Trainings and awareness measures are not only an important step in the implementation of data protection requirements, but, especially for larger organizations, oftentimes a particular challenge. We would like to offer you a guideline in the format of a 15-minute online training.

What exactly is it about?

In order to meet the statutory training requirement, you can implement a multi-level strategy. Such strategy can provide, for instance, that in a first step, all employees receive information sheets on important topics that will be referred to again in further trainings. These do not necessarily need to be an on-site trainings. Oftentimes, online trainings and interactive courses are a good means to achieve a basic level of awareness with all employees within in short period of time. Following that, further trainings can be scheduled (e.g. on-site trainings for multipliers, or webinars on area-specific topics). Ideally, the responsible parties will plan entire awareness campaigns with interlinked trainings and awareness measures using varying materials in different levels at various points in time.

In this blog post, we would like to give you an example of a module of such campaign. It is a 15-minute online training which is geared towards all employees of a responsible party that processes personal data.

At the end of this post, you’ll find a link to a sample 15-minute online training. The training aims at briefly introducing the most important data protection topics according to the GDPR and create a basic awareness. It is particularly suitable for reaching a large number of employees within a short period of time, and besides PCs and laptop computers, it is supported by the use of tablets and smartphones without requiring additional software. The online training requires the following:

The responsible party already has

  • designated contact persons for data protection
  • established a location (e.g. on the intranet) for data protection relevant information
  • defined a procedure for managing data breaches and a procedure for handling data subjects’ requests, and
  • sent an invitation to the employees with information regarding the above topics.

If you have 15 minutes, please take a look at this sample online training. You do not need to register and participation is free of charge. Please enable the audio and klick here.

If you prefer a more interactive experience, you may complete this task from another training.

Or would you like to see and listen to the example in German?

Summary and Outlook

The modules for awareness and training measures are multifaceted. Depending on the actual requirements, various strategies can be planned and implemented. Online trainings will always be an important module where a large number of employees is to be reached within a short period of time. In as much as documenting the employees’ participation in the training is considered necessary in order to comply with the accountability requirement, you may use a Learning Management System which logs the completion of the training for each employee. Apart from online trainings, interactive online trainings or webinars may also be an option. In addition, the responsible party will have available a bundle of further awareness measures. In one of our next posts, we will demonstrate a small awareness campaign with Paul as an example. You may wonder who Paul is. Please bear with us. Or did you already discover Paul on your own?