Anonymising Ex-Employee Records

Please ensure you read the implications at the end of the article

If an individual requests that you remove their personal data from your database or if you wish to anonymise employee data where you have determined that you have no need or legal requirement to retain them, it is easy to do so without affecting the referential integrity of your database.

1. Go to System/Employee on the main menu and locate the employee you need to remove by clicking the drop-down arrow and selecting their name from the list.

2.To anonymise the data:

a. Click the ‘Modify’ button and change the Name field to ‘ANON1’ (NB Names are required to be unique and so subsequent ex-employees that need to be anonymised can be set to ANON2, ANON3, ANON4 and so on)

b. Change the entry in Initials to XXA (NB Initials are required to be unique and so subsequent ex-employees that need to be anonymised can be set to XXB, XXC, XXD and so on)

c. Go to the Login tab

d. Change User Type to ‘None’

e. Go to Messaging tab

f. Remove the entry in Mobile Phone No with the backspace key

3. If this employee was an engineer:

a. Go to Engineer tab

b. Remove the Engineer flag

4. If you are using Employee Attributes:

a. Go to the Attributes tab

b. Click & hold the ‘>’ button until all Attributes have been removed

5. If using Job Commissions:

a. Go to Other tab

b. Remove the entry in Job Commission Profile with the backspace key

6. This will anonymise the Employee record. We are aware that Protean is a flexible tool and can be used in a number of different ways. Therefore, if you have stored personal data in other fields, for example but not limited to, the User Reference fields, then you need to decide whether this too needs removing from the database. For further advice on what constitutes personal data please consult the ICO at https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-the-general-data-protection-regulation-gdpr/

7. When you have finished, click the ‘Close’ button to save your changes.

Implications

Anonymising the Employee Record in the manner described above has implications for the rest of the Protean database where Employee information is displayed.

For example, following anonymization, if you view a Job where this Employee was the user that logged it then instead of seeing their name on the job you will see ANON instead.

If you wish to discuss these implications further then please contact the support desk.