Controller
Under GDPR, the party that determines the purposes and means of processing personal data. An organization can be a controller for data it collects directly and remain a controller, or a joint controller, for data it receives from a vendor or partner if it also determines how that incoming data is used, meaning it cannot outsource its own lawful basis obligations to the supplier.
Defined in 3 GAGE programs, which carry 4 distinct definitions of it. The wording above is taught in Certified AI Data Governance Professional (CADGP).
How each discipline defines it
The same term does different work depending on who is using it. These are the definitions as each program teaches them, unedited.
Under GDPR, the party that determines the purposes and means of processing personal data. An organization can be a controller for data it collects directly and remain a controller, or a joint controller, for data it receives from a vendor or partner if it also determines how that incoming data is used, meaning it cannot outsource its own lawful basis obligations to the supplier.
Under the GDPR, the natural or legal person that determines the purposes and means of processing personal data. The controller is responsible for carrying out the DPIA. A public agency running its own scoring system is the controller of that processing.
The party that determines the purposes and means of processing, alone or jointly. Article 4(7). The determination is factual and is not settled by the contract.
Under GDPR, the organization that decides why and how personal data is processed. Controllers must maintain the fuller Article 30(1) record, including purposes, lawful bases, and retention periods.
Where it is taught
The exact lessons this term appears in. The first module of every program is free with a free account.
- Lawful basis, spelled out: consent, contract, legitimate interest, and which one actually covers each dataset · Consent, Purpose, and the Law of Data, Certified AI Data Governance Professional (CADGP)
- The records of processing: the register a regulator reads first · Consent, Purpose, and the Law of Data, Certified AI Data Governance Professional (CADGP)
- The DPIA and FRIA, run jointly: one assessment, two regimes, no duplicate work · Evidence Engineering, Certified AI Governance Professional (CAIGP)
- Personal data, roles, and legal bases · Privacy and Data Governance, Certified Enterprise Governance, Risk and Compliance Professional (CEGP)
Where it shows up at work
A definition is where Controller starts. The lessons above teach it inside the competencies below, which are what job descriptions ask for and what the GAGE credential records. Every link here is drawn from the same careers map that builds a role's readiness check.
Reviews purpose, data, affected people, accuracy, bias, security, oversight, vendors and law for a use case, scores likelihood and impact, and documents residual risk.
One lesson on this page teach it as a primary outcome.
Classifies information, applies least privilege, sets retention and acceptable-use rules, and controls what may enter a prompt, a log or an embedding.
One lesson on this page teach it as a primary outcome.
Keeps the living record: each risk with a named owner, rating, treatment, residual risk, monitoring metric, threshold and review date.
One lesson on this page teach it as a primary outcome.
Roles that hire for it
Each role page shows the full competency set, what the seat decides, and a readiness check against your own evidence.
- Chief Privacy Officer, AI privacy editionneeds it at depth
- Privacy Analystneeds working knowledge
- Chief Risk Officer, AI risk editionneeds it at depth
- AI Privacy Engineerneeds it at depth · 6 open postings this week
- AI Risk Managerneeds it at depth · 2 open postings this week
- Cybersecurity Risk Analystneeds working knowledge
How job descriptions say it
Postings rarely use the textbook word. These are the phrases the careers map reads as asking for the competencies above.
Where the frameworks place it: NIST AI RMF MAP and MEASURE; ISO/IEC 42005; EU AI Act Article 27; ISO/IEC 27001.
One interview question about it
Take me through an AI risk and impact assessment you would run for a hiring tool. What do you assess, and who signs?
Asked of candidates for ai risk and impact assessment. Answering it in your own words is exactly how a GAGE topic is passed, and the credential records the pass where an employer can check it.
If you come from another field
Some backgrounds already carry this competency, and the readiness check gives credit for it.
- Privacy and data protection carries it as work you can show: A DPIA is an impact assessment; the AI version adds accuracy, bias and oversight.
- Cybersecurity and IT carries it as work you can show: Access governance and classification are implemented, not described.
- Human resources and people operations carries it as a claim to back up: Access restriction and retention for personnel data are routine.
Terms it appears with
Not an alphabetical neighbourhood: these are the terms taught in the same lessons, ranked by how often they appear together.