Operating context and key risks

From: Employment and Social Development Canada

Operating Context

Economic and social factors continue to impact the Department’s operations and the strategies that it adopts to achieve results. The operating environment in 2017-18 was characterized by a strong and growing economy, driven by consumer spending, strong regional housing markets, a robust global economy, as well as increased Government support for families and investments in infrastructure. Canada led G7 nations in GDP growth in 2017 and, several labour market indicators ̶ including employment and unemployment rates ̶ have reached historic levels. Meanwhile the number of Employment Insurance beneficiaries receiving regular income benefits decreased, reaching the lowest point in over two decades.

Going forward, rising international trade considerations and evolving political environments pose risks to the Canadian economy. In addition, a more modest pace of growth in GDP and employment can be expected as Canada’s population is aging and as skills and labour shortages are emerging in some regions and occupations. As a result, ESDC’s actions in 2017-18 focused on supporting inclusive growth through increased labour market participation of underrepresented groups – such as Indigenous peoples, recent immigrants, and persons with disabilities – and ensuring that Canadians have the right skills for tomorrow’s labour market to help maintain Canada’s pace of improvement in living standards. The Department also focused on the needs of the aging population by ensuring that the growing number of retirees and other individuals unable to maintain labour force attachment have sufficient income security.

Recognizing this context, as well as shifting client expectations and the Department’s growing number of beneficiaries, ESDC is exploring how it can transform the way it delivers services to Canadians in ways that improve access, quality, timeliness and experience. To meet this objective, the Department is working with its clients and other stakeholders to identify technology and service delivery best practices that can make our services more accessible. Service improvements are being advanced through the Department’s Service Transformation Plan. Of note, Budget 2018 committed significant investments to help ensure that Canadians receive services that meet their needs. For ESDC, this included commitments to modernize benefits delivery, including speeding up application processes; improving service delivery for Employment Insurance by ensuring timely and accurate benefit payments, improving access to call centres and streamlining employer reporting obligations; improving access to services for clients facing distinct barriers; and amending departmental legislation to allow for greater service delivery collaboration.

Key Risks

The key risks in 2017 –18 relate to the Department’s ability to deliver an ambitious service transformation agenda while maintaining ongoing service delivery to Canadians; using data to enable service and policy objectives while upholding the commitment to privacy and the protection of personal information; and maintaining a skilled workforce for current and future operational needs. To mitigate these risks, the Department created governance structures to balance its service transformation initiatives and ongoing program delivery, including the introduction of the Investment Advisory Group to maximize its investments in Information Technology. As of March 31, 2018, ESDC was also finalizing its new Departmental Security Plan to strategically manage data and privacy. With respect to financial and human resource capacity, ESDC introduced workforce strategies to advance the Department’s objectives in 2017-18.

Specific corporate risks and progress towards their mitigation are provided in the following Risk Table.

Key Risks
Risks Mitigating strategy and effectiveness Link to the Department’s Programs Link to mandate letter commitments or to government-wide and departmental priorities
There is a risk that ESDC will not meet Canadians’ rising expectations of receiving government services in an easy-to-access, timely, accurate and efficient manner. To help meet Canadian’s expectations on service delivery, ESDC introduced the Service Strategy and Service Transformation Plan (STP). The STP is a multi-year plan to modernize and improve service delivery that will allow Canadians to digitally self-serve, access services seamlessly and receive high-quality, timely and accurate services.

The STP is client-focused and continues to engage Canadians through surveys, focus groups and rapid proto-typing to improve client-experience and meet their expectations.

ESDC has also developed and implemented Application Portfolio Management to manage the suite of Information Technology applications and platforms that support the delivery of services, which includes developing plans for decommissioning and replacement of solutions. This process determined whether the Department invested in or divested from particular IT applications based on the larger transformation objectives.
This horizontal risk links to all departmental programs and services. Mandate letter commitments:

Deliver real results and professional government to Canadians

Track and report on progress of Government of Canada commitments

Align departmental resources with priorities in order to get the results [that] Canadians deserve

Work must be informed by performance measurement [and] feedback from Canadians

Work with the Minister of Public Services and Procurement to set transparent service standards so that Canadians get timely access to the benefits to which they are entitled

Departmental priorities:

Develop and implement modern IT infrastructure and platforms that enable effective, efficient and timely availability of information across the organization

Clients can complete all services using digital self-service

Clients can access bundled and connected services seamlessly across channels

Clients receive high-quality, timely and accurate services

Clients’ needs are anticipated
There is a risk that the Department will not be able to effectively deliver on the current government’s agenda and the Department’s transformational initiatives while also delivering ongoing services. The Service Transformation Plan (STP) was launched to achieve the goals and commitments of the ESDC Service Strategy and the department-wide modernization framework. A Service Transformation Committee was also established to provide an enterprise-wide leadership function for the STP.

