ARCHIVED - RPP 2007-2008
Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade

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Section II Our Plans and Priorities in Greater Detail

2.1 Our Strategic Outcomes and Supporting Program Activities

2.1.3 Government of Canada Is Served Abroad

2.1.3.1 Program Activity: Common Services and Infrastructure (Support from Headquarters and Missions Abroad)

2.1.3.1.1 Description of Common Services and Infrastructure (Support from Headquarters and Missions Abroad) Program Activity

Plans and Priorities for the Common Services and Infrastructure Program Activity

This program activity contributes to the following departmental priority:

• Better alignment of departmental resources (human, financial, physical and technological) in support of international policy objectives and program delivery both at home and abroad.

Outcome: Maintenance of high-quality client relations through a single-window approach and improved processes for facilitating requests for position changes abroad through the Committee on Representation Abroad.

Outputs/Activities:

• Continue to organize the annual consultation exercise, held in January every year, which brings together representatives from partner departments, Crown corporations, other levels of government and DFAIT. These meetings provide an operational picture in terms of the creation or deletion of positions for Canada's representation abroad. After the consultation, the changes are facilitated through the Committee on Representation Abroad (CORA) monthly meetings.

• Continue to coordinate the process to link representation abroad, the departmental business plan and the all-of-government country strategy exercise. Country strategies will increasingly inform partners' program decisions in future years. It is expected that DFAIT will increasingly challenge all position requests against the country strategies over the course of 2008-2009.

Outcome: Development and maintenance of an automated position costing tool to better inform all stakeholders about the costs of representation abroad.

Outputs/Activities:

• Work toward developing a system that will provide real-time information on the costs of positions abroad. The information will allow a better quantitative description of representation abroad to feed into departmental business plans for resource allocation and decision making.

Outcome: A renewed memorandum of understanding (MOU) on common services abroad that reflects the lessons learned since April 1, 2004.

Outputs/Activities:

• Continue to develop MOU annexes with partner departments where necessary. The department also hopes to complete a generic MOU for co-locators at missions. The key benefit of the MOUs and annexes is that they provide a reference tool that sets out the department's principles on how departments are to use the common services platform abroad. They also help to resolve conflict between DFAIT and partner departments, thereby sustaining the relationship among partners at missions abroad. DFAIT will conduct a client survey to establish the parameters of the MOU negotiation, leading to signature in 2008.

• Continually assess Service Delivery Standards at missions to reflect changes to resource allocation and common services policy.

Outcome: The management of property holdings at 172 missions in 111 countries is optimized, new projects are launched to meet the Government of Canada's program priorities, and the office space requirements of new and reallocated personnel abroad are approved by the Interdepartmental Committee on Representation Abroad.

Outputs/Activities:

• Continue to make decisions on the allocation, reallocation and spending of property resources abroad in line with departmental priorities. Major projects that will be under way during 2007-2008 reflect overall departmental priorities, such as the acquisition of a site for the permanent embassy facility in Kabul, renewed facilities in London and Paris, and new chanceries in Seoul, Lima, The Hague and Dhaka.

• Respond to the need to improve physical security and the seismic integrity of departmental facilities abroad by implementing a major upgrading program. The Property Growth Charge, approved by Treasury Board in 2005, will provide additional funding from program departments. This is projected to rise to $3 million in 2007-2008, for the recapitalization of property assets. This amount will increase in future years, in line with program growth, and serve as an ongoing funding source for recapitalization of the department's property infrastructure.

Outcome: An internationally attuned human resources framework that promotes a modernization of Foreign Service Directives.

Outputs/Activities:

• Coordinate and consult with partner departments for improved consistency in the administration of Foreign Service Directives benefits to support and facilitate the mobility of employees and their families abroad and at headquarters.

• Contribute to the Foreign Service Directive cyclical review to increase flexibility and the adaptability of the package to the current realities and challenges of Canada's foreign operations.

