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Rapid technological change is creating opportunities to deliver services in ways that are more accessible, responsive and affordable.
In many areas, the federal government is on the leading edge in using information technology to improve service to its clients. In other areas, however, where we still have a way to go.
The serious fiscal challenges facing the country mean that we need to look at how we can do things better.
The Blueprint provides an integrated approach to renewing government services using information technology in a manner that capitalizes on our strengths and makes the best use of our investments.
I see the key to its success being tapping the expertise, commitment and imagination of all Public Service employees.
We are making the plan widely available because it is important we all agree on the best way to deliver government services in the future.
I invite you to send in your suggestions on renewing government services. Your comments can make a difference.
Art Eggleton
Mounting fiscal pressures force all governments to provide services to clients with continuously shrinking budgets. The "Blueprint for Renewing Government Services Using Information Technology" proposes a vision of affordable, accessible and responsive federal government services and an integrated approach to help achieve this vision.
The Blueprint takes a fresh, enterprise-wide look at government services using a client focus. It recommends creating, managing, and prudently sharing information electronically among departments and their different services in a way which protects the security and privacy of the information. It envisages the use of a government-wide electronic information infrastructure to simplify service delivery, reduce duplication, and improve the level and speed of service to clients at a lower cost to the taxpayers.
The Blueprint emphasizes the critical importance of employees. Their involvement and commitment are essential to successful business renewal. In this vein, information technology will be applied in a manner to improve the "human face of government" as well as the efficiency and affordability of service delivery.
The Blueprint builds on the experience gained from renewal activities already under way in program delivery and administrative areas of the federal government. Many departmental staff specialists and line managers have contributed to the document.
This Blueprint is being circulated in draft form in order to get a wide range of views on its principles from both inside and outside of government. In its final form, it will establish a framework for using information technology to support government-wide service renewal. The vision and principles enunciated in the Blueprint will assist all departments and agencies in implementing their own renewal initiatives.
We value your input and encourage you to provide us with your comments by May 31, 1994. To facilitate this, you can contact the Blueprint team in one of four ways: (1) by sending an E-mail through X.400 to C=ca; A=govmt.canada;P=gc+tbs.cts;S=chu;G=tony; (2)�by�calling Bernie Gorman at (613)�957-9645 or Tony Chu at 952-3366; (3) by returning the facsimile response sheet attached at the back of the Blueprint; or (4) by mailing your response to: Tony Chu, Office of Information Management, Systems and Technology, Treasury Board Secretariat, 8th Floor, West Tower, 300 Laurier Avenue West, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A�0R5, Canada.
J. A. Macdonald |
I. D. Clark |
The Blueprint is a collective work by many staff specialists and line managers from departments as well as from central and common service agencies. They all contributed to its development by participating in workshops or by reviewing and advising on the Blueprint's development. These individuals include Tony�Chu (team leader), Treasury Board Secretariat; Ted�Pender, Correctional Service Canada; Rita�Moritz, Heritage Canada; Philip�Carr, Gary�Depew and Claude�Fairfield, Human Resources Development Canada; Kate�Dobson, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada; Tom�Racine, Industry Canada; Bob�Provick, National Archives of Canada; Barry�Walker, National Defence; Richard�Brigden, Bruce�Catley, Alain�Fortin, Jacques�G�linas, Robert�Hopwood, Anne�La�Salle and Joe�Sauv�, Public Works and Government Services Canada; John�Read, Transport Canada; Bob�Landry, Western Economic Diversification Canada; Ed�Acheson, Paul�Baack, Emmanuel�Buu, Catherine�Caule, Joe�C�t�, Jim�Eddy, Jim�Ewanovich, Andr�Fauchon, Ron�Fauvel, Cliff�Filion, Amy�Gibbs, John�Keay, Bruce�Lindsay, Marilla�Lo, Don�Lusby, John�Mayne, Michael�Nelson, Jane�Panet, Les�Pratt, Ngan�Ling�Tam, Conrad�Thomas and Chip�Wiest, Treasury Board Secretariat.
The Blueprint Program Advisory Committee provided direction for this publication. Consultation with the members of this committee at critical points of the Blueprint's development ensured that its direction was consistent with the needs of departments. The Committee includes Michael�Binder (chairperson), Industry Canada; Claude�Bernier, Transport Canada; Hy�Braiter, Human Resources Development Canada; Paul�Cochrane, Health Canada; Brian�Ferguson, Treasury Board Secretariat; Willie�Gibbs, Correctional Service Canada; Phil�McLellan and Ren�Guindon, Public Works and Government Services Canada; Richard�Manicom, Revenue Canada; Claire�Monette, Industry Canada; Monique�Plante, Human Resources Development Canada; David�Wightman, Transport Canada; and Alan�Williams, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada.
