Security

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When you talk to parents about a Parent Portal they are on the one hand excited about connecting with their child’s information and on the other hand fearful that the access will cause the information to be at risk. Who else might see it? School officials are fearful that they will connect the wrong person to the child’s information – is there a custody order? Is that parent allowed access?

It is important that as you design your Portal content, features and function, you also define the access profiles for those elements. An access profile defines who can see the content, who can add to or change the content, and who can delete the content.

A good strategy is to undertake a Privacy Impact Assessment. According the Government of Canada’s Office of the Privacy Commissioner a Privacy Impact Assessment can assess the potential privacy risks of new or redesigned systems and can help to reduce or eliminate those risks.

Sally’s Good Ideas

Check this link for an online course on conducting a privacy assessment.

You may find in your conversations in your Project Team and in your district that there are differing views on how tight your security needs to be. Is it okay if you can see someone else’s name even if you cannot access their information? This type of question needs to be identified and answered before you begin your implementation.

There are also technical security issues that will need to be addressed. Be sure in your design and deployment that you have protected your system from hackers and viruses. If your Portal is hosted, be sure that your provider has adequate protection from these same vulnerabilities.