Highlights from the 2015-16 Departmental Performance Reports

December 19, 2016

On November 21, 2016, Scott Brison, President of the Treasury Board, tabled the 2015-16 Departmental Performance Reports on behalf of 84 federal departments and agencies.

Departmental Performance Reports are a measure of how well individual organizations met their plans and expected results as set out in their respective annual Reports on Plans and Priorities, including those for internal services.

Below are some highlights of interest to the Canadian library and information management community as identified by individual departments and agencies.

Administrative Tribunals Support Service of Canada

Section III: Analysis of Programs and Internal Services

Program 1.1: Tribunal Specialized and Expert Support Services

In an effort to provide greater access to justice for Canadians through ease of access to information and resources, the ATSSC built new websites or enhanced tribunal web presence to offer easier access to information about the work of the tribunals and their decisions.

Program 1.2: Registry Services

The ATSSC supported some tribunals in their efforts to review and streamline certain procedures and timelines to better track case assignments and resolutions with the ultimate goal of processing case files more quickly and efficiently. It also supported tribunal engagement by enhancing client consultations to optimize service delivery. As well, certain records disposition authorities were reviewed to ensure appropriate retention and disposition of case files.

Some tribunal workflows were documented and standardized for more accurate case tracking and more effective and efficient case processing. As described previously, communities of practice were established to promote the sharing of knowledge, best practices and tools among registry staff across the organization.

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada

Operating Environment and Risk Analysis

Risk Narrative

A responsive information management and information technology environment supports and contributes to the achievement of organizational priorities in various ways. For security of information, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada is widely dependent on security in order to maintain availability of business applications and prevent theft of sensitive information. Furthermore, the increasing complexity of the information management and technology environment may impact the Department’s ability to deliver on its mandate. To mitigate these risks, work continued on managing and securing the Department’s electronic information, as well as delivering modernized technology solutions to address the business sectors’ requirements.

Key Risks and Opportunity

Risk and Opportunity

• Information Management and Technology Risk
  The increasing complexity of the information management and technology environments may impact Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s ability to deliver on its mandate and maintain its security posture.

Response Strategy

• Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada moved to lessen the complexity in the management of information and technology through shared initiatives, such as the Genomics Research and Development Initiative, which provides infrastructure for a shared computing and collaboration environment for multiple science-based Government departments. As well, the Department continued to advance its security stance through increased protection of information stored on portable devices and formal security authorization for applications. Finally, the management of the Department’s electronic business value information continued to mature through improved record keeping practices and modernized technologies, for example, upgrades to an internal collaboration solution and working with 22 other departments on its integration with the Government of Canada electronic document management solution (a software that manages the creation, storage and control of documents electronically).

Section III: Analysis of Programs and Internal Services

Internal Services

Leverage information and technology capacity to improve business practices

The Department advanced the modernization of information management and information technology service delivery, through the development of innovative solutions for science and other program areas, such as: managing large volumes of critical research publications; securing information and applications through mandatory compliance practices; and replacing older technologies with state-of-the-art products. The Department also continued work towards meeting the objectives and timelines of the Government of Canada information and technology priorities.

Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions

Organizational Priorities

Priority 3: Build on CED’s culture of innovation to enhance its performance

Description
CED has built on its capacity for innovation and ongoing improvement to modernize its procedures and systems so it can enhance its openness and transparency, and provide its clients with better service in a context that is stimulating for employees.

Progress Toward the Priority

1. Implementation of the Open Government Plan

In October 2015, CED submitted its first five-year Open Government Implementation Plan (OGIP) to the Treasury Board Secretariat, outlining its commitment to helping make the government more transparent in terms of data and information and fostering more dialogue with the public. The OGIP is currently being implemented, witness, for example, the distribution of CED’s Map of InterventionsFootnote v to Quebec businesses and communities on the open data portal.

In 2015–16, CED introduced a series of activities stemming from two related initiatives, Blueprint 2020 and Oxygen, to encourage CED employees to participate actively in service improvement and achieve Government of Canada objectives on transforming and modernizing the federal Public Service.

Section III: Analysis of Programs and Internal Services

Internal Services

To support modernization in 2015–16, CED:

• produced a five-year plan for implementation of the Open Government initiative, and introduced planned activities for the first year;
• distributed externally CED’s Map of Interventions to Quebec businesses and communities via the Open Data portal;
• implemented a new electronic document and records management system (GCDOCS) for better information management;
• stepped up its use of social media to build a larger pool of followers on its official platforms;

Canada Revenue Agency

Operating Environment and Risk Analysis

Key Risks

Protection of information

The CRA has put in place measures to help ensure information is handled with the utmost care and regard for privacy and security from three perspectives:

• Cyber attack: The CRA has robust cyber security controls in place to protect the CRA’s information from third parties who intentionally try to gain access. The CRA also has several initiatives underway related to cyber security, such as the Data Security Initiative, to further enhance the protection of its data.
• Unintentional: The CRA has several controls and measures in place to help prevent, identify, and address the accidental loss or unintentional release of taxpayer information by employees.
• Intentional: The CRA’s efforts to ensure CRA employees continue to act ethically and do not use their access to protected information for personal or commercial gain have included improving audit trail monitoring systems, updating system access permissions, communications to employees about acting with integrity, and enhancing security screening processes.

Section 3 Analysis of Programs and Internal Services

Taxpayer and Business Assistance

CRA Website and Social Media Initiatives

The CRA’s website strives to provide timely, accurate, and relevant information to Canadians who prefer to look online first to find the answers to their questions. The website is structured around four main categories: individuals and families, businesses, charities and giving, and representatives. It provides information on a wide variety of topics, and people are just a few clicks away from downloading most of the forms or publications they need regarding their tax obligations or their benefit eligibility. We update our webpages regularly to add new content or to improve navigation and clarity of information. We also use web analytics to help us understand how Canadians use the site, and to assess and improve its effectiveness.

Through the website, the Agency maintains and provides hundreds of different forms and publications, and more than 20 million copies of these documents are downloaded annually. Moreover, access to the information on our website is available 24 hours a day and is continually kept up-to-date. As part of our efforts to make access to our information as convenient as possible, the Agency’s website is designed to display on any electronic device, whether it be smartphone, tablet, or desktop computer.

The CRA continues to play a prominent role in the Government-wide Web Renewal Initiative. This initiative is a project to develop Canada.ca, one website for the Government of Canada. During 2015-2016, the Agency helped to develop the governance and publishing models, user-experience testing, information architecture, and technical requirements for Canada.ca.

Throughout the year, the Agency continued to expand its use of social media. For example, our tweets began to include media, such as video, to promote CRA services. This contributed to a 40% higher rate of engagement with our Twitter followers over the previous year. Meanwhile, the CRA launched a video series in Spanish, Punjabi, Cantonese, Arabic, and Cree on its YouTube channels.

The CRA also continued to promote awareness of the Voluntary Disclosures Program (VDP) through its website, a promotional video, tweets, tax tips, and stakeholder messaging. In 2015-2016, there were about 160,000 viewings of the VDP video, “Making Things Right,” an increase of 53% over the previous year.

Key results

• We received over 184 million visits to our website.
• Close to 20 million forms and publications available on the website were downloaded.
• We posted 33 new or updated videos between April 2015 and March 2016. The 105 videos on our YouTube channels were viewed 105,145 times.

Internal Services

Information Management

Applying sound information management (IM) principles ensures the CRA can meet its legislative and regulatory obligations, support decision-making, and fulfil the operational needs of the programs the Agency administers. It also helps the CRA derive value from its information and deliver its programs and services efficiently and effectively.

As the CRA increasingly relies on technology to support the delivery of programs and services, the integration of information management requirements into planning becomes even more important to ensure the long-term integrity of the CRA’s information, regardless of changes in the organization, movement of employees, changing technology, or changes in the law.

In recent years, the CRA has successfully applied IM principles to reduce its electronic footprint. More than 30,400 internal and external web pages, which were either duplicate pages or which contained outdated information, have been cut. In addition, as part of a government-wide, email modernization project, the Agency reduced its e-mail storage by an impressive 13 terabytes.

The Agency maintains a large volume of paper records. Legally, the CRA cannot dispose of its records (either paper or electronic) until pre-established retention conditions have been met. Both our paper and electronic records support our audit activities and are also required for tax reassessments, which can often be requested by taxpayers several years after the end of a tax year. Notwithstanding such considerations, we expect the CRA’s paper holdings will diminish over time as take-up of our e-services increases and the use of paper documents diminishes.

In 2015-2016, a new Information Management Strategy was approved for the Agency. This strategy provides strong direction and specifies concrete actions, allowing the Agency to continue to improve the management of its information.

Canada School of Public Service

Section III: Analysis of Program and Internal Services

Internal Services

Strengthening Performance Measurement and Reporting

• Information Management: The School developed and implemented an information management strategy and action plan that establishes a culture of information management by recognizing the importance of valuing information, managing it at an enterprise level and treating it as a strategic resource.

Lessons Learned

Information management will remain a priority for the School as it moves forward in implementing an information management strategy and developing its open government implementation plan. The School also recognizes the need to standardize information management systems, structures, processes and procedures, and to build on its implementation of GCDOCS, a public service-wide content management tool, to improve accessibility and information sharing.

Data governance will also be a key priority as the School undertakes improvements in performance measurement and reporting. This will assist in improving reporting to Canadians on results. In addition, departments will benefit in terms of accessing more robust information on learning uptake across the public service.

Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency

Results Highlights

During 2015-16 the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency (the Agency):

• Implemented government wide initiatives such as financial system SAP and the new Government of Canada shared case management system. As part of the Agency’s open government strategy, it is participating in the Government of Canada Web Renewal Initiative, migrating to Canada.ca and GCDOCS; the standard electronic document and records management system.

Section III: Analysis of Program(s) and Internal Services

Internal Services

In support of meeting its mandate, including modernizing business and information management practices in alignment with Government of Canada policy direction, the Agency achieved the following results:

As part of the Government of Canada Web Renewal Initiative, the Government of Canada is migrating departments’ and agencies’ web content to a unified website: Canada.ca. The unified website will allow Canadians to better access Government of Canada information and services. Over the past year the Agency has been working closely with the Treasury Board Secretariat and Environment and Climate Change Canada to prepare to fully transfer the Agency’s web content to the Canada.ca platform. The Agency was originally a pathfinder organization and is planning for its transition, expected in 2016–17.

The Agency continues to modernize its approach for open government and public engagement. As part of this approach, a social media strategy has been drafted to accompany the Agency’s three-year communications plan. Part of the strategy is an increased focus on making the Agency more “digital by default” in the way it communicates with Canadians.

The Agency has taken steps to integrate and modernize information technology systems and information management practices to more efficiently support EAs and Indigenous consultations, in partnership with Public Services and Procurement Canada through its Shared Case Management System. The Agency is currently developing the Environmental Assessment Management System (EAMS) which integrates a number of tracking and management tools and spreadsheets into a single application. Once fully implemented, the Agency will be better positioned to deliver information on the EA process to Canadians.

The scheduled migration to GCDOCS, the government-wide standard electronic document and records management system, was delayed a year due to changes related to central shared services onboarding. Onboarding is now planned for 2016–17. This migration is a key aspect of the Agency’s information management and open government strategy.

Canadian Food Inspection Agency

Operating Environment and Risk Analysis

Key Risks

Risk: Management of Information and IM/IT Infrastructure

The ability to make risk-based decisions due to the lack of timely, accurate and useful data and information.

The Agency’s diverse information requirements and national presence has resulted in an IM/IT infrastructure containing a complex mix of new and old equipment that supports multiple IM/IT systems and databases. Differences in how information is collected, analyzed, and used across multiple systems and hardware may impede information sharing and timely operational and regulatory decision making.

Risk Response Strategy:

• Business Information Management Centre (BIMC) Dashboards.
  • Strengthened the tools, processes and governance of the Agency’s Business Information Management Centre to capture and report on operational data, and also enhance the Centre’s program performance management capabilities. Further enhanced Dashboards for Senior Management by providing strategic analysis to better highlight the areas of attention related to the delivery of the core Program and Corporate functions of the Agency
• IMIT Strategy
  • Defined and received President’s approval for a new Agency IMIT Strategy that provides direction for investment planning, and verifies continued alignment with Government of Canada technology strategies
  • Proactively participated in enterprise platform modernization and consolidation activities with Shared Services Canada, including email transition, data center migration, and transition to MyGCHR, the human resources management system recently adopted by the Government of Canada
  • Advanced service delivery modernization initiatives aimed at providing citizens and employees with modern digital tools
• Web Renewal
  • Prepared for migration to Canada.ca, the common Government of Canada website being constructed, by completing a full review of its current web content to ensure consistency with the Canada.ca style guide, and also developed a detailed migration plan for CFIA content
  • Provided advice and guidance to the Community of Federal Regulators, Health Canada, and Treasury Board Secretariat on how to develop a Government-wide plan for posting legislative guidance on Canada.ca
  • Ensured that CFIA employees were well informed of the Web Renewal Initiative, a government-wide priority to consolidate all departmental/agency websites into fewer than six

Canadian Heritage

Organizational Priorities

1. Celebrating our history and heritage: The Road to 2017

Progress Toward the Priority

The Canada 150 Federal Secretariat was established at Canadian Heritage to facilitate and coordinate a whole-of-government approach to the 150th anniversary of Confederation. The Secretariat has initiated various innovative marketing and public outreach activities, and maintains ongoing monitoring and reporting of the Canada 150 initiative. It continued to build stakeholder relations across the country through engagement with a wide variety of public, private and not-for-profit organizations. The Federal Secretariat continues to assess its organization and delivery risks through regular monitoring and a risk mitigation plan, taking corrective action when necessary. For details and more information on how to join the Canada 150 celebration, please visit the Canada 150 website.

To build momentum for the 150th anniversary of Confederation in 2017, the Department continued to support initiatives that highlight significant milestone anniversaries on The Road to 2017 by providing opportunities for Canadians to mark events, celebrate accomplishments and honour individuals who have shaped Canada as we know it today.

In 2015, the Department worked with the Royal Canadian Mint, Canada Post, the Royal Canadian Artillery Association and the National Film Board of Canada to support commemorations of the 100th anniversary of the writing of In Flanders Fields by Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae and the centennial of the Second Battle of Ypres. It funded Historica Canada’s educational campaign and student contest to mark the bicentennial of the birth of Sir John A. Macdonald. This contest reached over 60,000 educators and close to 2 million students. It also supported activities for the 400th anniversary of Samuel de Champlain’s visit to Huronia, including projects that celebrated 400 years of the French presence in Ontario, such as the #FindYourChamplain contest. This contest reached over 500,000 Canadians. In 2016, the Department launched celebrations to highlight the centennial of women’s suffrage.

Since May 2012, the Canadian Conservation Institute has provided conservation treatments, scientific analysis and preservation services for 475 objects and 4 collections. These objects and collections will be on display in permanent or travelling museum exhibitions across Canada, and they will directly support activities leading up to, and during, the Canada 150 celebrations.

