Data Protection Impact Assessment Training Course

Duration 10 days 16 modules · 65 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Data Protection Officers, Privacy Managers and others
Fee from USD 2,200 KSh 190,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 16 Nov 2026 Course code SD-CS-144

Before you join: Participants should understand basic personal-data concepts, including controllers, processors, personal data and confidentiality.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

Data protection impact assessments (DPIAs) are often treated as compliance paperwork completed late in a project. That approach creates expensive redesign, unclear accountability and weak evidence when regulators, auditors, customers or procurement teams ask how privacy risks were assessed. Organisations introducing biometric access control, customer analytics, employee monitoring, AI-supported decisions, connected products or data-sharing platforms need a repeatable way to identify high-risk processing, test necessity and proportionality, select controls, and document informed decisions.

This course teaches participants to plan, conduct, review and maintain DPIAs using the GDPR and UK GDPR accountability model, European Data Protection Board guidance, ISO/IEC 29134 and related privacy engineering methods. Participants examine lawful bases, special-category data, children’s data, profiling, automated decision-making, international transfers, processor arrangements, retention, data minimisation and data subject rights. The course also addresses how the EU Data Act interacts with data protection requirements when organisations make connected-product and related service data available to users and third parties.

Instructor-led sessions combine short technical briefings with detailed cases, facilitated review of DPIA evidence, risk-rating workshops, stakeholder simulations and structured application planning. Participants progressively develop a DPIA pack for a realistic processing initiative, such as a fraud-monitoring platform, employee monitoring tool, health-data service or smart-device data-sharing programme. They leave with a completed assessment structure, privacy risk register, control plan, consultation record and governance workflow that can be adapted to their own projects.

The course suits privacy, security, compliance, technology, product and operational professionals who contribute to high-risk processing decisions. It is particularly relevant where teams need to make privacy review earlier, more evidence-based and easier to defend.

What you will be able to do

  • Determine when a DPIA is mandatory using GDPR Article 35 screening criteria
  • Define processing operations, purposes, data flows and stakeholder responsibilities for a DPIA
  • Assess necessity and proportionality using documented privacy and business requirements
  • Identify privacy risks through data-flow analysis, threat modelling and rights-based assessment
  • Score and prioritise residual privacy risks using a defined risk matrix and acceptance criteria
  • Specify technical, organisational and contractual controls within a DPIA treatment plan
  • Manage consultation, Data Protection Officer advice and prior-consultation escalation records
  • Produce and present a complete DPIA pack for a high-risk processing initiative

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Produce defensible DPIAs rather than relying on generic questionnaire responses
  • Recognise high-risk processing before procurement or development commitments are made
  • Translate privacy obligations into specific technical and operational control requirements
  • Contribute credible evidence during regulator, customer and internal audit reviews
  • Build a reusable professional portfolio of DPIA templates and decision records

For your organisation

  • Reduce late-stage redesign caused by unidentified privacy requirements
  • Create consistent DPIA decisions across products, vendors and business units
  • Document accountability evidence for regulators, customers and procurement assessments
  • Improve coordination between privacy, security, legal, technology and operational teams
  • Escalate residual high-risk processing through defined ownership and approval routes

Course modules

16 modules over 10 days

Participants can explain the purpose, legal basis and governance role of a DPIA.

  • GDPR accountability principle and demonstrable evidence of data protection decisions
  • Article 35 DPIA purpose, threshold and timing requirements
  • Controllers, joint controllers and processors within assessment responsibilities
  • Data Protection Officer advice, independence and recordkeeping duties
  • DPIAs compared with security assessments, audits and legitimate interests assessments
  • Project gates linking privacy review to procurement, design and deployment

Participants can identify applicable data protection obligations affecting a proposed processing operation.

  • GDPR principles applied to collection, use, sharing and retention
  • Lawful bases distinguished from conditions for special-category data
  • Data subject rights translated into processing and system requirements
  • Article 22 safeguards for solely automated decisions with significant effects
  • Children's data, consent thresholds and age-appropriate design considerations
  • UK GDPR, EU GDPR and local-law applicability assessment

Participants can decide whether a processing initiative requires a DPIA and record the rationale.

  • Article 35 high-risk criteria and supervisory authority DPIA lists
  • EDPB nine criteria method for identifying likely high risk
  • Screening questions covering scale, vulnerability, monitoring and innovative technology
  • Combined criteria assessment where multiple processing characteristics increase risk
  • Documenting no-DPIA decisions, assumptions, approvals and review triggers
  • Maintaining a DPIA register with status, ownership and review dates

Participants can create an accurate processing description and end-to-end personal-data flow map.

