WAMS is the University’s online system for academic workload modelling, and is used to securely store and process selected personal and business data for staff in the Education and Research job family. The University is committed to being transparent about how it collects and uses this personal data and to meeting its data protection obligations.
What information is stored on WAMS
The following categories of personal data are extracted from the University’s central management systems, iTrent, SAMIS and Agresso, and imported into and stored in WAMS, to allow processing for workload modelling:
staff name, position ID, Res No, job role(s), adjusted FTE, department
the contracted activities undertaken as part of the job role(s), classified under the general headings of Teaching and Assessment
Teaching Support, Research Grants and General Research; Scholarship and Professional Development, Management Administration, and Consultancy and Other Income (as registered on the Consultancy Contract Enquiry Form), and
information about doctoral students solely for the purpose of allocating staff time for supervision, transfer of status and examination
No sensitive personal data or special category data is stored on WAMS.
Why the University stores personal data on WAMS
It is necessary to store and process personnel data in WAMS to enable the University to:
- perform its employment contract with staff in the Education and Research job family
- generate the data required for performance of its public interest task in relation to submission of the annual statutory TRAC return
- where the University has a legitimate interest in using the data for other institutional purposes, including the preparation of applications for the Athena SWAN accreditation
The University takes seriously its responsibility to ensure that workload models are used as a transparent and equitable management tool. WAMS will assist Heads of Department, Deans and other senior managers to discharge their pastoral responsibility to staff by ensuring workloads are appropriate.
WAMS personnel data on staff name, FTE and hours allocated to activities will be extracted and used in the University’s Course Costing tool. A Data Privacy Impact Assessment for the Course Costing Project has been produced.
Who has access to the personal data on WAMS
Staff included in workload models can see and comment on their own personal data in WAMS. This is a primary purpose of the system. This is also a function for staff to see the workloads of other staff in their department under the general headings mentioned on this page.
WAMS allows different levels of access rights to be specified for different members of staff. This is based on the responsibilities of specific job roles.
Heads of Departments or Division
Heads of Departments or Division, or the member of staff they nominate to have responsibility for workload modelling, have access to the personal data of all staff included in the workload model of the Department/Division.
Deans
Deans, or the member of staff they nominate to have responsibility for workload modelling, have access to the personal data of all staff included in the workload models of the Faculty/School. This includes professional service staff based in Faculty/School offices.
Professional services staff
The professional services staff in the Department of Policy, Planning and Compliance, who administer WAMS and have access to personal data in all workload models. Designated staff in the Faculty and School Offices, the Department of Finance and Procurement, the Department of Human Resources and the Academic Registry (Student Records). And the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Team, who have access to extracted data for the performance of a public interest task or for the legitimate interests of the University.
Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Provost
The Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Provost − as the sponsor of the WAMS project and line manager of the Deans − has access as necessary to the personal data in all workload models.
No third party organisations other than Simitive Limited have access to the personal data in WAMS.
How the University protects the personal data on WAMS
The University is Data Controller for WAMS and Simitive Limited is the Data Processor. Simitive Limited is a Private Limited Company registered in the United Kingdom.
Supply of the WAMS software is under the University of Bath Terms and Conditions of Purchase (Goods and Services), which include compliance with all applicable laws, statutes and regulations. The Simitive Terms and Conditions state that: (a) Simitive and any Simitive-appointed sub-contractor shall not transfer any personal data to any country or territory outside the United Kingdom or European Economic Area; and (b) Each party shall be responsible for ensuring that it fulfils its respective obligations and responsibilities under the Data Protection Act, or the relevant legislation covering the use of personal data applicable to each party in the jurisdiction in which it is based.
How long personal data is stored on WAMS
Data is stored on WAMS for the period in which they remain in the employment of the University. Data on staff who have left the employment of the University will be held on WAMS for a period of six years, or as required to fit with the next TRAC audit period. Data will also be extracted from WAMS, anonymised, so that it can no longer be traced back to an individual, and retained in spreadsheet format, again for TRAC audit purposes, but also for research and statistical purposes.
Your rights
Data subjects have a number of rights, including:
access, view, obtain a copy and update their own data using WAMS (this is the primary purpose of WAMS) and
require the University to delete or stop processing personal data, for example where the personal data is no longer necessary under the lawful bases − this is subject to the University’s performance of the public interest task of the TRAC return
If you would like to exercise any of these rights, please contact the University’s Data Protection Officer using the contact details provided at the end of this Policy. If you believe the University has not complied with your data protection rights, you can complain to the Information Commissioner.
Contact details
University of Bath Address: Department of Risk, Resilience & Compliance, University of Bath, Claverton Down, Bath, BA2 7AY, United Kingdom.
Data Protection Officer: Mr Sam Sherry
Email address: dataprotection@bath.ac.uk
Address: Data Protection Officer, Risk, Resilience & Compliance, Wessex House 8.17, University of Bath, Claverton Down, Bath, BA2 7AY, United Kingdom.