Management of Services
Expectation (a): The Board must assure itself that the Agency has established a sound management framework for the services it delivers including a service strategy that is adaptable to meet the evolving needs of taxpayers and benefit recipients and client governments.
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- Does the Agency have an approved service strategy and an inventory of its services?
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- The Agency's Service Strategy will articulate the Agency's approach to service delivery and provides direction to guide the development and implementation of integrated products and services.
- The Service Strategy includes a Service Vision, approved by the Board in June 2007, with a view to minimizing the effort required to pay taxes and collect benefits by providing secure access to necessary Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) information and tools.
- The Service Strategy includes a Service Inventory: a high-level snapshot of current CRA services, channels and taxpayer segments that is intended to build on the Service Vision to further the deliberations on a Service Strategy – accepted by the Board in September 2007.
- The Service Strategy Outline presented to the Board in December 2007 will be developed into the CRA Service Strategy.
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- Board minutes for June, September and December 2007
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Board's Assessment and Related Comments
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- The Agency has established a service vision, principles and key priorities for the next three years. This represents noteworthy progress that will be consolidated when a full strategy is prepared.
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- Present the CRA Service Strategy to the Board for approval
- Develop implementation plans for elements of the Service Strategy including strategies for identified priority segments
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Opportunity for improvement
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Expectation (b): The Board must assure itself that the Agency has established a sound management framework for the services it delivers including performance targets for key service elements.
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- Do performance targets exist for key service elements, and are they used for public reporting and management accountability?
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- The Agency service standards related to tax, benefits, appeals and corporate service programs have grown from 27 standards in 2000-2001 to 46 in 2007-2008.
- Service standards performance against identified targets is provided in the Annual Report, the Departmental Performance Report, and internal documents including Service Standards at a Glance.
- In making performance against these service standards public, the CRA demonstrates its commitment to transparent management, accountability for results, and citizen-focused delivery.
- Service standards serve as a CRA management tool used to highlight any improvements to service that need to be undertaken.
- Service standards are integrated into the performance agreements of the Agency's executive cadre.
- Service standards and key indicators are reviewed in the Agency's quarterly performance reports when there are issues of concern.
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- Corporate Business Plans
- Report on Plans and Priorities
- Departmental Performance Report
- Annual Report
- Service Standards at a Glance
- Executive Cadre performance agreements
- Quarterly reports
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Board's Assessment and Related Comments
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Opportunity for improvement
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Expectation (c): The Board must assure itself that the Agency has established a sound management framework for the services it delivers including a service redress mechanism to address service complaints in a timely fashion.
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- Do service users have available a readily accessible service redress mechanism?
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- In 2006-2007 the CRA introduced several new initiatives to further demonstrate its commitment to quality service delivery; these include the Taxpayer Bill of Rights, CRA-Service Complaints and the Taxpayers' Ombudsman.
- These initiatives add to the Agency's current recourse processes by adding a formalized Agency-wide system of recourse for the resolution of service complaints.
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- CRA internet site
- Service Strategy Outline
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Board's Assessment and Related Comments
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- The structures are in place
- Ombudsman was appointed in February 2008
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- Review reports from the Office of the Taxpayers' Ombudsman
- Monitor management's responses, including action plans, to reports and recommendations by the Office
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Opportunity for improvement
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Expectation (d): The Board must assure itself that the Agency has established a sound management framework for the services it delivers including a service redress mechanism to address service complaints in a timely fashion.
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- Are client satisfaction survey results used to improve performance in areas that matter to service users?
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- Since 2005 the Canada Revenue Agency's (CRA) annual corporate survey has addressed aspects of client satisfaction at the organizational level, although not at specific program levels, using core Common Measurement Tool questions.
- The CRA faces a few challenges with respect to conducting client satisfaction surveys. Section 241 of the Income Tax Act, and its counterpart in the Excise Tax Act, specifically prohibit the CRA from sharing taxpayer information (e.g., contact information) with any third party, including third parties who do surveys, without the express consent of the taxpayer.
- These provisions are much stricter than those found in the Privacy Act, which governs the activities of other government departments.
- Despite these restrictions, the CRA participates in surveys and undertakes studies to improve client-focused service and to assess public perceptions, although the degree to which the results of satisfaction surveys are used to improve performance is unclear. However, we have recently committed substantial resources to improving telephone accessibility for general enquiries. Other examples of surveys and studies include:
- Telephone Accuracy Survey – The Tax Services area co-ordinates, reviews, and communicates the results of the telephone accuracy survey, which measures the accuracy of CRA general, business, and international agent responses to public telephone enquiries;
- Service Enhancement Program (SEP) – The CRA co-ordinates SEP activities for the identification of potential service issues by local offices and the resolution of these issues by the functional owner of the business process in which the issue arose;
- Trend Analysis and Demographic Study – The Agency analyzes data from its data warehouse and associated data marts to identify possible client service “gaps” and opportunities for service improvement; and
- In-Person Survey – The CRA is currently developing a survey of in-person service users to replace the former survey of counter service.
- In addition, the Agency obtains and analyzes the results of a number of surveys concerning public perception of government overall and/or CRA services, including the EKOS and Taking Care of Business Citizen's First surveys.
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Board's Assessment and Related Comments
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Opportunity for improvement
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- Date modified:
- 2009-04-07