  • Processing inventory describing purposes, populations, systems and data categories
  • Swimlane data-flow maps showing collection, storage, use, sharing and deletion
  • Identifying data sources, recipients, subprocessors and downstream disclosures
  • Recording interfaces, APIs, exports, backups and offline data transfers
  • Data lifecycle analysis from collection through archival and destruction
  • RACI matrix assigning processing, approval and control responsibilities

Participants can test whether proposed processing is limited to defined and necessary purposes.

  • Purpose statements written as specific, testable processing objectives
  • Compatibility assessment for secondary use of collected personal data
  • Data minimisation tests for fields, granularity, frequency and populations
  • Necessity analysis distinguishing useful data from required data
  • Retention schedules tied to purpose completion and legal obligations
  • Deletion, anonymisation and pseudonymisation design choices compared

Participants can document a defensible necessity and proportionality assessment within a DPIA.

  • Necessity and proportionality assessment using EDPB accountability guidance
  • Alternative means analysis for achieving the same business objective
  • Fairness tests addressing reasonable expectations and power imbalance
  • Transparency requirements mapped to notices, interfaces and communications
  • Consent validity assessed for freedom, specificity, information and withdrawal
  • Balancing commercial objectives against impacts on individuals' rights

Participants can identify credible privacy threats affecting individuals throughout the data lifecycle.

  • LINDDUN categories applied to personal-data processing and system design
  • Threat sources including insiders, attackers, partners and inappropriate system behaviour
  • Linkability, identifiability and detectability risks within combined datasets
  • Unawareness and non-compliance risks affecting informed individual choices
  • Misuse cases documenting harmful outcomes for affected people
  • Attack trees connecting privacy threats to controls and residual exposure

Participants can assess impacts on individuals’ rights and freedoms using structured risk scenarios.

  • Rights-based risk scenarios covering discrimination, exclusion, distress and financial harm
  • Severity scales measuring reversibility, scope, duration and affected populations
  • Likelihood assessment using exposure, vulnerability and threat capability factors
  • Inherent risk scoring before planned privacy and security controls
  • Risk matrices calibrated with documented definitions and decision thresholds
  • Risk statements linking cause, event, impact and affected individuals

Participants can select proportionate controls that address identified privacy risks.

  • Privacy by design principles translated into system and process controls
  • Access control design using least privilege and role-based access
  • Encryption, key management and tokenisation for sensitive data protection
  • Pseudonymisation controls and re-identification risk management
  • Logging, monitoring and audit trails supporting accountability evidence
  • ISO/IEC 27001 control selection aligned with privacy risk treatment

Participants can assess third-party processing and transfer risks within a DPIA.

  • Processor due diligence covering security, instructions, assistance and deletion
  • Article 28 contractual clauses mapped to operational evidence requirements
  • Subprocessor chains, onward transfers and change-notification controls
  • Transfer impact assessments for restricted international data transfers
  • Standard Contractual Clauses and supplementary measures assessment
  • Shared DPIAs for joint-controller and multi-party processing arrangements

Participants can assess DPIA issues arising from AI, profiling, monitoring and biometric technologies.

  • Profiling data flows, inferred data and prediction accuracy risks
  • Bias testing evidence for automated eligibility, pricing and recruitment decisions
  • Human oversight controls for consequential automated decision-making
  • Biometric data processing risks and heightened special-category safeguards
  • Employee monitoring assessed for necessity, proportionality and workplace power imbalance
  • AI system documentation aligned with DPIA processing descriptions

Participants can identify Data Act obligations that affect personal-data access and sharing designs.

  • EU Data Act scope for connected products and related services
  • User access rights distinguished from GDPR data subject rights
  • Data-holder obligations for readily available product and service data
  • Personal-data sharing assessed against GDPR lawful basis and purpose limitation
  • Third-party data recipients, trade secrets and security protections
  • Contractual and technical controls for data-access request handling

Participants can plan meaningful consultation and capture advice, challenge and decisions.

  • Stakeholder mapping across legal, security, product, operations and affected groups
  • DPO consultation records capturing advice, response and unresolved concerns
  • Data subject consultation methods proportionate to processing impact
  • Procurement engagement before supplier selection and contract signature
  • Challenge sessions testing assumptions, evidence gaps and control feasibility
  • Communication plans for executives approving residual privacy risk

Participants can determine risk acceptance, escalation and regulator consultation requirements.