Many private-sector specialists provided advice and comments on the methodology, content and format of the Blueprint. They include Art�Caston, Jim�Grant, Shirley�Bishop, Jeff�Carruthers, Tony�Crawford, John�Davis, Ray�Healey, David�Rothwell, Linda�Russell, Pierre�Sicard, Bob�Simpson, Don�Tapscott and Michael�Vaughan.
In addition to the significant effort by the project team and advisors, the Blueprint would not have been possible without the excellent service for its production. We would like to thank Simonne�Lauriault and her team of Lorraine�Fournier, Luc�Gendron, Lori�Lapointe, Fran�ois�Perreault and Lillian�Saikali of the Client Support Centre; Carole�Croteau and Claire�Dionne of the Government Systems Division; Nancy�Hoyt and her team in Communications and Coordination; Gilles�Bisaillon and his team of Suzanne�B�gin, Suzanne�Henrion, Craig�Kennedy, Suzanne Le Blanc, Ginette�Lefebvre, Vanessa�Novini and Anne�Taillefer of Print Communication Services; David�Berman; Arnaud�Archimbaud, Arlette�Harvey and the team in Translation Services.
Bernie A. Gorman
Executive Director
Office of Information Management, Systems and Technology
Why is Accessible Service at Lower Cost So Important?
In the private sector, the pressure for restructuring and renewal has come from increased competitiveness and the unforgiving nature of high costs. Many argue that consumers have become more demanding as they look for better service and quality at a lower price.
For governments, the pressure is for better service in the face of reduced revenues and mounting debt. Many consumers of government services appear to have lost their tolerance for bureaucracies. They feel they receive better service from banks, car rental companies, even supermarkets, which have transformed business with innovative information technology. The government increasingly appears to be out of date. Many want to know why they have to spend their precious time finding answers to their questions, after being bounced from department to department, when sometimes (not always) it is easier to get satisfaction from customer-hungry private companies.
"Why do I have to call so many places? Why do I have to wait so long? Why can't they solve my problem right here, right now?"
These are questions that governments must take seriously. Government must re-invent itself, as other institutions have had to do to survive. Government must fundamentally improve the way it administers its business and delivers its services.
What Does Information Technology-Enabled Business Renewal Mean?
In today's information age, knowledge workers, freed from organizational constraints and enabled by modern telecommunications and computing technology, can have greater capabilities to access information, to seek solutions and to provide services. The potential is considerable for knowledge workers, acting in concert with one another, to do more work and to do it better. Therein lies the basic thrust of an information-based approach to transforming business.
Key components of a business-driven renewal in the information age include:
This document describes an integrated approach to improving the delivery of government services while significantly reducing associated costs.
The integrated approach reflects the recognition that the business of government must be dramatically reassessed, to live within shrinking budgets.
Thus, establishing the business rationale for the government service, then determining how the service will be delivered to the clients (the work perspective), are the first two critical steps into a process of renewal outlined in this blueprint.
Next, the approach underscores the importance of incorporating an information perspective into any service renewal activity, i.e. knitting related work processes together through proper management and sharing of information.
Designing computer applications to automate work processes and to manage and share information is the fourth step in the five-step approach.
The final step involves leveraging information technology -- the hardware, software and communications, and their interfaces which comprise the common technology architecture�-- to deliver an efficient and effective service to clients.
The Blueprint focuses on renewing government services on an enterprise-wide basis and, in so doing, uses information technology to make this possible. The "human face of government" in service delivery must be enhanced, to the benefit of both clients and staff.
The Blueprint is designed to capture the broad improvements and full savings that will result from an integrated approach to renewal, not just the incremental benefits reaped when change is piecemeal. As well, an integrated approach reduces the risk of ending up with incompatible and conflicting results.
Employees must be involved, committed and focused on improvement. This is the key to change. Successful implementation of the Blueprint hinges on the abilities of employees and the smooth transition of staff to the new work environment. Special consideration must be given to planning, consultation and communication in order to carry out cultural and organizational changes and to resolve the human resources management issues.
The Blueprint identifies the need for a government-wide electronic information infrastructure (namely a network of electronic highways and byways and associated information and computing services), with connections to other public or private networks, to support renewal of service delivery. The federal government will explore cost-effective, innovative means to meet its infrastructure needs, such as making use of available systems and forming partnerships with the private sector and other levels of government, rather than relying on unique in-house solutions.
The overall benefits of applying this blueprint will be more efficient and effective program delivery, reduced overall costs across government(s), and maintained or even improved customer service in the face of fiscal restraint.
The approach proposed in this blueprint builds on the experience gained from program renewal projects under way in such agencies as Revenue Canada, Health Canada, Human Resources Development Canada and Public Works and Government Services Canada, as well as from the Council for Administrative Renewal.
