Data Protection Officer Masterclass Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Advanced Certificate on completion
Who attends Data Protection Officers, Head of Privacy and others
Fee from USD 1,100 KSh 95,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 16 Nov 2026 Course code SD-CS-184

Before you join: Participants should have practical experience in privacy, legal, compliance, information security, risk, audit or technology governance.

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

Senior privacy practitioners must turn legal requirements into operating controls that withstand regulatory scrutiny, cyber incidents, supplier failures and business change. The Data Protection Officer Masterclass Training Course focuses on the decisions a DPO must make: when processing is lawful, which risks require a DPIA, how to respond to data subject requests, whether international transfers are defensible, and what evidence demonstrates accountability. Participants examine the relationship between privacy governance, information security, procurement, HR, legal and executive oversight.

The course develops advanced capability across the DPO mandate, GDPR accountability, records of processing, lawful bases, special-category data, privacy by design, data protection impact assessments, processor governance, international transfers, breach response and supervisory authority engagement. Participants learn to apply Article 5 principles to real processing decisions, build defensible risk assessments, challenge incomplete supplier assurances, assess technical and organisational measures, and report material privacy risks to senior management. The course also addresses the practical independence, resourcing and escalation arrangements required of a statutory DPO.

Delivered over five instructor-led days, the programme combines focused briefings with detailed case work, facilitated group analysis, breach-response simulations and governance design activities. Participants work with scenarios involving cloud services, employee monitoring, customer analytics, cross-border operations and cyber incidents. They leave with a reusable DPO operating model, privacy governance tools, assessment templates and a prioritised 90-day action plan. The course is suited to experienced privacy, legal, risk, security and compliance professionals who hold, support or oversee the DPO function.

What you will be able to do

  • Design a DPO operating model with independence, reporting, resourcing and escalation arrangements
  • Assess lawful bases, special-category conditions and legitimate interests using documented decision tests
  • Build Article 30 records of processing from data inventories, flow maps and ownership evidence
  • Conduct DPIAs using necessity, proportionality, risk treatment and prior-consultation criteria
  • Evaluate processor contracts, vendor assurance and international transfer safeguards against GDPR requirements
  • Direct data subject request and personal data breach workflows within statutory deadlines
  • Test privacy controls using ISO 27701 mapping, audit evidence and key risk indicators
  • Produce board-level privacy risk reports and a prioritised DPO remediation plan

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Prepare defensible advice for high-risk processing and executive decisions
  • Lead DPIAs with clear risk reasoning and documented residual-risk decisions
  • Challenge supplier privacy claims, contracts and international transfer arrangements
  • Manage breach notification decisions within the 72-hour reporting window
  • Build credible evidence for supervisory authority enquiries and internal audits

For your organisation

  • Clearer DPO independence, accountability and escalation arrangements
  • Fewer unmanaged high-risk processing activities and undocumented data flows
  • Stronger processor oversight, contract controls and transfer governance
  • Faster, better-evidenced responses to data subject requests and breaches
  • Board reporting that distinguishes privacy activity, control effectiveness and residual risk

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can establish and defend an effective DPO mandate, operating model and accountability structure.

  • GDPR accountability principle translated into DPO oversight and evidence requirements
  • Statutory DPO tasks, independence safeguards, reporting lines and conflict tests
  • Controller, processor and joint-controller determinations using factual role analysis
  • One-stop-shop mechanics, lead authority selection and concerned authority coordination
  • Risk-based supervision priorities derived from processing scale, sensitivity and vulnerability
  • Defensible annual DPO charter, mandate, resources and escalation arrangements

Participants can document lawful processing decisions for routine, sensitive and contested uses of personal data.

  • Article 5 principles converted into measurable processing design controls
  • Lawful-basis selection matrix covering consent, contract, legal obligation and legitimate interests
  • Legitimate interests assessment using purpose, necessity and balancing tests
  • Special-category and criminal-offence data conditions documented under Articles 9 and 10
  • Purpose limitation, minimisation and storage limitation tested against actual data flows
  • Children's data, employee data and direct marketing assessed under applicable rules

Participants can create auditable records of processing and identify material gaps in data governance evidence.

  • Records of processing activities structured to meet Article 30 requirements
  • Data inventory scope defined across applications, files, paper records and shadow IT
  • Processing maps trace collection, access, sharing, retention and deletion points
  • Data lineage distinguishes systems of record, sources, recipients and subprocessors
  • Retention schedules aligned with purpose, legal holds and disposal controls
  • RoPA quality assurance tests ownership, completeness, change control and evidence

Participants can determine when a DPIA is required and lead a defensible assessment process.

  • Privacy by design requirements embedded within project gates and acceptance criteria
  • Screening thresholds identify processing likely to result in high risk
  • DPIA methodology defines necessity, proportionality, risks, controls and residual risk
  • Consultation with data subjects and stakeholders records meaningful input
  • Prior consultation triggers, authority submissions and decision records handled correctly
  • Risk treatment plans assign owners, dates, evidence and review triggers

Participants can govern privacy notices and rights requests with consistent decisions, evidence and statutory timing.

  • Layered privacy notices meet Articles 12 through 14 information duties
  • Data subject request workflow verifies identity, scope, exemptions and deadlines
  • Access request search protocols cover structured, unstructured and archived information
  • Rectification, erasure, restriction, objection and portability decisions documented consistently
  • Automated decision-making assessments address Article 22 safeguards and human intervention
  • Request metrics expose recurring failures, backlog risks and response-quality defects

Participants can assess processor risk and establish contract and assurance controls for third parties.

