Student Desk Connector GDPR Information

The Student Desk Connector is an online contact form used by the Student Desk to manage email interactions with current and prospective students, alumni and staff. It is built using an online form building tool called Wufoo.

When you want to contact the Student Desk by email, you use the contact form to submit your query. This allows your query to be filtered into the appropriate section of our email inbox, which allows us to answer your query more efficiently. We then log your the topic of your query using UniShare.  Logging information in Unishare helps us to better assist you with any future queries that you might have.

• Student number (if provided)
  The first piece of information we collect is your student number which allows us to access the information required to best assist with your query.
• The type of question that you asked
  Did you have a question about module registration? Did you need to request a letter of attendance? Are you curious about your balance and the easiest way to pay your fees? The Student Desk Connector asks that you provide this information so we can narrow down the type of query and help create a repository of the kinds of queries we're receiving.
• Your email address
  We ask for your preferred email address in order to be able to reply to your query.
• The content of your query
  Anything you include in the free text box is received and stored by us. We need this to resolve your query.
• Additional Information
  As we deal with, and welcome, a wide variety of queries at the Student Desk it is possible that you may need to provide scanned copies of personal documents or additional information relating to your enquiry.

We use the Connector for a number of reasons, primarily to help provide the best service possible and to help make your experience with the Student Desk an enjoyable one.

While we offer a face-to-face and phone service, we recognize that it's not always practical to contact us in person and some people would rather contact us online. Due to the volume of emails and the wide variety of their content, it's impractical for us to simply use an email address. The Student Desk Connector allows us to gather exactly what we need to know to resolve your query with minimal need for back-and-forth.

Additionally, using the information gathered, we can run reports to determine trends in the types of questions that are asked during different times of the year and determine when we're busiest. This helps us accurately staff the Student Desk at peak times to help reduce your wait time.

Finally, we use an online feedback form which everyone who uses the Student Desk Connector is invited to fill out. This lets you tell us about your experience with the Student Desk. We use your feedback to help make the services we offer better.  To see some of the changes that we've made in response to your feedback, check out this page.

The Student Desk is the only team within the University using our specific Student Desk Connector. It is possible, however, that we may need to forward your query to other areas in the University if we are unable to assist.

The most common areas we may forward your query to are:

• Student Advisers in all Colleges
• Information desks in all UCD Libraries
• The Access & Lifelong Learning Centre
• UCD Global
• UCD Residences
• All College Offices and School Offices

Lots of areas in UCD use their own Connector, including many college and school offices.  However each area can only access the data from their own Connector.

UCD Student Desk Staff: Your information can only be accessed by members of staff working in the Student Desk or, if forwarded, other UCD staff who may need to access the data in order to help resolve your query.

Wufoo: Wufoo will have access to aggregate (anonymized) responses, activity and behavior of those who us the Student Desk Connector. Our contract with Wufoo is contingent of the fact that they are fully GDPR compliant.

You: You will receive an email containing all of the information you provide through the Student Desk Connector as a receipt of your query. If you would like to access or edit any of the information that we have stored through the Student Desk Connector, please contact the Student Desk and we will be happy to help.

Information is stored in line with UCD’s data storage policy and will be reviewed with any upcoming changes to data protection legislation.

You have the right to request to see or edit the information you provide through the Student Desk Connector at any time. If you have any questions about your stored information, please contact the Student Desk and we will be happy to discuss it with you.

If after contacting the Student Desk you are unhappy about the information that we are storing, you have the right to contact the DPCO (Data Protection Commissioner Office).

If you have any questions about the Student Desk Connector, please Ask Us and we will be happy to help. Please find further relevant contact details below:

• Catherine McDonnell:  01 716 1558, catherine.mcdonnell@ucd.ie
• UCD IT Services:  01 716 7200, ithelpdesk@ucd.ie
• Data Protection Officer: data.protection@ucd.ie