In publishing the Blueprint, a key objective is to actively involve service delivery managers in this integrated approach to renewal. The approach described in the Blueprint should apply to situations within many different departments or agencies. The Blueprint also envisions that experiences will be shared across government(s).
The Blueprint provides a vision to guide government service renewal. It describes five different but interrelated architectural views: government businesses, associated work processes, information, system applications and technology. The activities in these five areas must be integrated in support of the renewal of government services. The Blueprint also illustrates future scenarios for delivering government services. Finally, the Blueprint proposes an approach to implementation.
The vision, the architectural principles, and the service delivery scenarios are founded on the importance of having a client focus, sharing resources, developing standards, facilitating access to critical information and, above all, recognizing people as key to business renewal.
Achievement of this vision of renewal requires five sets of key architectural principles.
People are key
Fundamental to all the principles below is the recognition of the importance of people management, shared values, and a responsive and flexible work environment. The value of investing time and resources in enhancing employees' knowledge, skills and abilities and of involving people in changes must also be recognized as essential to cultural change, renewal and improvement.
Table 1 displays the five sets of key architectural principles in greater detail.
1. Business Principles to transform government services.
2. Work Principles for the redesign of government service delivery processes.
3. Information Principles for managing government information.
4. Application Principles for managing computer systems.
5. Technology Principles for managing information technology in the government.
In the Work View section, six models are offered of ways services can be provided to clients in the near future through applying technology. Note that these models, listed below, are illustrative only. They are designed to provide readers with a more practical view of possible ways of service delivery.
Implementation of the vision and the principles will change the way services are renewed and ultimately delivered to internal and external clients. Benefits and changes for program managers will flow from this implementation.
This document sets out an approach to implementation and concludes with the proposed next steps.
The Blueprint is a dynamic, integrated framework for implementing government service renewal over the next five years. It builds on initiatives already under way. The following six elements are critical to its implementation.
Overall, the Blueprint does not start at square one, but builds on existing renewal activities and policies (for example, Enhancing Services Through the Innovative Use of Information and Technology: Strategic Direction for the 90s, issued by Treasury Board). The transformation envisaged in the Blueprint will be achieved through continuous improvements. There will be ongoing measuring and monitoring of government service delivery.
The Blueprint approach is based on the assumption that an information-technology-enabled renewal of government processes and services will generate benefits for all involved, in addition to the often-discussed savings in resources.
This blueprint describes an integrated, enterprise-wide approach to renewing government services through applying information technology (information, computing and telecommunications). The objective is to transform government processes to better support program delivery to the public at a much reduced cost.
The Blueprint also proposes to take important steps in planning and deploying an enabling government-wide IT infrastructure (government-wide electronic highways) to support the re-engineering of program delivery, administrative renewal and overall government restructuring.
The Blueprint will assist managers and staff to provide high-quality, efficient services to their clients, while at the same time coping with severe fiscal restraint.
The Blueprint will serve to reinforce the importance of managing human resources and resolving people issues. The Blueprint's focus on clients and enterprise-wide perspective will give front-line staff the information, tools and support to satisfy clients; in so doing, the Blueprint offers the prospect of a more human face for government services, to the benefit of both staff and the public.
Individual departments have already begun to re-engineer a number of their program delivery processes. This blueprint will support their efforts and provide guideposts for future activities.
Initiatives under the Council for Administrative Renewal (CAR) have demonstrated the potential for savings and improvements in administrative services. The Blueprint will give direction to these initiatives, identify further opportunities and help them realize their full potential.
The Blueprint will be used to inform stakeholders, both in the private and public sectors, of this major business renewal and IT infrastructure initiative and to increase their awareness of the opportunities for participation and partnership.
Finally, it is important to note that the Blueprint was created using group workshops involving many participants from across the affected areas of government. Subgroups addressed the specifics of each "architectural view" described in the Blueprint. They also produced a set of corresponding architectural principles to guide their thinking and to give direction to the more detailed planning that will be required to implement this blueprint. For this and other reasons, the Blueprint should be viewed as a dynamic document, reflecting collective views and portending further changes as the process of service renewal within the government evolves.
The Blueprint provides a vision for the renewal of government services.
Simply put, the vision is:
Government services that are affordable, accessible, and responsive.
The renewal is founded on the importance of having a client focus, sharing resources, developing standards, and facilitating access to critical information and services.
The vision must be achieved if government is to
The central underpinnings of the vision are listed below.
The Blueprint uses as its analogy the concept of an integrated architectural planning approach, consisting of five interrelated architectural views. Each represents a different aspect of the way government services must be re-engineered. This model is driven first by business needs and uses the enabling capabilities of information technology. Underlying the overall model, with its five views, is the need to put a human, service-oriented face on the services delivered by government; this requires special attention to human resource issues in all five views. These five views, which are described in the chapters that follow, are shown in Figure�1 on the following page.