  • Residual risk calculated after documented control implementation and testing
  • Risk appetite statements defining acceptance, escalation and approval thresholds
  • Senior accountable owner decisions recorded with rationale and conditions
  • Article 36 prior consultation triggers for unmitigated high risk
  • Supervisory authority submission packs, evidence and response management
  • Decision logs linking residual risks to implementation commitments

Participants can embed DPIAs into operational governance and keep them current.

  • DPIA workflow stages from intake through closure and periodic review
  • Change triggers covering new purposes, data, recipients and technology
  • Control testing plans using evidence, owners, frequencies and exceptions
  • Privacy risk registers linked to enterprise risk management processes
  • Metrics for DPIA timeliness, overdue actions and recurring risk themes
  • Internal audit sampling of completed DPIAs and approval records

Participants can build, review and present a complete DPIA pack for a high-risk processing initiative.

  • Case intake defining processing purpose, scope, stakeholders and proposed technology
  • DPIA screening decision supported by Article 35 risk criteria
  • Data-flow map and processing description completed from case evidence
  • Necessity, proportionality and rights-impact analysis documented with supporting rationale
  • Privacy risk register scored before and after proposed controls
  • Consultation, approval, action tracking and review plan assembled
  • Peer review challenge followed by executive-level DPIA decision presentation

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. GDPR Article 35 DPIA screening checklist
  2. DPIA processing description and data-flow mapping template
  3. Rights and freedoms privacy risk register
  4. Necessity and proportionality assessment model
  5. Privacy control treatment and action plan
  6. DPIA consultation, approval and review workflow

Who should attend

  • Data Protection Officers — accountable for DPIA advice, review and regulatory evidence
  • Privacy Managers — responsible for DPIA methods, registers and governance workflows
  • Information Security Managers — align security controls with privacy risk treatment
  • Product Managers — build privacy requirements into data-intensive products and services
  • Compliance and Risk Managers — assess regulatory exposure and residual-risk decisions
  • Business Analysts — document processing, data flows and operational requirements

Skills and tools covered

DPIA screeningPrivacy risk assessmentData-flow mappingPrivacy control designData protection governanceRegulatory consultation

Tools and standards

GDPR Articles 35 and 36, EDPB Guidelines 4/2018 on DPIAs, ISO/IEC 29134, LINDDUN

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings followed by case-based analysis, facilitated group work, document reviews and decision simulations. Participants work with realistic processing scenarios, including customer profiling, employee monitoring, connected devices and third-party data sharing. They map data flows, apply DPIA screening criteria, identify threats to individuals, score risks and draft treatment actions. Instructor feedback focuses on evidence quality, practical control selection and clear decision records. Each participant prepares an application plan for using the methods within their own project or governance process.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should understand basic personal-data concepts, including controllers, processors, personal data and confidentiality. Experience contributing to a technology project, compliance review, security assessment, product launch or operational change is useful. Participants should be comfortable reading policy documents and discussing business processes with technical and non-technical stakeholders. Prior experience conducting a DPIA is not required. Legal qualifications, programming skills, formal audit certification and specialist knowledge of every privacy law are not required. The course explains the regulatory concepts needed for the assessment work.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in East Africa Time, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

You should know the basic meaning of personal data, controller and processor, and have some experience of projects, compliance, security or operational change. You do not need legal qualifications, coding skills or prior DPIA experience.

Bring a current or anticipated processing initiative if you can, such as a new system, supplier, analytics programme or monitoring activity. Sensitive organisational information is not required; anonymised descriptions are sufficient.

It suits privacy, compliance, information security, product, technology, procurement and risk professionals who contribute to data-processing decisions. It is designed for people who need to create, review or approve DPIAs rather than only understand privacy terminology.

A general GDPR course explains obligations and principles across the regulation. This course concentrates on the working methods, evidence, risk analysis, controls and governance needed to complete a defensible DPIA.

You can use the screening checklist, data-flow template, risk register and approval workflow on a live project or as the basis for improving an existing DPIA process. The methods are applicable to internal systems, vendor solutions, customer products and data-sharing arrangements.

Each training day runs from 08:30 to 16:30 and provides about 6.5 contact hours. The first week establishes regulatory, mapping and risk-assessment methods; the second week addresses controls, complex processing, governance and a complete capstone DPIA.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.

Ask on WhatsApp info@skillsetdevelopment.com

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