Privacy Notice
The term 'personal information' in this privacy notice policy means information or an opinion about an identified individual, or an individual who is reasonably identifiable:
- whether the information or opinion is true or not; and
- whether the information or opinion is recorded in a material form or not.
The Department of Finance, as the administrator of the GovTEAMS platform, collects personal information that is necessary to provide you with use of the GovTEAMS platform and properly administer the platform. Due to the nature of the GovTEAMS platform, it is not practicable for you to use this service without identifying yourself.
Purpose for which information is collected by the Department of Finance
In order to provide the GovTEAMS platform, we will collect any personal information you provide when you sign up to the service, including your name, email address, job title and details of your organisation.
For GovTEAMS PROTECTED, we also collect your date of birth, security clearance status; and security clearance ID. We collect this information for the purposes of granting access to a PROTECTED system. This information is stored in the Department of Finance's own database and not provided to Microsoft.
We may also collect any other personal information you provide in using the service, including information you insert into your profile, or information you publish to others.
As the administrator of the GovTEAMS platform, we have access to all information (including personal information) held in GovTEAMS. This includes recordings of Teams meetings. However, we will only access communities owned by users from other agencies with the express consent, of those users or that agency.
Cloud Based Services
Personal information collected via the GovTEAMS platform is stored in the cloud in Microsoft servers. For GovTEAMS OFFICIAL, customer data for MS Forms is hosted in the United States. All other servers are physically located in Australia.
Use and Disclosures by the Department of Finance
The Department of Finance may use and disclose the collected personal information for the primary purpose of administering GovTEAMS, including logging use of the platform and disclosing user details to other users for the purpose of enabling collaboration
For GovTEAMS PROTECTED, the Department of Finance may also disclose information to AGSVA for the purposes of obtaining updated clearance information.
Finance may also disclose your personal information for a secondary purpose, of undertaking analysis to support product development of GovTEAMS, or otherwise in accordance with a permitted exception under the Privacy Act.
Further details about how the Department of Finance manages personal information (including how you can access and correct your information) can be found at: finance.gov.au/about-us/privacy-policy-summary.
Use and Disclosures by Microsoft
Information stored in GovTEAMS (including recordings of Teams meetings) is encrypted. Microsoft personnel only have access where required by their job role and only for limited time periods.
Further information about how Microsoft collects, uses and discloses personal information can be found at Microsoft Privacy Statement – Microsoft privacy and Licensing Documents (microsoft.com).
In the event of a conflict between Microsoft's privacy statement and Microsoft's contract with the Department Finance, the latter will prevail.
Use and disclosure by other persons and organisations
Agencies that use GovTEAMS are responsible for ensuring that they collect, use, disclose and store personal information in accordance with the Privacy Act. This includes any Teams meetings that are recorded by agency personnel.
Recordings are saved in the user's OneDrive except for meetings that are booked in a Team 'channel'. These recordings are stored in the Team's SharePoint site that are accessible by any of the members of that team.
Contact us
If you have any questions or general enquiries about your privacy you can send an email to govteams@finance.gov.au. If you wish to make a complaint about privacy in relation to GovTEAMS please contact the Department of Finance Privacy Team in writing. Upon receipt of your complaint, Finance will:
- gather the facts relevant to the complaint
- investigate the issues raised and consider how your request regarding outcomes can be met
- communicate our response to you in person and in writing, and invite you to reply to our response
- identify any systemic issues raised and possible responses, and
- record your complaint and outcome.
These steps will be taken in accordance with Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC). You can contact the Finance Privacy Team by:
Post: Privacy Contact Officer
Department of Finance
1 Canberra Avenue
Forrest ACT 2603
Australia
Email: Privacy@finance.gov.au