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ARCHIVED - Performance Measurement for the Government On-Line Initiative

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	Efficiency
Indicator(s)	Return on investment (ROI), cost avoidance, and operational efficiencies from on-line service delivery
Additional explanation of what is being measured	The data below are only indicative of cost savings, cost avoidance, and increased productivity to date. A full evaluation of mature GOL services would be necessary in order to provide conclusive results. Many experts believe that it will take time to realise cost savings, as on-line service is a new delivery channel, and as departments and agencies have not closed existing delivery channels. It should be noted as well that the initial GOL objective was not to achieve a specific cost savings amount, but to improve the service quality and improve client satisfaction by making federal services available through the Internet.
Measurement Level and Technique	Measurement at the service and "whole of government" level using self-assessments
Primary tool(s)/data source(s)	1) Departmental reporting on GOL plans and progress – the reporting includes two types of data related to efficiency: productivity, cost savings, and cost avoidance; and impacts of on-line service delivery on client requests, physical points of presence (in-person, call, and mail centres), and human resources
Summary of results achieved in 2003	Mixed – Almost half of GOL services are realising some combination of cost savings and cost avoidance; many are reinvesting savings to improve service delivery. As well, about two-thirds of these services are realising productivity benefits, allowing employees to focus on more complex and higher-value activities in response to client needs and requests. However, there is little evidence that GOL departments and agencies have set aggressive channel migration strategies (and take-up targets), where appropriate, in order to maximise savings from lower cost on-line transactions. Savings are mostly through less use of paper and postage resources, and typically are not significant in terms of amount. Further, there is a lack of detailed costing, departmental benefits, and channel impact data necessary for the effective management of service delivery across all channels.
Raw data	Overall, based on filings 91 of 130 GOL services (70%) report some type of cost savings, cost avoidance, and/or increased productivity benefits – 78% of transaction services report these benefits, as compared with 62% of information services – 92% of mature transaction services ("levels 7-9" using the model discussed in the critical mass of services section) report these benefits However, given that only 35% of GOL services have reached their target levels of functionality and that the current take-up of on-line services is 24%, benefits of on-line service delivery for departments and agencies will likely increase in the future – For further information, see the critical mass of services and take-up sections of this report Cost savings and avoidance Taken as a whole, 59 of 130 GOL services (45%) report cost savings and/or cost avoidance benefits – 28 of these 59 services report cost savings, 12 cost avoidance, and 19 both savings and avoidance – 16 services report a net dividend – Many services report that they either reinvest savings in order to improve service, or use them to offset higher technical and administrative costs 36 of 67 transaction services (54%) report cost savings and/or cost avoidance opportunities – Based on filings, however, there is no correlation between realising cost savings (gross or net) and maturity of on-line transactional capability The most frequently mentioned reason for cost savings is less use of paper and postage resources for mailing; also frequently mentioned is elimination of printing and storage of paper documents (e.g., reports); the magnitude of savings, when identified, is typically not significant Only a few services also report cost savings from increased self-service and a reduction of physical points of presence, e.g., Citizenship and Immigration Canada's (CIC's) "Selection of Immigrants and Visitors to Canada" service, which has saved $24 million to date because of a reduction in the number of call centres, and PWGSC's "Procurement and Disposal", which saves $3 million per year because of a reduction in the number of warehouses – Correspondingly, only six of the 47 services reporting cost savings (13%) also report that the number of in-person, mail, and/or call centres decreased in 2003 Productivity Almost half of GOL services (63), covering 25 of 30 departments and agencies (83%), report that client enquiries are, or are expected to become, more complex At the same time, 81 of 130 GOL services (62%) report increased productivity benefits – About two-thirds of these services point to greater client self-service as the reason for increased productivity; about one-third specify that client self-service is allowing employees to devote their time to other, higher-value activities – 81% of the services reporting that client enquiries are becoming more complex also report increased productivity benefits Further, 27 GOL services (25% of those providing data) report that they have plans to redeploy staff by 2005; nine have already done so – 20 of these 27 services (74%) are transactional Channel management Filings from departments and agencies suggest that a significant majority of their GOL services have had no impact thus far on other delivery channels, and predict that these services will not have any impact by 2005 Where GOL services do report impacts, the most noticeable trend is with regard to mail centres – 11 services (nine departments and agencies) report that they have decreased the number of mail centres, and in total 18 services (15 departments and agencies) report that they will do so by 2005 – In addition, 10 services (nine departments and agencies) report that they will decrease the number of in-person centres by 2005 in response to decreasing demand for over-the-counter service Almost as many GOL services report that the number of call centres will increase by 2005 (in total, 13), as will decrease (17) – All services reporting that the number of call (and in-person) centres will increase by 2005 also report that client enquiries will be more complex For about one-fifth of GOL services (representing about two-fifths of departments and agencies), there is no information about the impact that on-line service delivery is having and/or will have on in-person, call, and/or mail centres – they do not predict the impact of the Internet on one or more of the other delivery channels in their filings Consistent with this, aggregate volume data for 2001-03 indicate that while use of the Internet has increased significantly, use of the other service delivery channels (e.g., in-person, telephone agent) has either decreased only slightly or not at all – Some transaction services are predicting that the volume of interactions through the Internet will increase more than what calculated trends based on data from previous years would suggest; correspondingly, they are overestimating future decreases in in-person (and telephone agent) volume – As well, some information services are predicting that the volume of interactions through the Internet will not increase as much as what calculated trends based on data from previous years would suggest – These data may suggest that transaction services need to implement more aggressive channel migration strategies to encourage clients to use self-serve channels, and that information services may need to ensure that they can handle the increasing volume on the Internet channel (note however, that these findings may in part be the result of the smaller sample size used for the analysis – only services providing predictions for 2005 were used for the comparison) – More detailed results can be found in the take-up section of this report
Plans for improvement	Improvement of department and agency assessments of channel impacts, benefits targets and capture strategies, and take-up target achievement information Development by departments and agencies of client migration and channel management strategies for services, using as a basis the service visions for Canadians, businesses, and international clients that are being developed