The Museums Assistance Program supported 18 projects that have helped to advance The Road to 2017 priority. For example, in 2015–16 The Right Honourable John G. Diefenbaker Centre for the Study of Canada produced and circulated an exhibition called Sisters United: Women’s Suffrage in Saskatchewan. This exhibition commemorates the extension of voting rights to women in Saskatchewan in 1916. The exhibition provides an opportunity for visitors to explore the history of women’s voting rights and the social changes that set the context for the suffrage movement in Canada. This exhibition will be circulated to other venues throughout Canada in a later phase of the project.

3. A prosperous cultural sector: advancing opportunities in a global and digital era

Progress toward the priority

The global and digital era in which we live is marked by economies that are based on technology, knowledge, innovation and creativity. In this context, the cultural sector is a remarkable asset to Canada. Arts and heritage organizations, and the cultural industries have a positive impact on the Canadian economy: according to the Statistics Canada Culture Satellite Account, cultural activities accounted for $54.6 billion of Canada’s culture gross domestic product in 2014. The cultural sector also has an impact beyond economic factors as it supports the growth of an awareness and meaning of the Canadian experience.

In 2015–16, the Department supported the arts and heritage organizations, and cultural industries to thrive in the evolving digital environment by continuing to invest in arts and cultural programs. It supported program activities that increased access to cultural content and experiences through various platforms and devices, taking advantage of the digital environment and advanced trade negotiations and the promotion of Canada’s arts, culture and heritage sectors abroad.

The Canada Cultural Spaces Fund supported projects from arts and heritage organizations that make strategic use of technology. One example of such project is The Satellite Video Exchange Society’s VIVO project, which supported the creation of a centre for media arts production, presentation and preservation in Vancouver, British Columbia. The Fund invested $121,000 in the VIVO project in 2015–16.

The Canada Cultural Investment Fund supported projects that encourage partnership and innovation in the arts and heritage sectors, and provide the opportunity to take full advantage of digital technology through its Strategic Initiatives component. For example, ArtsBuild Ontario, in partnership with WorkInCulture and Fractured Atlas, will lead the expansion of the SpaceFinder system in communities in Alberta and Manitoba, the regions of Waterloo and York (Ontario), and in the city of Vancouver. This expansion will include the translation of the SpaceFinder system, as well as offering a learning series that will address best practices in renting spaces and related topics for both the experienced and beginner space manager. The CCIF is investing $353,218 in this project which started in 2015–16 and will be completed in 2017–18.

During the winter of 2015–16, the Broadcasting and Digital Communications Program prepared for the pre-consultations on Canadian Content in a Digital World, which were launched by the Minister of Canadian Heritage on April 23, 2016.

The Canada Media Fund funded projects that enhance the accessibility of Canadian music on digital platforms. For example, the Fund supported the creation of innovative Canadian content and software applications created exclusively for digital platforms. The Fund contributed $365.5 million to Canadian television and digital media projects in 2014–15* triggering $1.3 billion in production activity.

The Canadian Audio-Visual Certification Office launched public consultations on Eligible Platforms which can be used to meet the “Shown in Canada” requirement of the Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit. The proposal outlines a modernized interpretation of existing legislation to allow online-only productions to be incorporated into the Tax Credit program with the objective of better aligning the Tax Credit with the digital marketplace and supporting the growth and global success of the Canadian audio-visual production industry.

The Canada Music Fund supported the development of platforms which stream various live performances ranging from East Coast Music Awards’ winners, nominees and showcasing artists, to Canadian content of a premier annual rap battle event. Other examples include the development of platforms which aim to optimize music video channels, and the discoverability of Acadian musicians.

The Canada Book Fund supported innovative technology-driven collective marketing that help consumers discover Canadian content in the digital marketplace such as the Canadian Children’s Book Centre’s History Books in the Classroom, an online repository of Canadian history titles for educators and students. Displayed in a user-friendly way, these books can be used by teachers to introduce topics and themes in Canadian history and by students carrying out projects.

The Canada Periodical Fund helped Canadian periodical publishers undertake a variety of digital publishing projects. For example, the Fund supported Verge, a magazine for students interested in expanding their horizons through studying, volunteering, working and travelling abroad. With the help of the Business Innovation component, the publication was able to make the transition from print to digital.

The Copyright and International Trade and Policy Branch supported Canada’s international trade related negotiations, provided expert advice on Canada’s interests in the areas of culture and copyright and contributed to the development and implementation of international norms notably under the World Intellectual Property Organization. It also represented Canada in the context of the UNESCO 2005 Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions where it spearheaded discussions on the impact of digital technologies on cultural diversity. Significant analysis and strategic advice was provided on how best to support cultural exports in a context where Canadian creators need access to global markets to thrive and further develop. Budget 2016 announced an investment of $35 million over two years, beginning in 2016–17 to support the promotion of Canadian artists and cultural industries abroad.

The Canadian Heritage Information Network laid the groundwork for a modernization of Artefacts Canada, the national online inventory of museum objects, by undertaking a demonstration project with eight museums. Titled 150 Years of Canadian Art, the project shows how an approach called Linked Open Data can be used to expand and enhance online access to museum collections by linking information from museums across Canada.

4. Serving Canadians: ensuring operational efficiency and service excellence

Progress toward the priority

Canadian Heritage continued to strengthen our culture for service excellence and transparency, and to deliver results for Canadians. Innovative work continues on improvements to our service delivery strategies, such as expanding digital tools and supports; increasing service delivery efficiencies through further standardization and simplification; improving reporting on results, timely capture of client feedback for continuous improvement, and the use of electronic signatures.

In April 2015 Canadian Heritage launched its Innovation Fund. This initiative encourages employees to think creatively about workplace initiatives that will improve work processes and that will help the Department to better serve Canadians. Successful proposals receive financial and administrative support from the Department. Three single year projects received support from the Innovation Fund and were completed in 2015–16, while two multi-year projects were approved (to be completed in 2016–17). For example, Seven – An Official Languages Short Movie not only served to bring in the talents of people from across Canadian Heritage, it also explained the importance of Part VII of the Official Languages Act. The Copyright: Orphan Works project, in partnership with Osgoode Law School and working with stakeholders from across Canada, explored how to improve the licensing of works where there is no identifiable copyright owner.

Section III: analysis of programs and internal services

1.2 Program: Cultural Industries

Program performance analysis and lessons learned

The Cultural Industries Program invested $298 million in funding for programs that support Canadian cultural industries to produce, market and distribute a range of Canadian cultural content. The Program advanced cultural sector policy, legislative and regulatory measures that support marketplace conditions for a strong, innovative and competitive cultural sector and foster the creation of and access to diverse Canadian cultural content that is valued at home and abroad. Examples include the negotiation of audiovisual coproduction treaties as well as the provision of evidence-based policy advice on Canada’s Broadcasting Act, copyright and cultural interests in the context of international negotiations in support of the Government of Canada’s international trade agenda.

In 2015–16, the Program supported the creation and production of a range of cultural content across multiple platforms including books, music, periodicals, film and television. Most of the targets set within this compound indicator were exceeded, with overall results remaining relatively consistent with previous years. For example, the number of magazines featuring Canadian content decreased slightly this year at 1,663 magazines, compared to 1,706 in 2014–15 and 1,630 in 2013–14. The number of non-daily newspapers increased to 1,083 compared to 1,040 publications in 2014–15 and 1,019 in 2013–14. The results demonstrate that these industries continue to consistently produce diverse Canadian cultural content across a range of mediums.

The Program also achieved most targets related to the availability and consumption of Canadian content in domestic and international markets. The market share of Canadian feature film views across a range of platforms increased to 5.3% in 2014 compared to 4.7% in 2013, primarily due to an increase in the number of views from pay television services which increased by almost 16% in 2014. In 2015–16, the Canada Music Fund provided production support to 546 albums and helped Canadian artists connect with audiences at home and abroad by providing marketing, touring and showcasing support to nearly 2,100 projects through the New Musical Works component and close to 300 projects through the Collective Initiative component. According to the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN), international consumption of music by Canadian artists increased by 8.0% to a value of $55.3 million, and exceeded its target value by $11.3 million (25.7 %). Individual results for a majority of industries under this indicator were between 80% and 99% of the target identified for each industry.

The most recent cultural industries Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is $28.67 billion (Culture Satellite Account, 2014), representing a significant contribution to Canada’s economy. The original target of $25.5 billion was based on the 2010 data and was not met last year, slightly under at $25.4 billion. However, the cultural industries GDP grew in every subsequent year, showing a progression and demonstrating that cultural industries are a strong component of national culture GDP.

The Department also delivered a great number of policy initiatives in 2015–16. Through the Broadcasting and Digital Communications Branch, the Department supported Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (formerly Industry Canada) in the analysis and development of policy advice leading to the announcement, in August 2015, to repurpose the 600 MHz band of spectrum, primarily used for over-the-air (OTA) TV channels 31 to 51, from broadcasting to commercial mobile use.

The Film and Video Policy Program pursued audiovisual coproduction treaty negotiations with nine countries in 2015–16, including Australia, China, France and New Zealand, and also initiated negotiations with Jordan. Negotiations for a Canada-Ireland coproduction treaty were concluded in 2015–16 and the new treaty was signed by both countries in February 2016. These performance results reflect the Department’s implementation of Canada’s Policy on Audiovisual Treaty Coproduction in order to position Canada as an audiovisual coproduction partner of choice.

The Canadian Audio-Visual Certification Office launched public consultations on eligible platforms which can be used to meet the “shown in Canada” requirement of the Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit. The consultations proposed that a new interpretation of existing legislation be adapted to allow online-only productions to be incorporated into the Tax Credit program, with the objective of better aligning the Tax Credit with the digital marketplace and supporting the growth and global success of the Canadian audio-visual production industry.

The Canadian Audio-Visual Certification Office also launched public consultations on the definitions of ineligible genres of production for the purpose of the federal film of video production tax credit programs to increase clarity around productions excluded from these programs, as per the Income Tax Regulations. This included a distinct consultation on the definition of ‘Advertising’ to provide the industry with increased clarity around the use of branded content.

The Copyright and International Trade Policy Branch provided strategic advice on changes to the Copyright Act to the term of protection for performances fixed in sound recordings and for sound recordings (from 50 years to 70 years after publication). The Budget Implementation Act – Amendment to the Copyright Actreceived Royal Assent on June 2015.

The Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired or Otherwise Print Disabled was adopted at a diplomatic conference of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in June 2013. The Copyright Act was amended in June 2016 to fully conform to the Treaty, under the co-leadership of Minister Bain, Minister Joly and Minister Qualtrough. The Copyright and International Trade Policy Branch of Canadian Heritage provided expert advice to Minister Joly on this matter.

The Copyright and International Trade Policy Branch also provided expert advice to Global Affairs Canada on Canadian copyright and cultural interests in the context of international trade negotiations, in particular the Trans-pacific Partnership Agreement, which was concluded in October 2015.

1.3 Program: Heritage

Program performance analysis and lessons learned

The Heritage Program invested over $28.7 million in the heritage sector in 2015–16, providing opportunities for Canadians to increase their knowledge and experience of our history and heritage. This is a slight decrease from the $31.6 million invested in 2014–15. Funding from the Heritage Program enabled heritage organizations and workers to improve their professional knowledge, skills and practices, preserve collections, and to provide Canadians’ access to heritage content. The Program exceeded its targets for this reporting cycle.

The Program continued to make cultural content accessible to Canadians. For example, in 2015–16, the Museums Assistance Program enabled the Winnipeg Art Gallery to receive funding in the amount of $79,000 through its Access to Heritage component. This funding contributed to the creation of the travelling exhibition “Arctic Adaptations: Nunavut at 15”. This exhibition explores arctic architecture over a century, and includes a component on the development of modern adaptive architecture in Nunavut, which addresses the challenges in access and delivery of housing, health, arts, education, and recreation. The exhibition was presented in four venues across Canada including the Yukon Arts Centre (Whitehorse, Yukon) and the Illingworth Kerr Gallery at the Alberta College of Art and Design (Calgary, Alberta), and was visited by 40,000 people.

The Canadian Conservation Institute (CCI) similarly assisted museums across Canada in their mandate to preserve and provide Canadians with access to their heritage through its conservation or analysis of 880 objects and collections in 2015–16. This work includes the treatment and presentation of more than 200 objects and collections related to the Departmental priority and initiative to support heritage institutions in their preparation of exhibitions for Canada’s 150^thAnniversary celebrations and commemorations. Among these objects, the conservation treatment of the Confederation Quilt that is made from material used in the dresses worn by the women who attended the balls and galas on the 1864 Charlottetown Conference should be mentioned.

CCI delivered 200 expert services to 106 heritage institutions, missing the target by 18%. This decrease is a result of delays in the staffing process to replace long-term employees retiring from the conservation labs. More than 163,500 users’ accessed CCI learning materials and resources, a decrease of 58% compared to 2014–2015 results. This decrease is due to CCI’s on-line resources being unavailable during the migration of the CCI website to Canada.ca, which took several months.

Through its Young Canada Works initiative, the Heritage Program invested in small and medium-size museums across Canada with a targeted $4.6 million fund for community museums to create summer jobs for young Canadians. In 2015–16, this initiative supported 665 community museums and created more than 1,125 positions for Canadian youth to explore and share their heritage with their communities and Canadians at large.

The Canadian Heritage Information Network’s Linked Open Data pilot project served to demonstrate how emerging tools and standards can be used to expand access to online information. It also created linkages between related resources that allow Canadians to more deeply explore the facts and stories behind our works of art and historical artefacts.

The Heritage Program provides professional learning opportunities for heritage organizations and workers. In 2015–16, 91% of participants in these opportunities reported an improvement in professional knowledge, skills and practices, a slight decrease from the 2014–15 result of 95%.

The Heritage Program enabled the preservation of over 111,000 collections and objects, which is significantly over the established target of 46,000 objects, and represents a 4.5% increase over the 2014–15 results of 106,227 objects and collections.

The Canada Travelling Exhibition Indemnification Program and Museums Assistance Program contributed to providing nearly 2.5 million people with opportunities to access cultural content. This represents an increase of 61.9% over the 2014–15 result (1,508,404 visitors) and surpasses the target of 1,700,000 visitors by 43.7%. For example, the exhibition “The Greeks – Agamemnon to Alexander the Great” was presented at Pointe-à-Callière in Montréal and at the Canadian Museum of History in the National Capital region. This was the most visited of indemnified exhibitions, with a combined total for both venues of 283,742 visitors.

The Department successfully conducted the second iteration of the Government of Canada Survey of Heritage Institutions, achieving a 34.5% response rate which is above industry standards. With the addition of revenue/expenditure information from the Canada Revenue Agency, the survey captured data on more than 1,600 heritage institutions, or 63% of the heritage sector. The survey report is available online.

Canada was represented at the meeting of States Parties of the 1970 UNESCO Convention on illicit traffic in cultural property and contributed to the adoption of operational guidelines for the implementation of the Convention. The Department of Canadian Heritage was also involved in a series of meetings concerning the protection of cultural property in the event of armed conflict (Meetings of States Parties to the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict and to its Second Protocol, and the 10th Meeting of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict). These meetings examined ways to enhance the effectiveness of those instruments in conflict situations such as those currently occurring in Iraq and Syria.

