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Accountability: The obligation to demonstrate and take responsibility
both for the means used and the results achieved in light of agreed
expectations.
Activity: An operation or work process internal to an organisation,
which uses inputs to produce outputs. E.g., Training, research, construction,
negotiation, investigation, etc.
Alternative Service Delivery: is the organisational and structural
dimension for improving the government's performance in delivering programs and
services to Canadians. It has two parts:
- establishing the appropriate organizational forms within departments,
outside traditional departmental structures or outside the public sector, to
improve organisational performance; and
- bringing together organizations from across government, between levels of
governments, or across sectors, through partnerships (for example,
"single windows," co-locations, or clustering of services to
citizens) to provide more seamless and citizen-centred services.
Baseline information: It provides an explicit starting point for
change and sets the initial bar for performance measurement. It also provides
the basis and rationale for any program or service delivered to Canadians.
Budgetary: is a type of expenditure a department or agency uses to
receive and spend money.
Canada's Performance: A government-wide performance report tabled in
the fall of each year by the President of Treasury Board. Canada's Performance
provides parliamentarians and Canadians with a whole of government perspective
from which to view the plans, results and resources reported by individual
federal departments and agencies in their spring planning and fall performance
reports. Example: Canada's
Performance 2003
Capital Assets: are tangible assets that are purchased,
constructed, developed or otherwise acquired and held for use in the
production or supply of goods, delivery of services or to produce program
outputs. They have a useful life that extends beyond one year and are not
intended for resale in the normal course of operations. Capital assets include
land, buildings, military assets, infrastructure assets, purchased or in-house
developed software, computer hardware, equipment, leasehold improvements and
assets acquired by capital leases or donations. Heritage assets which are also
used for operational purposes (office or lab space) are considered capital
assets, but not non-operational assets (such as museum or gallery collections or
archeological sites). Some items, such as furniture, tools, personal computers,
are typically purchased or acquired in large quantities and capitalized as a
pool or group for amortization purposes. A complete definition can be found in
the TB Accounting Standard 3.1 (http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/pubs_pol/dcgpubs/accstd/capasset_e.asp).
Capital Project: defined as a project specifically intended to acquire
or improve a capital asset. Acquisition of a capital asset means obtaining the
use of the asset over the long term, whether by construction, purchase,
lease/purchase or lease. Projects which improve a capital asset are considered
to be "capital projects" when the performance, value or capability of
the asset is significantly increased or its useful or economic life is extended
by more than one year.
Capital Spending: are those resources used to procure capital assets.
Cost of Services Received without Charge: is an indication that an
organisation has received certain services they did not pay for. The cost of the
services were absorbed by, the department or agency offering that service.
Departmental Performance Reports (DPR): Departmental
Performance Reports (DPRs), tabled in the fall of each year by the President of
Treasury Board on behalf of all federal departments and agencies named in
Schedule I, I.1 and II of the Financial Administration Act, are part of
the Estimates and Supply process. Their fundamental purpose is to present a
report on results and accomplishments as established in the corresponding
Reports on Plans and Priorities (RPP) in order to provide Parliamentarians with
knowledge and understanding of the government's stewardship of public resources.
Effectiveness: The extent to which an organisation, policy, program or
initiative is meeting its expected results.
Evaluation: the application of systematic methods to periodically and
objectively assess effectiveness of programs in achieving expected results,
their impacts, both intended and unintended, continued relevance and alternative
or more cost-effective ways of achieving expected results.
Expected Result: is an outcome that a program, policy or initiative
is designed to produce.
Full Time Equivalents: are all active employees of departments and
agencies listed in Schedule I, Part I of the Public Service Staff Relations
Act or all active employees of departments and agencies listed in Schedule
I to the Financial Administration Act.
Governance: The processes and structures through which decision-making
authority is exercised. E.g., An effective governance structure ensures
individuals or groups of individuals are responsible for setting policy
directions, priorities, taking investment decisions, re-allocating resources,
and designing programs.
Horizontal Initiative: An initiative in which partners from two or
more organizations have established a formal funding agreement (e.g. Memorandum
to Cabinet, Treasury Board submission, federal-provincial agreement) to work
toward the achievement of shared outcomes. E.g., Canada's Drug Strategy,
Measures to Combat Organized Crime Initiative.
Loans, Investments and Advances: is a category of financial claims
represented by debt instruments and ownership interests held by the Government
of Canada, acquired through the use of parliamentary appropriations. The various
categories include: Enterprise Crown corporations, joint and mixed enterprises,
national governments including developing countries, international organisations
and associations, provincial and territorial governments and other.
- International organisations and associations include Canada's
subscriptions to the share capital of international banks and payments made
by the Canadian Government to working capital funds maintained by
international organisations of which Canada is a member.
- Joint and mixed enterprises are entities with share capital owned jointly
by the Government of Canada and other governments and/or organisations to
further common objectives.
- Loans and advances to, and investments in, enterprise Crown corporations
represent the balance of financial claims held by the Government of Canada
against corporations for working capital, capital expenditures and other
purposes, investment in the capital stock of corporations, and loans and
advances to corporations for re-lending. Enterprise Crown corporations are
defined as those corporate organisations, which are not dependent on
parliamentary appropriations and whose principal activity and source of
revenue is the sale of goods and services to outside parties. These include
selected corporations listed in Part I, and corporations listed in Part II
of Schedule III of the Financial Administration Act, the Bank of
Canada and the Canadian Wheat Board.