Business View. The Business View establishes the strategic business context for the necessary changes and improvements to government services. This document takes an enterprise-wide view of government business and redefines it as seamlessly serving clients. This differs from the traditional multi-functional orientation of government administration and program delivery. The design of service delivery must recognize the situations where services are interdependent and common. As well, the Blueprint expects that solutions and delivery mechanisms will be shared and a more integrated suite of services to the public will be created. This approach will require a government-wide electronic information infrastructure.
Work View. The Work View describes how the re-engineered government services will be delivered to clients. The Blueprint identifies the importance of moving away from the stovepipe approach that is particularly common across government. As work processes are adapted, so too must staff skills be modified -- to improve service by integrating delivery and providing choices, thereby ensuring client satisfaction. The Blueprint also describes a number of scenarios in which different approaches to service delivery can lead to reduced costs and improved services. These range from complete automation, where all work activity has been replaced by computer applications (e.g., using electronic data interchange), to client self-service (e.g., clients obtain service directly through a desktop workstation), to various ways of assisting service providers to better support their client interactions (e.g., permitting clients to use telephones or modems to directly access "experts" who are fully connected and supported by IT).
Information View. The Information View reflects the critical role that information must play in renewing the business of government. The Blueprint identifies shared information as a critical common resource, with information delivered to clients in a fully automated and electronic manner. Examples of common information resources are summarized in the Information View. The Blueprint emphasizes the importance of automated collection and dissemination of information from administrative and business processes, in order to make it possible to automate and integrate such services on a broader scale. The Information View identifies the types of information involved in process automation and the ways in which information must be collected, managed and distributed. Under this approach, information will need to be accessible, secure, captured once and validated close to source, properly maintained to ensure privacy and integrity, and electronically distributed to authorized users.
Application View. The Application View links the work processes and information requirements together. The goal is to have as much of the information as possible maintained in computer-accessible form. Applications create, update, access, and delete these automated information bases. These applications support the work processes by providing automated procedures and managing information storage and retrieval in support of service delivery. The Blueprint makes key distinctions between applications that assist the user in performing the work processes (workflow managers) and applications that manage the resulting updates to information files (transaction managers). Under the Blueprint, applications will need to cooperate freely with one another, have a consistent look and feel, and be modular, re-usable and broadly shared across the government.
Technology View. The Technology View addresses the required platforms and network services to meet the needs of various types of users at identified work locations, thereby closing the circle on the five views. Having many types of IT applications means that different technologies have to cooperate in both operational and developmental situations. The architecture for the technology must also deal with various information bases used by applications, and ensure that the information can flow where it is needed. The challenge of integrating different technologies and information resources requires an infrastructure based on a mixture of standard components and modern interconnectivity tools. In this way, information technology will be open, capable of supporting distributed (as well as centralized and mainframe) computing systems, and create a more accessible computing environment.
The Business View establishes the strategic business context for the necessary changes and improvements to government services. It represents the first critical step in the Blueprint's approach to renewing government services, i.e. asking the questions "what business are we in ?" and "how do we conduct business?".
The Blueprint expects these questions to be asked from an enterprise-wide perspective, rather than from the traditional departmental, program or functional viewpoint. Taking this broader view is especially important in maximizing opportunities for restructuring government services. It is also important in making it easier to share processes, information and technologies used in delivering these services across the federal government and, indeed, different levels of government.
The Blueprint reflects the need to re-engineer radically in the face of fiscal pressures and rising public demand for improved services. The re-engineering will involve focusing on clients' needs, working in partnership with other groups inside and outside the federal government, improving the efficiency of service delivery by using information technology judiciously, and reducing duplication.
In asking the question "what business are we in?", it is critical to seek the answer from the client's perspective rather than from the organization's perspective. This will require a re-examination of the skills required by staff to reinforce a client focus in the delivery of services.
Program Services. The government exists to serve the public. Government services include programs in various areas such as agriculture, citizenship and culture, education and training, employment and labour, the environment, foreign affairs, health and safety, immigration, international trade, industrial development, national defence, natural resources, parks and recreation, public infrastructure, public information, regulated utilities, security and protection, social assistance, and taxation.
Some program activities share common clients with one another in the federal government as well as across different levels of government. In addition, there is an increasing awareness of the interdependency of programs within and between governments. For example, recent discussions about redesigning the delivery of unemployment insurance recognize the need to integrate labour training and retraining. Similarly, provincial governments recognize the growing interdependence between unemployment insurance and provincial welfare programs.