Internal Services

Program performance analysis and lessons learned

In 2015–16, Canadian Heritage worked closely with various federal institutions and has implemented an information architecture that enables all government content to be integrated within the theme “Culture, History and Sport.” The Department’s web content has adopted the new format and is now accessible through Canada.ca.

The Department continued to strengthen its stewardship of information and to support open government commitments through the implementation of electronic records keeping in support of the Government of Canada Electronic Document Record Management solution, GCDOCS.

Canadian Human Rights Commission

Operating Environment and Risk Analysis

The Commission monitored the identified risks throughout the year and implemented risk mitigation actions.

It is essential that the Commission is perceived as independent, especially in the eyes of the Canadian public, particularly people in vulnerable circumstances. Considering that half the complaints received are against the federal government, the Commission must be truly independent from government, and more importantly, must be perceived as such. To mitigate this risk, the Commission assessed its perceived independence when implementing Government of Canada transformation initiatives. Most recently, the Commission indicated that moving its internet website under the umbrella of the Government of Canada (GC) Canada.ca website would have negative impacts on the public perception of its independence. The Commission also provided feedback to Treasury Board Secretariat during the consultations on items of the proposed new Policy on Results to highlight potential issues around the perception of its independence.

Organizational Priorities

Priority: Ensure sustainability and service excellence

Description: The Commission strives to serve Canadians in the most effective and efficient manner possible and is committed to having a stable workforce that is dedicated to service excellence in delivering the Commission’s mandate.

Summary of Progress

Over the course of 2015–16, the Commission:

• Completed a Business Intelligence (BI) assessment
  The goal of the assessment was to identify the means by which the Commission can: stabilize operational reporting; obtain consolidated and comprehensive operational measures in support of future service and operational performance requirements; support program review, analysis and research; improve internal and external reporting; and ultimately improve services to Canadians. Several options on how to implement a BI Strategy were considered in light of current resources and needs. The assessment also inspired the combining of measurement and data reporting activities under one umbrella, to share expertise, and to improve the way the Commission measures and drives organizational success.

• Continued to implement the Government of Canada change agenda
  This included moving to the government-wide human resources system (MyGCHR) in October 2015. It also continued to enhance the security of its information and technology infrastructure based on recommendations from security audits, Treasury Board Secretariat and the Communications Security Establishment.

Canadian Intergovernmental Conference Secretariat

Operating Environment and Risk Analysis

Key Risks

• Governance and strategic direction
  There is a risk that the provincial-territorial stakeholders may not perceive CICS as being neutral because of recent federal initiatives which could negatively affect the number of requests for services being requested for provincial-territorial meetings.

Risk Response Strategy

• This risk was identified in the 2015-16 RPP and continues to be a key risk because CICS must ensure that all 14 jurisdictions recognize its services as being equal, impartial and confidential to all clients.
• In 2015-16, CICS successfully mitigated this risk by strengthening provincial/territorial partnerships, respecting the exemptions from the Federal Access to Information and Privacy Act and the Federal Identity Program. Discussions with key players around the impacts of other transformation initiatives will be ongoing.

Organizational Priorities

Priority: Transform our service delivery model

This priority will ensure continuous improvement in the service delivery model by aligning people, processes and technologies to reflect the current environment, the demands of the future and the changing needs of clients. It will also allow for the achievement of greater efficiencies.

Progress Toward the Priority

• All archiving of conference records are now done electronically.

Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency

Operating Environment and Risk Analysis

Key Risks

• Information Management and Information Technology (IM/IT)
  IT systems and infrastructure may not sufficiently support CanNor’s client and user needs, which may limit the availability of accurate and relevant information for some program and business processes. The IM/IT transformation agenda may lead to some disruptions to CanNor’s systems and procedures

Risk Response Strategy

• CanNor worked closely with its IT service provider (INAC) to prepare for government-wide IM/IT transformation initiatives and to ensure data and systems were ready.

Section III: Analysis of Program(s) and Internal Services

Internal Services

Over the course of 2015-16, CanNor Communications made significant strides in preparing for migration to Canada.ca in 2016-17. All of CanNor’s web content was analyzed for accuracy and relevance. Further, major portions were updated and re-written to reflect current priorities and to follow the new style guide for posting in the next fiscal year.

The Agency worked to prepare its information systems and employees for the implementation of two new government-wide HR systems, Phoenix and MyGCHR. Employees were provided with training and assistance to prepare for the future implementation of other information management and email transformation. CanNor also worked closely with other RDAs to identify common requirements and plan the development of a new shared system for the management of grants and contributions.

Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission

Organizational Priorities

Priority: Building a high-performing organization

Progress Toward the Priority

The CRTC is committed to building a high-performing organization to achieve management excellence, and has made important progress in delivering more efficient and effective services and business processes. To this end, the CRTC

• embraced innovative methods of creating intelligence by co-hosting a policy Design Jam with Ryerson University on the issue of content discoverability, and launching with the Canadian Communication Association the CRTC Prize for Excellence in Policy Research, both of which contribute to enriching communication policy discussion in Canada;
• improved the integration of its functional and business planning processes by strengthening internal relationships and engaging widely across the organization in strategic planning sessions that looked at risk and environmental scanning;
• built a new corporate risk profile;
• modified, implemented and trained staff on a new file classification structure pursuant the CRTC’s March 2015 report to Treasury Board Secretariat titled Business Information Architecture for Recordkeeping Directive Compliance; the new structure is aligned to services and functions, thus allowing CRTC staff to easily and effectively manage electronic information resources of business value. In addition, a new process for managing and reporting electronic disposition was implemented;
• provided opportunities to employees to develop their skills and knowledge through the job rotation program as part of its commitment to employee engagement; and
• continued to enhance web-based services for Canadians by applying new Government of Canada usability standards to 60% of the CRTC’s dynamically generated web-based applications, thus increasing the ease with which Canadians can find information and communicate with the CRTC.

Section III: Analysis of Programs and Internal Services

Internal Services

In 2015–16, the CRTC began transitioning its website in accordance with Treasury Board Secretariat guidelines for plain language and a mobile-first experience. Results included support for the CRTC’s major public proceedings, an intuitive consumer complaint triage process and a tool to help consumers find communication service providers in their area.

In support of the Government of Canada’s Directive on Open Government and commitment to transparency, the CRTC continued to release datasets via the Government of Canada’s Open Data Portal; datasets included Television Program Logs and a list of competitive local exchange carriers’ exchanges.

In the summer of 2015, the CRTC introduced the 7.5-Hour Challenge. As part of this program, employees are invited to use 7.5 hours of their time to develop innovative ideas that contribute to the CRTC’s vision and priorities. Every year, a winning project is selected by employees at an all-staff retreat. In 2015–16, the project selected was on Mental Health Awareness. It was successfully implemented with a full day of education and training in the area of mental health. To respond to rapidly evolving human resources needs, the CRTC reviewed the new Human Resources Management service delivery model to identify and address corporate gaps. Plans are being developed to address these gaps. The CRTC also completed the alignment of its learning needs with the Canada School of Public Service’s curriculum. Finally, the CRTC Employee Development Program was developed, including training materials for enforcement officers via the Canadian Police Knowledge Network portal to respond to the specific needs of the Compliance and Enforcement program.

To develop specialized knowledge and skills, training sessions on costing principles in telecommunications were held for stakeholders, Commissioners and new employees. These sessions covered topics such as costing networks and cost studies.

Canadian Space Agency

Section III: Analysis of Programs and Internal Services

Internal Services

The CSA began to implement its three-year (2016–19) information management and information technology strategy. This strategy aims to effectively and efficiently manage all operational information assets and the organization’s IT applications, according to their life cycle, to support all employees in the performance of their duties.

Canadian Transportation Agency

Operating Environment and Risk Analysis

Key Risks

Risk

• 3.  Modernization of information management
  Any delays in implementation of the new shared case management system may impact Agency initiatives to achieve efficiencies and enhance client service delivery

Risk Response Strategy

• To manage risks linked to the implementation of the new shared case management system, the Agency:
  • Paused the migration to the new system while steps were taken to address escalating resource demands, and focused for the time being on enhancing business process efficiency
  • Remained active on senior-level committees and working groups to explain the needs of smaller organizations like the Agency and provide insights on the constraints faced by independent tribunals and small agencies
  • Applied a comprehensive implementation plan for its case management system, including business process mapping, identifying user needs, and upgrading systems
  • Took measures to ensure case management continuity by ensuring the Agency’s case management system is able to run independently of  shared, government-wide infrastructure as necessary

Organizational Priorities

Priority: High-Performing Organization

The Agency aims to be an innovative, high-performing organization with skilled, knowledgeable, and motivated employees who are treated with respect and supported by effective and efficient systems and services.

Progress Toward the Priority

In 2015-2016, the Agency made great strides towards transforming its workplace, empowering staff and positioning itself as a high-performing organization over the long term. For example:

• The Agency finalized and began the rollout of its official Digital Office Strategy, including the development of a digitization policy for the Agency to streamline processes and enable a paperless workplace.
• It streamlined day-to-day operations by transforming its information management governance model.
• The Agency launched an upgraded corporate intranet site enabling information sharing and knowledge transfer, and implemented direct messaging application Skype for agile internal communications and knowledge sharing.

Civilian Review and Complaints Commission for the RCMP

Section III: Analysis of Program(s) and Internal Services

Internal Services

A new case management system has been deployed to consolidate and centralize all aspects of the public complaint process into one information management system. This supports both the management of complaint and review processes and the Commission’s new provincial reporting requirements.

Courts Administration Service

Section III: Analysis of Programs and Internal Services

Program 1.2: Registry Services

Sustained pressure on the federal courts from legal profession and litigants to facilitate the delivery of services within an electronic environment continued to impact the work of the registries and the courts. To continue to take steps to remove obstacles to e-services, and to pave the way for future possibilities for increased use of technology to better support court requirements, CAS maintained its effort to seek additional funding for investments in the Courts and Registry Management System and the IT infrastructure required to render it capable of supporting electronic document management and the provision of integrated e-services.

Internal Services

During the period covered by this report, CAS supported the government-wide back office modernization project and assisted with the migration of all pay and human resources systems to Phoenix and My GCHR. CAS also continued to work towards ensuring the proper alignment of information management with modern principles, practices and standards. Work continued to identify a document management system which will act as a central repository to create, store and manage information resources of business value.

Department of Finance Canada

Section III: Analysis of Program(s) and Internal Services

Internal Services

Ensuring a secure and reliable information technology infrastructure and implementing a collaborative, client-focused approach for information management

The Department of Finance Canada continued to make progress on advancing its Recordkeeping Implementation Plan and implementing necessary processes to protect the integrity of information resources of business value. The Executive Committee approved an Information Management (IM) Strategy to advance recordkeeping maturity and achieve full compliance with the Directive on Recordkeeping.

To strengthen IM and information technology (IT) governance, the Department expanded the terms of reference of the Management Advisory Committee to include oversight responsibility for IM and IT and established an internal IM/IT Consultation Group to further engage key departmental stakeholders on the planning and delivery of IM and IT priorities. The Department also leveraged the departmental planning process to collect data and information for the release of datasets in support of the Open Government initiative.

The Department continued to collaborate on the implementation of government-wide transformation activities in the areas of IM and IT. The Department worked in partnership with Shared Services Canada (SSC) to successfully migrate to the Government of Canada common email solution and continued to collaborate with SSC to migrate its dual network infrastructure to an SSC end-state data centre.

Department of Justice Canada

Organizational Priorities

Priority: Public Law

To support the Government’s commitment to upholding the Constitution and the rule of law, and assist the Government in advancing related domestic and international legal and policy interests through development of public law policy.

Progress Toward the Priority

The Department established commitments from the Minister’s mandate letter to support Government priorities related to Public Law, including respecting the Charter and introducing legislation for gender identity protections.

Key activities include the following:

• modernizing the Privacy Act to increase public trust in the Government’s ability to protect personal information in a networked information society.
• revitalizing access to information through concrete commitments, including preparing for a full review of the Access to Information Act in 2018.

Priority: Management Excellence

To manage organizational transformation in support of business and legal excellence.

Progress Toward the Priority

To modernize its business practices, Justice continued to implement its multi-year Information@Justice Strategy, focusing on digital information and business processes as well as facilitating and promoting greater use of IT digital legal tools. Through 2015-16, the Department continued preparations to implement the Shared Services Canada Email Transformation Initiative. The Department also continued preparation activities in support of network and data centre consolidation solutions aimed at streamlining and standardizing IT services in order to support the reduction of costs across government.

Section III: Analysis of Program(s) and Internal Services

Internal Services

Working closely with Treasury Board Secretariat and Shared Services Canada, the Department continued to implement the Government of Canada’s information management and information technology modernization agenda, including the Email Transformation Initiative, telecommunications transformation, and active contribution to the Government of Canada priorities for Enterprise Solutions, such as Shared Case Management, GCDOCS, and MyGCHR. The Department contributed to cybersecurity and the Government’s web renewal efforts, including the migration of its web content to the Canada.ca website. The Department also continued its outreach to Canadians through official social media channels.

The Department continued to implement the Information@Justice Strategy and the Digital Workspace Project, which are guiding the modernization of departmental information management practices by adopting a digital standard that recognizes the importance of information assets and leveraging technology to transform current work practices. The Department launched JustMe in April 2015, putting employees on the path to an open-by-default work environment. Justice continued with digital-first approaches to information sharing, refining and modernizing its intranet presence to better engage employees, with user-focused interactive tools, platforms, and approaches. For example, the Justice weekly text-based employee newsletter was transformed into a real time digital publication with more images, interactivity, and engaging content.

Department of National Defence and the Canadian Armed Forces

Section III: Analysis of Program(s) and Internal Services

Internal Services

Communications

National Defence made significant progress on its contribution to the Web Renewal Initiative, the government-wide effort to develop a single website for the Government of Canada so visitors can easily find information and services they are seeking. In 2015-16, National Defence contributed:

• More than 20 new topic pages to the National Security and Defence theme on Canada.ca; and
• More than 40 redesigned pages to the forces.gc.ca site to ensure the content and design aligns with Treasury Board specifications and to prepare for the migration to Canada.ca.

National Defence also increased its efforts to profile key CAF exercises through national news releases, facilitation of media visits, social media, imagery, and the launch of a new web page featuring exercises.

In the fourth quarter of this reporting period, the Government of Canada re-confirmed its commitment to a Defence Policy Review in 2016 that would be supported by proactive communications and include robust engagement with Canadians, allies, and other stakeholders.

