Privacy and data handling

This page describes how we handle the personal information that passes through a paper survey: the respondent list you give us, the completed forms that come back, and the data and images we deliver. It's written to be quoted in an ethics application or a procurement submission.

Everything stays in Australia.

Creative Data Solutions operates from Vermont, Victoria. Form layout and preparation, pack assembly, receipt of returns, scanning, verification, keying and data delivery happen at our Melbourne premises. Printing, and usually personalisation, are carried out by Australian print partners. All data is stored and processed within Australia. No stage of the work, and no copy of your data, goes offshore.

What personal information we handle.

Depending on the job, we may handle:

• A respondent list: names and postal addresses, and sometimes a respondent ID, a site or group code, or a wave number, supplied by you for the agreed personalisation, distribution and reminder arrangements.
• Completed survey forms: the responses themselves, which may be identifiable through a respondent ID, a barcode or the answers given.
• Undeliverable mail: envelopes returned by Australia Post, which carry the name and address we printed.
• Completion updates: where returns go to your organisation or participating sites first, or the survey is mixed mode, the response information you supply for agreed reporting and reminder exclusions.

We do not obtain personal information from any other source, and we do not use it for any purpose other than running your survey.

Transfer.

Respondent lists and other project files can be sent to us through our secure Australian-hosted file transfer service or your organisation’s nominated secure service. We can use either option to deliver data files and PDF images back to you. We agree the transfer arrangements with you before files are exchanged.

Forms can be distributed individually or in bulk through Australia Post and other couriers. Completed forms can reach CDS directly by post, including Reply Paid where arranged, or be collected by your organisation or participating sites and forwarded to us in bulk, including delivery by your staff. Outward distribution and return arrangements are agreed separately.

Access.

Your list and your returned forms are handled by Creative Data Solutions staff, for the purposes of the job only.

Personalisation, including printing names, addresses, IDs and barcodes onto forms and letters, is usually carried out by our Australian print partner, and for some jobs at our premises. Where the print partner personalises, it receives only the fields needed to print: name, address and ID. It receives them under a confidentiality arrangement, for that purpose only, and does not retain them once the job is printed.

Australia Post and other couriers handle sealed envelopes or parcels as part of the agreed delivery arrangements. Where your organisation or participating sites collect completed forms before forwarding them to CDS, the return instructions and project documentation should reflect that handling.

Security.

• Our premises are secured and access-controlled, with entry restricted to authorised staff. The office is locked outside business hours and protected by a monitored alarm system.
• All data is stored and processed within Australia.
• Every user has unique credentials.
• Data is encrypted in transit and at rest. Encrypted backups are held on site and off site.
• Retention periods are defined, and both digital data and paper are securely destroyed at the end of them.

Retention.

• Completed forms are held for three months after we deliver your data, or for a longer period if you ask us to, so that any query about a value can be checked against the original page.
• Electronic data and PDF images are held for the same period after delivery.
• Respondent lists, completion updates and undeliverable mail are held for the duration of the job, including any reminder wave.

Destruction.

At the end of the retention period, completed forms are securely shredded. If you would rather keep the originals, we return them to you instead; tell us at the start of the job. Electronic data and images are deleted at the end of the same period. Respondent lists, completion updates and undeliverable mail are destroyed at the end of the job.

Privacy law.

Creative Data Solutions handles personal information in accordance with the Australian Privacy Principles, and enters into the data-handling and confidentiality terms your organisation, your contract or your ethics committee requires.

If we become aware of a security incident affecting personal information we hold for you, we will notify you.

What we ask of you.

You remain responsible for the collection of the personal information in your respondent list, for the privacy statement on your survey, and for any ethics approval your project requires. We will print whatever privacy wording your approval requires on the form and the letter, and we can supply the paragraph below for your application.

Text you can use.

The following paragraph describes our role and may be adapted for an ethics or privacy application. Specify the distribution and return arrangements actually agreed for your project, including any handling by your team or participating sites:

Paper survey materials will be prepared for scanning, printed and distributed under the agreed project arrangements by Creative Data Solutions, a Melbourne-based survey processing provider. Any respondent list will be transferred to Creative Data Solutions using its secure Australian-hosted file transfer service or the research organisation’s nominated secure service, as agreed for the project, and used only for the agreed personalisation, distribution and reminder activities. Personalisation may be carried out by Creative Data Solutions' Australian print partner under a confidentiality arrangement. Completed forms will return directly to Creative Data Solutions [or: be collected by the research team or participating sites and forwarded in bulk], as specified in the participant instructions. Responses will be captured by optical mark recognition and operator verification at Creative Data Solutions' premises in Vermont, Victoria. Data files and PDF images will be delivered to the research team through the secure file transfer service agreed for the project. Completed forms and electronic data will be held by Creative Data Solutions, with electronic data encrypted at rest, for three months after delivery [or: for the period agreed with the research team], then securely destroyed [or: paper originals returned to the research team]. No personal information will be transferred outside Australia.

Questions about data handling.

03 9873 0050 · info@creativedatasolutions.com.au

Entity

Creative Data Solutions Pty Ltd (ACN 128 769 862), trustee for the Creative Data Solutions Unit Trust (ABN 52 168 700 541).