While it may seem obvious that you should not use personal information or an organization's trade secrets for personal gain, sometimes the organization lias a legitimate need to share information with vendors, governmental agencies, or others. You need to determine which vendors or organizations arc allowed to sec sensitive company data. In some cases, you may even need to determine which individuals can have access to the data. When in doubt, ask.
Here arc some examples. Maybe the company you're working with has periodic mailings it sends to its customer base. If one of your project activities includes finding a new vendor to print the mailing labels, your organization may require the vendor to sign a nondisclosure agreement to guard the contents of the customer lists. Discovering just who should have access to this information might be tricky.
Another example involves data on citizens that is maintained by the government. You might think that because the data belongs to one agency of the government—say the Internal Revenue Service—any other agency of the government can have access to it. This isn't the case. Some agencies arc refused access to the data even though they may have good reason to use it. Others may have restricted access, depending on the data and the agency policy regarding it. Don't assume that others should have access to data because it seems logical.
Most organizations require vendors or other organizations to sign nondisclosure agreements when the vendors or others will have access to sensitive company data. It's your responsibility to ensure that the proper nondisclosure agreements arc signed prior to releasing the data. This function is often handled by the procurement department.
Intellectual Property
You arc likely to come into contact with intellectual property during the course of your project management career. Intellectual property includes items developed by an organization that have commercial value but arc not tangible and copyrighted material such as books, software, and artistic works. It may also include ideas or processes that arc patented. Or it might involve an industrial process, business process, or manufacturing process that was developed by the organization for a specific purpose.
Intellectual property is owned by the business or person that created it. You may have to pay royalties or ask for written permission to use the property. Intellectual property should be treated just like sensitive or confidential data. It should not be used for personal gain or shared with others who should not have access to it.