ESDC developed service improvement strategies for the Canada Pension Plan and Old Age Security to ensure Canadians receive their pension and benefits in a timely and accurate manner while also generating efficiencies in processing. Clients can now view their application status online and eligible seniors are auto- enrolled for Old Age Security.

To ensure that the delivery of programs and services remain uninterrupted, the Department continued to create, implement and monitor new and pre-existing Technical Recovery Plans and is finalizing the updates to the Business Continuity Management directive.

Service Level Agreements (SLAs) were pursued for specific services with Shared Services Canada (SSC), as required, and an IT Vendor Management Program was established to provide oversight of performance assessment and risks for vendors critical to ESDC programs and services.
This horizontal risk links to all departmental programs and services. Mandate letter commitments:

Deliver real results and professional government to Canadians

Track and report on progress of Government of Canada commitments

Align departmental resources with priorities in order to get the results that Canadians deserve
There is a risk that ESDC’s personal and sensitive information may be inadvertently or inappropriately accessed, used, disclosed and/or disposed of by employees or third parties. During 2017-2018, ESDC continued to strengthen the identification and assessment of privacy-related risks and improve mitigation processes to ensure compliance with privacy requirements and consideration of IM practices (retention periods, storage requirements, and security).

ESDC reviewed processes related to the prioritization of Privacy Impact Assessment (PIAs) and Information Sharing Agreements; undertook regular reviews of departmental privacy priorities; provided ongoing privacy policy and risk advice for programs and projects; and reviewed information on its Programs and Information Holdings (Info Source). ESDC continued to proactively support Privacy Act legislative changes by participating in activities related to the Department of Justice’s Privacy Act reform.

Results from a 2018 internal audit on the management and implementation of select PIAs are being used to ensure that the privacy practices comply with legal and policy requirements.

As of March 31, 2018, a new Departmental Security Plan was in final development stages; a standardized Threat and Risk Assessment process was drafted, and an enhanced security incident tracking system was introduced in the Regional Security Offices.

ESDC continued piloting a response and compliance management platform called ARCSight to determine whether it is effective to monitor logs and report on inappropriate access to the Social Insurance Number/Social Insurance Register application.

In 2017-18, ESDC continued to routinely conduct the Data in Use component to monitor for adherence to directives and completed the implementation of network traffic monitoring (Data in Motion) to identify and enforce appropriate and secure use of the electronic network.

In addition, ESDC undertook a review of its privacy governance framework whereby a new Data Privacy Committee was initiated to manage a balance between strategic data and privacy governance.
This horizontal risk links to all departmental programs and services. Mandate letter commitments:

Deliver real results and professional government to Canadians

Commitment to set a higher bar for openness and transparency in government

Departmental priorities:

Manage information and data to ensure they are usable and accessible horizontally across the Department as appropriate
There is a risk that current information management and tools, procedures and practices do not keep pace with the growth of, and increased demand for, electronic information, resulting in difficulties finding and accessing information, incomplete or untimely intelligence, and duplication of work to support senior management decision-making. ESDC advanced the development and implementation of a records retention and disposition strategy to improve its information management practices and keep pace with the growth of and increased demand for electronic information. A proof-of-concept, comprised of testing workflows and onboarding methodology, was completed for GCdocs in 2017-18.

As well, the first release of the Integrated Labour System was made available in January 2018 to develop and implement a single information technology system that can provide relevant data on operations and to enable interactions with clients using modern and accessible technology.
This horizontal risk links to all departmental programs and services. Mandate letter commitments:

Deliver real results and professional government to Canadians

Commitment to set a higher bar for openness and transparency in government

Departmental priorities:

Manage information and data to ensure they are usable and accessible horizontally across the Department as appropriate

Emphasize a systematic process for converting raw data into usable information that aids in decision-making and knowledge management
There is a risk that the Department will not be able to sustain a sufficient workforce or attract skilled employees with the appropriate competencies to meet current and future organizational needs. ESDC advanced the initiatives and activities of the ESDC Workforce Strategy and the 2017-18 Workforce Action Plan to effectively build human resource capacity to meet organizational needs.

In 2017-18, a Departmental Culture Assessment Survey was conducted and the results were analyzed in conjunction with other departmental survey results from 2014-2017. The results of the analysis will be used to develop a new Leadership Strategy which identifies key knowledge, mindset, and behavioural factors required by current and future ESDC leaders to align with the desired departmental culture. Other work underway in the Department includes the development and launch of a new integrated workforce planning approach for the ESDC Executive community to support executive development and succession planning needs.