Administrative Services. Administrative services support the delivery of government programs. Basically, administrative services provide four types of essential resources for program delivery: human, financial, physical (materiel or assets), and information. These resource services commonly exist in all federal departments and, in fact, in all governments and organizations. Administrative services are closely related in that they need to be considered together (including making trade-off decisions) in order to provide an optimal resource base for program delivery.
A key to renewing government service is discerning and taking advantage of the commonalities and interdependencies of program and administrative services. Management and delivery structure can then be rationalized within and across governments. In the final analysis, this rationalization must focus on serving the ultimate clients (i.e. the public) who are seeking relief from bureaucratic processes and who are demanding services from their government rather than from a multitude of departments.
Common Electronic Information Infrastructure. In today's information era, electronic information infrastructure services are of critical importance to the delivery of government services. In effect, these infrastructure services have stretched information as a resource beyond its traditional role. The common need for these services necessitates a backbone infrastructure across the government. Elements of the electronic information infrastructure are listed in Table�2.�
Networks to interconnect internal and external clients, suppliers and users with the applications, services and information they require and share.
Servers to provide processing, storage and information services across the network. A range of operating environments will be supported. Computing resources will be widely distributed for different applications and operating areas.
Communication facilities to make it possible to transfer information reliably and interactively. A range of standard multi-media connectivity solutions supporting the government's enterprise network will be available.
Workstations to access network-based services and information where and when needed. A range of user devices, interface standards, personal and workgroup computing tools will be supported.
Services components:
Network services to support distributing and sharing information as well as the processing capabilities for connected platforms.
Infrastructure management services to plan and design the integrated IT infrastructure of the government.
Standards management services to plan, develop, promote and monitor standards required to implement the IT infrastructure of the government.
The Blueprint proposes a series of guiding business principles that should be used to shape the renewal of government services. The principles are presented in greater detail in the Appendix.
The Work View represents an important second step in the Blueprint's approach to renewal, following a fresh, enterprise-wide look at the business. It proposes moving away from a stovepipe approach and instead refocusing on both the delivery of services and the organization of associated work activities on an enterprise-wide basis. Clients must be able to receive total service rather than piecemeal services from various component organizational units. As well, modern information technology will be used to facilitate better communications, organization of work and service delivery.
The Work View provides a brief outline of the nature of government program and administrative activities, including their interrelationships and the similarities of the work processes involved. It proposes that the delivery of government services be consolidated; streamlined; consistent in outlook and procedures; designed to provide clients with options; independent of time and location; and measured and monitored for continuous improvement. The Work View also provides illustrations of more efficient and effective ways to deliver government services using modern information technology.
The Work View will produce significant changes in the work environment for staff. For example, services that are independent of time and location may require employees to work split shifts, so that staff are available to deal with client needs from the start of business on the East coast to the end of business on the West coast. Adopting more integrated and consistent processes should increase the prospects for job mobility for staff. It will be essential to maintain the human touch when redesigning work processes to deal with clients.
Linkages across Services. Many government program and administrative activities are closely linked. They have an impact on one another. For example, address changes reported by clients in one government program affect all other programs to which the clients also subscribe. Inspection findings of one government program may be important for the development and implementation of other programs. Program activities often require administrative support services. Within the administrative domain, for example, staffing action usually requires committing salary budgets and procuring office equipment and tools.
Coordinating work activities horizontally across programs, administrative functions, and departments will make government operations more efficient and service delivery to the public more effective.
In his John L. Manion lecture on "Partners in the Management of Government: Changing Roles of Government and the Public Services ", Mr.�Marcel�Mass� observed:
there are now virtually no departments where problems are self-contained or where solutions do not involve more than one traditional sector of government activity. As a result, there is a greater need to find new and more horizontal ways of studying problems and finding solutions. Departments are essentially vertical structures, conceived in the simpler times when fields of activity, such as agriculture or forestry or transport, could be considered as reasonably separate domains. . . . Horizontal coordination is now essential and requires new mechanisms.
In the administrative area, a good illustration of the need for coordination is resource planning. With mounting fiscal pressures and the introduction of operating budgets, federal government managers at all levels need to look at the resource picture in its totality and make trade-off decisions for program delivery. Unfortunately, many program and administrative services continue to operate in a linear, sequential fashion, without taking into account the need for horizontal coordination as well as vertical delayering. High costs and lengthy delays of services are the results.
Routine and Repetitive Processes. Many common, routine processes are done manually and repeated within and across program and administrative areas. As a result, many government employees are unnecessarily buried under paper processing, having little contact with clients or appreciation of their needs. Automating these processes and re-using the information generated across programs and administrative functions will not only improve efficiency but will also free up staff for value-added work. This will reduce overall costs and improve services to the public. Figure�2 displays a process model for service delivery. As one can see, most of the processes listed are routine, common, and repetitive in nature.
