2022–23 Departmental Plan

From the Minister

I am pleased to present the 2022–2023 Departmental Plan for Shared Services Canada (SSC).

As the Minister responsible for SSC, I ensure that the Department provides modern, secure and reliable information technology (IT) services. SSC works with partners across the Government of Canada to advance Canada’s Digital Government Strategy. Our partners rely on secure and efficient digital infrastructure that allow Canadians to access government benefits and services from anywhere, at any time, from any device.

Nearly two full years into the COVID-19 pandemic, protecting the health and safety of Canadians remains a top priority for the Government of Canada. SSC, along with our colleagues at Public Services and Procurement Canada, will work toward a future of work vision for federal employees that supports their post-pandemic work environment. At the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, the Government of Canada quickly transitioned to a largely remote work environment. SSC has put in place technologies and programs that enable public servants to better collaborate and maximize productivity. SSC is preparing infrastructure to support both remote and onsite work as it continues to provide innovative, integrated and reliable information and communication solutions to public servants who deliver services to Canadians.

Finally, I am proud to lead the work on the Next Generation Human Resources and Pay (NextGen) initiative to ensure our valued public servants are paid accurately, on time, every time. SSC is developing an HR and pay solution that will work on an enterprise scale across all federal departments and agencies and is built on users’ needs and proven people management processes.

I encourage you to read our Departmental Plan to learn more about how we will deliver on these and other priorities for Canadians.

Plans at a glance

Digital Government

SSC is responsible for operating and modernizing the Government of Canada’s (GC) IT infrastructure, which is the backbone of digital government. SSC provides networks and security, data centres and Cloud offerings, digital communications, and IT tools to enable the public service to effectively deliver services to Canadians.

SSC will support a digital government by expanding and improving the scope of digital service capacity, accelerating the pace of digital modernization, and, strengthening the ongoing support for digital tools, systems and networks government-wide.

Digital transformation

The global COVID-19 pandemic has fundamentally altered the context in which the GC operates to deliver programs and services to Canadians. Remote work has become a norm for many office workers, with transactions and interactions between different stakeholders being conducted predominantly at a distance with digital tools. SSC implemented major upgrades to the enterprise network to support federal employees to work from home during the course of the COVID-19 pandemic.

With the pandemic evolving, and the demand for SSC’s services increasing, SSC is preparing the infrastructure for a post pandemic work environment that supports both remote and onsite work. SSC is adjusting its focus to be able to provide a similar user experience with modern digital tools in federal buildings that workers currently experience with remote work. To accomplish this, SSC is working with partner departments on network capacity of GC buildings and other improvements to enable the delivery of services to Canadians.

Enterprise Approach

In 2019, SSC outlined its strategic direction in SSC 3.0: An Enterprise Approach. This has guided SSC’s efforts to focus its service delivery model towards serving the common needs of the enterprise at speed and scale, while still allowing enough flexibility to address unique departmental requirements. An enterprise approach focuses on reducing the proliferation of similar IT solutions across the GC that meet common IT needs. The enterprise approach is key to the success of digital government keeping with new technologies and managing emerging risks. The GC’s response to the pandemic highlighted the benefit of taking a government-wide enterprise approach to IT infrastructure services.

2022-23 Strategic Priorities

As the government becomes more dependent on IT infrastructure for its day to day business, SSC is faced with increased demand for repairs and maintenance and to support the security of GC IT infrastructure. The Strategic Priorities for 2022-23 build on the direction outlined in SSC 3.0, reflect continuous technological advances, and support the ongoing transformation of the GC’s IT infrastructure and service to meet current and future needs.

Core responsibility: planned results and resources, and key risks

This section contains information on the department’s planned results and resources for core responsibility. It also contains information on key risks related to achieving those results.

Common Government of Canada IT Operations

Description

Using a government-wide approach, SSC delivers reliable and secure IT operations, IT infrastructure and communication and workplace technology services that support and enable government-wide programs and digital services for the Public Service.

Planning highlights

To support enterprise operations, SSC is working to build and strengthen the federal government’s foundational IT infrastructure. The Departmental Plan for 2022–23 identifies four areas: networks and security, enterprise tools, modern application platforms and enabling the enterprise that will continue to meet the needs of today while preparing to meet the needs of tomorrow.

Priority 1 — Networks and Security

Consistent with the enterprise approach SSC will be accelerating its work to transform the current patchwork of networks into modern and secure networks and IT infrastructure that work in office buildings and for remote work. As new technologies require more network capacity to perform as designed and as new security threats emerge, SSC will continue to invest in maintaining and building an agile, secure and resilient network that is optimized for cloud. Improvements will consider network resources that are readily available in the private sector and scalable on demand in order to efficiently support partner departments.

Departmental result

Government departments and agencies receive modern and reliable network services: Now, more than ever, Canadians want to receive modern digital services from the GC that are fast, reliable and secure. As a result, the demand for faster networks with greater available bandwidth and hosting solutions that can support heavier work loads has significantly increased. The network is indispensable for delivering services to millions of Canadians. SSC provides the network infrastructure, operations and services, ensuring that government departments and agencies have reliable, secure networks that enable productivity and connectivity.

Planning Highlights

In 2022-23, SSC will be undertaking further Network Modernization to support the post pandemic work environment. SSC is working towards a workforce that can work from anywhere (e.g., home, office, public spaces), and seamlessly transition from any environment or department with a single digital identity. SSC will work to update existing networks within GC buildings while also leveraging commercial networks.

Network Modernization

The GC network includes approximately 50 networks, spanning approximately 4,000 sites and approximately 5,000 buildings. It reaches over 400,000 users in Canada and around the world. This network includes many diverse physical devices and different levels of integration, creating a complex digital landscape that is ill suited for the growing needs to support a digital government. In 2022-23, SSC will deliver continuous upgrades to meet increasing demand for higher bandwidth for users, reduction of single points of failures, standardization and modernization of networks.

