Our daily work is characterized by an ever-increasing number of forms of electronic communication and digital systems, which on the one hand inevitably require a minimum amount of personal data for their use, and on the other hand transmit and process personal data in their own right.

These currently include:

• Printer systems

• Communication systems

• Access systems

• Surveillance cameras

• the Electronic Personnel File

• ALMA (the digital library system) and

• many other operational systems (BACH, SAP, etc.)

How employees' personal data is used in these systems must be carefully scrutinized. Corresponding operational agreements have been established to ensure that these systems are only used to the extent agreed upon, that personal rights are protected, and that employees are not monitored under any circumstances. The operational agreements regulate the data access given to the respective systems and/or the employer and also contain regulations regarding the protection and secure storage of personal data in all these systems.

The required transition to digital platforms in both teaching and administration in the wake of the Corona crisis has brought many new challenges in this area.

It is the task of the respective parties to the operational agreement to check in advance if the implementation of new systems (such as Teams or Zoom) is covered by the existing regulations. If not, appropriate amendments to the relevant operational agreement must be negotiated and agreed on. The introduction of new operating systems – and sometimes even the implementation of updates to them - also necessitates this prior evaluation and, depending on the results, the conclusion of new agreements between the Academic Staff Council and the employer.

In order to streamline this procedure  without compromising the protection of personal employee data or the protection of WU employees from unauthorized control, negotiations are currently underway for a new comprehensive IT operational agreement, which should replace the current operational agreement "Operational Systems" in the near future. The current version of the "Operational Systems" operational agreement and its amendments, including side letters, can be found here.

A particular data protection task of the Academic Staff Council is occasionally the inspection of door-key entry data or security camera recordings on campus. Access to such data is only permitted in justified cases (eg to investigate theft or vandalism) and the inspections (which are announced sporadically at relatively short notice) can only take place in the presence of members of the Academic Staff Council.

Your contact persons:

Stefan Sobernig, Rony Flatscher, Mark Strembeck und Karin Burger-Ehrnhofer

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