Information Management/ Information Technology

National Defence engaged in a multi-year effort to build an IM/IT Program. To date, the Department has:

• Approved the Open Government Implementation Plan received departmental approval;
• Began establishing an Enterprise Information Architecture (EIA) to standardize the structure to retain, manage, share and retrieve information resources of business value across DND and the CAF;
• Prepared for the Carling Campus move by digitizing physical records, establishing a service model for Orderly Rooms, and preparing GCDOCS;
• Completed the Business Intelligence (BI) consolidation study based on the existing BI solution within its enterprise management application. Based on the results, a new BI/Analytics Strategy has been developed towards an enterprise BI capability that will increase agility, add self-services and reduce complexity;
• Continued to monitor, review and revise its IT Security policy, standards and guidelines to ensure it remains effective and relevant to protecting departmental IM/IT; and
• Continued to contribute to Government of Canada IT Modernization Priorities.

Employment and Social Development Canada

Operating environment and risk analysis

Risk: Privacy/Security

Given the volume and sensitivity of ESDC’s data along with the proliferation of online threats, there is a risk that information collected by the Department is inadvertently accessed, inappropriately handled, used and/or disclosed by ESDC or its clients.

Risk Response Strategies

Given that the Department holds personal information on virtually all Canadian citizens who receive, or have received, a benefit or service delivered by the Department, failure to protect sensitive personal information from inappropriate collection, use and disclosure could potentially affect the quality of services to Canadians and could diminish the public’s trust in the Department, harming its reputation while exposing it to potential legal proceedings and costs. In addition, cyber threats and attacks continue to threaten the Department’s technological vulnerabilities.

The Department also exchanges a high volume of information containing personal, confidential and sensitive data with other departments, levels of government and third parties. This further exposes the Department to a risk that personal information may be inadvertently or inappropriately collected, used or disclosed by its partners/clients. To appropriately manage the exchange of information, Information Sharing Arrangements, a record of understanding between parties that outlines the terms and conditions under which personal information is to be shared, collected, used and retained between them, have been developed.

ESDC recognizes the value of using administrative data to improve programs and services for Canadians. As such, the Department has put in place a robust framework for policy, analysis, research and evaluation activities that involve the non-administrative use of personal information.

In addition, the Department continues to conduct Privacy Impact Assessments for new or substantially modified activities or programs, and has improved and streamlined the process to identify the privacy impacts, risks and associated mitigation strategies. This is part of a broader initiative to modernize privacy policies/processes and strengthen the approach to privacy management through the continued implementation of the Departmental Privacy Program.

Oversight is also an important component of strengthening privacy management. Over the past year, ESDC has continued to strengthen the horizontal coordination and prioritization of issues, plans and strategies to protect personal information through the Privacy and Information Security Committee. Proactive risk assessment exercises improved compliance through clear accountabilities and continued governance oversight. Furthermore, the Department has continued its efforts to embed privacy and security considerations in the design and architecture of the Department’s programs and initiatives.

To foster privacy awareness in the Department, ESDC continues to promote privacy awareness, guidance and training, including a mandatory training module on the Stewardship of Information and Effective Workplace Behaviours for all ESDC employees.

ESDC has also established “clean desk” guidelines and physical security inspections aimed at protecting sensitive information and departmental assets and reducing the risk of unauthorized access or compromise.

Organizational priorities

Priority 1: Deliver high-quality programs and services

Innovate in the design and delivery of programs, ensuring that policies and programs are developed with service delivery in mind and that processes are simple and automated.

Progress toward the priority:

In terms of modernizing and streamlining the Government of Canada’s web presence, as of December 3, 2015, a number of federal institutions began publishing directly to Canada.ca and some were fully migrated. Over 60 are now using the Social Media Account Management tool for official Government of Canada social media accounts. An enterprise search solution (using Google) has been procured and launched. With respect to ESDC’s own online presence (i.e. ESDC/Service Canada/Labour Program), the Department reviewed/archived/moved nearly 55 percent of its web pages to Canada.ca.

Priority 6: Value information as a business asset

Use information resources to identify opportunities and provide enhanced support for decision-making, ensure that private/sensitive information is safeguarded, that best practices to protect personal and sensitive information and good record keeping practices are in place.

Progress toward the priority:

The Department is leveraging feedback and consultations that were conducted with the six branches that have onboarded to the Electronic Documents and Records Management Solutions (EDRMS). After completing work with second wave branches, the EDRMS team decided to temporarily hold off onboarding and examine the issues raised by branches to date to identify what must/can be addressed, recognizing the need for an enterprise solution for the Department. Wave 1 and 2 Information Management Leads were consulted in order to validate and clarify some of the issues raised. As well, they were asked to identify their top issues from a business perspective. An analysis is currently being conducted to determine a suitable way forward for the full implementation of an appropriate documents and records management solution. A revised plan was brought to the Corporate Management Committee and approved. The Department is targeting the fall to return to the Major Projects and Investments Board with a complete plan.

In 2015–16, ESDC continued to make important progress on the implementation of its privacy management priorities:

• strengthened planning and reporting on privacy to support ESDC’s annual privacy and information security workplan;
• management and coordination of Privacy Impact Assessments on new programs and activities;
• a refresh of the Department’s Program-Led Privacy Action Plans;
• development and update of information sharing arrangements; and
• privacy and security awareness activities for employees, including a Privacy Awareness Week and Data Privacy Day; and continued online and in-person privacy training and awareness activities.

ESDC is moving forward with the multi-year, integrated departmental security program, strengthening the protection of information holdings and aligning the government-wide and ESDC-specific security direction. In 2015–16, in addition to procuring and working with Shared Services Canada on IT Security Tools to assist operations, the security program focused on increasing communications, awareness and training, including phishing exercises, updating online courses for IT Security Essentials and initiating a proof of concept on the use of Gamification for an innovative approach to adult learning. The Department also updated its application risk management approach to the new Security Assessment and Authorization process and is integrating “Security by Design” approaches into the Branch’s System Development LifeCycle.

ESDC is advancing the development of an information service to collect employer payroll and employment data in real time. In January 2016, the project successfully obtained support to move into the concept initiation stage of work. ESDC established and led regular engagement with various stakeholders to communicate and refine the vision of ePayroll and incrementally develop the future state design. The initiative is presently in the opportunity identification phase.

Section III: Analysis of Program(s) and Internal Services

Service Network Supporting Government Departments

Description

This program supports Government of Canada programs by ensuring that Canadians have the information necessary to make informed choices about available programs and services, and the tools to access them, while supporting migration to preferred service channels. Canadians are able to access information about ESDC and other Government of Canada programs and services in the most accessible and convenient way, have their questions answered quickly and accurately, and receive or are directed to the information or service they need. Under this program, information and services are delivered to Canadians through the Internet, through 1 800 O-Canada and its customized telephone services as well as through a network of in-person points of service.

Program Performance Analysis and Lessons Learned

Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS) and ESDC were able to advance work on the functionality of the Canada.ca site. ESDC successfully launched the Managed Web Service and 13 institutions have been migrated into the Canada.ca website presentation and architecture. A better and more effective approach to migrating sites in Canada.ca as part of the Web Renewal Initiative is being implemented by TBS as the lead.

With respect to ESDC’s own online presence (i.e. ESDC/Service Canada/Labour Program), the Department reviewed/archived/moved nearly 55 percent of its web pages to Canada.ca with a schedule to address the remaining 45 percent aligned with the schedule for onboarding to Canada.ca led by the Treasury Board Secretariat.

Environment and Climate Change Canada

Operating environment and risk analysis

Risk Narrative

ECCC is also relied upon to provide science-based environmental information and services so that Canadians may make informed decisions relating to their health and safety. ECCC provides Canadians with data and information on climate and weather conditions, warnings and hazards, and air quality. Ensuring that data are readily available and accessible is foundational to the Department meeting its mandate and commitment to serving Canadians. Ongoing investments in infrastructure to provide timely and reliable data, and maintenance of systems to preserve the data, are among the ways in which ECCC mitigates the risk of not being able to provide these services.

Risk: Managing Information

With the drive towards whole-of-government information management including greater efficiencies and protection of government information, there is a risk that the Department may be challenged to protect and preserve information, given the potential of cyber threats.

Risk Response Strategies

The Department undertook or implemented protocols/ procedures and provided relevant awareness training and tools related to strategic protection and use of information. ECCC informed relevant stakeholders of its Departmental Security Plan and Communications Policy. In collaboration with SSC, ECCC also initiated an information security project which includes the implementation of a secure information technology network.

Section III: Analysis of Program(s) and Internal Services

Internal Services

In 2015-16, ECCC’s internal services continued to support program delivery of results against the departmental priorities, while aligning with government-wide implementation of a number of changes and upgrades to the systems and processes. The Department:

• Put into action the ECCC Open Government Implementation Plan, including completing the inventory of the Department’s data holdings and the timetable for publication.
• Worked with 15 partner institutions to manage content and provide publishing and analytics support on the “Environment and Natural Resources” theme section under the canada.ca Web site and carried out preparations for the launch of the new Have Your Say on Climate Change Web page, which facilitates dialogue and sharing of ideas from organizations and individuals to address the climate change challenge.

Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario

Operating environment and risk analysis

FedDev Ontario continued to implement information management systems and practices, including the Recordkeeping Implementation Plan and Open Government Implementation Plan in support of effective information management, openness and transparency. The Agency fully implemented the GCDOCS document management system in 2015–16 and is continually improving internal information management policies, procedures, training and monitoring. The Agency will continue to work with ISED portfolio partners and central agencies to strengthen shared information management, which will take on greater importance as the government moves toward whole-of-government reporting on its priorities.

Risk: Managing Information

There is a risk that not having access to timely, complete, consistent and accurate information could affect the Agency’s ability to meet legislative responsibilities and could diminish its organizational efficiency and effectiveness, as well as the quality of its decision-making

Risk Response Strategies

• Continue to implement information management systems and practices, including the Recordkeeping Implementation Plan and Open Government Implementation Plan in support of effective information management, openness and transparency
• Continue to work collaboratively across the Agency to ensure that business needs are adequately supported through existing IT infrastructure and systems
• Further institutionalize practices to ensure information for decision-making is disseminated in a timely manner and is quickly accessible for all employees
• Collaborate with federal partners on the development of an Enterprise Grants and Contributions Solution, subject to financial resource considerations

Organizational Priorities

Priority: Strengthen Internal Operations and Corporate Services

Modernizing business is critical for FedDev Ontario’s continual improvement, as timely and effective client service and administrative excellence are essential to maximizing the return on Agency resources. As FedDev Ontario continues to collaborate and communicate internally, enabling it to deliver on its core activities, ongoing stewardship and responsiveness to its internal and external environments are of high importance. As program delivery and engagement activities continue to be a priority, it will be necessary to align FedDev Ontario’s internal service planning by streamlining processes and finding efficiencies in back-office functions to maximize resources while continuing to play an effective support role. Creating the conditions for strong employees to thrive, through effective talent and performance management strategies, is also crucial to strengthening FedDev Ontario’s performance and achieving its objectives.

Progress Toward the Priority

Following the alignment of all of Canada’s RDAs within the ISED portfolio, FedDev Ontario officials worked closely with RDA colleagues on horizontal matters to coordinate processes, share information and reduce duplication of effort.

In 2015–16, FedDev Ontario demonstrated its commitment to achieving Open Government objectives by providing funding to the Canadian Open Data Exchange project and completing the Agency’s Open Government Implementation Plan. The Agency also made strides in optimizing the protection of its data and information through internal communications and increased employee awareness of ownership, privacy, confidentiality and security considerations.

Section III: Analysis of Program(s) and Internal Services

Internal Services

The success of FedDev Ontario in its 2015–16 activities is evidenced in its heightened communications activities. Despite the delay caused by the federal election campaign, the Agency executed 109 funding announcements, amounting to over $229 million in funding to direct recipients. FedDev Ontario’s social media presence also grew, expanding to include Instagram, Google +, Periscope and LinkedIn. This has allowed FedDev Ontario to increase its communication with Canadians, share Agency successes, and celebrate milestones and other significant events with funding recipients. The Agency’s Twitter account also experienced significant growth, with followers increasing by 32 and 41 percent for English and French, respectively.

Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada

Organizational Context

Protecting the Privacy of Canadians

The protection of the personal information entrusted to FINTRAC is an overarching and fundamental consideration in all aspects of the Centre’s operations. The Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act (PCMLTFA) establishes stringent rules that govern the management, disclosure and destruction of all information contained in the Centre’s transaction reports and other records. All facets of FINTRAC’s operations are subject to rigorous security measures that ensure the safeguarding of the Centre’s physical premises and IT systems, including the handling, storage and retention of all personal and other sensitive information under its control.

The legislation also establishes that the Centre can only make a financial intelligence disclosure to prescribed police, law enforcement and national security agencies. Furthermore, the PCMLTFA clearly defines what information can be disclosed and sets out specific thresholds that must be met before FINTRAC is authorized to disclose. Any unauthorized disclosure of information is prohibited and can result in severe penalties, including a fine of up to $500,000 and/or up to five years’ imprisonment for FINTRAC employees or persons conducting work for or on behalf of FINTRAC.

FINTRAC’s premises and information systems in Ottawa, Montréal, Toronto and Vancouver are protected by multi-layered and integrated security systems. All personnel including contractors must obtain and maintain a security clearance at the highest level of integrity as a condition of employment. Access to sensitive information is on a need-to-know basis. Responsibilities involving the protection of personal information are clearly communicated and measures are in place to ensure that responsibilities in relation to the protection of personal information are formally acknowledged by all personnel.

Operating Environment and Risk Analysis

Risk: Security and Privacy – The protection of information that FINTRAC receives, analyzes and discloses is an integral part of the Centre’s mandate.

Risk Response Strategy

FINTRAC employs a comprehensive suite of safeguards and controls to address security and privacy risk from both internal and external threats. Some of the most important of these include:

• FINTRAC’s Personnel Security Program ensures that all personnel and contractors are screened to the highest integrity levels;
• Security policies and procedures are established to secure the Centre’s physical environment and support the safeguarding of information and systems. Access controls are implemented to secure FINTRAC’s infrastructure;
• A Privacy Management Framework is in place to ensure that privacy protection is reflected in all aspects of program operations; and,
• Information Management and Security programs provide direction and guidance on the capture, storage, protection, access to, classification, dissemination and eventual disposition of all information at FINTRAC.

Organizational Priorities

Name of Priority: Continue to strengthen the Centre’s approach to its security posture to ensure a high level of assurance that information, assets, and services are protected against compromise.

Description: In accordance with the PCMLTFA, the safeguarding of information entrusted to FINTRAC is an overarching and fundamental consideration in all aspects of the Centre’s operations. The protection of information, assets, and services against compromise is critical to maintaining Canadians’ confidence in FINTRAC and the broader AML/ATF regime.

Progress Toward the Priority

• In view of the highly sensitive nature of the information that is handled by FINTRAC, the Centre continued to enhance its security posture in line with the Corporate Risk Profile and broader organizational priorities.
• During the year, FINTRAC approved a new Standard on Security Assessment and Authorization to formalize measures already implemented at the Centre from an information technology security perspective. As well, as part of the Centre’s continuous improvement initiatives, comprehensive measures were introduced to evaluate the effectiveness of existing safeguards and processes in the context of Data Loss Prevention.
• All new FINTRAC employees continued to receive mandatory security briefings and training and were required to formally acknowledge having read and understood the requirements of the Centre’s Security Policy.
• Finally, targeted training sessions and awareness materials on subjects such as social engineering, social media and information security in general were communicated to all employees.

