The tool that leads to GDPR compliance

A compliance manager is a tool that helps you manage the documentation required to achieve GDPR compliance. It shows you how far you have come in your compliance efforts and also gives you concrete advice on what else you need to do to become compliant. Here, we take a closer look at how a compliance manager can facilitate your work both before and after the introduction of the new General Data Protection Regulation.

GDPR compliance manager for your existing IT environment

The GDPR requires businesses to demonstrate, through documentation, that they comply with the rules and guidelines. That's exactly what a compliance manager helps you do. The tool allows you to document all the company procedures and processes that need to be in place for your business to comply with the regulations.

There are a variety of GDPR compliance tools available, and Microsoft's compliance manager is largely tied to its own Office 365 cloud services, so it is beneficial to use if you are already a user of these services.

All parts of the Regulation are divided into sections in your compliance manager and in one section you can also find the actual text of the Regulation. You will be given a score based on what you have and have not done to comply with the GDPR requirements.

Just by collecting all the data in Microsoft Cloud Services, you've already met 71 of the 118 steps in Microsoft Compliance Manager, and you'll get hands-on recommendations on what you need to do yourself to meet the remaining 47 points. You then fill in what you have done to ensure this. You can also create links to documents describing each procedure, so that not everything needs to be written directly in the tool.

The difference between a GDPR compliance manager and an assessment tool

We've previously told you how you can use an assessment tool to identify the extent to which a business has taken the steps needed to comply with the GDPR. The big difference between an assessment tool and a GDPR compliance manager is that an assessment tool simply asks the question: 'Do you have a procedure for [...]? The answer to this question is either yes or no. An assessment tool only gives you an overview of the situation. A road map of what you need to address based on your gaps.

In your compliance manager, you can read the text of the regulation, get recommendations on what you need to do, document what actions have been taken and what procedures are in place for each point and section. This helps you avoid having to create all the heavy documentation required from scratch. The work you have done in your assessment tool will help you see where to start in your compliance manager. That is - in the areas where there are the most gaps.

If you do not use a GDPR compliance manager

If you don't use a GDPR compliance manager, it can be difficult to know where to start working. GDPR is a comprehensive set of regulations and not having a starting point makes it much more difficult to get started. Common questions that come up in this situation are:

  • Where should we collect the documentation?
  • How can we keep track of what is done and what is not?
  • Should we have to read the text of the regulation straight through to understand what is to be done?
  • How will you follow up and ensure that you remain compliant in your day-to-day work?

A GDPR compliance manager has everything in black and white, and can guide you through the process and make recommendations.

The Microsoft compliance manager forms the basis of our GDPR hub. There we have gathered the technical tools available to ensure compliance. The solutions included in the hub mean that your compliance manager will already be populated where a technical solution meets GDPR requirements.

Want to know more about Microsoft's Compliance Manager or our GDPR Hubb? Get in touch!

 

Robert Veberg
Robert Veberg

Technical Lead - Microsoft Modern Workplace

040-626 75 81robertveberg@wesafe.se

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