In order to sketch out the Blueprint under the Work View, a series of work principles are proposed for shaping the renewal of government service delivery. Adopting these principles will help eliminate the stovepipes and improve service to customers.
To help readers understand the implications of changes resulting from the Work View perspective, the Blueprint includes six scenarios of how information technology could be applied in different ways in a client-focused business renewal process. It should be noted that, in almost all cases, there are already examples within government of activities or experiments within each of the six categories. For this reason, they are presented as near-future examples, recognizing that other variations will likely emerge over time. How far each service can go in following these scenarios will have to be determined through actual implementations, with proper consideration of such factors as nature of the service, desire of the clients, staff implications and the operating environment.
The objective is to automate, streamline and network most work processes, using the appropriate IT infrastructure. This will result in paperless transactions that are seamless to clients. These scenarios, therefore, provide the direction for renewing the delivery of government services.
Six scenarios are presented, as follows:
Example: At 4:00 a.m. every morning, a desktop computer in a large federal office building in Montreal automatically places a call to a computer across the city. The purpose: to collect news that will be in the morning's newspapers across the country and that will touch on areas of importance to the department's minister and senior executives. By 6:30 a.m., the information is available on the department's Executive Information System, by opening an electronic window. Meanwhile, down the hall, another computer is preparing to place an electronic data interchange (EDI) order to restock the department's central office supplies. The order includes all the information needed to complete the transaction, including payment on confirmation of receipt the next day.
In both cases, arrangements have been made ahead of time so that minimal human intervention is required for routine transactions; these can be filled quickly.
Other examples of services that could be delivered in this scenario:
Benefits include lower costs and increased speed of delivery and payment to both the service provider and recipient, along with reduced record-keeping and manual data entry. This could translate into less repetitive work for staff and a greater need for value-added, knowledge workers.
2.� Self-Service (electronic). Canadian citizens, businesses and Public Service employees use workstations to access information and to generate transactions, orders and payments, resulting in reduced (or eliminated) paperwork and fewer approvals.
Example A: Instead of having to go to an employment centre in another part of town, a client visits an electronic kiosk at a nearby shopping centre. Using a "smart card" issued by the government, he peruses jobs that seem to match his computerized skill profile. A touch on an icon on the kiosk screen produces a print-out of local jobs that seem promising. Another touch on the screen provides a just-released schedule of new training courses at a local high school. He decides to apply for one course on the spot and, again using his individualized smart card, obtains almost instant approval from the government and from the high school. It's just like using a bank machine, he thinks, as he signs off.
Example B: An officer requires some specialized supplies for upcoming field work. She logs onto a purchasing system from her desktop computer and browses an on-screen, electronic catalogue. As soon as she selects the supplier and places her order electronically, the departmental accounting system also completes the internal paperwork (after checking the officer's budget to make sure she has both the funds and the authority to place the order). The order is transmitted directly to the supplier via EDI. It's as easy as ordering books by telephone or fax, she thinks, and the goods will be delivered just as quickly and painlessly.
Other examples of services that could be delivered in this scenario:
Benefits include convenience to the user, lower costs and increased speed of delivery and payment to both the service provider and recipient, and the ability to collect data on purchases electronically. For employees, it will be easier to access information across government, allowing them to deliver enhanced service to clients. As a result, there will be less frustration and wasted effort.
3 Self-Service (walk-in). Internal and external clients seek information, goods and services by visiting common walk-in centres, where government workers use computerized services to respond efficiently and effectively.
Example: A businesswoman takes the elevator down to the main floor in her office building in Saskatoon. Instead of going for a quick lunch, she decides to stop in the local government business service centre next door. Her partner has been wondering whether it would be worthwhile to try to develop some foreign sales for their recently patented polymer building panels. But neither one knows where to start. "Perhaps they'll know in here," she thinks.
Inside, she's directed towards a researcher who, after consulting a database of contacts, calls the building material specialist at the National Research Council in Ottawa. The business centre researcher suggests that it might take a little time to get all the information and perhaps he could fax it to her when it's ready.
Two hours later, a three-page fax arrives. The first page lists four upcoming trade shows featuring new external building materials; one is highlighted, with a note in the margin from the building specialist in Ottawa suggesting that this has proven to be the most successful show for manufacturers of similar products in the past. The second page is a print-out from a Canadian commercial database and lists a two-day-old United Nations (UN) Request for Proposal for innovative, light-weight, all-weather building material for experimental housing for central Africa; contact names, telephone and E-mail numbers are provided. The third page lists three Canadian prefabricated building companies which have all established records selling abroad. A marginal note from a trade official in Tokyo confirms that the embassy will keep the new supplier in mind in upcoming discussions on joint Canada-Japan cooperation on new uses of polymer building materials for the Japanese housing market.
