INCOSE Privacy Statement

The International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE) is a membership body and a not-for-profit organization incorporated in the state of California, United States of America.

Our registered office is 7670 Opportunity Rd, Suite 220, San Diego, CA 92111-2222  USA, and our contact number is 858-541-1725. For general or data protection inquiries, contact [email protected].

We obtain information about you when you contact or interact with us. For example; When you register on our website, when you become a member, when you study for or take one of our qualifications, when you purchase one of our products from our store, or when you attend an event or conference.

The information we collect might include your name, address, email address and phone numbers. With your agreement by the selections that you make in your membership profile, we will store information on the products and services you hold, or have shown an interest in.

Examples include: 

• Whether you are in one of our volunteer groups.
• Your grade of membership.
• The events you have attended.
• Your renewal dates.
• Your membership applications.
• Your communication preferences

We will record equal opportunities data that you may give us, such as your age and ethnicity. This is kept secure and only used to give statistics to help plan our services.

We will retain your Personal Information for only as long as needed to fulfill the purposes for which it is collected. We will retain and use your Personal Information as necessary to comply with our business requirements, legal obligations, resolve disputes, protect our assets and enforce agreements to which INCOSE is a party

We only use your information in accordance with the law. This gives us authority to use your data in relation to your participation in INCOSE. These are effectively the reasons for our processing and are:

• To perform or take steps to enter a contract with you, including our membership agreement.
• For the purpose of our legitimate interests. This includes being able to send you marketing and other information should you choose to permit us to do so.
• To ensure compliance with a legal obligation.
• If you give consent for us to do so.

Collecting and using your data will mean that we are able to manage your membership, process any orders or requests you have made and with your consent provide you with relevant and topical information relating to your interests, for example, changes to our services. It will enable us to ask for your views on our services and matters relating to the profession.

Data protection applies to personal data held about individuals. It does not always cover ‘business to business’ contacts or information. However, we will also do our best to secure and protect the contact details of our corporate contacts.

Staff of the INCOSE central office will have controlled access to your information to enable us to provide you with services. Authorized officials of INCOSE also have specific access to member information in order to perform their role in managing INCOSE matters.

As a member of INCOSE, we will contact you regarding your membership, and any certification, chapter, working groups and committees you have selected to join.

You have a choice about whether and how you wish to receive other information from us. You will be asked to make your preferences clear when we collect your information. For most users, this will be when they first register online. Members can update their preferences at any time by logging in to their profile area on incose.org and selecting “Edit My Information”.

The accuracy of your information is important to us. We encourage members to regularly check and update their information in their profile area.

You may choose to tell us which subjects most interest you and this can be used to tailor your online experience and in communications to you. These topics can be selected in your “My Profile” area of the website.

You have various legal rights over your information, which we will always respect. Subject to any exemptions provided by law, you may have the right to request access to this Information, as well as to seek to update, delete or correct this Information. You can usually do this using the settings and tools provided in your membership profile.

In order to help ensure that your information remains secure, we ask that you take responsibility for care in the access to your account.

You must not share the password for your INCOSE account. Your passwords are your responsibility and must not be disclosed to any third party. This is important for your own protection and that of your personal data.

If you access the INCOSE website from a PC that can be used by any other person, such as those at work, college or in an Internet café, there are some basic guidelines to follow:

• Be aware of others close by who may try to take note of your username and password.
• Never leave the PC unattended when you are logged in to your INCOSE account.
• At the end of your Internet session, ensure you Logout of your INCOSE account.
• You should delete any downloaded files. This may require also deleting them from a 'recycle bin' if the system has one.
• Always close the Web browser correctly using the exit button.
• Avoid using the "Remember Me" login option in such situations, or wherever devices are shared.

If you suspect that your password or account information has been compromised, it is your responsibility to inform us promptly and change your password.

INCOSE has robust IT security in place. All staff receive data protection training and our premises and servers are secured. We hold data sharing contracts with providers, requiring them to protect your information.

Like most websites, INCOSE pages may use Cookies. Cookies are small pieces of information sent by an organization to your computer and stored on your hard drive to allow that website to recognize you when you visit. Cookies make it possible for your browser to remember your settings and preferences. This helps us to improve our website and deliver a more personalized service for you.

It is possible to switch off cookies in your browser preferences.

When someone visits incose.org we use a third-party service through our content management system, to collect standard internet log information and details of visitor behavior patterns. This information is anonymized and we do not make, and do not allow the provider to make, any attempt to find out the identities of those visiting our website.

This privacy statement does not cover the links within this site that lead to external websites. We encourage you to read the privacy statements on the other websites that you visit.

We keep this statement under review as part of our overall Data Protection Policy. It was last updated in March 2019.