The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is an EU regulation on privacy protection that goes into effect in May 2018. GDPR applies not only to EU companies that process personal data on EU residents but also to companies not located in the EU. As Article 3 states, it is “applied to the processing of personal data of data subjects who are in the Union by a controller or processor not established in the Union.”

Software architecture is an important part of GDPR compliance. An architectural model of the software gives you a complete view of everything connected to the personal data in your system. The GDPR defines personal data as any information that has the potential, alone or paired with other information, to identify a person. You need to preserve the identity of an individual across different names and properties and be able to trace them across the system and disparate data points as stated in Article 30. You have to record what you do with personal data and define which applications use it.

The Automated Decision Making section of the GDPR states that any system which undertakes automated individual decision-making, including profiling (Article 22), is now contestable by law. This includes automation components such as calculation engines, scoring systems, or other processing of personal data. You need to be able to trace the personal information through these systems and demonstrate compliance. Article 5 states “the controller shall be responsible for, and be able to demonstrate compliance…”

Compliance Steps for GDPR

As part of ensuring compliance for GDPR, you will need a good overview of the personal data involved.

  1. Identity all data that the GDPR considers personal data. Lattix Architect will give you this information with its member level expansion feature that allows you to see all of the variables associated with personal data.(see our video on Member Level Expansion)
  2. Once you have identified the personal data, you need to analyze its use. Lattix Architect understands all of the dependencies in your software system, so it will know all of the dependencies on the personal data. Now you will be able to model the data flow and show which applications, processes, etc. use the personal data.
  3. Once you have modeled the data flow, you will be able to demonstrate compliance with GDPR by using the Impact Analysis Report in Lattix Architect. This report tells you all the dependencies on selected elements (in this case variables) and can be exported to Excel, csv, or XML formats.

    Lattix Impact Report GDPR (see our video on Impact Analysis)

GDPR compliance is something you need to regularly revisit. You must go through the above steps frequently to ensure you remain compliant. This becomes part of your governance framework.

Summary

Non-compliance with GDPR can result in large fines. Penalties,as outlined in Article 38, include “fines up to 20,000,000 EUR or in the case of an undertaking, up to 4% of the total worldwide annual turnover.” There is personal damage that can be claimed by any individuals who are the data subjects and there is personal liability for directors and senior managers. This all makes it worthwhile for organizations to take these risks seriously.