Hybrid Network Model

As part of network modernization efforts, SSC is exploring the adoption of an increasingly hybrid network model, where network improvements will incorporate network resources that are readily available in the private sector and scalable on demand in order to efficiently support partner departments. This will increase bandwidth availability and broaden network resilience.

Since the onset of the pandemic, public servants have been connecting to the GC network through commercially provided Internet services at home. As the Digital Communication and Collaboration platform Microsoft Teams became a critical tool for the public service during the pandemic, it created an exponential increase in the demand for network capacity. SSC was able to increase operational reliance on Microsoft Teams videoconferencing and meet the bandwidth requirements by diverting traffic away from the GC network and leverage commercial networks.

The move to a hybrid network model, where security and logistics can be done remotely, allows commercial providers to run and maintain the physical infrastructure for network connectivity, while SSC maintains responsibility for its configuration, management, and security. SSC will advance the Hybrid Network Model by finalizing the design and procuring the necessary network services.

Regional Hubs Strategy

As government programs become more digital, high-speed, scalable, security-controlled Internet and cloud access will be important to improve the connectivity of public servants and Canadians. SSC wants to ensure that those working in the Regions are receiving the same IT performance as those working in the National Capital Region. SSC is creating geographically distributed Regional Communication Hubs to provide direct, appropriately-secured and consolidated access to cloud and Internet providers. This moves the network closer to the user with a direct path to applications and services ensuring a high-quality user experience. In 2022-23, SSC will finalize the implementation of the three primary domestic Regional Communications Hubs (Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver). SSC is also planning to include additional Regional Communication Hubs domestically (Eastern/Central Canada) and internationally (Europe/Asia).

Departmental Result

Government departments and agencies receive secure and reliable IT infrastructure and services: By providing secure infrastructure, SSC ensures that people, information, assets and services are safeguarded in accordance with GC policy requirements. Through this work, SSC helps to manage IT-related risks throughout the GC. Similar to technology advancement, cyberthreats are also growing in complexity and scope. The provision of consistent, available security services ensures ongoing and effective risk management.

Planning Highlights

As the GC is moving towards a workforce that is digitally-enabled and can work from anywhere, at any time, using networks that are local, in the cloud or a combination of the two, it has become increasingly important to ensure that digital identity management is a central component to GC IT security safeguards. To achieve this, SSC is adopting a “Zero Trust” approach to security and will continue to support secure Cloud offerings to partner departments.

Zero Trust Architecture

Zero Trust Architecture is a security framework requiring all users, whether in or outside the organization’s network, to be authenticated, authorized, and continuously validated before being granted or keeping access to applications and data. It represents a major paradigm shift in the approach to enterprise security that will have significant implications for the future of GC IT.

Zero Trust Architecture ensures that appropriate users can have access to the right applications and data under the right circumstances while limiting what a user can access and how long they can access it, which reduces impact of any potential security breaches and loss of valuable information.

SSC will develop and test solutions to advance components within a zero trust network, using science departments starting with the National Research Council, as a pilot case in defining GC-wide solutions.

Secure Cloud to Ground (SC2G)

Early adoption of cloud services by departments has highlighted a need to provide better and appropriately secure access to services and data hosted in the cloud. The Secure Cloud Enablement and Defence (SCED) initiative provides the security controls necessary to safeguard data hosted in cloud environments. SC2G provides a secure communication for protected information between the GC network, partner departments, and Cloud Service Providers. In 2022-23, SSC will continue onboarding partner departments to the SC2G environment. Currently Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada, Indigenous Services Canada and Transport Canada are scheduled for 2022-23 and additional partner departments will be scheduled as they complete their cloud readiness activities. SSC will continue to stabilize secure remote access capacity for non-secret networks, enabling GC users to continue to work remotely with higher resiliency.

Cyber Security Procurement Vehicle

Every year, there are millions of cyberattacks worldwide and the GC is not immune to this threat. These threats continue to be a cause of concern for SSC and its partner departments. To protect against cyber attacks, Cyber security capabilities are used to safeguard GC networks, systems and information. SSC will use the Cyber Security Procurement Vehicle to deliver these capabilities to partner departments. This agile procurement vehicle will encourage industry participation and increase the pool of innovative solutions available for procurement and implementation.

Priority 2 — Enterprise Tools

SSC will implement modern, secure and robust enterprise tools and supporting capabilities for a digitally-enabled public service. Standard digital tools, like the Digital Communications and Collaboration platform enabled by Microsoft 365, can help to provide a common experience for every GC employee, regardless of their specific job or organization, and can provide a more equal technological base across the public service and a foundation for greater efficiencies, interoperability, and improved cooperation between public servants across various departments.

Departmental result

Government departments and agencies receive modern and reliable communications and workplace technology services: By providing communications and workplace technologies, SSC ensures public servants have access to technologies and programs that allow for communications between internal and external stakeholders and enable collaboration and productivity. To deliver the GC mandate, SSC provides efficient provisioning services required by government departments and agencies.

Planning Highlights

In 2022-23, SSC will continue to provide partner departments with standardized tools so that employees will be able to function efficiently from the office or remotely while still providing services to Canadians. SSC will also continue to develop enterprise-wise solutions to support greater standardization and consistency across client departments, including its work on the NextGen pay and human resources’ system.