Section III: Analysis of Programs and Internal Services

Internal Services

In view of the highly sensitive nature of the information that is handled by FINTRAC, the Centre also continued to enhance its security posture in line with its Corporate Risk Profile and broader organizational priorities. A key area of focus from a Business Continuity perspective was to test and validate FINTRAC’s crisis management planning and governance through the use of a table top exercise held with FINTRAC’s Executive Committee.

Fisheries and Oceans Canada

Organizational Priorities

Priority: Advancing management and operational excellence to modernize and continue to improve the design and delivery of programs and services.

This priority ensures that tax payers are getting value for money through the effective and efficient use of resources while providing better results for Canadians.

Progress Toward the Priority

Prepared for and implemented the Government of Canada’s IM/IT and Services Consolidation and Transformation Strategy including:

• transferring all pay files to Public Services and Procurement Canada and transitioning to the Phoenix pay system in February 2016; and
• completing pre-migration readiness activities for the Government of Canada Email Transformation Initiative in preparation for the migration to a standard Government of Canada email system and address for all Government of Canada employees; migration postponed until a new schedule is provided by Shared Services Canada possibly January/February 2017 or October/November 2017.

Managed the Department’s web presence with partners, programs and regions to reflect the new Canada.ca model by:

• ensuring all 70 topic areas for DFO have a designated home at Canada.ca;
• designing Institutional and ministerial profiles using mandatory Canada.ca templates which now reside on the new website;
• progressing with content integration, renovation and conversion, with more than 65% of our content now in the required format and ready to be migrated to Canada.ca;
• conducting application reviews to align with the new Canada.ca approach; and
• advancing the implementation of the National Real Property Portfolio Strategy, including adoption of a Corporate Real Estate Model (CREM) by delivering and completing 126 footprint reduction projects to-date (a 6% overall reduction).

Global Affairs Canada

Operating environment and risk analysis

Key Risks

Corporate Risk 2: Cyber Threats and Exfiltration of Information

Global Affairs Canada faces unique cyber threats and exfiltration of information risks due to the global nature of its operations and the information it manages. The information technology (IT) system used to support Canada’s international work is composed of 177 points of service in 109 countries. In several of these countries, departmental personnel operate in complex security environments that require a high degree of awareness of cyber threats and exfiltration of information risks.

The number and severity of IT threats, vulnerabilities and incidents have increased in recent years. The loss or compromise of sensitive information could have far-reaching consequences for government operations and international relations, including Canada’s. This risk was assessed by senior management as very likely to occur and high in terms of its impact. They also assessed that this level of risk was beyond the department’s tolerance and, therefore, recommended further action in 2015-16 to reduce this risk.

Working with its partners, including Shared Services Canada, the department improved its understanding of information management/information technology (IM/IT) security threats and vulnerabilities over the past year. Employee awareness of IM/IT risks was improved, and further steps were taken to reinforce the systems and facilities that process sensitive information.

The department also continued to strengthen IM/IT safeguards appropriate for the threat environment through upgrades to its electronic network, physical protection of documents, and infrastructure to support secure discussions of sensitive issues.

Section III: Analysis of Program(s) and Internal Services

Program 4.1: Mission Network Governance, Strategic Direction and Common Services

Description: Through this program, Global Affairs Canada works with 34 partner departments and co-locators, such as the Government of Australia and the provinces of Quebec and Ontario, to provide strategic governance, deliver efficient and cost-effective services, and provide infrastructure to the mission platform that includes 177 missions in 109 countries.

Performance Analysis and Lessons Learned

Global Affairs Canada made significant strides in maturing the department’s information management (IM) governance model and improving outreach to missions on IM through an Open Government Implementation Plan approved and submitted to Treasury Board; progress on the migration of electronic resources to GCDOCS; full compliance with Treasury Board Secretariat’s record-keeping directive; and a portfolio model to improve IM service delivery.

Internal Services

Information Management and Information Technology (IM/IT)

Global Affairs Canada worked closely with Shared Services Canada (SSC) to ensure IT-enabled solutions meet the needs of the department and the international network. It also pursued the advancement of innovative projects and alignment with Government of Canada IM/IT enterprise priorities, including the planned implementation of GCDOCS, the government-wide Email Transformation Initiative, workload migration to SSC data centres, and Government of Canada web renewal. Global Affairs Canada transitioned to the government’s new Phoenix pay system and delivered the self-service App Store to manage departmental software more efficiently.

Health Canada

Operating Environment and Risk Analysis

Risk: There is a risk that Canadians will lose confidence in the safety of health and consumer products if Health Canada is not regarded as a trusted regulator and source of information.

Risk Response Strategy

Health Canada continued to implement the Web Renewal Action Plan by migrating content to Canada.ca to ensure continued credibility and cohesive Government of Canada health information. New web and social media content is compliant with Government of Canada policies and standards.

Health Canada also developed innovative communications products, services and channels including social marketing campaigns and initiatives to help raise awareness and knowledge of key health and safety issues such as Preventing Illicit Drug Use, Tobacco Cessation, Ebola Recruitment, Antimicrobial Resistance, and Lyme Disease.

Organizational Priorities

Priority IV: Maintain and foster an engaged, high performing and diverse workforce and workplace.

Health Canada’s greatest strength is an engaged, empowered and well equipped workforce with employees that have the competencies, tools and opportunities to succeed in the pursuit of excellence in program and service delivery.

One of the key priorities for the Government of Canada, as referenced in the Clerk’s 21st Report to the Prime Minister for Public Service Modernization, is to ensure a highly engaged, healthy, productive and effective workforce. Health Canada is achieving this by cultivating innovation and respect, communication, and recognition, which will lead to improved productivity and excellence in service to Canadians in our ever changing work environment.

Progress Toward the Priority

Advances to key internal services initiatives were made for Health Canada in 2015-16, including:

The Department continued to transition to Workplace 2.0 to support an efficient and mobile workplace. This included: modernization of office space, which resulted in the divestiture of space; amenities upgrades; migrations to mobile devices and the provision of access to repositories structured according to the Functional Classification Standard (FCS).

Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada

Section III: Analysis of Programs and Internal Services

Internal Services

Internal Services contributes to and supports the achievement of the IRB’s strategic outcome. In 2015–16, the IRB ensured that appropriate human and financial resources as well as technological, information management and training tools were in place to support the IRB’s strategic and ongoing priorities. The Board continued to ensure that information technology and information management practices were aligned with TBS policies, to the extent practicable and appropriate given the IRB’s status as a quasi judicial tribunal.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada

Operational Environment and Risk Analysis

Risk Analysis

In part due to its widespread partnerships, IRCC holds and manages extensive databases of sensitive information, including personal data, intellectual property, organizational information, information provided by other government departments, provinces, territories and international partners, and information associated with research sometimes owned by the private sector. This can expose IRCC to risks surrounding the confidentiality, availability and integrity of its information holdings, so staff awareness and training on good information management, information sharing and privacy practices are key.

Key Risks

Risk: Safeguarding Integrity of Information/Data

There is a risk that IRCC’s critical, sensitive or private information could be stolen or inadvertently compromised, lost or improperly shared, which could have a significant impact on IRCC’s service delivery, clients and reputation.

Risk Response Strategy:

Continued implementation of GCDOCS across the Department to improve internal information sharing and file and version control.

Conducted learning and awareness activities to strengthen information management and privacy protection knowledge in the work force.

Section III: Analysis of Programs and Internal Services

Program 5.1: Internal Services

Improved access to information and protection of privacy

In accordance with the legislative requirements under the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act, IRCC completed the 2015–2016 fiscal year with a compliance rate above 80% for both access to information (87.49%) and privacy (82.79%) requests. IRCC continues to be the most accessed federal institution with a total of 56,952 access to information and privacy requests being made in 2015–2016.

As part of the initiative to more efficiently process access to information and privacy requests, the Department added three new federal departments as users of IRCC’s online access to information and privacy system. Thirty-three federal departments and agencies are now using IRCC’s system.

Access to information and privacy requests at IRCC primarily involve immigration and citizenship clients or their representatives inquiring into the status and details of their application in process or into the reasons for the refusal of an application. To address the high volume of access and privacy requests, IRCC is examining ways to improve how clients or their representatives can access their case information, and how the Department can better communicate with clients regarding the status of applications and reasons for application decisions.

In 2015–2016, IRCC developed a privacy framework that will help enhance IRCC’s ability to protect the privacy of individuals by safeguarding and securing personal information held under the Department’s control.

The role of Chief Privacy Officer was also established to lead privacy work and highlight the importance of privacy considerations in the Department. The Chief Privacy Officer provides a focal point for the effective communication of privacy issues affecting the Department.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada

Section III: Analysis of Programs and Internal Services

Internal Services

To improve and transform internal services, in 2015–2016 the Department:

• Integrated IM/IT planning into the departmental planning process, including governance and policy suite renewal. INAC undertook a rigorous IT planning exercise where the Department was required to identify priorities for IT projects by applying a challenge function to determine the demand for IT resources against the supply of IT resources.
• Performed a successful trial of the Enterprise Architecture (EA) tool against Project Portfolio Management Framework (PPMF) requirements and developed integrated IM/IT PPMF policies and guidance to ensure Enterprise Information Management practices were reflected and supported in system changes and implementation. Guidance and tools to implement EA and Enterprise Information Management practices were developed and will be implemented in 2016.

As part of the Government of Canada’s Web Renewal Initiative, INAC also reviewed and updated, archived or deleted 58% of its web content by the end of 2015–2016. All web content for the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls was developed using the new Treasury Board Secretariat’s “canada.ca” specifications and these became the most frequently accessed INAC web pages in December to February, 2016. The Department’s success with this approach has been shared widely with other government departments.

Infrastructure Canada

Operating Environment and Risk Analysis

Risk: Timely delivery of Information Management/Information Technology (IM/IT) solutions and ongoing service availability within the Department while contributing to current and future large-scale, whole-of-government IM/IT initiatives

Risk Response Strategy

The focus has been on ensuring readiness for new infrastructure programs while delivering timely IM/IT services. This has included developing and implementing processes and procedures to effectively engage Shared Services Canada (SSC) in its role to provide the infrastructure for INFC’s hosted systems.

At the same time, INFC contributed to whole-of- government initiatives. INFC provided timely IM/IT solutions with the introduction of government-wide initiatives such as the Mobility Strategy, Direct Deposit, and Shared Travel Services (STS). To support the launch of the Open Data initiative, INFC updated the Program Information Management System (PIMS) and revamped INFC’s web presence.

Organizational Priorities

Priority 3: Identify operational efficiencies and implement improvements in the delivery of the Department’s mandate

Progress Toward the Priority

During 2015-16, INFC undertook several exercises to identify operational efficiencies and implement improvements in the delivery of the Department’s mandate. These exercises included:

Implementing six targeted Lean process improvement events aimed at streamlining operations, identifying efficiencies and empowering staff. The events included Information Management and Information Technology (IM/IT) processes, and processes to improve core business lines and operational support functions. In total, over 70 employees were trained in basic Lean principles.

In addition, INFC implemented several IM/IT initiatives to improve the Department’s operations and contribute to Government priorities:

• Enhancing the PIMS component of the Shared Information Management System for Infrastructure (SIMSI) to support program delivery across multiple programs.
• Contributing to the Open Government initiative by making the majority of its program data available online.
• Migrating its e-mail services to the new Whole-of-Government email solution
• Piloting new end-user devices and remote access solutions to support a more mobile workforce in 2016-17.
• Conducting major clean-up activities in the area of corporate information to reduce duplication, support decision-making, and prepare the Department for upcoming Government-wide data management initiatives.
• Providing key IM support to the Major Bridge projects.

Section III: Analysis of Programs and Internal Services

Internal Services

In the area of Information Management, INFC conducted a large-scale information clean-up to prepare for the migration to the centralized email system. In addition, a clean-up of stored corporate information was conducted to prepare the Department for a future migration to a centralized records management system. INFC completed its Record Keeping Implementation Plan (RKIP), including the submission to Treasury Board. Ongoing support to Major Bridge projects remains a priority.

Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada

Organizational Priorities

Priority: Ensuring sound management

Description
ISED’s ongoing internal services delivery and management initiatives are grounded in sound financial management practices and are designed to improve the efficient and effective delivery of programs and operations.

Progress Toward the Priority

Successfully participated in enterprise-wide initiatives, including migration to the government’s new email system, piloted a cloud computing solution in partnership with TBS and SSC, and invested in significant work in preparation for the upcoming GCDOCS roll-out.

Section III: Analysis of Programs and Internal Services

Internal Services

Information Management and Information Technology

ISED continued implementing Government of Canada transformation initiatives in information technology and information management, including Open Government, GCDOCS and the Email Transformation Initiative.

Military Police Complaints Commission of Canada

Organizational Priorities

Priority: Improving Internal Services

Description
Improving Internal Services is a fundamental support to the Complaints Resolution Program and to the achievement of the MPCC’s Strategic Outcome and legislative mandate.

Progress Toward the Priority

• The MPCC’s Information Management was moved to a fully electronic document environment (EDRMS). The MPCC’s Financial Delegation Instrument, the Access to Information and Privacy Delegation Instrument and the Human Resources Delegation Instrument was amended. A procurement practice review was completed and updates to templates, policies and best practices is being amended.
• The MPCC amended its Access to Information Act and Access to Information Regulations Delegation Order, Privacy Act and Privacy Regulations Delegation Order and Delegation of Financial Authorities

Section III: Analysis of Programs and Internal Services

Internal Services

The MPCC implemented its Electronic Document and Records Management Solutions (EDRMS) and made progress towards information management roles and responsibilities as well as information management plans.

National Energy Board

Section III: Analysis of Programs and Internal Services

Internal Services

The NEB advanced work in being compliant with the Government’s Directive on Open Government and achieved a major milestone by finalizing the Implementation Plan for 2015–16. The activities that have taken place at the NEB include broad internal engagement to identify and develop a data set inventory. Some data sets may be eligible for release on the data portal (open.canada.ca) by October 2016. This will support the Government’s plan to increase transparency and accountability to Canadians and increase citizen engagement and open dialogue.

The NEB has continued its work on web-renewal – another government-wide initiative to consolidate all government websites into a single point of entry at Canada.ca, where the NEB belongs to the Environment and Natural Resource theme; the NEB is also addressing its priority of “Engaging with Canadians” and providing access to information about the NEB. In the meantime, the NEB also made further improvements to its current external website by introducing a new layout, with the intent to make it easier for the public to search and retrieve information.

The NEB initiated specific steps to comply with the Government’s Directive on Recordkeeping in order to improve record keeping practices and systems including creating an inventory of records with business value, raising awareness about information management, and providing training. Work continues on this initiative as planned, for full implementation in 2018.

