ARCHIVED - The Service Delivery Network Profile

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Overview

The Chief Information Officer Branch compiled data between May 2003 and February 2004 to describe for the first time the Government of Canada (GoC) external service delivery network across all channels (on-line, in-person, telephone and mail). The Service Delivery Network Profile (SDNP) was designed to provide a high level view, aggregating data at a regional level, to link information on external clients' demand for services, services offered, resources and infrastructure to deliver services. In addition to its original purpose of fulfilling Treasury Board Secretariat's commitment for a "whole of government" service delivery vision, the SDNP further serves to support Treasury Board's Horizontal Review of Common Infrastructure and Service Delivery, and Expenditure Review Committee's operational review of GoC service delivery infrastructure that was announced recently in TBS' Strengthening Public Sector Management: An Overview of the Government Action Plan and Key Initiatives. The compilation of data for the SDNP represents a significant level of departmental efforts, involvement and collaboration.

Research Scope

The Profile focuses on direct service delivery to the public (Canadians, businesses, non-Canadians). The intent of the SDNP was to capture external GoC service activities, excluding services offered abroad or offsite (e.g., inspections), cultural or historical sites (e.g., museum visits), or research, enforcement (e.g., border control, law enforcement, correctional services or defence), and health care (e.g., nursing). Grants and contributions funds were out of scope. Further, the SDNP does not include services offered through national websites.

Data collected for services include all interactions that are of an informational or transactional nature, and include the salary and non-salary costs and the number of full time equivalents in the intake, processing and support functions necessary to its completion. 49 organizations were invited to submit data. These organizations were identified by the Service Improvement Initiative policy as having direct service delivery activities with Canadians. For the moment Canada Post and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police have not been included. Of a possible 47 organizations, 29 organizations have responded.

Findings

Submitted data indicate 1,615 points of service, staffed by just over 31,000 FTEs, handling slightly more than 350 million interactions per annum. Extrapolations suggest a cost of over $3 billion for salary and O&M with complete filings, salaries and non-salaries, real property costs, and benefits -all indirect costs excluded - and suggest nearly 40,000 FTEs are employed in external service delivery functions. There are significant variations in service availability by channel, and channel cost: in-person $30 per transaction, mail $20, telephone $10, Internet less than $1 (development and support costs of service delivery infrastructure, technological or otherwise are excluded). Six organizations surface as key players in service delivery: Human Resources and Skills Development Canada, Social Development Canada, Canada Revenue Agency, Veterans Affairs Canada, Passport Office and Citizenship and Immigration.

Next Steps

Preparations are underway for a more detailed study of external service delivery at the point-specific level targeting the key players identified in the SDNP, to provide additional support to Expenditure Review Committee's operational review of GoC service delivery infrastructure.