Cloud Solution: Digital Communications and Collaboration (DCC)

Aligned with the GC’s Cloud Adoption Strategy, SSC is migrating departmental email systems to a consolidated cloud-based email solution using the M365 platform to provide public servants with the modern collaboration tools to work efficiently in a remote work environment. To date, SSC has migrated 27 partner departments and in 2022-23, SSC will begin migrating additional partner departments, which consists of approximately 550,000 email accounts. In addition, SSC will also evaluate approaches to a scalable service and support model that can be adapted for small departments and agencies to effectively adopt DCC tools.

Cloud Solution: Cloud Managed Desktop

Cloud Managed Desktops (CMD) will significantly improve user experience, where public servants can work from anywhere, on a GC device of their choosing to deliver on their mandate. CMD rapidly keeps devices up to date, enhance stability and security, optimize performance and provide users with more flexibility. CMD devices are managed and monitored over a public internet connection. In 2022-23, SSC will begin a pilot project for CMD that will refine and reframe the playbook based on pilot results and partner feedback.

Cloud Solution: Contact Centre Modernization

SSC is modernizing departmental call centres for partner departments to help improve service to Canadians. The recent establishment of both private and public cloud procurement options offers a robust and modern set of solutions, in alignment with the GC Cloud Adoption Strategy, to address the large variety of contact centre needs across GC. In 2022-23, the migration of partner contact centres from legacy solutions to modern platforms moves into full acceleration. In addition, SSC will also focus its modernization activities to initiate the migration of over 45 contact centres to new private or public cloud solutions.

Modernizing a Human Resources and Pay System

The GC requires a modern and sustainable HR and Pay capability that will consistently provide employees with accurate, appropriate and timely compensation, and that is structured to meet both the government’s current and future HR needs. SSC is leading this work in collaboration with the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS), the Office of the Chief Human Resources Officer, Public Services and Procurement Canada and volunteer partner departments. Next Generation Human Resources and Pay (NextGen Hr and Pay) is part of the GC’s enterprise initiative to replace old systems with modern digital solutions. As an enterprise initiative, NextGen HR and Pay aims to have the right information required to make informed and appropriate recommendations towards a user-centric, sustainable and efficient digital HR and pay solution for the GC.

SSC will test the proposed solutions against the complexities of the GC’s HR and pay requirements; prove there is a viable solution to solve the defined business problem; seek clarity for the business process redesign, change management activities and training required to adopt a new solution - all while testing the viable working relationships with vendors. To test the solution, SSC is working with the following volunteer organizations: Canadian Heritage, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Indigenous Services Canada, Crown Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada and the Canadian Economic Development for Quebec Regions. These tests with the volunteer organizations will allow SSC to provide an evidence-based recommendation to the GC regarding the replacement of the current pay system, and the replacement of 35 separate HR systems, with an integrated solution with proven functionalities.

In 2022-23, SSC’s focus is to complete this iterative testing of a solution to support a well-informed final decision. It will continue to build on the ongoing engagement with key stakeholders, such as employees and managers, HR practitioners, compensation advisors and bargaining agents to simplify processes where possible, and ensure the proposed solution meets user needs. SSC is using an agile and iterative approach by taking the necessary time to be flexible and move from one step while being informed of the lessons learned from the past.

Internal Audit Enterprise Application – TeamMate+

Recently, SSC has been approached about providing support with the delivery of certain enterprise applications/software. In 2022-23, SSC, along with TBS, will conduct a pilot with the Office of the Comptroller General and partner departments on the implementation of a multi-departmental GC enterprise platform to support the internal audit process across the GC. TeamMate+ is an internal audit and evaluation application suite used by the majority of SSC’s partner departments. The TeamMate+ pilot, will be supported by SSC using a multi-departmental application platform rather than on a per department basis. This new support model provides the opportunity to simplify support and increase application reliability in support of common GC enterprise functions.

Supporting Enterprise Solutions for Science

Open Science is a GC initiative which focuses on the practice of making scientific inputs, outputs and processes freely available to all with minimal restrictions. Scientific research outputs include peer-reviewed science articles and publications, scientific and research data, and public contribution to and dialogue about science. This will provide Canadians with greater accessibility to learn about and participate in scientific processes. SSC plays an important role in supporting the Open Science Roadmap and partner departments by developing IT solutions to enable the publication of articles and data. In 2022-23, a publication platform will be implemented to allow federal science publications to be available to the public.

In addition, SSC will identify data solutions and services for science organizations, which will result in improvements for science departments to collect, access, analyze, process, visualize, store and govern data, while respecting security and privacy. SSC will evolve the GC Science Network to provide a modern high-bandwidth rapid network that enables scientists to conduct their research across the GC. This will allow scientists to collaborate with other scientists across the GC, academia, and industry, as well as to exchange large amounts of data, and access research equipment, labs and computing/storage services in a secure environment.

Priority 3 — Modern Application Platforms

Currently, many GC digital services that rely on aging IT run the risk of service interruption, loss of data and security breaches. SSC has made significant progress in modernizing and strengthening the GC IT infrastructure to support the latest technologies and applications. SSC will continue to work with the Office of the Chief Information Officer at TBS and partner departments to ensure that the application platforms and systems that support service directly are modern, secure and reliable.

Departmental result

Government departments and agencies receive modern and reliable hosting solutions and platforms: The provision of reliable hosting solutions and platforms—through SSC’s Enterprise Data Centres or through Cloud options—reduces the risk of service outages and failures for the applications hosted on these solutions. SSC works to provide efficient procurement of solutions as well as the availability of hosting solutions and platforms for government departments and agencies to serve Canadians.

Planning Highlights

In 2022-23, SSC will continue to support partner departments to move applications to modern hosting solutions, such as to the Cloud or to Enterprise Data Centres so Canadians continue to receive uninterrupted quality services that benefit from the latest technologies. In addition, SSC will continue to conduct critical IT repair and replacement of assets for key government undertakings to ensure that services continue to be delivered and can be modernized efficiently.