National Film Board

Section III: Analysis of Programs and Internal Services

Internal Services

To support good and effective collaboration among its teams and studios, the NFB adopted a technology plan calling for the implementation of a cutting-edge collaborative digital environment. Digitization of the entire production flow is one of the basic elements of the NFB’s 2016–2020 technology plan. Since the last quarter of fiscal 2015–2016, the production flow of almost all new NFB projects has been fully digital, thereby increasing the efficiency of the production, exploitation and distribution of the works and assets and improving information on audiences. Also, with the help of the consulting firm Deloitte, the NFB developed a strategy for using collaborative tools to create an innovative digital work environment that will provide connectivity and foster collaboration throughout the organization.

The NFB also continued deploying the integrated Media Asset Management (MAM) system, which has involved a great deal of work over the past few years. In 2015–2016, work continued on importing data, adding functionalities, modifying the configurations and adding specialized assets.

As another aspect of its technology plan, the NFB also worked on optimizing its internal information-management systems. A working group on reports was established and began the process of determining and documenting the list of essential operational and strategic data and NFB business rules. Work to integrate critical data, produce automated analytical reports and train users is ongoing.

National Research Council of Canada

President’s Message

This past year, NRC undertook to develop and implement R&D initiatives designed to support Canadian firms in moving innovative ideas and technologies to market more quickly; continued to expand relationships with key partners on a national and international level – renewing Canada’s membership in EUREKA as one example; and also enriched its National Science Library collection through a partnership with six federal government science libraries to create the Federal Science Library.‎‎

Results Highlights

NRC’s highlights focus on 2015‑16 results related to technological and scientific advancements and mandate commitments.

• NRC in partnership with five other science-based agencies and departments launched the Federal Science Library – a single information discovery and access platform, allowing partner departments/agencies to share technology to open their library collections and institutional repositories to each other;

Organizational Priorities

Priority 2: Effective and efficient resource management

Description
Drive organizational growth to deliver on expected results and enable effective and efficient resource management for a sustainable organization.

Progress Toward the Priority

In March 2016, NRC in partnership with five other science-based agencies and departments launched the Federal Science Library, providing a single, shared online discovery and access portal for scientific and technical information services. The Federal Science Library will ensure that all science, technology and medicine professionals in the federal government have desktop access to the information they need to work efficiently and productively.

As part of the Corporate Services Transformation initiative, the foundation was established to increase productivity, effectiveness and reduce costs through process and system improvements. Procure-to-payment processes were designed and systems developed to enable the imminent implementation of electronic approvals and workflow for purchase requisitions and invoices. The automation of the routing of the required approvals and documentation electronically will reduce the workload for all employees involved in the preparation, approval, processing and verification of purchase requisitions and invoices in addition to improving the effectiveness of internal controls.

Section III: Analysis of Program(s) and Internal Services

Internal Services

Security and Information Technology – NRC has successfully migrated 14 of NRC’s corporate IT applications to a new secure environment, allowing the business units dependant upon these applications to return to full productivity. Plans were developed to migrate the remaining business critical applications and a small group of research functions by 30 June, 2016. NRC has successfully documented the technical nature of the majority of its research functions; however, it has not yet migrated any of these functions into the new secure environment due to complexity of the migration requirements and capacity and resource constraints facing NRC’s collaborator (SSC). NRC has developed and implemented a suite of security policies, directives, standards and guidelines improving the security posture at the NRC. This has been reinforced and leveraged through the establishment of the NRC Security Champion’s Network which forms part of NRC’s robust security awareness, training and education program. All these achievements were attained through a balanced restructuring of the Security Branch, major renewal efforts and the determination of all NRC employees to improve security throughout the organization.

Strategic Intelligence – In 2015‑16, the Game-Changing Technologies initiative identified seven challenge areas critical to Canada’s future as follow: The cities of the future, prosperous and sustainable rural and remote communities, maintaining quality of life for an aging population, protecting Canadian security and privacy, transforming the classroom for continuous and adaptive learning, next generation health care systems and a safe, sustainable and profitable food industry. The outcomes of the Game-Changing Technologies initiative will help to shape NRC’s investment strategy in emerging technologies and influence future NRC initiatives. A process for NRC-wide knowledge dissemination was successfully piloted using internally created industry dashboards that provide critical insight, performance indicators, trends and other key information on industries associated with the TD&A program. Plans describing ongoing intelligence needs, anticipated projects and intelligence gaps were developed for all participating NRC units to help identify, and make informed decisions about, business and technical opportunities.

Knowledge Management – Serving as a critical element of NRC’s broader knowledge management strategy, an NRC Information Management Plan for 2015-19 was completed, setting out planned outcomes, goals and activities for the management of information, and integrating with other business and operational plans and priorities of the organization aligned with the Government of Canada.

Natural Resources Canada

Section III: Analysis of Program(s) and Internal Services

Internal Services

Open Government and Science Computing

In 2015-16, NRCan’s Science and Computing Task Team assessed specific computing needs required to improve science computing capabilities, such as identifying opportunities for the integration of requirements from the Open Government Directive into NRCan’s S&T policies and reporting. NRCan’s Open Government Steering Committee is finalizing governance and activities to be included in the Open Government Implementation Plan (OGIP), which will be finalized in 2016-17.

Government of Canada Web Renewal

To prepare for web renewal, NRCan reviewed and optimized web content resulting in a reduction from 75,000 to 9,000 web pages. The Department also established new governance including a working-level web committee and an executive-level digital communications oversight committee and engaged the leads of various Canada.ca themes pertinent to NRCan.

Government-Wide Initiatives

During NRCan’s first full year of implementation of government-wide initiatives such as the Performance Management program for employees, GCDOCS, and pay system renewal, the Department focused on change management and improving performance.

GCDOCS was migrated to the end state data centre and an approach to migrate electronic information of business value to GCDOCS in 2016-17 has been developed.

Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada

Office of the Commissioner for Federal Judicial Affairs Canada

Operating Environment and Risk Analysis

Risk: Security and privacy of personal and business information.

Risk Response Strategy

Maintaining the security and privacy of personal information of judges is a key risk given cyber threats to IT security. Mitigation measures include assessing security threats and risks, developing and implementing recommendations to improve IT Security, developing an IT Security framework, preparing business continuity plans, developing and enforcing IM policies, and directing all Internet and e-mail traffic through the PSPC provided Secure Channel network.

Organizational Priorities

Information management

Description
The management, retention and findability of FJA information used in support of the delivery of services to the Canadian judiciary.

Progress Toward the Priority

FJA has completed the documentation of the Office’s Information Resources of Business Value, the implementation of an electronic content management system (GCDOCS), and the development of an Information Management Framework which identifies IM-related governance, policies, and procedures which are to be adhered to by all members of the Office. FJA is now focusing on continuous improvement initiatives such as on-going clean-up of physical and electronic records and decommissioning on legacy electronic information repositories.

Section III: Analysis of Programs and Internal Services

Internal Services

Information management: FJA has completed the implementation of the Management Action Plan on the Office of the Comptroller General Horizontal Audit on Electronic Record Keeping. FJA has updated the Information Architecture, revised the existing file structures, identified all Information Resources of Business Value, identified retention periods and security requirements, and undertaken a clean-up exercise of older legacy information in preparation for the eventual migration to GCDOCS.

Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying Canada

Organizational Priorities

Priority: Finalize and implement an IM/IT strategy.

Description: Strong information management (IM) and information technology (IT) helps the OCL deliver on its mandate efficiently and effectively.

An IM/IT strategy will identify options to address gaps noted in previous OCL audits and risk analyses.

Progress Toward the Priority

This priority has been achieved.

A combined IM/IT strategy identifying options to address gaps noted in previous OCL audits and risk analyses was finalized in 2015–16. The strategy is being implemented and the focus for 2016–17 is to expand the service agreement with the new LRS service provider to host the rest of the OCL’s IT infrastructure in order to migrate all of the OCL’s IM/IT systems to that new provider and integrate systems.

Section III: Analysis of Programs and Internal Services

Internal Services

A combined IM/IT strategy identifying options to address gaps noted in previous OCL audits and risk analyses was finalized in 2015–16 and has begun being implemented. Building on the successful migration of the LRS, the OCL plans to expand the service agreement with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner to host the rest of the OCL’s IT infrastructure. This will allow for a greater integration of IT systems, and enable the streamlining information management and business processes.

Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages

Section III: Analysis of Programs and Internal Services

Internal Services

OCOL:

• continued the modernization of its information management system and made significant progress in establishing a new information technology solution. Following the internal project management audit completed in July 2015, management put in place the necessary elements to optimize management of this project, which is of considerable scope for the organization. As of the end of the fiscal year, two technology solutions were in place, and two operational processes had been updated. The organization now uses these solutions for report cards for institutions and for legal opinions. Work is ongoing to implement technological solutions for investigations and follow-ups. The investigation solution is expected to be delivered at the beginning of 2016–17.

Office of the Correctional Investigator

Organizational Priorities

Name of Priority: Information Management

Description: A structured approach to the management of information assets.

Progress Toward the Priority

The organization staffed the Chief, Information Management and Information Technology position. The incumbent continued the implementation of deliverables identified in the Information Management Strategic Plan. Moreover, significant progress was made in the preparation for the roll out of the Shared Case Management System, including the establishment of a working group.

Section III: Analysis of Program(s) and Internal Services

Internal Services

From a financial management perspective, it was a difficult fiscal year as the Office managed the impact of costs (some permanent, some one-time) stemming from several significant government-wide initiatives such as Web Renewal, Back-Office Transformation and support to the Shared Case Management System. The Office’s participation in these initiatives removed the financial flexibility the organization relies on in support of its important mandate. Moreover, the organization had to deal with costs associated with a work place injury for which it is not funded. In response, mitigation strategies were developed and implemented.

The effort to implement the Shared Case Management System continued during the reporting period. In this regard, Internal Services managed an external consultant in the development of business requirements; liaised with Public Services and Procurement Canada’s Program Centre to initiate the on-boarding strategy and continued the awareness/change management campaign with staff.

Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada

Operating Environment and Risk Analysis

The most significant risk facing the Commissioner and the OIC in 2015–16 was the lack of sufficient resources for the organization. In combination with the ongoing increase in complaints (17 percent growth from the previous year), this led to a perfect storm of circumstances that put considerable stress on the organization to effectively carry out the Commissioner’s mandate.

Helping counteract this risk, however, was that over the course of the year, particularly with the change in government, there were positive signs of a more open culture within government.

While investigating complaints, the OIC has found institutions to be increasingly cooperative. With the additional advantage of enhanced training for investigators, this meant that the median completion times for investigations once files were assigned remained steady. (At the same time, however, the overall delay before files could be assigned to investigators increased from 174 days in 2014–15 to 230 days in 2015–16.)

Moving into the new fiscal year, the OIC learned in June 2016 that it would receive approximately $3.4 million in one-year funding through the Supplementary Estimates to hire more investigators and reduce the inventory of complaints. This will help the organization better protect information rights by closing more longstanding files.

June also brought the publication of the report of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics on modernizing the Access to Information Act. The report contains 32 recommendations, several of which are in line with proposals the Commissioner made in her comprehensive 2015 report on updating the Act. These include providing the Commissioner with order-making power. The government’s response to this report, expected in the fall of 2016, may set out the content and timing of the proposals the government intends to pursue, and therefore the probable changes to the OIC’s operating environment.

Key Risks

Risk: That information rights will be further eroded due to financial restraint and an increasing workload

Risk Response Strategy:

• Sought additional funding
• Vigilantly monitored budgets and spending
• Improved the investigation process, based on detailed mapping, to ensure the OIC continues to close as many files as possible
• Targeted groups of complaints and developed specialized expertise in those areas
• Vigilantly monitored files
• Fostered collaboration with institutions to ensure smoother and faster progress of files

Risk: That demographic factors, the mobility of access to information subject-matter experts within the public service, and ongoing pressure due to financial restraint and an increasing workload will lead to instability in the workforce

Risk Response Strategy:

• Offered training and development opportunities to challenge and retain staff
• Actively and promptly completed staffing actions, including anticipatory ones
• Took steps to maintain morale and continue to respect employees’ non-work life and obligations

Organizational Priorities

Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada

Office of the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner of Canada

Operating Environment and Risk Analysis

New technologies are emerging that could better help the Office manage its corporate knowledge (i.e., information management) as well as its administration, accessibility, case management and performance statistics.

Key Risks

Risk – Information Security: This is critical in the context of disclosures, investigations and the need for preserving confidentiality and trust in the Office. Sensitive or private information must be protected from potential loss or inappropriate access in order to avoid potential litigation, damaged reputation and further reluctance in coming forward.

Risk Response Strategy

This risk was identified in the 2015-16 RPP.

The Office has ongoing practices aimed at ensuring the security of information, which include security briefings and confidentiality agreements, random information security checks within premises, and controlled access for the storage of sensitive information.

Office of the Registrar of the Supreme Court of Canada

Registrar’s Message

During the course of the last fiscal year, the Office of the Registrar continued to place a high priority on pursuing its business transformation efforts in order to pursue its work towards (i) the improvement of electronic access to the Court’s case files and information, (ii) making court operations more efficient and (iii) ensuring the long term preservation of Court data and information.

Key Risks

Risk – IT Security (cyber threats)

Unintentional or unauthorized access, use, manipulation, interruption or destruction (via electronic means) of electronic information held by the Court and the electronic and physical infrastructure used to process, communicate and/or store that information. Risk to the security and confidentiality of judicial information and data.

Risk Response Strategy

• IT security action plans
• IT security awareness plans/staff awareness
• Periodic vulnerabilities assessment and penetration testing
• Regular IT Threat and Risk Assessments

Risk – Security (persons, building, information, infrastructure)

Threats to the safety of Judges, staff or visitors, and to the security of the building, information and infrastructure. Balancing security measures required for the protection of judges, staff and visitors with the principle of an open court (the Supreme Court of Canada building is a high volume tourism destination).

Risk Response Strategy

• Security governance structure
• Security Action Plan
• Security Risk Register under development
• Policies and procedures updated regularly
• Security audits/threat and risk assessments
• Business Continuity Plan
• Staff awareness
• Effective relationship with the RCMP

Organizational Priorities

Priority: Business Transformation

Description
Supporting the Court in its work and ensuring that necessary business processes and technologies are in place to enable the electronic processing of cases, thereby allowing parties to access case file documents, data and information online (based on their entitlements), as well as providing the public with better access to Court information online, enabling litigants to file documents electronically through a secure portal, as well as protecting and preserving archival and historical information in an electronic format.

Progress Toward the Priority

During the fiscal year 2015-16, the business transformation program delivered an enhancement to the automated case management system to allow the Registry to track cases from the initial contact by a litigant to the opening of a case file and to integrate all data once a file is opened. This allows for the more effective management of cases involving self-represented litigants. The number of fully electronic processes for the management of proceedings in case files was expanded to include the taxation of costs and motions by intervenors. The process for judgments on application for leave to appeal has been mapped and an electronic process has been developed. The ongoing conversion of the Case Management System to a .net platform continued. The records management system has moved to a production environment, the onboarding of various operational groups in the Court has begun, and information resources are being migrated to the new application. The Enterprise IM strategy has been updated. The development of in-house applications is limited by resource availability and the need to maintain business systems while transitioning to new applications and processes.