2.1.4 Canadians Are Served Abroad

2.1.4.1 Program Activity: Consular Affairs

2.1.4.1.1 Description of Consular Affairs Program Activity

Plans and Priorities for the Consular Affairs Program Activity

This program activity contributes to the following departmental priority:

• Strengthened services to Canadians, including consular, passport and global commercial activities.

Outcome: Canadians threatened by disaster (both civil and natural) abroad receive strengthened assistance.

Outputs/Activities:

• Undertake more comprehensive advance planning and preparation by missions.

• Hold warden conferences in various locations to bring together volunteers with consular staff to review emergency plans and procedures.

• Implement "person-centric" registration software to allow Canadians to access their own files via the Internet and thus decrease the staff time needed to update registrations of Canadians abroad.

• Develop guidelines regarding the roles, responsibilities and security of staff deployed abroad to assist during a crisis.

• Crisis response simulations and exercises will be undertaken and the Contingency Planning Assistance Team (CPAT), jointly staffed by DND and DFAIT, will work with select missions to improve their crisis readiness.

• Strengthen crisis communication capacities through the purchase of mobile communications equipment (including training) and the development of communications guidelines for evacuation scenarios, both internally for field staff and staff of partner departments (regarding reporting frequency, etc.) and externally (via the media, Internet, etc.).

• Develop a competency-based roster of trained and experienced staff from all departments to further develop a rapid-response team and/or roster, and seek funding for an enhanced Government of Canada crisis response capacity.

Outcome: Clients continue to receive high-quality consular assistance in spite of growing demand.

Outputs/Activities:

• Expand human resource planning through the development and maintenance of a succession plan for all critical positions; the development and implementation of a career learning plan for all employees; and the identification of the effects of the O'Connor Commission Report on the Management Consular Officer stream and consular staff, especially those in missions receiving the "Torture Awareness" training module.

• Improve staff efficiency, both at headquarters and abroad, through technological changes and improved training modules, using employee feedback as the basis for the redesign; and complete the intranet site's redesign, which will allow staff to more quickly—and successfully—search for specific policies, procedures and manuals.

• Improve working conditions for staff through relocation (aside from the Operations Centre), so that staff can be located on the same floor in the same tower, and through position reclassifications and the creation of new positions to ease the pressure on existing staff and deal with new challenges (such as litigation).

• More actively seek and use client feedback through the development of a means of giving missions direct access to results from online client feedback forms and the use of the results from client feedback to support mission requests for infrastructure development, etc.

• Improve governance and accountability between Passport Canada and DFAIT through the development of an MOU to formalize governance structures, lines of accountability and delegation of authority; and formalize a clear "path of escalation" for passport-related issues originating abroad.

Outcome: The ability of Canadians to travel safely while abroad is increased.

Outputs/Activities:

• Continue to produce and disseminate travel information products and presentations that will encourage Canadians to take charge of their security while abroad and that will highlight the nature, and limits, of consular services.

• Make website changes to enhance the public's ability to find and use travel information products.

• Target information products and outreach to encourage Canadians to consult the Consular Affairs website as part of their routine travel preparations.

• Undertake outreach and partnerships to encourage travel industry associations and workers to disseminate the department's travel information products.

• Provide Canadians with accurate, up-to-date travel information in easier-to-use formats.

• Carefully update "Travel Reports" to reflect changing events, create "Current Issues" pages for new and emerging issues, and produce publications and fact sheets that meet the changing needs of Canadian travellers.

• Research the information needs of travelling Canadians (through direct surveys and focus groups), and base changes to DFAIT products on this research.

• Respond to inquiries from the public regarding travel safety and/or services received in a timely fashion.

• Pursue the reorganization of the client services division in order to improve its strategic capacity.

2.1.4.2 Program Activity: Passport Canada Special Operating Agency
(Revolving Fund and Appropriated Funds)

2.1.4.2.1 Description of Passport Canada Special Operating Agency
(Revolving Fund and Appropriated Funds) Program Activity

Plans and Priorities for the Passport Canada Special Operating Agency Program Activity

This program activity contributes to the following departmental priorities:

• Strengthened services to Canadians, including consular, passport and global commercial activities.

