Who will own my data once I submit it?
The University of Liverpool and Cubane Consulting.
Cubane Consulting have their own responsible usage statement which should be reviewed by anyone who is actively involved in supporting the collection. If you are involved in the set-up and administration of collections and surveys as a Lead Program Manager or attend Cubane-run conferences and events, this Privacy Notice is relevant to you.
If you are involved in collections as a Collection Program Manager, Organisation Manager, Primary Contact, Respondent, UniForum Resourcing Report user, Function Reviewer, Data Manager, are a user of our reporting tools (UFAnalytics), or have been invited to participate in the Service Effectiveness Survey or other surveys that are part of the UniForum program, this Privacy Notice is relevant to you.
If you are a user of any Uniforum data this notice is relevant to you.
If you have any questions, please email cubane@liverpool.ac.uk
Why do you need my information?
Staff Collection
The Professional Services Benchmarking exercise is undertaken annually in partnership with external consultants Cubane. The University has been part of this exercise since 2015 which involves other Russell Group universities and universities in Australia, New Zealand and Canada.
The exercise collects information on professional services activity over a specific time period. Responders (usually line managers), are requested to categorise the activity of staff who report directly to them.
The information is used to enable strategic and operational resource planning for professional services across the institution. It provides the University with a high-level overview of how professional services are spending their time and makes comparisons to other universities in the UK and globally using benchmarking data.
Once this information has been collected all universities return the data to the external provider, Cubane Consulting. On upload into the system the data is anonymised and, as such, Cubane do not receive any information on individual members of staff. Cubane normalise the activity data, accounting for institution size, spend and teaching/research revenue - this allows institutions of very different sizes and structures to be compared to one another.
Service Effectiveness Survey
The Service Effectiveness Survey goes out to mid and senior level academic staff and professional services staff who have been employed by the University for a minimum of six months. The survey asks staff to assess the importance of 35 professional services activities to their own work needs, and how effective they perceive these activities to be carried out. Respondents are asked for more detailed feedback on services that they rate as being important to their job.
The findings are used at a high level to inform action planning within functional areas with a view to improving what we do. Findings also support projects and reviews to identify improvements in processes, systems or behaviours, which will help in delivering key aspects of the University’s strategy.
The data that is generated from the Service Effectiveness Surveys is anonymised, for internal usage. Under no circumstances is SES data shared outside the University.
The data collected cannot be used to assess the performance of individual members of staff, nor will information on individuals be shared for any purpose other than what is explained within this privacy notice. All data use is in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation.
Why is the University allowed to use my information?
The University has a Legitimate Interest to collect the data in improving the effectiveness of the management of its professional services and support services and to enable institutional benchmarking to take place.
Who will my information be shared with?
Information collected through the data collection exercise will be accessible to the named Respondent and Primary Contact for your relevant department (usually including Directors and Heads of Operations) as well as the Strategic Change Data Team who manage the Cubane exercise.
Information regarding your activity coding and contractual information such as FTE, grade, job title and name will be shared with Cubane Consulting.
Where it has been deemed that Cubane activity data should be used as the basis of informing a project or resourcing review, your information may also be shared with the relevant Programme Management/Departmental Management Teams.
Do I have to provide this information and what will happen if I don’t?
It is your line manager or a nominated departmental responder who will provide information about you as part of the collection exercise and this is based on your job role within the University structure. It is not possible to opt out of the collection, however, you can request to see the information about how your role has been coded and can do this via your line manager.
Contributing to the Service Effectiveness Survey is optional, and whilst responders can make comments that name individuals these are removed from the survey data by Cubane before it is analysed and shared with anyone.
How long will you keep this data for and why?
Your personal information will only be retained for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements.
The information will be stored by Cubane for five years after leaving membership of the Uniforum programme. Our current membership lasts until 2022/23 (TBC) but may be renegotiated.
It is important to retain data over time as this allows us to track progress and monitor benefits of improvement initiatives that have used Cubane data as the basis for change.
How will my information be stored?
Information is stored within Excel on secure SharePoint sites, within access-controlled Tableau dashboards and held within the University systems such as TULIP and Core HR. Requests to access the data are controlled by the Cubane collection manager who oversees a secure data environment for the programme.
Information will be stored securely within Cubane Consulting’s UFAST system.
Will this information be used to take automated decisions about me?
No. Cubane data is reviewed by management teams and relevant projects and programmes but very rarely at the individual level unless prior agreement is obtained. The data will only ever inform direction or prioritisation and will never be the only source of information used to inform any decisions.
Will my data be transferred abroad and why?
No.
What rights do I have when it comes to my data?
Under the UK General Data Protection Regulation, you may have the following rights with regards to your personal data:
- The Right to subject access – you have the right to see a copy of the personal data that the University holds about you and find out what it is used for.
- The Right to rectification – you have the right to ask the University to correct or remove any inaccurate data that we hold about you.
- The Right to erasure (right to be forgotten) you have the right to ask the University to remove data that we hold about you.
- The Right to restriction – you have the right to ask for your information to be restricted (locked down) on University systems.
- The Right to data portability – you have the right to ask for your data to be transferred back to you or to a new provider at your request.
- The Right to object – you have the right to ask the University to stop using your personal data or to stop sending you marketing information, or complain about how your data is used.
- The Right to prevent automated decision making – you have the right to ask the University to stop using your data to make automated decisions about you or to stop profiling your behaviour (where applicable).
Please note that not all rights apply in all situations. To find out more about your rights under the UK GDPR, please visit the Information Commissioner’s website.
To request a copy of your data or ask questions about how it is used, contact:
Dan Howarth, Data Protection Officer
- Email: legal@liverpool.ac.uk
- Post: Legal & Governance, University of Liverpool, Foundation Building, 765 Brownlow Hill, Liverpool L69 7ZX
Who can I complain to if I am unhappy about how my data is used?
You can complain directly to the University’s Data Protection Team by writing to:-
- Dan Howarth, Data Protection Officer
- By email: legal@liverpool.ac.uk
- Post: Legal & Governance, University of Liverpool, Foundation Building, 765 Brownlow Hill, Liverpool L69 7ZX
You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office using the following details:
- The Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF
- Telephone: 08456 30 60 60 or 01625 54 57 45
- Website: ico.org.uk
Created: 8 September 2021
Back to: Legal & Governance