Leeds Building Society implements data-mapping tool to help with GDPR compliance

Tom Clark, CIO at Leeds Building Society, explains how a random LinkedIn request ended up with his organisation implementing a cheap, effective tool which has helped understand how data travels around the business

Leeds Building society has implemented data analysis tool SQLDep to help with its GDPR compliance project.

The project is already well underway, according to the organisation's CIO, Tom Clark.

"The GDPR compliance projects has been running for well over a year," Clark told Computing. "We've got a good handle on our data and where it is. We use tooling that works through our code and follows the route of where data travels through our systems. It's a cloud-based service. It's incredible, you give your source code to it, and it follows the routes of what goes where, and quickly works it all out."

This knowledge of where personally identifiable information is around the business, and where it moves, sets Leeds Building Society apart from the majority of organisations, with many confiding to Computing off the record that they have little idea where all sensitive data sits across all systems, clouds and through their supply chain.

Clark explained that he heard about SQLDep through an unlikely source: a random request via LinkedIn.

"Someone reached out on LinkedIn, just at the point when I was looking at alternative tools. We had one already which didn't do the job. We use Oracle SQL and our tool couldn't work with that. We spent months trying it, then this approach came forward. I asked if it works with Oracle, and they said that it's one of their founding languages. So we put code on it and the next day it came back with the results we were expecting. And it only costs us $2-3,000 per year!" Clark enthused.

Leeds Building Society's head of software delivery, Louise Elliot, is also a fan of the product. "The SQLDep tool allows us to understand the origin and transformation our data undergoes across complex calculations and multiple databases. It has revolutionised our ability to analyse, develop and test our solutions. The company themselves work with us to help define new features, allowing us to shape the future roadmap. Altogether a highly adaptable company providing a very useful tool," she said.

GDPR will be a hot topic at Computing's upcoming Enterprise Security and Risk Management Summit, which will be held at the Hilton Tower Bridge on 23rd November. Register now to book your place.