Information Management in the Government of Canada: The Vision

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Key Areas of Improvement

Three areas of improvement will result directly in the outcomes of the IM Program:

• Optimized information handling will preserve and safeguard programs’ information and ensure its availability to deliver services, collaborate, manage and trace processes and decisions.
• Sound IM Rules and Practices will ensure that information and supporting processes are structured to support service integration, promote the GC’s agility, uphold clients’ rights, ensure the integrity of the GC record, and support the GC in operating as an enterprise.
• Strong IM Program Management will result in an IM Program that is structured to operate effectively throughout the GC and has a clear value proposition.

Two other areas of improvement will support these:

• Mature IM Capability and Sustained IM Capacity; and
• Well-developed IM Community and Culture.

Capability, capacity, community and culture for IM are required to ensure that effective tools and a community of motivated, skilled people are available to support information handling, promulgate rules and practices and manage the IM program.

In each of these broad areas of improvement there are a number of innovations that include new or improved IM services as well as activities needed to ensure they are well used and maintained. These innovations were developed collaboratively using over 300 ideas generated by project participants. Subsequent phases of the project will develop strategies and designs to implement them (and may produce additional innovations to pursue). 

Please note that isolated work may be proceeding in these areas. Work on the IM Program innovations will take note of these initiatives in developing strategies and designs.

Innovations for each area of improvement are discussed below.

Optimized Information Handling

Business-aligned IM

Providing the right information at the right time according to existing and emerging business needs, particularly in relation to decision-making in the organization, will be instituted in a new information delivery service.  By using tools such as metadata and taxonomies, the information delivery service will function like a highly organized whole of government Intranet for information retrieval, guaranteeing a high degree of relevance of search results in relation to business needs. This new delivery service will be realized in a business environment that has standards in place for information use privileges and information access rights.

Information requirements analysis and planning

A standardized method will be in place for identifying the information needs of business clients. Established requirements management tools will be used to manage these requirements.

Architected GC information repository

A fully architected federated GC information repository – in other words, one that is coherently designed and configured across all GC institutions – will be in place. In it, information will be organized, structured and coherently stored, regardless of storage media. It will work in an analogous way to how books and other media are organized in a modern library using the Dewey Decimal Classification System for easy retrieval.

The architected GC information repository will not only make information from any program and service retrievable across departmental boundaries, but the information will always be placed in the context of all other information held by the government. It will take advantage of information standards for business interoperability and will be built on the foundation of a robust GC enterprise information architecture. All users, both within and outside government, will have the ability to find any GC information item while seeing how it fits into the big picture of all GC information holdings.

Secure information exchange

The GC will handle the secure movement of information in a standardized way that accommodates all media types and communications methods.

Secure information transportation is available today in many GC business areas for some types of communication channels. However, the information management services surrounding this capability are not complete, nor are they uniformly implemented across organizations, media and channels.

Smart information

Every information object will be packaged with key information about itself such as where all of its copies are stored and who is responsible for each one, and the rules for its use. Every use of smart information will involve the automatic negotiation of a short-term contract between the information object and the information user, based on the rules. Many of the processes surrounding information management, such as the protection of privacy, copy management, security and maintenance of an information audit trail, will be automatic and transparent to information users.

Information source accreditation

A new service that certifies information providers to help ensure that the quality of the GC’s information assets is maximized and that legal obligations are met will be in place. Information source accreditation will be captured in information asset catalogues and tied to the information stored in repositories to assure information consumers that the information they receive is authoritative and has been captured for the purpose intended. As the IM Program matures, source accreditation information will be packaged with every information object.

Information Availability Insurance

Information stored on any media type will be protected for its full life cycle.  Mechanisms in place to do this will include consistent and effective backup and recovery, appropriate security, protection against inappropriate access, and assignment of a level of insurance related to the value of the information asset.

Citizen-controlled information

A set of policies, standards, services and tools that allow citizens to control their own information will be in place along with the processes to maintain them.