Other examples of services that could be delivered in this scenario:
Benefits include enhanced convenience to the user, lower operating costs for service delivery and improved levels of service delivery (faster, more accessible service). For staff, there will be greater job satisfaction, since information and tools will be available to respond quickly and efficiently to client needs. It will also be easier to work with colleagues electronically, via "virtual networks", reducing the need for endless face-to-face meetings.�
4.� Service with On-site Support. An intermediary group or agency provides multiple services, sometimes for several clients, maximizing the benefits of information technology and minimizing duplication and paperwork.
Example: A prominent Canadian is on the telephone with a government minister, agreeing to chair a special task force. The work has to be completed in four months. He is promised a small staff, a modest budget and "all the support you need".
Twenty minutes later, after a couple of quick calls to contacts in the federal government, he dials the telephone number of the head of "Accommodations Canada" *, a special operating agency responsible for providing office accommodations and support services for small agencies, judicial inquiries and, yes, special task forces.
Three days later, while the Chairman interviews candidates for executive director and research director, the phones are being installed in his new suite of temporary offices five blocks from the minister's department. A technician is making the final connections to a small network of computers, the automatic voice messaging system is already storing messages, and the office manager is signing the delivery receipt for the Chairman's five boxes of critical reference books.
For the next four months, the Chairman will only have to authorize one monthly bill for the complete suite of offices, technology and support staff. The same billing system and technical support facilities are also shared with several dozen other small agencies, meaning lower costs than the traditional "one-off" approach.
Other examples of services that can be delivered in this scenario:
Benefits include greater convenience to the user, shared costs and improved pricing, and less administration and paperwork. For staff, it will mean less hassle in getting a new operation up and running.
5.� Specialist/Expert Service Centre. Through the use of computer technology, internal and external clients can access "experts" in government directly and quickly, reducing the need to duplicate similar services and improving the rate and success of client response.
Example: It's 5:00 p.m., Tokyo time, and the trade officer clicks the mouse on her computer to transmit the meeting report on a just-completed international conference on new building materials. Seconds later, in the very early hours of the morning, the report arrives at six computers back in Ottawa, awaiting action from a "virtual group" of experts who meet as required by computer. By noon that day, the building materials expert at the National Research Council has electronically routed a summary of the report to a list of six Canadian companies which the expert group decided could benefit from three marketing opportunities unearthed at the conference by the trade officer. A businesswoman and her partner in Saskatoon receive the report by fax and have a request for more information on their fax back to Tokyo by end of day in Saskatoon. Six months later, the Saskatoon company is closing a deal with companies in Vancouver, Calgary and Tokyo to participate in a bid to provide a UN aid agency with portable all-weather shelters in refugee camps in a war-torn part of the world. Back in Ottawa, the expert group of building material specialists is commenting on a consultant's report prepared for the World Bank. A summary is scheduled to be faxed to nine Canadian companies which might benefit, including one in Saskatoon. The trade officer in Tokyo will also get a copy overnight by E-mail.
Another example of a service that could be delivered in this scenario:
Benefits include convenience to the user, and lower travel costs for experts and other employees. There will also be increased opportunity for carrying out activities that add value and for generating revenue.
6.� Supplier Interface (extended enterprise). Suppliers and internal consumers are connected directly to the government's order and payment systems, becoming an extension of these systems.
Example: In the offices of six different suppliers, sales managers are watching the clock and their computer screens. In 10 minutes, and for the following hour, the federal government will be holding an electronic auction-style competition for the right to provide a year's supply of optical disks, magnetic tape and computer disks. It's an experiment, a bit like electronic trading on the stock market, but it beats shipping a five-pound document by courier every month to the government's bidding centre in Hull. One of the advantages is that, because the products are to be delivered to federal and provincial agencies in 16 separate geographic locations, there's a good chance that all of the suppliers will get some business, depending on how they bid on transportation costs for each of the regional "buys". And, of course, because the bids are made in electronic form, payment is made directly to the supplier's bank account as each shipment is received.
Another example of a service that could be delivered in this scenario:
Benefits include convenience to the user, lower handling costs and increased speed of delivery and payment to both the service provider and recipient. For staff, it will translate into more demand for knowledge workers, to handle and interpret the electronic information coming into and leaving government.
The Information View represents the third step in the approach to government service renewal and underscores the importance of redesigning processes and systems to gather, access and share common information.
The two main objectives of this view are to
In order to achieve the above objectives, it will be necessary to give due regard to privacy and security issues, including assuring that information collected by law for only one purpose will not inadvertently be used for other purposes.
As with other views in the Blueprint, the Information View benefits considerably from taking an enterprise-wide perspective. Information gathered for a program or service that is being re-engineered may, upon examination with a broader view in mind, be extremely valuable to programs or services in another part of government or at another level of government.