Outcome: Excellence in global service delivery: innovative, reliable, consistent, uniform and accessible service anywhere.

Outputs/Activities:

• Continue the renewal process in which low-risk applicants are targeted with an offer to renew their passport using a simplified process. This service will be available only through the Passport Canada website during the pilot. The project will expand to include the general population during the planning period.

• Review the policies applied to make decisions regarding entitlement to a passport in order to respond to the new operating environment and to better serve Canadians.

• Proceed with a review of partners and explore ways to expand our Service Canada network of Receiving Agents. Canada Post outlets and Human Resources Service Centres are currently in operation as Receiving Agents for Passport Canada.

• Increase the number of surveys conducted in order to improve client consultation and volume forecast capacity; in addition, support planning and the user fee consultation required under the User Fees Act.

• Relocate 12 offices; pursue the potential redesign of nine offices and an optimization project for the National Capital Region headquarters.

• Implement new models of scanners with better performance and new features. Scanners are part of the equipment used by examiners, and the current model is at the end of its life span. The project will be completed early in 2007-2008.

• Update the printers used in offices to produce observation labels.

Outcome: A culture of security, integrity and compliance supported by state-of-the-art systems and business processes.

Outputs/Activities:

• Implement security and intelligence software that will enable management to strengthen the process of verifying identity before the issuance of a Canadian passport and strengthen the investigation of special cases (Security and Intelligence Case Management System).

• Resume efforts to seek support to implement one element of the National Routing System (NRS). The NRS is conceived as a national network that will make it possible to validate vital-events information needed to authenticate citizenship and identity. It will allow Passport Canada to query provincial vital statistics databases to validate information related to citizenship or identity.

• Pursue various projects to improve the protection of staff and critical assets and materials and to provide the capability to respond quickly to emergencies threatening the safety and efficiency of operations at all locations.

• Hire new regional security officers to further ensure that the security continuum, from identity verification to passport printing, is strengthened. The units will be located in regional headquarters across the country and will be used to support the compliance program, conduct on-site interviews of applicants with complex cases, and investigate fraudulent applicants or applications.

• Use advanced computerized facial recognition techniques to identify a person by their unique facial features. With each new or renewal application, the photo submitted will be compared to a database of previously issued passports to confirm that a passport has not already been issued to the applicant under another name. Facial recognition is expected to reduce fraud in the passport entitlement process.

Outcome: Passport Canada is recognized as a global leader in establishing identity, as a leading authority in identity management, and as a major partner in national security.

Outputs/Activities:

• Coordinate the establishment of the NRS network across federal and provincial partners.

• Continue to work with the interdepartmental community on identity policy. Strengthening the capability of the identity authentication process is central to efforts to enhance passport security.

• Review the existing legislative, business and financial framework, and modernize where necessary to address the realities of the current operating environment.

• Prioritize improvement initiatives and rank them according to approved project management criteria through the Project Management Bureau established in February 2005. Improved project management processes will have a positive impact in supporting the long-term strategic vision of Passport Canada as a whole.

Outcome: A sought-after place to work, where learning and development support each employee in realizing his or her full potential.

Outputs/Activities:

• Develop an internal learning program in line with the program at the Canada School of Public Service to provide continuous learning and growth opportunities for employees.

• Implement a program to provide new employees with relevant information on the organization and tools to support them in their new job.

• As the operating environment evolves, reclassify certain operational positions to address the new reality of passport entitlement.

• Ensure that staffing practices are in line with the new legislation and address the new operating environment and business processes.

• Integrate strategic and business planning throughout Passport Canada and identify key performance measures using the Strategic Management Framework. The framework will include the introduction of a Balanced Scorecard with a series of cost, performance and security indicators. With this approach, Passport Canada will be better able to determine the impact of new initiatives on its cost structures and take the appropriate action.

• Update the information technology infrastructure to ensure better performance of operating systems.

2.1.5 Department-Wide Enabling Activities: Corporate Services and Human Resources

The following elements of the department provide essential enabling infrastructure: Corporate Services, Human Resources, Communications and Executive Services.