Sound IM Rules and Practices

Government of Canada information architecture

Government of Canada information architecture will hold the shared understanding of and agreement on a common description of the information assets of the GC. It will be the foundation for organizing information; the basis for a Government-wide common vocabulary; and, the point of departure for understanding the relationship between information and other aspects of the business of the Government of Canada.

The enterprise information architecture will be an integral part of the Government of Canada’s enterprise architecture.

Information standards for business interoperability

Standards for structuring, labelling, classifying and processing information and the services to monitor, support and maintain them will be in place. They will enable federal organizations to work seamlessly with each other and with public and private sector partners, whether through information sharing or collaboration.

Information standards for business interoperability will be clear, consistent, comprehensive and easily understood, and will have been implemented in a way that minimizes the compliance burden on departments.

Information asset preservation framework

Enhanced rules, authorities, accountabilities and tool requirements for disposition, archiving and retention will be consistently and completely applied across all media types, as well as supported by an appropriate business infrastructure for governance, monitoring and control.

TQM for IM

Consistent standards and processes for the quality control and management of information assets will be in place and resultant levels of satisfaction with the quality of information will be high. The degree of investment in quality control will be linked to the value of the information. Both IM and business staff will understand the roles each plays in improving the quality of information.

Strong IM Program Management

Policy and legal framework for IM

A policy and legal framework that integrates IM policy and law into a coherent legislative foundation will be in place. This framework will support the treatment of information as a strategic asset, form the legislative foundation for an IM Program and define accountabilities for the management of information. It will include mechanisms for improved information sharing, such as collective information sharing agreements that support information exchange and collaboration between multiple organizations while meeting privacy requirements.

The integrated policy and legal framework for IM will be architected to support business agility and growth, and will be flexible enough to account for the wide variety of information activities that occur across the GC.

IM policy instruments revamped under the new framework will ensure consistent and comprehensive support for information management outcomes. The revamped policy instruments will be comprehensive, user friendly and accessible for IM practitioners and others.

Strategic design and planning for enterprise IM

The GC will have a shared and comprehensive strategic design and plan for information management for the 21st Century promulgated throughout the federal government, and will have the mature information management planning capability in place to sustain it. 

The strategic design and plan will make explicit the relationship between IM outcomes and those of other programs. It will be continually refreshed in step with the GC’s planning cycle to reflect and/or accommodate necessary changes to IM outcomes driven by changing program outcomes as well as the IM program’s own performance measurement regime.

Continued maintenance or (re-)development of the strategic design and plan will be performed collaboratively with the IM Program’s stakeholders and will use and promote a common methodology and toolset for strategic design and planning in the GC.

This innovation is foundational. It supports the development of all others and is necessary for the coherence, completeness and cost effective realization of the IM Program.

Enterprise IM governance

The transformed IM Program will be supported by a common governance framework and enhanced roles for CIOs both at the GC and departmental levels. Enterprise IM governance will embody an appropriate accountability framework for IM through which the GC will be able to manage information as a strategic asset.

Institutionalized IM accountability, responsibility and authority

All information management services and associated organizational roles will be explicitly defined and all positions created in the GC will refer to those roles.

IM responsibilities of every user of GC information will be clearly articulated. Employees will have the fulfillment of their IM responsibilities included in their performance assessment. Similarly, each organization’s performance targets will refer to the IM outcomes for which it is responsible and will include appropriate performance measures. This innovation will support enterprise IM governance.

Federated governance of information

Inter-jurisdictional governance mechanisms for managing, exchanging and growing information assets will be instituted, promoting a culture of “privacy protective” information sharing across all levels of government in order to better serve Canadians.

Embedded IM change

IM change will be directly linked to business changes driven by government priorities. The continuous alignment between major transformation initiatives and the strategic design and plan for the IM program will ensure improvements to the GC’s IM capability support its key priorities. This alignment will also ensure that changes are designed to be applied across the GC and that IM outcomes continue to contribute to business outcomes. The strategic nature of IM solutions will also be assured by the organizational breadth and horizontal nature of major transformation projects.

