controller will simply be the client.

After all, they will supply the data and direct what they want to happen with those transactions.

The processor is defined as:

“ … a natural or legal person, public authority, agency or other body which processes personal data on behalf of the controller.”

To all intents and purposes, most spend analytics providers within (and external) to the EU may be either a controller or provider (or both).

For companies that use serviced systems outside of the EU, providers are therefore processors. Being outside of the EU creates a number of key criteria that need to be met for compliance.

There is also a very clear definition in the Regulation about what constitutes processing:

“ … It means any operation or set of operations which is performed on personal data or on sets of personal data, whether or not by automated means, such as collection, recording, organisation, structuring, storage, adaptation or alteration, retrieval, consultation, use, disclosure by transmission, dissemination or otherwise making available, alignment or combination, restriction, erasure or destruction.”

Therefore, by default, any serviced analytics provider generically meets the definition.

So, what does this mean? Come back tomorrow for out next installment!

Thanks, Tony.