IT Repair and Replacement

The routine ongoing repair and upgrade of tangible (for example, hardware) and intangible (for example, software) assets supports the reliability of digital government, including the security and protection of government’s and Canadians’ data. Supported in part by the funding received in the 2021 Budget, SSC will continue performing critical upgrades and modernization of GC’s IT infrastructure to ensure its sustainability and integrity. This is critical for delivering GC departmental programs and providing digital services to Canadians. In 2022-23, SSC will complete the physical asset inventory of IT equipment and continue to consolidate and modernize network and computer infrastructure, storage and operating systems.

Workload Modernization and Migration and Data Centre Closure

Workload Modernization and Migration supports the GC’s efforts to reduce the risk of system outages and information technology infrastructure failures. It provides the services for departments to assess and move their software applications and data from old data centres to modern hosting solutions such as Cloud and Enterprise Data Centres. This includes an assessment and prioritization of applications through the industry established TIME methodology (Tolerate, Innovate, Migrate and Eliminate). Workload migration projects are multi-year endeavours based on the analysis of current and future requirements through consultation with customers and industry experts. Supported by the funding received in the 2021 Budget, SSC will continue to help departments move applications to modern computing facilities. In 2022-23, the Data Centre Closure Program will continue to focus on the small and medium legacy data centres scattered across the country and prioritizing the sites to achieve maximum return on investment and the greatest overall application health and reliability.

Develop and Evolve the Cloud Operating Model

To enable the GC to take full advantage of Cloud services, SSC will continue efforts to adopt and strengthen enterprise cloud operations. In conjunction with TBS, the GC Cloud Operating Model will provide guidance to partner departments as they develop cloud solutions in a common approach across the GC. This work includes the establishment of a GC-wide enterprise cloud platform and standard approaches for Departments to adopt any of the Government’s six Cloud Service Providers.

SSC and TBS are developing roadmaps and strategies for the use of public, hybrid and private cloud. This will include the evolution of standards and tools as required that will be used to provide a consistent and standardized approach for partner departments across the GC. In 2022-23, SSC will create special teams (application enablement squads) that will work hand-in-hand with partner departments as they migrate their applications and begin taking advantage of the Cloud.

Priority 4 — Enabling the Enterprise

Progress on SSC 3.0 priorities to date has highlighted the value of the enterprise approach for the GC by better positioning the GC to deliver robust, secure and reliable digital services and programs – and is essential to positioning Canada for success in digital government. New technologies will be essential to ensuring the cyber safety, safekeeping of information, and delivering modern programs and services. SSC must monitor and understand developing digital trends and be in a position to cater to specialized demand by partners. Lastly, SSC will work to strengthen governance, funding and decision-making to incentivize the enterprise approach.

Departmental result

Government departments and agencies receive effective IT project management: SSC is the authoritative source for the GC to provide enterprise IT infrastructure solution design, and often plays a supporting role in IT projects that are led by other departments to help them in achieving their goals for Canadians. In 2022-23, SSC’s department-wide project management framework will continue to enable project success and agility to ensure that projects adhere to GC policies and standards.

Planning Highlights

SSC is the authoritative source for the GC to provide enterprise IT infrastructure solution design, and plays a supporting role to partner departments that helps them deliver services to Canadians. In 2022-23, SSC will continue to provide IT support to partner departments so that the GC can deliver on Canada’s Digital Government Strategy and provide services to Canadians.

Customer-Led Projects

SSC works closely with other partner departments to provide support in customer-led projects. Some key customer-led projects include:

• Immigration, Refugee and Citizenship Canada and Canada Border Services Agency
  • Asylum Modernization Program (Asylum Interoperability Project and Security Screening Automation Project)
• Immigration, Refugee and Citizenship Canada
  • Digital Platform Modernization Program
  • Passport Program
• Employment and Social Development Canada
  • Benefits Delivery Modernization

Artificial Intelligence and Automation Service

Recently, Artificial Intelligence (AI) driven goods and services have become commonplace – AI is behind search algorithms, digital assistants, facial recognition, and text editors, to name a few. As AI continues to be integrated into the everyday lives of Canadians, the GC has a responsibility to leverage the potential benefits of this emerging technology to generate value for Canadians, while ensuring ethical, transparent and responsible use of AI in GC services. SSC has established an AI Centre of Excellence to support departments and enable the GC to derive business value through the application of AI best practices, capabilities and technologies. The AI initiative looks for ways to use transformative and disruptive technologies to enhance existing capabilities within departmental and fosters digital innovation. In 2022-23, SSC will actively engage partner departments to gain insight into their AI requirements and work closely to deliver AI-enabled infrastructure. SSC will also establish a Robotic Process Automation Centre of Excellence to accompany the AI Centre of Excellence. Its capabilities will ensure the GC is able to derive business value from predictive analytics, big data, and process automation and optimization.

Departmental result

Government departments and agencies receive effective IT service management: IT Service Management (ITSM) is the design, planning, prioritization, delivery and operation of IT services. From a performance perspective, it guides SSC’s response to resolve issues affecting services, and whether these services meet the expectations of government departments and agencies. ITSM ensures government departments and agencies receive services that perform consistently, and that they are satisfied with these services.

Planning Highlights

Over the past few years SSC has demonstrated a continuing commitment to providing effective ITSM to meet the expectations of partner departments. The implementation of enterprise-wide ITSM processes will provide further improvements. During 2022–23, SSC will modernize how it delivers service to provide our partners with increased agility in delivering stable and secure digital services to their customers.

IT Service Management

SSC will continue to enhance and modernize its service management practices through a variety of activities and projects to improve the delivery of services to partner departments across the GC and add capabilities to manage our services better. The following initiatives will improve the efficiency and effectiveness of our services.