In 2017-18, the Department began building a competency based management framework to support the development of employees. A Professional Development Framework, program and guidelines was developed for innovative hiring, recruitment approaches, development, and Retention of employees. Branches and regions across ESDC can use these guidelines to establish Professional Development Programs. A pilot EC Professional Development Program is targeted for 2018-19. Additionally, a departmental working group was established and work began to develop competency profiles and learning paths for various communities including four streams of the EC group, namely policy, research, evaluation and data.

The National Student Onboarding Program has also been established to attract and recruit top talent with sought-after skill sets and to leverage outreach with educational institutions, new assessment methods and innovative ways of marketing its employment opportunities.

To ensure that the Department continues to attract and retain a skilled workforce, ESDC developed and implemented the 2017-2020 ESDC Recruitment Strategy. The Strategy supports hiring for excellence and renewal of the organization’s workforce through strategic recruitment approaches, with a focus on hiring Indigenous talent, innovative job advertising practices and departmental communications/branding approaches to support recruitment efforts. As well, a new 2018-2021 Official Languages Action Plan and a renewed Second Language Learning Action Plan were developed to increase bilingual capacity in ESDC.
This horizontal risk links to all departmental programs and services Mandate letter commitments:

Deliver real results and professional government to Canadians

Track and report on the progress of Government of Canada commitments

Align departmental resources with priorities in order to get the results that Canadians deserve
There is a risk that the Department’s major projects may be over budget, face substantial delays and not be completed within scope. The Department continued to expand the use of current project management tools, such as the Project Management Information System to provide real-time information on project status, timelines and expenditures.

In addition, training and advisory support on project management best practices was provided to project team members along with the development of a Competency Development model for project managers. If required, the Department will leverage existing Capacity on Demand contracts for Project Management expertise.

The Department introduced a new Financial Management Advisor attestation to ensure financial accuracy, improve assurance approach and readiness of projects to proceed to the next stage of work. Projects and their financials are now reviewed before they are sent to the governing committee to request continuing to the next stage.

The combination of these items allow for projects to be better planned and managed, resulting in fewer delays and fewer cost increases throughout their life cycle.
This horizontal risk links to all departmental programs and services. Mandate letter commitments:

Deliver real results and professional government to Canadians

Departmental priorities:


Strengthen planning and performance via continuing the integration and utilization of business architecture and business process mapping across the enterprise
There is a risk that the Department’s major investment projects (e.g. replacing outdated IT infrastructure, systems and platforms) will not be optimized to meet business objectives. ESDC established an Investment Advisory group with members from various areas of the Department.

Using their business expertise, the advisory group reviews new and upcoming projects to prioritize and assess if they will meet the department’s business objectives and priorities, while still having the capacity to undertake these major investment projects.
This horizontal risk links to all departmental programs and services. Mandate letter commitments:

Deliver real results and professional government to Canadians

Align departmental resources with priorities in order to get the results that Canadians deserve

Departmental priorities:

Strengthen planning and performance via continuing the integration and utilization of business architecture and business process mapping across the enterprise
There is a risk that ESDC may not adequately meet the objectives or expected results of Treasury Board Secretariat’s Policy on Results thereby limiting its ability to effectively achieve and communicate results to Canadians. ESDC developed the Departmental Results Framework (DRF) Core Responsibilities, Results and Indicators based on extensive department-wide consultations. The framework illustrates both the Department’s performance and the policy goals it seeks to achieve or contribute to.

The DRF was successfully approved by the Treasury Board in Fall 2017 and will be used as the framework to report against for fiscal year 2018-2019. Performance Information Profiles for each of ESDC’s programs were also developed to provide information on the objectives of each program and the results and outcomes they seek to achieve.

To support the implementation of the policy, the Department appointed a Chief Results and Delivery Officer and established the Performance Measurement and Evaluation Committee to provide guidance and oversight.
This horizontal risk links to all departmental programs and services. Mandate Letter Commitments:

Deliver real results and professional government to Canadians

Strong focus on results

Expectation to track and report on the progress of commitments; assess the effectiveness of ESDC’s work; align resources with priorities, in order to get results for Canadians

Work will be informed by performance measurement, evidence and feedback from Canadians

Departmental Priorities:

Continue the improvement of the Department’s integrated planning process through further refinement and usage of the departmental strategic framework, along with streamlined planning and performance processes and the introduction of a planning and performance management tool

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