Section III: Analysis of Program(s) and Internal Services

Program Title: 1.1 Court Operations

In 2015-16, the Office of the Registrar focused on adding electronic processes to the various steps involved in moving court cases through the system, ensuring that business requirements are mapped to support ongoing process improvement and configuring the new court proceedings systems. Work on the implementation of the records management system proceeded. Among the accomplishments in 2015-16 was the implementation of a post-hearing survey for participants (lawyers and self-represented litigants) in appeal. A total of 75 counsel completed the client satisfaction survey between April 2015 and April 2016, and 92% said they were “satisfied” or “very satisfied” with the overall services provided by the Registry Branch (no surveys were completed by self-represented litigants).

The Court consults regularly with the Canadian Bar Association through a liaison committee and with Ottawa agents who represent counsel from outside the National Capital Region. Feedback about Registry services at all stages of proceedings was uniformly positive. At the same time, the Office has been working with Library and Archives Canada on policies to support the appropriate archiving of court case files and related information. Significant changes are being proposed to the Rules of the Supreme Court of Canada which will streamline the process for appeals. These changes are anticipated to come into effect in early 2017.

Internal Services

The Library and Information Management Branch supports the information management needs of the organization. Accomplishments for 2015-16 included progress in the following key priorities:

• GCDOCS was brought into production in January 2016 and a strategy to onboard various branches, migrate documents from the shared drives and develop business rules around document management are progressing well.
• This will support the organizational requirement for managing the full life-cycle of electronic information resources.
• A new organizational structure has been developed for the Records Centre and is being implemented to ensure sufficient capacity to achieve and maintain compliance with the Directive on Recordkeeping.
• The Office completed its first Open Government Implementation Plan (OGIP) in October 2015 and continues to release information related to its key mandate in a timely way.

Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions

Superintendent’s Message

Internally, our focus continued to be on supporting a high-performing workforce. In this area, we developed a cyber security strategy and action plan, which will be implemented in the coming years. We also began migrating content into a new documents and record management system, which will ensure employees have access to the information they need when they need it. Our intranet was upgraded so that all employees can be kept informed in a timely manner of corporate news as well as well as the initiatives being worked on by their colleagues across the office.

Organizational Priorities

Priority E: Enhancing OSFI’s Corporate Infrastructure

Description

Continuous strengthening of internal systems, processes, and controls will enable OSFI to work more effectively and efficiently.

Progress Toward the Priority

Over the course of the fiscal year, significant efforts were initiated towards the achievement of the priority. They include the migration to OSFI’s new electronic document and records management system and the development and implementation of enterprise information management policy instruments and guidance to better enable OSFI employees to utilize and share information. A new cyber security strategy and action plan was also developed in 2015-16. While a significant portion of the workplace upgrade project was cancelled, it was decided, based on the review of physical space requirements, to move forward with the relocation of the Montreal office to slightly larger accommodations in 2016-17.

Section III: Analysis of Program(s) and Internal Services

Internal Services

Renewing Technology and Systems
Through 2015-16, OSFI focused on strengthening its cyber security posture through the development of its cyber security strategy and action plan aimed at enhancing IT security controls and governance processes. The Office’s privacy/information management program continues to mature with the delivery of an extensive awareness program across the organization in 2015-16 and the implementation of a multi-year project to deliver a new electronic document and records management system. Corporate services and internal audit staff have successfully moved over to the new system, with the remaining staff scheduled to onboard in 2016-17. Timely and effective change management practices are in place to support this initiative.

Finally, Government of Canada’s (GoC) Shared IT Services programs continue to be tracked and GC shared solution opportunities have been integrated, where appropriate, into IM/IT plans.

Parks Canada Agency

Section III: Analysis of Program(s) and Internal Services

Internal Services

Information Management Services
In accordance with the Treasury Board Directive on Recordkeeping, the majority of Parks Canada business units identified and documented information resources of business value and required controls for their management, sharing, and use. Recordkeeping action plan surveys were conducted for business units across the Agency to identify the scope of legacy paper holdings. These will inform business unit recordkeeping action plans to support the Agency’s core decision-making processes.

Parole Board of Canada

Organizational Priorities

Priority: Enhancing and implementing efficiency and effectiveness measures

Description: A strong and strategically focused governance structure ensures an integrated corporate system of decision-making, and enables effective allocation of resources to priorities, the alignment of programs to outcomes and management of accountabilities.

The PBC works in a demanding environment that requires effective support for government priorities, and careful assessment of criminal justice issues and community concerns. The PBC is expected to rigorously pursue innovation and improvements to meet heavy workload pressures, with limited resources.

Public safety remains the PBC’s primary concern in all aspects of decision-making policy, training, and operations.

In an effort to achieve a more cost-effective and efficient organization, the PBC reviews decision processes and support structures to identify where and how improvements or updates may be required.

There is also the recognition that effective information/technology management is essential for the PBC to be able to execute its corporate strategy and fulfil its mandate.

Progress Toward the Priority

The initiatives above provided a means to stimulate program and service delivery improvements and helped position the PBC to be able to effectively respond to current and emerging challenges. During this reporting period, activities in support of this priority included:

Continued the implementation plan for the Open Government initiative, and responded to central agency guidelines to improve internal management (i.e., utilized the new module for Executive Talent Management, worked closely with TBS on the Horizontal Internal Audit of Information).

Section III: Analysis of Programs and Internal Services

Program 1.4: Internal Services

The PBC is not yet compliant with the requirements of the Directive on Recordkeeping, and is significantly below the Government of Canada average for planned disposition activities however, a disposition plan will be ready by the end of fiscal year 2017-18.

Polar Knowledge Canada

Privy Council Office

Section III: Analysis of Programs and Internal Services

Internal Services

Support for Government of Canada efforts to modernize information technology management and enhance end-user services, included: a Recordkeeping Transformation Strategy that enhanced digital recordkeeping practices; implementing the Email Management Strategy to comply with the government-wide standard; publishing the PCO Open Government implementation plan, and completing support and enhancements to enterprise applications (e.g., Phoenix, PeopleSoft and the Systems Application and Products, known as SAP). PCO also advanced its stabilization of departmental IT infrastructure, websites and disaster recovery site.

Public Safety Canada

Section III: Analysis of Programs and Internal Services

Program 1.4 Internal Services

Public Safety Canada also developed a three-year Information Technology plan as well as a one-year Information Management plan. In addition, Public Safety published its Open Data Plan on TBS’s website and continues to identify data and information for release.

Public Safety Canada completed its migration to the new Government of Canada your.email@canada.ca, a consolidated, secure, reliable and more cost-effective email system managed by Shared Services Canada.  Email transformation contributes to the development of an information technology platform that underpins the vision of Blueprint 2020 for a modern and world-class public service equipped to serve Canada and Canadians.

Public Service Commission of Canada

Operating Environment and Risk Analysis

Risk 3

There is a risk that the PSC will not have sufficient staff with specialized skills to fully respond in a timely manner to government-wide transformation initiatives (such as the Common Human Resources Business Process, common financial systems, Web Renewal and initiatives proposed by Chief Information Officer Branch and Shared Services Canada), given the number of initiatives, the pace in which they are being implemented and the reduction in the PSC’s resources.

This could compromise the PSC’s ability to deliver on its mandate and meet the Government of Canada’s renewal objectives and impact on the PSC’s ability to maintain existing systems, transition to new systems and realize efficiencies.

Risk Response Strategy

The PSC mitigated this risk by re-allocating key resources to the priority projects and using a contingent workforce when operationally required or in areas where capacity was required to deliver on approved priorities.

Work plans were implemented for government-wide initiatives.

The Threat and Risk Assessment portion of the Departmental Security Plan (DSP) was implemented and action was taken to address medium-risk identified vulnerabilities. The DSP provides the President and senior management with an integrated view of organizational security requirements and demonstrates how security supports the business and priorities of the organization. The PSC’s risks are mainly related to physical and Information Technology security.

The PSC continued the work to rationalize systems and foster innovation in providing technical solutions.

Several process improvement initiatives were undertaken to identify areas of management services that could be streamlined. Implementation of these improvements is ongoing.

Section III: Analysis of Programs and Internal Services

Program 1.4 Internal Services

Through the Internal Services program, the PSC implemented the plans set out in its 2015-16 Report on Plans and Priorities. For example, the PSC:

Supported corporate projects, specifically by:

• Developing and publishing the Open Government Implementation Plan in October 2015;
• Working on the Web Renewal Initiative to consolidate PSC web content into Canada.ca by 2016, including the completion of the PSC’s onboarding plan.

Public Services and Procurement Canada

Key achievements

Commitment

Provision of Information Technology (IT) systems to modernize administrative services and IT systems across government

Achievement

Eleven departments and over 16,000 users have benefitted from the Government of Canada’s document and records management tool (GCDOCS), with another 20,000 expected in fiscal year 2016 to 2017

Organizational priorities

Summary of progress—Priority 2: Innovation and modernization

Implement new forms of program and service delivery to respond to changing needs of clients and Canadians.

What progress has been made toward this priority

In 2015 to 2016, PSPC implemented the following initiatives:

• implemented the electronic revision of texts for publication in the Canada Gazette
• embraced the latest innovative tools in an effort to communicate as effectively as possible with Canadians, while preparing the Department to transition to the new Canada.ca website
• provided innovative solutions to modernize Government of Canada administrative services and IT systems across government, by facilitating the roll-out of the document and records management tool (GCDOCs) throughout the Government of Canada

Section III: Analysis of programs and internal services

Program 1.7: Specialized programs and services

PSPC supported client departments and agencies in the modernization of their data collection processes by successfully implementing the electronic revision of texts for publication inthe Canada Gazette and introducing tools to simplify the ability of client departments to effectively manage communication activities and track performance.

Through the provision of documents imaging services, the Department supported client departments and agencies in modernizing their data collection processes.

1.9.2 Communications services

PSPC completed 75% of its web content rewrites and is on track to complete the remaining 25% before migration begins in the fall of 2016 to Canada.ca. The Department also expanded the use of innovative tools in social media through the use of Periscope and Facebook live to record and broadcast ministerial events live.

1.9.6 Information management services

In 2015 to 2016, PSPC maintained a very high compliance rate to respond to access to information (ATI) requests of 94.3% on time while fielding a 25% increase in volume, and consistently provided training and support for Policy on Access to Information and Privacy (ATIP) liaison officers and employees in the Department.

The Department improved its management framework for protecting personal information by creating and appointing a chief privacy officer supported by a Director-General level Privacy Oversight Committee, instituting a new privacy breach protocol and developing its first Departmental Privacy Impact Assessment Plan.

PSPC also made significant improvements to information management by successfully implementing the records management component of the GCDOCS deployment, which enables full lifecycle management of electronic information, as well as by meeting its paper holdings targets.

Under the Open Government Initiative, the Department produced 10 datasets for a total of 30 available on the Open Government Portal for public use. Four of our datasets were in the top 25 downloaded for all government datasets throughout the year. In addition, PSPC delivered its Open Government Implementation Plan in October 2015 which describes the Department’s activities and deliverables to achieve compliance to the directive on Open Government.

Security Intelligence Review Committee

Organizational priorities

Name of Priority: Modernize information management practices

Progress Toward the Priority

In 2015-16, SIRC implemented an expanded information management system by digitizing existing paper-based information and collating existing electronic information into a single database. SIRC has also introduced new business processes to help with the change within the organization. Due to resource constraints, the implementation of a new case management has been deferred until FY 2016-2017.

Section III: Analysis of programs and internal services

Internal Services

SIRC also relies heavily on its information resources to effectively fulfill its mandate, and it cannot afford to be inefficient or miss opportunities to maximize existing technologies in its day-to-day work. Therefore, SIRC continues to modernize its information technology infrastructure and processes. The 2015-16 fiscal year was the first full year with the new information management system; its implementation will take a few years to provide access to employees to all of SIRC’s information holding electronically.

Due to resource constraints, SIRC has deferred the implementation of a new case management system until fiscal year 2016-17.

Shared Services Canada

Organizational priorities

Name of Priority: Increase agility, responsiveness and effectiveness in the delivery of internal services.

Description: SSC requires agile, responsive and effective internal services to support the delivery of the IT Infrastructure Services program.

Progress Toward the Priority

To promote awareness of, and compliance with, the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act, SSC developed a strategy and implemented policy instruments, as well as director general-level governance. Furthermore, the modernization of the Corporate Secretariat—which administers the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act on behalf of the Department—proceeded on target.

Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada

Organizational priorities

Promote and support Canadian excellence in social sciences and humanities research and talent development

Description

Talented, skilled and creative people are at the heart of successful societies like Canada. Demand is growing across the private, public and not-for-profit sectors for highly qualified individuals who exhibit the leadership qualities required for success in the 21st-century economy, such as those who are creative, analytical and articulate, as well as sophisticated in their understanding of individuals, communities and societies in the past and present. These qualities are acquired through direct engagement—on the part of both researchers and students—in excellent research that effectively nurtures both intellectual skills (e.g., rigour, objectivity, analysis, synthesis, creativity) and professional skills (e.g., communication; collaboration across disciplines; building of partnerships with government, community-based and private sector partners; network-building; management of large teams).

SSHRC must continue to be at the forefront of promoting world-class research and engagement in Canada in a number of ways, first and foremost by working to update policies and practices for fostering research excellence and making the results of research available. In doing so, SSHRC supports the people, knowledge and innovation elements of the Government of Canada’s science and technology priorities. As the premier funder of social sciences and humanities research in Canada, SSHRC must also ensure its assessment criteria and merit review processes evolve in keeping with the ever-changing nature of research excellence. Finally, because research excellence is defined in an international context, Canadian social sciences and humanities research must be increasingly connected to global research networks, and reflect and contribute to global research agendas.

Progress Toward the Priority

For plans to promote the skills, tools and infrastructure necessary for success in research and research training, in 2015–16, SSHRC continued to work with the federal research funders and other stakeholders to develop and implement policies to support a well-functioning ecosystem for research and innovation, including a policy on research data stewardship. To support these plans, in 2015–16, SSHRC did the following:

SSHRC worked with NSERC and CIHR to communicate the Tri-Agency Open Access Policy on Publications to the research community. SSHRC program literature now refers to the new policy. SSHRC also supported a study led by Érudit on the business models of Canadian scholarly journals within the evolving open access context. SSHRC participated in a symposium organized by the Ontario Ministry of Research, Innovation and Science on the same topic.

SSHRC led the working group on the development of the Tri-Agency Statement of Principles on Digital Data Management and a related workplan on data management policies. To ensure good communications with the stakeholders on data management, SSHRC sits on the Research Data Canada Steering Committee and the Leadership Council for Digital Infrastructure. SSHRC helped develop the Government of Canada’s Open Science Implementation Plan and co-led with Environment Canada the development of one of the plan’s key deliverables, a “Guidance Document on Scientific Data Stewardship and Scientific Data Management Planning” for science-based departments and agencies.