- Loans to national governments consist mainly of the loan to the government
of the United Kingdom under the United Kingdom Financial Agreement Act,
1946, international development assistance to developing countries, and
loans for development of export trade (administered by the Export
Development Corporation).
- Loans to provinces and territories are made under relief acts and other
legislation.
Management and Accountability Framework (MAF): A document which
outlines the rationale, theory, resources and governance and accountability
structures of a program policy or intiative and sets out a plan to measure,
monitor and report on results throughout the lifecycle of the policy, program or
initiative. MAFs are intended to assist departments in achieving the expected
results of their policy, program or initiatve.
Management Priorities: focus on improving management practices,
controls or infrastructure within the organization in such areas as human
resources, risk management, real property management, corporate services, etc.
Management Resources and Results Structure (MRRS): A
comprehensive framework that consists of an organisation's inventory of
activities, resources, results, performance measurement and governance
information. Activities and results are depicted in their logical relationship
to each other and to the Strategic Outcome(s) to which they contribute. The MRRS
is developed from a Program Activity Architecture (PAA).
Non-Budgetary: see Loans, Investments and Advancements.
Non-Respendable Revenue: is the equivalent to revenue credited to the
Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF). The term Non-Respendable Revenue better
explains the type of revenue it is as opposed to where the revenues will go.
Outcome: An external consequence attributed, in part, to an
organisation, policy, program or initiative. Outcomes are not within the control
of a single organisation, policy, program or initative, instead they are within
the area of the organisation's influence. Outcomes are usually further qualified
as immediate, intermediate, or ultimate (final), expected, direct etc.
Performance: What a government did with its resources to
achieve its results, how well those results compare to what the government
intended to achieve and how well lessons learned have been identified.
Performance Indicator: see performance measure
Performance measure: A qualitative or quantitative means of
measuring an output or outcome, with the intention of
gauging the performance of an organisation, program, policy or initiative.
Quantitative performance measures are composed of a number and a unit. The
number provides the magnitude (how much) and the unit gives the number its
meaning (what). e.g number of written complaints received.
Performance Measurement: The process and systems of
selection, development and on-going use of performance measures to guide
decision-making.
Performance Reporting: The process of communicating evidence-based
performance information. Performance reporting supports decision-making,
accountability and transparency.
Policy: Government legislation, regulation, official guidelines or
operating principles that influence behaviour towards a stated outcome. Example:
Canada Health Act
Plans: The articulation of strategic choices, which provides information
on how an organisation intends achieve its priorities and expected results.
Generally a plan will explain the logic behind the strategies chosen and tend to
focus on actions that lead up to the expected result.
Priorities (for RPP): Specific areas that an organisation has chosen
to focus and report on during the planning period. They represent the things
that are most important or what must be done first to support the achievement of
the desired Strategic Outcome(s). There are two types of priorities program and
management.
Program: A group of related activities that are designed and managed to
meet a specific public need and often treated as a budgetary unit.
Program Activity Architecture (PAA): An inventory of all the
activities undertaken by a department or agency. The activities are depicted in
their logical relationship to each other and to the Strategic Outcome(s) to
which they contribute. The PAA is the initial document for the establishment of
a Management Resource and Results Structure (MRRS).
Program Priorities: focus on ways to improve value for money in the
department's program base, thus achieving better results for Canadians.
Reports on Plans and Priorities (RPP): As part of the Main
Estimates, the RPPs provide information on departmental plans and expected
performance over a three-year period. These reports are tabled in Parliament
each spring, after resource allocation deliberations. They include information
on the department or agency's mission or mandate, strategic outcomes,
strategies, plans and performance targets.
Respendable Revenue: is the equivalent to revenue credited to the vote.
The term Respendable Revenue better explains the type of revenue as opposed to
where the revenues go.
Statutory Authorities: Are those that Parliament has approved through
legislation and sets out both the purpose of the expenditures and the terms and
conditions under which they may be made. Statutory spending is included in the
Estimates for information only.
Strategic Outcome: A long-term and enduring benefit to
Canadians that stems from a department or agency's mandate, vision and efforts.
It represents the difference a department or agency wants to make for Canadians
and should be a clear measurable outcome that is within the department or
agency's sphere of influence.
Sustainable Development Strategies: The government of Canada is committed
to the promotion of sustainable development as a way to ensure the quality of
life of Canadians. The basic premise underlying sustainable development is to
integrate environmental, economic and social considerations into decision
making. Sustainable development is also defined as "development that meets
the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations
to meet their own needs".
Making progress towards sustainable development will require new approaches
to decision-making and decisions that reflect: a long-term focus, seeking to
preserve and enhance economic, social and natural capital in order to improve
the quality of people's lives today while ensuring a continuing legacy for the
future; a horizontal perspective that fully incorporates social, economic and
environmental factors; and a recognition of the interdependence between domestic
and global activities.
Voted Authorities: Are those for which the government must seek
Parliament's approval annually through an Appropriation Act. The wording and
expenditure authority attributable to each vote appears in a Schedule attached
to the Appropriation Act. Once approved the vote wording and approved amounts
become the governing conditions under which these expenditures must be made.
Individual expenditure proposals included in Votes seek authority to make
expenditures necessary to deliver various mandates that are under the
administration of a Minister and are contained in legilation approved by
Parliament.
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