The common collection, analysis and sharing of information within and between government programs and services will be essential in delivering government services to clients in a more unified way. For example, the Revenue Canada project to create a single system for corporate taxes, including customs, income tax and GST, is founded on the ability to share taxpayer information between programs and systems. Creating a single registration number and consolidated account for a corporate taxpayer requires having access to and sharing information.
The Blueprint vision of increased connectivity within government, with other governments, with private industry and with members of the public reflects the view that collecting, analysing, using, managing, transferring and disseminating information will soon become an even more essential role of government departments and agencies.
To play its proper role in the improved delivery of government services, information must either be collected originally in or translated into a digital format. The information must be shared and re-used rather than re-collected in different forms by various programs and services. Special steps must be taken to ensure the integrity and quality of the information and the consistency of its use. Government will also have to ensure that special precautions are taken to respect individual privacy, security and information access laws that have been enacted by governments to protect its citizenry against unwarranted information intrusion.
Some of the information collected by government will have additional value when shared with other levels of government and with the public. For example, aggregated and segmented economic information will be of special interest and value to the business sector. There may be new opportunities for partnerships. Private-sector information enterprises, for instance, could disseminate government information and provide government with the external information it needs to manage and renew the Public Service, while public-sector institutions, such as public libraries, could expand their roles as repositories of government information. Demographic and statistical information will become more readily used in business, education, research and other everyday activities.
The integrated approach to information set out in this blueprint provides a variety of benefits: improved decision-making by program managers and policy-making by government as a whole, at both strategic and operational levels; enhanced client service, especially where government processes collect usable information about clients and their wants and needs; and easier and speedier service delivery to all regions of the country, especially rural and more remote areas. In addition, information is a vital instrument of government accountability.
The existence of timely and reliable information in electronic form permits the creation and operation of "virtual" groups of experts or decision-makers. These groups can make faster and more accurate decisions on, for example, the entitlement of individual Canadians to social benefits. It is also an essential ingredient for new forms of remote training and education. Staff will gain greater interaction with colleagues and easier access to mission-critical information. They will also be required to upgrade knowledge-worker skills through continuous training.
Under the Information View, there are two types of information: that required for internal processes and, therefore, for automating processes; and that which has value as a common resource, for third parties. Some would argue that both categories of information residing within government represent a public good. Government information, in this way, should be treated as a national resource, vital to the country's social, cultural and economic development.
Another area of growing importance is external information brought into government for decision-making. It may be electronic news used to keep abreast of government announcements and relevant political and business developments, or statistical or financial information required for the analysis of business trends and conditions. Or it may be reports, via electronic mail, of international trade opportunities from government posts abroad.
Information is collected for use across government to carry out its business. This information can be managed so that business processes related to delivering common support services over a networked environment can be automated. Examples follow.
There is also a need to provide various types of government information of common use across the government. These can readily be put into a computer-accessible form and made available via the government enterprise network. These include:
Common information, once captured, can be shared among multiple users. After information that satisfies many requirements is identified, services can be developed and shared for planning, acquiring, maintaining and disposing of it. Common information is an integral part of the renewal efforts for re-engineering work processes and developing and sharing application systems.
The public and special interest groups also have a direct interest in many of these information resources. Providing improved access to this information by using the government enterprise network will benefit many client groups.
As with technology, there is a need to increase the use of standards for collecting and exchanging data in order to minimize costs, maximize efficiency, and encourage the free flow of information.
The valid concerns regarding copyright, privacy and security are fully recognized in the Information View of this blueprint.
The Application View (the fourth step in the approach to government service renewal) links the work process and information models together. The goal is to have as much of the information as possible maintained in computer-accessible form. Applications create, update, access and delete these automated information bases. These applications support the work processes by providing automated procedures and managing information storage and retrieval in support of service delivery. The Blueprint makes key distinctions between applications that assist the user in performing the work processes (workflow managers) and applications that manage the resulting updates to information files (transaction managers).
This future application environment will provide staff with the "intelligence" at their desktop computers to handle the information and the transactions associated with their day-to-day activities. While the skills required will be higher in many cases, challenge and job satisfaction should also be much enhanced.
The different types of applications are described below.
Service transaction managers will evolve gradually to become generic and discrete, dedicated to a very specific common type of transaction. By using middleware, older, mainframe-based applications can continue to be used. They can be treated as quasi-service transaction managers by suppressing reporting and other functionalities. Their transaction processing capability can be adapted to accept data capture from readily available workflow automation mechanisms such as intelligent electronic forms.
Supplier applications can also be directly linked with support services through such techniques as EDI, bulletin boards or sharing databases. Typically, the common support services would interface with supplier information applications and order processing, order status management and settlement processes.