• Enterprise IT Service Management Tool: SSC is continuing to promote enterprise-wide ITSM processes aimed at improving the efficiency of operations and supporting consolidated performance reporting. Internally, these processes will be enabled through the implementation of SSC’s ITSM Tool, SSC Onyx, which will reduce the number of ITSM tools and allow all SSC employees to work with a single ITSM tool. In 2022-23, all current users of SSC’s previous ITSM tool, the Enterprise Control Desk, will be onboarded to SSC Onyx. This new ITSM tool will improve how we serve our partner departments by putting in place a single self-service portal to support service requests, incident reporting, and provide real-time information about service requests. These changes will evolve and mature SSC’s service management processes, create operational efficiencies by enhancing automation and streamlining workflows, and improve the quality of data that supports service standard analytics.
• Enterprise Monitoring Solution: SSC is continually monitoring the GCs IT infrastructure so it can anticipate problems before they occur. In 2022-23, SSC will continue to develop and refine the scope of an Enterprise Monitoring Solution that will provide a centralized enterprise view of the performance of the GC’s IT infrastructure leading to proactive diagnosis of issues and therefore improved responsiveness to IT incidents.
• Application Performance Management Solution: Many of the issues SSC manages on a day-to-day basis involve the interaction between applications and their platforms or hosting solutions. It isn’t always easy to identify who is responsible for addressing which parts of the problem. This solution will allow SSC and its partners to monitor the availability and performance of applications that are essential to the delivery of programs and services to Canadians and more efficiently identify the leads to fix the problem.

Enterprise Service Model

To move to an enterprise approach for managing IT services, the GC is implementing an Enterprise Service Model. The foundations of the Enterprise Service Model are: enterprise decision-making structures and processes for IT, mandatory IT service provisioning standards, enhanced IT planning, and sustainable funding. SSC will continue working with partner departments to implement the Enterprise Service Model.

The Enterprise Service Model emphasizes the whole-of-government enterprise shift away from a focus on individual departmental requirements, every organization operating independently to every organization applying standards in terms of consumption, configuration and utilization of IT systems and leveraging common tools. This will result in partner departments receiving quicker turnarounds, increased reliability, cost effectiveness and reduced risk.

Planning and Prioritization - GC Enterprise Portfolio Management (GC EPM)

SSC has made several changes to advance demand management processes and improve the delivery of IT infrastructure services across the GC. Although these changes have improved SSC demand intake and management, there remains considerable opportunities for improvement. The implementation of the GC EPM, which is being co-led by TBS and SSC, will further improve IT demand management and SSC business intake. This will also improve planning and prioritization of IT spending across the GC. Implementation will begin by on-boarding early adopter departments followed by additional departments.

Departmental result

Government departments and agencies receive effective and cost-efficient IT procurement: SSC provides the digital backbone of the federal government, which underpins essential services and programs, and facilitates the delivery of high-quality services to Canadians. SSC’s effective and cost-efficient IT procurement services enable this mandate and support the GC’s digital agenda by allowing government departments and agencies to access negotiated contracts and technically-validated procurement vehicles.

Planning Highlights

SSC will continue to modernize procurement, achieve value, strengthen collaboration with public and private stakeholders and enhance services. SSC recognizes that the business community, including Canadian small and medium enterprises (SME), has a key role to play in providing technology solutions. SSC will continue to develop initiatives to support Canadian SMEs and other priority groups to participate in IT procurement processes.

Modernization of IT Procurement

IT procurement drives innovation and economic growth, and advances environmental and socio-economic objectives, including relations with Indigenous peoples. The GC is committed to economic reconciliation with Indigenous peoples and will contribute to improved socio-economic outcomes by increasing opportunities for First Nations, Inuit and Métis businesses through the federal procurement process. In 2022-23, SSC is dedicated to meeting the GC’s commitment that a mandatory minimum target of 5% of the total value of contracts is awarded to Indigenous businesses annually. Progress in support of this initiative is well underway as SSC. In the calendar year of 2021, 2.5% of SSC’s total value of contracts were awarded to First Nations, Inuit and Métis businesses. While more work is needed, this provides a solid foundation upon which to build. SSC is also leading Scale Up, a social procurement pilot which simplifies the bidding process. The objective is to increase access to SSC procurements for micro and small enterprises, which include Indigenous and under-represented groups.

In addition, new service offerings allow government departments and agencies to obtain standardized and secured IT equipment in an effective and cost-efficient manner. In 2022-23, SSC will continue to manage GC network services through the network services procurement vehicles that will enable delivery toward a reliable, fast and scalable network. SSC will qualify telecom vendors in the following five services areas:

• Core Network Services
• Building Access Network Services
• Software Defined Wide Area Network Services
• Optical Network Services
• Leased Dark Fibre

SSC will establish the appropriate procurement vehicles and contracts in these areas. The GC is encouraging interested vendors to include in their response a socio-economic strategy to increase the participation of Canada’s priority groups in this procurement process.

