Performance Monitoring Report 2007-2008

4. INITIATIVES RESULTS FOR 2007-2008

This section provides information on initiatives in which the NPB was involved in 2007/08.

The Modern Management Agenda

Increasingly, federal departments and agencies are being called upon to pursue modern management practices which break down barriers to effective operations and support cooperative efforts with a wide variety of partners and stakeholders. They are being called upon to employ a range of management tools and technology which focus on quality service, including a citizen focus, results and responsible spending.

In this context, the Board is involved in an array of management initiatives which comprise a modern management agenda.

Modernization of comptrollership is TBS's underlying principle of modern management. Through this initiative, departments and agencies were expected to stimulate continuous improvement and greater effectiveness and accountability.

At the Board, the modernization of comptrollership, an initiative launched several years ago by the TBS, laid the foundation for the Management Accountability Framework (MAF).

The MAF, in its simplest form, is a set of ten statements summarizing the TBS's expectations for modern public service management. It was developed to provide public service managers, especially deputy heads, with a clear list of management expectations within an overall framework for high organizational performance.

The MAF focuses on management results rather than required capabilities; provides a basis of engagement with departments; and suggests ways for departments both to move forward and to measure progress.

The MAF can be further described in three ways:

First, the MAF is a vision for good management. It establishes the framework of accountability for deputy heads to ensure that the conditions for good management are put in place in order to achieve Results for Canadians .

Second, the MAF is a process. This process includes annual MAF assessments of most departments and agencies, engagement between deputy heads and TBS/CPSA where warranted, joint agreement on specific management improvement actions plans and ultimately public reporting on the state of management.

Third, the MAF is an analytical tool. The hierarchy of MAF expectations and indicators allows for focused analysis within the broader context of the MAF in order to identify management strengths and weaknesses both in individual departments and agencies and on a government wide basis.

The MAF consists of ten essential elements of sound management, followed by a series of indicators and associated measures. It recognizes that the role of public service employees is to translate the direction provided by government into results for citizens.

The ten expectations of the MAF (Public Service Values; Governance and Strategic Directions; Results and Performance; Learning, Innovation and Change Management; Policy and Programs; Risk Management; People; Stewardship; Citizen-Focussed Service and Accountability) are interdependent, underlining the integrative nature of modern management. Values and ethics, for example, must be woven throughout each of the other nine functions.

The indicators in the MAF are meant to convey the breadth and meaning of the expectations. By setting out the objective for each of the ten elements, they also help to gauge progress towards those objectives.

The measures in the MAF are used to assess progress towards the objectives described by the indicators. While the expectations and indicators of management excellence should remain relatively stable over time, measures of management performance are likely to evolve as conditions, priorities and government-wide targets change.

In order to promote MAFs, the TBS proceeded, in 2004/05, to visit all federal agencies and the Board was no exception. Subsequent to the visit, the Board received a report card which detailed the improvements the Board had made and should make to its management practices with regards to the ten elements and measures of the MAF.

Since that time, the NPB has moved forward with the implementation of the MAF. The NPB's governance structure, which is essential to the functioning of projects and activities related to modern management, underwent an important restructuring. Originally comprised of five permanent committees and three sub-committees, the structure is now simplified and streamlined with governance issues focussed on two committees: Executive Committee and the Senior Management Committee. There are five advisory committees (Modern Management, Human Resources, Information Management, Planning and Performance Measurement and Finance and Administration).

In addition to the restructuring of NPB governance, the following projects have been undertaken to improve management practices at the NPB:

• a self evaluation report on information management practices;
• the development of an orientation framework for new employees;
• an organization-wide classification review was completed, which included considering both internal and external relativity;
• the hiring of a resource person to act as a Contracting Management Advisor;
• an internal evaluation of the modern management initiative;
• additional resources were approved by TBS to sustain program delivery. Workload formulas were used to justify resource requirements;
• the development and annual update of the corporate risk profile and integrated risk management framework;
• development and annual review of a five-year risk-based evaluation and audit plan;
• development of the learning policy;
• introduction of an integrated strategic and operational planning process;
• implementation of various aspects of the Government Security Policy;
• a new IT system for the pardons program (PADS-R) was developed and implemented, and
• participation in Round IV of TBS assessments of departments' MAFs.

Despite its small size and limited resources, the Board intends to continue to be proactive with regards to its modern management agenda.

Information Management and Technology

The NPB works with CSC in delivering the federal corrections, conditional release and pardons and clemency programs in Canada . While the Board is an independent decision-making body, its business processes are linked with those of CSC because of shared responsibilities and a shared commitment to public safety. For many years, CSC has provided services for the NPB in selected areas of information systems and technology such as the OMS and local and wide area networks.

The NPB, as a smaller organization with a modest history in systems development, had concerns about the long-term sustainability of its IT capacity. While IT resources for the NPB had increased substantially in the past few years, demands for new applications and services had continued to grow and outstrip the NPB's capacity.

Since CSC has a significantly larger IT capacity, it made sense for the NPB to enter into a shared services partnership whereby CSC would assume full responsibility for providing all IT services to the NPB.

The shared services agreement, which came into effect on April 1, 2007 , resulted in a transfer of IT resources from the NPB to CSC which will contribute to better meeting NPB's technology needs and priorities.

Government on Line (GOL)

GOL is also a fundamental element of the NPB's modern management agenda. The key challenge for the Board remains the development of a meaningful approach for GOL within the very limited resources available. As most people who contact the NPB have indicated that quality, timely information is the product that they most value, the NPB continues to focus its GOL priorities in this area.

In the fall of 2007, the NPB embarked on a project to ensure that its web site was current and reflected Government of Canada policies. The central object of the project was to build a new, more useful and usable, Common Look and Feel for the Internet 2.0 compliant web site. Phase I of the project involved an assessment and evaluation of the NPB's site with a focus on the organization and clarity of the NPB's messages and the content of the site. The assessment was completed in November 2007 and proposals are now being developed for a new corporate web site which meets the Government's common look and feel standards.

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