Corporate Management and Direction

The Corporate Management and Direction (CMD) business line provides strategic direction and executive oversight for Agency programs and services for establishing and maintaining systems and practices that support effective governance and sound management. We also support the Agency’s core programs and services with an infrastructure of strategic planning; performance reporting; human resources; financial and real property management; audit and evaluation; Information Management/Information Technology (IM/IT); telephony systems and networks; legal services; Communications; and Access to Information and Privacy.

Strategies and Key Initiatives

Corporate Management and Direction will address its priorities through five key strategies and their related initiatives.

Enhancing financial management throughout the Agency

Our efforts will be focused on our financial management strategy. We have made resource review and re-allocation a permanent and important feature of the Agency’s resource management process. In addition, we will complete investments in our financial systems infrastructure, prioritizing initiatives in the face of funding challenges by focusing on accrual accounting, financial controls, reconciliation, and internal and external reporting requirements.

Our Modern Comptrollership initiative, designed to increase managers’ capacity for sound resource management and decision-making, will continue to mature. Our work so far in this area (i.e. developing capacity for resource review and re-allocation) aligns well with the current Treasury Board Management Accountability Framework (MAF).

Emphasizing values, ethics, and security

We are enhancing the integrity of our business results and operations, particularly privacy and information security. CMD is finalizing a national review and analysis of security policies at all major Agency facilities. We are also implementing an Information Security Strategy to strengthen mechanisms for protecting the Agency’s sensitive client information. The recently established Policy on the Management of Protected Client Information will also be implemented. Communications and training initiatives will enhance security awareness and knowledge.

As we strive to earn the public’s trust in the security of our facilities, systems, and policies, the Agency sets high standards for employee behaviour, the use of our resources, and the preparation of our financial statements. We will address any deficiencies identified through a review of our management and governance frameworks, audits, and evaluations of issues related to ethics and integrity. Finally, personal accountability for these values is reflected in senior management performance agreements.

We will also support client trust through continued compliance with our obligations under both the Access to Information Act and Privacy Act. As well, we aim to sustain our role as a leader in transparency, accountability, and reporting by publishing detailed and timely information about our commitments, service standards, and performance in our Summary of the Corporate Business Plan 2004-2005 to 2006-2007 and Annual Report, the latter of which is reviewed annually by the Auditor General of Canada.

Leveraging Agency knowledge

Information is critical to our business. We are increasingly compelled to organize, integrate, and manage information to realize benefits and new opportunities.

Our Information Management Policy and Strategy support knowledge management in the Agency. Together, they will ensure that the right information is made available to the right person, at the right time, for the right reason.

Our multi-year Business Intelligence and Decision Support initiatives will standardize and integrate analytical tools and data structures. This will help identify trends, evaluate risks, and analyze policy effectiveness, which will improve program delivery. Moreover, improved results management and reporting using our Performance Measurement Program System (PMPS), using as its foundation the Agency’s Balanced Scorecard System, and further integration of risk information into our planning, decision-making, and reporting mechanisms will support more effective decision-making.

The Agency will also continue to play a lead role in the government-wide Service Improvement Initiative to increase client satisfaction and improve service based on clients’ priorities.

Ensuring a strategic approach to people management

The Agency continues to support employees and to improve the working environment through various programs such as the Employee Assistance Program, Employment Equity Program, Dispute Management Program, and Recognition Program. Many of the Agency’s human resources change initiatives, to improve services and tools to support managers, and develop a skilled workforce, are now fully operational. We will continue to prioritize and evaluate remaining initiatives to ensure that our human resources services are fully and affordably aligned with business needs.

By the end of 2005-2006, the Compensation Service Delivery Renewal Initiatives, which include collaboration with Public Works and Government Services Canada, will have updated our pay processes with self-serve technology.

As we advance our internal resourcing pre-qualification strategy, we will manage our workforce using these streamlined processes based on job and employee competencies. The Agency will continue development of the learning services framework to improve planning, delivery, and evaluation of learning and ensure that competency development needs in employee learning plans can be addressed. We will assess and adjust our plans for the Agency Classification System, based on the Government’s new fiscal restraint policy as well as the transfer of the Customs program to the newly-created Canada Border Services Agency.

We will continue to implement key components of the Corporate Action Plan for the Renewal of the Official Languages Program. Our National Committee of Champions of Official Languages identified four priority issues for 2004-2005: Agency-specific policies and directives, monitoring, bilingual capacity, and awareness programs. In 2004-2005, the language teachers from the Official Languages Division will participate in a review of the quality of service of private schools. The Division will also follow closely the work of a committee of the Canada School of Public Service, which will be conducting a complete review of language training, including levels of language proficiency, practices of other organizations, funding models, testing, receptive bilingualism, learning disabilities, and the issue of official languages and equity.

Our commitment to the spirit and principles of employment equity and diversity will also guide our strategies, including a new workforce analysis and a national strategy to advance the situation of persons with disabilities.

Continuing to demonstrate leadership in IT solutions

With programs and branches, we implement key initiatives in support of Business Transformation. Our practices and methods will ensure a sound architecture for reuse, technology security, and enterprise continuity. We will prioritize continued development of a secure, reliable, and recoverable Information Technology Infrastructure with our multi-year Information Technology Continuity Initiatives. Finally, our IT renewal program will continue to be a top priority, as it is our employees who make change and innovation happen.

Exhibit 6: Anticipated Results and Performance Expectations for Corporate Management and Direction

Date modified:

2004-10-08