United Nations’ (UN) 2030 Agenda For Sustainable Development And The UN Sustainable Development Goals

Planned activities under SSC’s core responsibility “Common Government of Canada Information Technology (IT) Operations” support Canada’s efforts to implement the United Nations 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). For example:

• SDG 6: Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all
  • SSC establishes enterprise data centres in LEED Silver certified facilities which may use less or no water for cooling and integrate other water conservation features (e.g., re-use of rainwater for toilets).
• SDG 9: Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation
  • Through data centre consolidation, SSC is replacing aging data centres with new state-of-the-art enterprise data centres (e.g. minimum LEED silver certified) that have built-in green technology and energy efficiency.
  • SSC and Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) launched the plastic and Electronic waste recycling challenge under the Innovative Solutions Canada Program to find a solution that will enable recycling and repurposing of electronic waste (plastics and metals) in Canada while respecting domestic and international requirements and obligations.
• SDG 12: Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
  • SSC requires most workplace technology devices (e.g., computers) it procures to be registered under the EPEAT^{Footnote 1} eco-label, reducing environmental impacts and encouraging environmental stewardship.
  • SSC participates in the Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) led Computer for Schools program, which refurbishes donated digital devices and distributes them to schools, libraries, not-for-profit organizations, Indigenous communities and eligible low-income Canadians. Equipment that cannot be re-used is either sold on GC Surplus (which ensures reuse of the equipment) or recycled with the Electronic Product Recycling Association (EPRA), which operates across 9 provinces and ensures secure, efficient and ethical recycling of IT equipment.

Experimentation

As SSC works towards transformation, and as we innovate and collaborate with partner departments on new ways of working, SSC’s approach is to start small, be agile and scale up. In turn, SSC will experiment with pathfinders, iterate, learn, iterate again and deliver. SSC will identify and lock-in standards and then scale up to deliver enterprise-wide solutions.

The departmental plan highlights several areas where this approach is being implemented next year, including its approach to Zero Trust Security, the development of NextGen and the approach to TeamMate+.

Key Risks

SSC Strategic Priorities will assist with managing the risks and/or opportunities associated with the achievement of departmental strategic outcomes and objectives. Additionally, SSC’s numerous initiatives will also help in mitigating key risks that may impact the delivery of services to Canadians.

The table below identifies SSC’s 2022-23 Key Risks for the enterprise. Ongoing risk monitoring, treatments and reporting are planned within SSC to effectively manage the key risks.

Planned results for Common Government of Canada Information Technology Operations

The following table shows, for Common Government of Canada Information Technology Operations, the planned results, the result indicators, the targets and the target dates for 2022–23, and the actual results for the three most recent fiscal years for which actual results are available.

Planned budgetary spending for Government of Canada Information Technology Operations

The following table shows, for Government of Canada Information Technology Operations, budgetary spending for 2022–23, as well as planned spending for that year and for each of the next two fiscal years.

Planned human resources for Government of Canada Information Technology Operations

The following table shows, in full time equivalents, the human resources the department will need to fulfill this core responsibility for 2022–23 and for each of the next two fiscal years.

Internal Services: Planned Results

Description

Internal services are the services that are provided within a department so that it can meet its corporate obligations and deliver its programs. There are 10 categories of internal services:

• management and oversight services
• communications services
• legal services
• human resources management services
• financial management services
• information management services
• information technology services
• real property management services
• materiel management services
• acquisition management services

Planning highlights

Internal services will be vital to contributing to SSC’s Strategic Priorities. Many of the initiatives associated with Internal Services will contribute significantly to an SSC workforce that is engaged, enabled, empowered and accountable. SSC strives to create a culture through its leaders that enshrines psychological health, safety and well-being in all aspects of the workplace through collaboration, inclusivity and respect. SSC is supporting its workforce through the following initiatives.

Psychological Health and Safety

SSC is promoting a psychologically safe and healthy workplace to improve employee mental health and wellness, as well as increase employee engagement, productivity, and recruitment and retention. To that end, key mental health and wellness activities at SSC will focus on the following pillars:

• Changing the Culture: Raise awareness about Mental Health and Wellness by coordinating and hosting learning sessions, developing communications, and collaborating with various employee networks and communities across SSC.
• Building Capacity: Continue to equip employees across the organization with meaningful tools to support their own psychological health (the Employee Assistance Program, The Working Mind training, etc.).
• Measuring and Reporting: Review available data on employee mental health to identify areas of risk and corrective actions. In order to measure progress, these will be evaluated and reported.

Diversity and Inclusion

At SSC, we are dedicated to meeting the highest standards of equality and non-discrimination, anti-racism, inclusion, dignity and respect—and are putting words into action. To help guide us through this journey now and into the future, we have developed a Diversity and Inclusion Framework through consultation with SSC diversity networks and analysis of our workforce data. The Framework is designed around four pillars: training, recruitment, talent management and accountability.

Advancing Accessibility at SSC and Throughout the GC

SSC provides adaptive, accessible solutions, accommodations and tools to employees both within SSC and throughout the GC. In 2022-23, SSC will develop a multi-year accessibility plan that will allow the department to track and report progress to meet accessibility obligations. SSC will also continue to evolve the Lending Library pilot project which mitigates procurement delays for short-term accessibility requirements, and eases the hiring process for employees with disabilities in the GC. As part of Accessibility, Accommodation and Adaptive Computer Technology, SSC will also continue to assist building accessible workplaces government-wide, particularly in support of the GC’s commitment to hire 5,000 employees with disabilities by 2025 and continue to embed accessibility into the procurement of information and communications technology.

SSC Leadership Development

SSC is focused on developing the leadership talent of current and future leaders. A Leadership Development Framework will be developed to strengthen SSC’s leadership culture by defining the requirements to ensure expected behaviors for leaders and employees are clear. In 2022-23, in addition to existing leadership activities, the department will add Character Based Leadership.

Departmental Financial Management System Optimization and Evolution

SSC is working to optimize the departmental Financial Management System (SAP) to enhance user functionality for budgeting, planning, and forecasting, project financials, time reporting and management of funds from initial sale to revenue collection within the system. In support of SSC priorities, certain functions need to be addressed more quickly and SSC has established the Financial Management Evolution to transform these functions within SSC to enhance financial stewardship and planning. In 2022-23, SSC will implement enhanced tools to simplify and standardize processes, establish clear roles and responsibilities, and develop enhanced guidelines.