  • Processor due diligence examines security, privacy maturity, subcontracting and location
  • Article 28 data processing agreements allocate instructions, assistance and audit rights
  • Vendor risk tiers drive assurance frequency, contractual controls and exit planning
  • Subprocessor approval workflows maintain current records and challenge material changes
  • Shared-controller arrangements assign transparency, rights handling and liability responsibilities
  • Procurement privacy gates prevent unassessed data uses before contract signature

Participants can select, document and monitor appropriate safeguards for international data transfers.

  • Transfer mapping identifies exporter, importer, onward transfers and remote access
  • Adequacy decisions, standard contractual clauses and derogations compared by use case
  • Transfer impact assessments examine destination laws, access risks and safeguards
  • Supplementary measures combine encryption, pseudonymisation, access controls and contractual commitments
  • Schrems II reasoning applied to cloud, support and multinational data flows
  • Transfer governance monitors legal change, vendor notices and reauthorisation points

Participants can direct breach triage, notification and corrective-action decisions under GDPR requirements.

  • Personal data breach triage separates confidentiality, integrity and availability incidents
  • 72-hour notification clock calculated from awareness, facts and risk assessment
  • Risk-to-rights analysis determines authority notification and individual communication thresholds
  • Incident records capture chronology, decisions, evidence, containment and lessons learned
  • Tabletop breach communications coordinate legal, security, executives and affected individuals
  • Post-incident corrective actions feed control testing, DPIAs and training priorities

Participants can assess privacy control effectiveness and report material risk to governance bodies.

  • ISO 27701 control mapping connects privacy governance with ISO 27001 controls
  • Technical and organisational measures assessed against processing-specific risks
  • Access management, encryption, logging and deletion controls tested for adequacy
  • Privacy governance forums set decisions, reporting cadence and escalation routes
  • Key risk indicators quantify overdue DPIAs, requests, breaches and vendor gaps
  • Internal audit evidence packs link controls, owners, tests and remediation

Participants can prepare for regulatory scrutiny and prioritise a practical DPO improvement programme.

  • Supervisory authority enquiry response preserves privilege, facts, timelines and accountability evidence
  • Enforcement case analysis tests aggravating factors, mitigating actions and defensible responses
  • Audit programme scopes high-risk processing, samples evidence and tracks findings
  • Management reporting distinguishes compliance activity, control effectiveness and residual risk
  • Board briefings present material privacy exposures, decisions and resource implications
  • 90-day DPO action plan prioritises remediation, assurance and stakeholder commitments

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

What you take back to work

  1. DPO operating model template
  2. Lawful basis and legitimate interests assessment matrix
  3. Article 30 records of processing checklist
  4. DPIA and risk treatment template
  5. Personal data breach notification decision tree
  6. 90-day DPO action plan

Who should attend

  • Data Protection Officers — strengthen statutory oversight, evidence and escalation practices
  • Head of Privacy — establish governance, assurance and reporting across complex processing
  • Privacy Counsel — translate GDPR duties into operational decisions and control requirements
  • Information Security Managers — align security controls with privacy risk and breach obligations
  • Compliance and Risk Leaders — oversee privacy risk registers, remediation and board reporting
  • Senior Legal or Procurement Managers — govern processor contracts, transfers and supplier accountability

Skills and tools covered

DPO governancePrivacy risk assessmentDPIA managementInternational transfersBreach responsePrivacy assurance

Tools and standards

GDPR, EDPB Guidelines, ISO/IEC 27701, ISO/IEC 27001

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short technical briefings followed by case-based analysis of privacy decisions facing senior practitioners. Participants assess processing scenarios, draft risk positions, examine DPIA evidence, review processor clauses and work through breach-notification timelines. Facilitated group exercises compare alternative legal and operational responses, while simulations test escalation and supervisory authority communications. Each participant applies the methods to their own DPO remit and develops a prioritised action plan for implementation after the course.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have practical experience in privacy, legal, compliance, information security, risk, audit or technology governance. They should already understand core personal-data concepts, common organisational data flows and the purpose of the GDPR or equivalent data protection law. Experience reviewing contracts, policies, risk assessments or incidents is helpful. This is not an introductory privacy course. Prior DPO appointment, legal qualification, coding skills, ISO certification or specialist cyber-forensics experience are not required.

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

Participants should already work with privacy, legal, security, risk, compliance, audit or technology governance issues. The course assumes familiarity with personal-data concepts and is designed for practitioners making or reviewing consequential privacy decisions.

Bring a laptop or device suitable for reviewing course materials and drafting working documents. Participants may also bring a sanitised privacy policy, DPIA, RoPA extract or supplier questionnaire for reference, provided no confidential personal data is included.

It is best suited to appointed or prospective DPOs, privacy leaders, privacy counsel and senior security, risk or compliance professionals. It also suits managers responsible for governing processors, transfers, data rights or privacy assurance.

General GDPR courses explain core obligations and terminology. This masterclass concentrates on senior-level judgement, governance design, risk evidence, supplier controls, incident decisions and regulatory scrutiny.

Participants receive reusable templates for DPO governance, lawful-basis analysis, DPIAs, breach decisions and action planning. The methods can be applied to active projects, supplier reviews, audit findings and privacy risk reports.

Each day runs from 08:30 to 16:30 and provides about 6.5 contact hours. The five days progress from DPO governance and lawful processing through operational controls, supplier and transfer risk, incidents, assurance and action planning.

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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