These services ensure that the right people are in the right places and that employees receive practical and relevant training, equipment, accommodation, systems and administrative support. Corporate Services includes finance, information technology, property management and administration. Executive Services is responsible for briefing material and related advice for the Ministers, Secretary of State, Parliamentary Secretaries and Deputy Ministers; Parliamentary liaison; and the department's response to ministerial and senior management correspondence as well as Access to Information requests.

While these activities primarily support the department's sixth strategic priority—better alignment of departmental resources (human, financial, physical and technological) in support of international policy objectives and program delivery both at home and abroad—they are also critical to its ability to deliver on its other five priorities.

As part of its ongoing focus on results-based management, the department will review its Management Accountability Framework to ensure it has in place all required controls and processes to support good management, strengthen compliance and eliminate identified shortcomings. To improve financial management, it will promote more accurate financial reporting and analysis to better inform decision making and identify potential financial risks.

To ensure consistent compliance with federal contract regulations and trade agreements, the department will develop integrated and automated systems to monitor and analyze all contracting activities. It will develop strategies to ensure fair, ethical and efficient contracting practices and increase transparency. It will also make efforts to improve performance in responding to Access to Information requests.

Given the department's emphasis on the latest information technology, it will realign its Internet sites to provide a single portal of information for Canadian business, the public and international stakeholders, in compliance with federal standards related to "common look and feel." It will continue development of virtual communications as a key tool, including information for the media, in collaboration with federal partners. It will ensure Canada's visible presence in the international arena through the maintenance of the Canada International website. It will also upgrade its classified computing network, complete certification and accreditation of business systems to meet new federal standards, and establish a departmental off-site disaster recovery facility.

To strengthen its property management, the department will develop an integrated project management process to ensure increased efficiency, cost-effective solutions and improved client satisfaction.

Other separate and highly significant services are provided for the entire department by communications staff. Key activities for 2007-2008 will include preparation of communications material and support related to Canada's contribution in Afghanistan and to major international meetings, such as those pertaining to NAFTA, APEC, the G8, the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), the Security and Prosperity Partnership and the Asia-Pacific Gateway Initiative. Other initiatives will include the new marketing campaign for the Trade Commissioner Service and promotion of departmental publications such as State of Trade and Opening Doors to the World: Canada's International Market Access Priorities. The department will also continue to provide communications advice and services, including media monitoring and analysis, for the ministers and senior management.

The department highly values its employees and their diverse and complex skill sets. To further their professional development, the department will offer training in official and foreign languages, leadership and management, foreign affairs and international trade, resource management and intercultural effectiveness. It will develop and implement resourcing strategies for key occupational groups and developmental programs.

To ensure that it has the right people in the right places, the department will develop and implement resourcing strategies and development programs for key occupational groups. To better respond to increasing staffing demands, the department will adopt new measures to fill vacancies more efficiently, taking full advantage of the flexibilities of the Public Service Modernization Act. It will develop and/or implement guidelines to address emerging issues and assess best practices in order to improve its human resources programs and services. With respect to locally engaged staff at missions abroad, the department will develop a salary revision strategy to ensure wages are competitive with local markets and respect local labour laws, review their terms and conditions of employment to reflect change and employment concerns. It will also develop a strategy for reviewing and updating locally engaged staff handbooks worldwide.

To ensure its future human resources needs are met effectively, the department will implement an integrated planning process, gather demographic analysis and develop forecasting capability related to its workforce in order to identify emerging gaps, issues and trends and be in a position to effectively renew or replace the high proportion of its workforce expected to retire over the coming years.

Planned Spending for These Enabling Activities

The cost of these enabling services is incorporated into the program activities described in the preceding parts of Section II, as required by the Government of Canada's Management, Resources and Results Structure—Program Activity Architecture. As a result, no separate financial information is provided here.

Performance Monitoring

In assessing its performance in this area, the department uses performance indicators associated with the Management Accountability Framework as well as those that are specific to project management and the operations of branches and bureaus.

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