Agile Procurement

SSC is implementing an agile contracting framework to execute procurement projects that will result in better contract outcomes, faster delivery, improved leverage of private sector expertise and that better meets the needs of the end-user.

Future of Work at SSC

SSC is contributing to the Future of Work initiative, including the development of a Hybrid Workforce Strategy. This includes a blended model of employees continuing to work virtually and onsite. Onsite workspaces will be equipped with modern tools and optimized spaces for operational requirements. The Future of Work strategy will bring together short-, medium- and long-term initiatives to support emerging considerations related to the workforce, workplace and technology throughout the GC. To support flexible work arrangements within government buildings and remotely, SSC is working to equip boardrooms with modern collaborative tools that utilize MS Teams at the Protected B level.

Cloud Strategy Implementation and Application Migration

SSC has developed a multi-year strategy to rapidly increase cloud maturity and readiness. In 2022-23, the Department will develop and implement a migration roadmap for SSC supported applications and capability to support the development of application migration plans.

Digital Identity and Directory Management

SSC has developed a multi-year roadmap to formalize digital identity and access management for the department. Through the Identity Access Management, the Department will create a single Digital Identity for SSC employees that can be used to improve user experience and enable services.

Planned budgetary spending for internal services

The following table shows, for internal services, budgetary spending for 2022–23, as well as planned spending for that year and for each of the next two fiscal years.

Planned human resources for internal services

The following table shows, in full time equivalents, the human resources the department will need to carry out its internal services for 2022–23 and for each of the next two fiscal years.

Planned spending and human resources

This section provides an overview of the department’s planned spending and human resources for the next three fiscal years and compares planned spending for 2022–23 with actual spending for the current year and the previous year.

Planned Spending

Departmental spending 2019–20 to 2024–25

The following graph presents planned spending (voted and statutory expenditures) over time.

Long Description - Departmental spending 2019–20 to 2024–25

Item	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22	2022-23	2023-24	2024-25
Statutory	95,769,540	122,017,068	119,438,350	117,709,463	102,897,316	101,262,398
Voted	1,877,826,947	2,190,180,205	2,307,252,850	2,501,186,152	2,171,869,583	2,006,484,009
Total	1,973,596,487	2,312,197,273	2,426,691,200	2,618,895,615	2,274,766,899	2,107,746,407

Budgetary planning summary for core responsibilities and internal services (dollars)

The following table shows information on spending for each of SSC’s core responsibilities and for its internal services for 2022–23 and other relevant fiscal years.

SSC’s planned spending reflects the amounts approved by Parliament to support the Department’s core responsibility. The approved amount is net of vote-netted revenue of $787.1 million in 2022-23.

The total expenditures net increase from 2019-20 to 2020-21 is mainly due to funding for IT Services, infrastructure and cyber security, communications services during COVID-19, the Workload Migration Program and the replacement and repair of ageing IT equipment.

The forecast spending for 2021-22 includes items such as the carry-forward from 2020-21, Next Generation Human Resources and Pay Solution, and Budget 2021 initiatives such as the Workload Modernization and Migration Program and the Secure Cloud Enablement and Defence Evolution and Departmental Connectivity and Monitoring initiatives.

The increase from 2021-22 forecast spending to 2022-23 planned spending is mainly due to the department’s implementation of the Information Technology Enterprise Service Model, and initiatives from Budget 2021, offset by the sunsetting of Budget 2018 funding and other projects and initiatives.

2022–23 budgetary gross and net planned spending summary (dollars)

The following table reconciles gross planned spending with net planned spending for 2022–23.

SSC is required to provide specialized IT services to its partners and clients. The 2022-2023 planned revenues of $787.1M represents the vote-netted authority for SSC which enables the department to re-spend the revenues received to offset the expenditures arising from their provision in the same fiscal year.

Planned Human Resources

The following table shows information on human resources, in full-time equivalents (FTEs), for each of SSC’s core responsibilities and for its internal services for 2022–23 and the other relevant years.

FTE increases throughout the fiscal years are mainly due to additional FTEs that were approved by SSC’s senior management to address the increased demand for SSC’s services and to support service delivery improvements.

The decrease from 2022-23 to 2023-24 and from 2023-24 to 2024-25 is due to a reduction in funding related to time-limited initiatives, including Budget 2021.

Estimates by vote

Information on SSC’s organizational appropriations is available in the 2022–23 Main Estimates.

Future-oriented Condensed Statement of Operations

The future-oriented condensed statement of operations provides an overview of SSC’s operations for 2021–22 to 2022–23.

The forecast and planned amounts in this statement of operations were prepared on an accrual basis. The forecast and planned amounts presented in other sections of the Departmental Plan were prepared on an expenditure basis. Amounts may therefore differ.

A more detailed future oriented statement of operations and associated notes, including a reconciliation of the net cost of operations with the requested authorities, are available on SSC’s website.

The decrease in planned revenue is attributable to the implementation of the Government Information Technology Enterprise Service Model.

Corporate information

Organizational profile

Appropriate minister: The Honourable Filomena Tassi, P.C., M.P.

Institutional head: Paul Glover, President, Shared Services Canada

Ministerial portfolio: Public Services and Procurement Canada, and Minister responsible for Shared Services Canada

Enabling instrument(s): Shared Services Canada Act

Year of incorporation / commencement: 2011

Other: Associated Orders-in-Council include Privy Council Numbers 2011-0877; 2011-1297; 2012-0958; 2012-0960; 2013-0366; 2013-0367; 2013-0368; 2015-1071, 2016-0003 and 2019-1372

Raison d’Être, Mandate and Role: Who We Are and What We Do

Information on SSC’s raison d’être, mandate and role is available on the department’s website.

Information on SSC’s mandate letter commitments is available in the Minister’s mandate letter.