Measuring IM performance

A set of specific metrics for IM will be in place, based on a clearly defined set of program outcomes described in a standard manner in the IM strategic design and plan. These will be used to measure the IM Program’s contribution to the GC’s business through an explicit understanding of the relationship between IM outcomes and those of other programs. 

Performance measurements will be used to improve operational management of information assets and will be input to periodic updates of the IM Program’s strategic design and plan.

Demonstrating the Case for IM

A powerful business case methodology tailored to IM that clearly establishes how improved IM contributes to better decision-making, business outcomes and government priorities will be in place. Using such tools as a program logic model and cost-benefit analysis, this business case method will convincingly demonstrate the value proposition of IM investments.

Return on Information

Through a common, agreed upon method of valuation, the information assets of the GC will be assigned financial value and the record of this  “information capital” will be maintained in an “information asset register”. Comparing the value of information assets to the cost of capturing and managing them will provide departments and the government as a whole with an important tool for prioritizing the allocation of operational resources and for strategic design and planning. Return on information will support demonstrating the business case for IM.

IM context renewal

IT change initiatives that support IM outcomes will be formulated in terms of outcomes as described in the strategic design and plan for the IM Program, demonstrating their contribution to IM and through IM, their contribution to the business of the GC. Business cases for these initiatives will be developed accordingly and project plans will include relevant IM changes.

Mature IM Capability and Sustained IM Capacity

Integrated IM training

IM training will be fully integrated with other required training. Training for all GC employees will address information management knowledge, skills, practice, policy and legal obligations that are relevant to their jobs.

Established IM professional group

The current GC classification structure will be enhanced by a set of job classification and competency standards for IM professionals. A dedicated training program will support the IM professional group and the competency requirements for IM professionals will be formalized through certification. Institutionalized IM accountabilities will be reflected in the new IM classifications.

Sustained HR Capacity

Sufficient human resources will be available to all programs to ensure that appropriate information management process responsibilities are fully exercised.

IM toolkit

A complete, integrated suite of easy-to-use, scalable IM tools that implement all IM processes will be in place. The tools will be configured in a manner that supports interoperability and enterprise management of information. The toolkit will be maintained in a manner that ensures, on an ongoing basis, that it is affordable for all departments and agencies.

Employee IM toolkit

All Government of Canada employees will have their own IM toolkit. The kit will include tools such as a catalogue of all IM tools available to them; clearly documented IM responsibilities and legal obligations; a set of IM best practices; standard IM learning plans that they can easily tailor to their needs, and an inventory of information assets in the GC. A sustainable set of business services to maintain and promulgate changes to the toolkit will be in place.

Enterprise information packaging

A set of standard, reusable information packaging processes that operate at the level of the GC enterprise will be in place. Enterprise information packaging will enable the separation of content from presentation to facilitate the re-use and re-purposing of information. While similar to a comprehensive and effective content management system, it goes beyond that by ensuring completely re-engineered information processes within the organization.

Well-developed IM Community and Culture

IM Community Management

A set of services that support the creation, management and interrelationship of IM communities within and across GC organizations and jurisdictions in Canada will be in place.

IM incentives for government employees

GC employees will be rewarded for their contribution to IM Program outcomes and good IM practices through a comprehensive and sustainable incentive program. The IM incentive program will be linked to institutionalized IM accountabilities and measurements of IM performance.

IM speaks with one voice

A consistent and comprehensive promotion and awareness program for IM in the GC will be in place.

Promoting the GC’s IM

A new service that promotes the good work that is being undertaken in IM in the GC will be in place.

Taxpayers and citizens expect their government to be on the vanguard of best practices in information management, particularly with regard to the protection and safeguarding of personal or commercially sensitive information. Today, Canadians are largely unaware of the state of IM in the Government of Canada. Promoting advances by the GC in IM will build higher levels of confidence in the priority that the GC affords good IM. This service will be supported by information gathered through IM performance measurement.

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