SSHRC participated in negotiations to launch round 4 of the Digging into Data Challenge as part of efforts to strengthen relationships with other funding agencies in the social sciences and humanities participating in the Trans-Atlantic Platform (T/AP) initiative. The T-AP Digging into Data funding opportunity launched on March 1, 2016.

The CFREF competitions are on schedule. The results were announced for the first CFREF competition and the second competition was launched. Its results will be announced in summer 2016.

Section III: Analysis of Programs and Internal Services

Program Title: Indirect costs of research

Grants to postsecondary institutions from the Research Support Fund equalled $340.4 million in 2015–16 and provided vital support to the academic research environment in Canada. In 2015–16, the Research Support Fund constituted 99.5 per cent of SSHRC’s grant expenditures under Strategic Outcome 2. The Research Support Fund partially offsets expenses for institutions by providing support in five categories: maintaining modern labs and equipment; providing access to up-to-date knowledge resources; providing research management and administrative support; meeting regulatory and ethical standards; or transferring knowledge from academia to the private, public and not-for-profit sectors.The impacts of Research Support Fund grants are both direct, through supporting research administration and grant writing, and indirect, by helping to maintain the infrastructure necessary to support new initiatives.

In 2013–14, the federal government conducted a review of the program in consultation with the postsecondary sector to ensure that the program was meeting its objective of reinforcing excellence in postsecondary research. The review generally identified strong support for the program and overall satisfaction with its current design parameters while proposing that institutional reporting measures be increased; the program was renamed Research Support Fund to better reflect intended outcomes. The 10th-year evaluation of the program was completed in 2014–15. It supported the review, finding that there is a continuing need for the program and that many contextual shifts have increased pressures on institutions conducting research. The evaluation further found that the program is consistent with federal and tri-agency priorities, as well as with federal roles and responsibilities.

In 2015–16, SSHRC completed the first cycle under the Research Support Fund name. The reporting structure for the program is still being revised.

Internal Services

In 2015–16, SSHRC identified and inventoried all internal data sets as part of the implementation of the Directive on Open Government, which responds to the Government of Canada’s goal of making government information more open. This activity is part of a phased approach to SSHRC’s Open Government Implementation Plan, which was made public in April 2016.

Statistics Canada

Organizational priorities

Priority: Respond to the emerging and evolving information needs of data users and stakeholders

Description: To maintain the relevance of its programs, Statistics Canada must respond to the evolving information needs of its data users and other stakeholders.

Progress Toward the Priority

A number of initiatives under this priority were accomplished. The introduction of new and redesigned surveys allowed the Agency to respond to emerging and evolving information needs of data users and stakeholders. These initiatives are ongoing, and work continues in these areas. The accomplishments in this area align with the government’s mandate of improving the quality of publicly-available data.

Section 3: Analysis of programs and Internal Services

Program 4: Statistical Infrastructure

Under the Corporate Business Architecture initiative, Statistics Canada established a policy framework for statistical information management across the Agency. In addition to developing a strategy to adopt GCDOCS as a corporate tool, a multi-year project was launched to make it easier for all employees to find, access and re-use statistical metadata and data from both survey and administrative sources. The first release showcased a new powerful search capability, allowing searches by survey, variable, concept and even classification.

Statistics Canada currently has responsibility for the development and maintenance of the Open Data Portal on behalf of the Government of Canada. The portal serves as a central location for making government data freely available for use by Canadians and Canadian businesses; most of the data in the portal at present comes from Statistics Canada. The Agency also disseminates aggregate data, as well as analytical and information products through its website. Microdata are accessible through the research data centres, the Canadian Centre for Data Development and Economic Research, and Real Time Remote Access.

Internal Services

Responding to the Treasury Board directive on recordkeeping, Statistics Canada made progress on its five-year project to implement GCDOCS as a corporate electronic document and records management system.

Transport Canada

Organizational priorities

Name of Priority: Adopt the Government of Canada’s efficiency and renewal measures

Description: The Government of Canada recognizes the need to adapt to the world’s rapid rate of change that values innovation, agility and productivity, with the dual goals of improved service and greater efficiency.

Progress Toward the Priority

Transport Canada continued to support government direction by working with Shared Services Canada (SSC), Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS) and other departments to move forward on the following Government of Canada enterprise initiatives:

• Email Transformation Initiative: Planned migration of TC’s more than 6,000 email addresses to @canada.ca was delayed by SSC and is projected to take place in 2016-17.
• Migration to GCDOCS: To-date, we have conducted a pre-project assessment and analysis to examine the project’s scope and its requirements. We expect to move forward with an investment proposal supporting the transition to GCDOCS in 2017-18; and
• Migration of Government of Canada websites to Canada.ca: Transport Canada gained an official presence on the Canada.ca website on September 30, 2015. We are on track to meet the December 2016 deadline to ensure that all in-scope web applications are using the new centrally deployed Canada.ca templates provided by TBS. Several applications have already been brought into compliance. We expect the migration of Transport Canada’s web pages to begin transitioning to Canada.ca in September 2016, with final completion in December 2017 (P4 – IS).

Regarding TC’s efforts to enhance the efficiency and capacity of information management systems to ensure data completeness, consistency, reliability and “shareability”:

• Open Government Implementation Plan: Our Deputy Minister approved the Plan in October 2015. We expect the public release to follow in mid-2016 with a first annual update by October 31, 2016.

Transportation Safety Board of Canada

Operating environment and risk analysis

The TSB’s work is fundamentally reliant on the collection, retention, management and analysis of occurrence information. The TSB must therefore ensure that information is current, appropriately stored and readily accessible to employees. Ineffective safeguarding, retention and retrieval of information pose a risk to the achievement of the TSB mandate. The TSB must continue to enhance the processes, tools and technology in support of the management of its information resources to mitigate the risk of losing critical information and corporate knowledge.

Key risks

Risk: Gaps in the safeguarding, retention and retrieval of information could have a negative impact on the TSB’s ability to deliver its mandate in a timely and effective manner.

Risk response strategy

The TSB increased its monitoring of information management practices with respect to the classification, storage and retention of occurrence information with the objective of ensuring a consistent application. Improvements in the TSB’s information management practices were noted and continued progress will be monitored to mitigate this risk.

Organizational Priorities

Priority: Managing – Improved information and data management

The TSB will continue to enhance its information management processes and tools by:

• Completing the identification of investigation records that have enduring business value versus transitory value, and implementing revised retention periods and required disposal dates;
• Developing and implementing a multi-modal safety communications tracking tool to improve the tracking and monitoring of safety issues identified by the TSB;
• Continuing to improve its information and data management practices and tools;
• Providing expanded on-line public access to occurrence data.

Progress toward the priority

1. The TSB continued to make progress on the inventory of all its information holdings of business value and it is expected this work will be fully completed by the fall 2016. Work was initiated on the review and approval of revised records retention schedules for occurrence investigation-related files and discussions were undertaken with Library and Archives Canada to obtain new Disposition Authorities.
2. Development of the safety communications tracking tool was completed and the new system was released to users for data entry.
3. The TSB finalized a Recordkeeping (RK) Compliance Plan and ensured IM initiatives continued to be prioritized in the department’s annual Business Plan. As indicated in TSB’s 2015-16 Management Accountability Framework assessment by Treasury Board Secretariat, the department demonstrated increased levels of maturity for IM/RK stewardship with a 79 percent level of compliance with recordkeeping guidelines, 7 percent higher than the Government of Canada average for small departments and agencies. In support of the Government of Canada E-mail Transformation Initiative and the Standard on Email Management, the TSB has complied with the requirement to reduce and maintain employee MS Outlook accounts under two gigabytes of storage. The TSB also launched an initiative to discontinue use of MS Outlook Email Archives folders by August 2016.
4. Work has continued to make occurrence data publicly available on the TSB web site and the data.gc.ca portal for all modes of transportation. During the year additional data elements were published and regular monthly updates were uploaded for the entire data set.

Section III: Analysis of programs and internal services

Internal Services

Significant progress was made with respect to the department’s information management priorities. The TSB has essentially completed the identification and documentation of its information resources of business value and the related repositories. Awareness sessions were conducted with TSB employees to ensure they are current on updated information management policies and practices. Work was also initiated on the review and validation of retention periods and disposition requirements for TSB’s investigation records, and will be pursued with Library and Archives Canada in 2016-17.

During 2015-16, Internal Services developed a new multi-modal safety communications tracking tool to consolidate information on all TSB safety communications and investigation findings. The tool will facilitate the retrieval of information and help identify recurring safety issues. Internal Services also implemented the government-wide HR system for leave management, My GCHR, and prepared for the implementation of the Phoenix government-wide pay system in April 2016.

As reported in the TSB’s 2015-16 Annual Report to Parliament on the Application of the Access to Information Act, the department continued to experience an increase in requests for information during the year. The TSB was able to respond within 30 days or less in 70% of the completed cases; a significant increase from the 2014-15 result of 42%. The average time taken to process a request also improved during the 2015–16 reporting period, with an average of 75 calendar days, compared with last year’s average of 145 calendar days. The improved results are primarily explained by requests that involved a smaller number of pages, such as requests for laboratory reports instead of a complete investigation file, as well as the streamlining of business practices for processing requests.

Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat

In keeping with the new Policy on Results, the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat is piloting a new format for departmental performance reports. Lessons learned will inform future reporting to parliamentarians and to Canadians.

Results highlights

Highlights of the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat’s results

• Worked on creating a new Treasury Board Policy on Communications and Federal Identity, which took effect May 11, 2016. The new policy gives government departments more options for engaging with Canadians in today’s digital environment.
• Laid the groundwork for public consultations on Open Government and access to information.

Section II: Our context, our performance, our lessons learned

Risks identified at start of year

Security vulnerabilities

To address the risk of disruptions to federal government programs and services that stem from the increased frequency and sophistication of threats, the Secretariat expanded the risk response to include measures that address both cyber and physical threats. The Secretariat coordinated the federal government’s response to a number of critical cyber‑incidents. The response resulted in an action plan, a revised IT Incident Management Plan, and a strengthened Enterprise Security Architecture framework. The Secretariat will continue to adapt its risk response to keep pace with technology in order to counter significant threats.

Gaps in information provided to Parliament and Cabinet

To address potential gaps in information provided to Parliament and Cabinet, the Secretariat improved its information management practices and business processes, and increased measures for due diligence. The Secretariat also made more performance information available through the TBS InfoBase. The number of activities under way to improve performance information, the renewed focus on and senior management commitment to results and evidence-based decision making have reduced these gaps. However, work is still needed to strengthen performance information and data analysis capacity in the Secretariat.

Priority 1: Open and transparent government

The promise: The Government of Canada promised to make government more open and transparent.

The Secretariat is supporting this commitment by leading efforts to improve Canadians’ access to government information and to their own personal information held by government, and to provide better opportunities for engaging with government. Greater openness and transparency will help keep the government focused on Canadians’ values and expectations.

What we delivered in 2015–16

Open Government

• An additional $11.5 million over five years was allocated in Budget 2016 for the Secretariat to double its capacity to support Open Government.
• Laid the groundwork for online and in-person public consultations on Open Government across the country to get Canadians’ views on a new plan for Open Government.
• Worked on Canada’s Third Biennial Plan to the Open Government Partnership.

Revitalizing access to information

• $3.1 million over two years was allocated in Budget 2016 to support the government’s commitment to revitalize access to information.
• Announced a two-step approach to revitalize access to information:
  • Step 1: The Secretariat laid the groundwork for public consultations on improvements to the Act. Over 2016–17, the government will move forward on implementing its proposals for improving access to information and will make other changes identified through consultations.
  • Step 2: The government will begin the first full five-year review of the Act in 2018.

Streamlining requests for personal information

• $9.8 million over five years was allocated in Budget 2016 to enhance Canadians’ access to their own personal information held by government.
• Laid the groundwork for consultations on implementing a 30-day guarantee for personal information requests, backed up by a written explanation when a response is not provided within 30 days.
• Defined the approach to a simple, central website where Canadians can submit access to information requests and privacy requests to any government institution.

Modernizing the government’s communication policy

• Laid the groundwork for the new Treasury Board Policy on Communications and Federal Identity, which took effect May 11, 2016. The new policy gives government departments more options for engaging with Canadians in today’s digital environment.

Priority 2: Better service for Canadians

The promise: The Government of Canada has committed to making it easier to access government services online and to establishing new performance standards for federal services in order to meet the rising expectations of Canadians and businesses.

The Secretariat is supporting this commitment through various initiatives, including advancing a Government of Canada Service Strategy and establishing and tracking new performance standards for key government services. It is also leading efforts to ensure that the government’s back office functions are aligned to support better services for Canadians.

What we delivered in 2015–16

Advancing a new Government of Canada Service Strategy

• $17.8 million over five years was allocated in Budget 2016 to support the development of a client‑first service strategy and to finish migrating government websites to Canada.ca.
• Government of Canada web presence for Canadians improved through a single, mobile-friendly, user-centric, easily accessible and searchable Canada.ca website that went live in December 2015.

Enterprise-wide back office transformation

• $70.2 million was allocated in Budget 2016 to support the development of a business case and to transform human resources, financial and information management services.

Priority 6: Open, agile and collaborative Secretariat

The promise: The Secretariat has committed to creating a more open, agile and collaborative organization that fosters respect and innovation, empowers employees to excel in their work, and maximizes benefits for Canadians.

To accomplish this, the Secretariat launched This is TBS, an initiative that brings together all of the Secretariat’s internal transformational initiatives under three streams of work: supporting a high-performing workforce; fostering a more dynamic, open, and networked workplace; and adopting lean and efficient business practices. These initiatives support Blueprint 2020 commitments.

What we delivered in 2015–16

Fostering a more dynamic, open and networked workplace

• Introduced new technology tools and practices for managing information and enhancing security, including the following:
• Deployed the new information management system, GCDOCS, on both the Protected B and Secret networks. Employees can now search for, retrieve and reuse information more easily, which has reduced duplication and costs and led to improvements in how the Secretariat manages other departments’ sensitive information.

Veterans Affairs Canada

Section III: Analysis of Programs and Internal Services

VAC Internal Services

The Department implemented many information technology solutions and made preparations for further improvements to ensure employees have the tools needed to work effectively. Some such initiatives included:

• preparations to adopt the your.email@canada.ca service to complete the transition when the solution is available;
• continuing the move toward full transition to the Government of Canada’s e-government initiative, GCDOCS, which creates, acquires, captures, manages and protects the integrity of information sources of business value in the delivery of programs and services

Western Economic Diversification Canada

Section III: Analysis of Programs and Internal Services

Internal Services

In 2015–16, WD undertook a number of initiatives to create a technology and systems- enabled workplace to support the Government of Canada’s Blueprint 2020 goals of enhancing service delivery, boosting value for money, and maintaining an efficient and high-performing organization. For example, in September 2015, WD completed its migration to the new standardized Government of Canada email system via the Email Transition Initiative (ETI). Shared Services Canada led this initiative to standardize email across the Government of Canada, consolidating over 100 different email systems into one. Using Microsoft Exchange as the foundation and Outlook as the interface, ETI reduces duplication and overlap, maximizes resources, improves collaboration, and reduces the risk of cyber-threats.