Operating context

Information on the operating context is available on SSC’s website.

Reporting framework

SSC’s approved Departmental Results Framework and Program Inventory for 2022–23 are as follows:

Changes to the approved reporting framework since 2021–22

Supporting Information on the Program Inventory

Supporting information on planned expenditures, human resources, and results related to SSC’s program inventory is available on GC InfoBase.

Supplementary Information Tables

The following supplementary information tables are available on SSC’s website:

• Departmental Sustainable Development Strategy
• Gender-based analysis plus

Federal Tax Expenditures

SSC’s Departmental Plan does not include information on tax expenditures.

Tax expenditures are the responsibility of the Minister of Finance. The Department of Finance Canada publishes cost estimates and projections for government¬ wide tax expenditures each year in the Report on Federal Tax Expenditures. This report provides detailed information on tax expenditures, including objectives, historical background and references to related federal spending programs, as well as evaluations, research papers and gender-based analysis plus.

Organizational Contact Information

General inquiries

Please send your inquiries to the following email address: SSC.information-information.SPC@canada.ca.

Media inquiries

Please send your inquiries by email to SSC.media-medias.SPC@canada.ca or to the Media Relations Office by telephone at 613-670-1626.

Appendix: definitions

Appropriation (crédit)

Any authority of Parliament to pay money out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund.

Budgetary expenditures (dépenses budgétaires)

Operating and capital expenditures; transfer payments to other levels of government, organizations or individuals; and payments to Crown corporations.

Core responsibility (responsabilité essentielle)

An enduring function or role performed by a department. The intentions of the department with respect to a core responsibility are reflected in one or more related departmental results that the department seeks to contribute to or influence.

Departmental Plan (plan ministériel)

A report on the plans and expected performance of a department over a three‑year period. Departmental Plans are tabled in Parliament each spring.

Departmental result (résultat ministériel)

A consequence or outcome that a department seeks to achieve. A departmental result is often outside departments’ immediate control, but it should be influenced by program-level outcomes.

Departmental result indicator (indicateur de résultat ministériel)

A factor or variable that provides a valid and reliable means to measure or describe progress on a departmental result.

Departmental results framework (cadre ministériel des résultats)

A framework that consists of the department’s core responsibilities, departmental results and departmental result indicators.

Departmental Results Report (rapport sur les résultats ministériels)

A report on a department’s actual accomplishments against the plans, priorities and expected results set out in the corresponding Departmental Plan.

Experimentation (expérimentation)

The conducting of activities that seek to first explore, then test and compare, the effects and impacts of policies and interventions in order to inform evidence-based decision-making, and improve outcomes for Canadians, by learning what works and what doesn’t. Experimentation is related to, but distinct form innovation (the trying of new things), because it involves a rigorous comparison of results. For example, using a new website to communicate with Canadians can be an innovation; systematically testing the new website against existing outreach tools or an old website to see which one leads to more engagement, is experimentation.

Full‑time equivalent (équivalent temps plein)

A measure of the extent to which an employee represents a full person‑year charge against a departmental budget. Full‑time equivalents are calculated as a ratio of assigned hours of work to scheduled hours of work. Scheduled hours of work are set out in collective agreements.

Gender-based analysis plus (GBA+) (analyse comparative entre les sexes plus [ACS+])

An analytical process used to assess how diverse groups of women, men and gender-diverse people experience policies, programs and services based on multiple factors including race, ethnicity, religion, age, and mental or physical disability.

Government-wide priorities (priorités pangouvernementales)

For the purpose of the 2022–23 Departmental Plan, government-wide priorities are the high-level themes outlining the government’s agenda in the 2021 Speech from the Throne: protecting Canadians from COVID-19; helping Canadians through the pandemic; building back better – a resiliency agenda for the middle class; the Canada we’re fighting for.

Horizontal initiative (initiative horizontale)

An initiative in which two or more federal organizations are given funding to pursue a shared outcome, often linked to a government priority.

Non‑budgetary expenditures (dépenses non budgétaires)

Net outlays and receipts related to loans, investments and advances, which change the composition of the financial assets of the Government of Canada.

Performance (rendement)

What an organization did with its resources to achieve its results, how well those results compare to what the organization intended to achieve, and how well lessons learned have been identified.

Plan (plan)

The articulation of strategic choices, which provides information on how an organization intends to achieve its priorities and associated results. Generally a plan will explain the logic behind the strategies chosen and tend to focus on actions that lead up to the expected result.

Planned spending (dépenses prévues)

For Departmental Plans and Departmental Results Reports, planned spending refers to those amounts presented in the Main Estimates.

A department is expected to be aware of the authorities that it has sought and received. The determination of planned spending is a departmental responsibility, and departments must be able to defend the expenditure and accrual numbers presented in their Departmental Plans and Departmental Results Reports.

Program (programme)

Individual or groups of services, activities or combinations thereof that are managed together within the department and focus on a specific set of outputs, outcomes or service levels.

Program inventory (répertoire des programmes)

Identifies all of the department’s programs and describes how resources are organized to contribute to the department’s core responsibilities and results.

Result (résultat)

An external consequence attributed, in part, to an organization, policy, program or initiative. Results are not within the control of a single organization, policy, program or initiative; instead they are within the area of the organization’s influence.

Statutory expenditures (dépenses législatives)

Expenditures that Parliament has approved through legislation other than appropriation acts. The legislation sets out the purpose of the expenditures and the terms and conditions under which they may be made.

Target (cible)

A measurable performance or success level that an organization, program or initiative plans to achieve within a specified time period. Targets can be either quantitative or qualitative.

Voted expenditures (dépenses votées)

Expenditures that Parliament approves annually through an Appropriation Act. The vote wording becomes the governing conditions under which these expenditures may be made.