SAR Guidance for Schools

Fisar is an enterprise data governance, discovery and compliance platform that automates Subject Access Requests (SARs) from end to end. It connects to your existing systems, finds the personal data held about an individual, applies AI-assisted review and redaction, and delivers a secure, audit-ready disclosure package - turning a process that traditionally takes weeks into one that can be completed in well under a day.

Organisations often spend 20-40+ hours manually searching email, cloud storage, collaboration tools and MIS systems to answer a single SAR, creating compliance risk, missed statutory deadlines and significant operational disruption. Fisar removes that burden through intelligent automation, consistent redaction and a defensible, fully auditable workflow.

Fisar is built for any organisation that regularly handles personal data and must respond to Subject Access Requests. It is purpose-built for the UK education sector - schools, colleges, universities and multi-academy trusts - and also supports healthcare, government, corporate and NGO organisations through configurable sector templates.

Organisations typically see a 60-80% reduction in manual SAR handling effort, with many complex requests completed in under a day rather than weeks. Time savings come from automated cross-system discovery, de-duplication, AI-assisted redaction and a single review-and-approve step for your DPO.

Fisar connects to Microsoft 365 today, alongside education MIS platforms including Bromcom and Arbor. Google Workspace, Slack and more than a dozen further integrations are on the roadmap and can be prioritised on request, and bespoke, on-demand integrations can be built for your specific systems.

Yes. Fisar is designed from the ground up for UK GDPR and DPA 2018 compliance. Personal data is processed on a read-only basis and is not retained beyond the SAR lifecycle. The platform uses encryption, strict access controls, per-tenant data isolation and complete audit trails.

Once your invoice is paid, your account activates automatically and your onboarding is booked in. Our team assigns your DPO logins directly, walks your team through the dashboard and sets up your connectors with you, remotely or in person. From payment to running your first SAR, onboarding takes up to two weeks.

Fisar provides UK-based support via email ticketing during UK business hours (Monday to Friday), alongside documentation and onboarding guidance. Most queries are resolved quickly to minimise operational disruption.