Over its short life, the use of MAF as an instrument of oversight has
increased, both from a central agency and a departmental perspective. For
example, Budget 2005 stated that, "MAF sets out a comprehensive and
coherent accountability regime within government and enables departments and
agencies to strengthen their management capacity."
In 2003/2004 the Treasury Board Secretariat initially used MAF as a frame of
conversation between deputy heads. In 2004/2005, the use of MAF was extended, so
that flowing from bilateral discussions between deputy heads, management
improvement priorities for some 35 departments and agencies were identified and
imbedded in deputy performance management agreements with the Clerk of the Privy
Council. In the fall of 2005, MAF was aligned with the government's planning and
reporting cycle. This ensures that management assessment and improvement can be
considered in cycle with program planning and reporting.
As MAF evolves, the vision of management and the framework of analysis that
MAF provides is becoming increasingly important to departments and agencies in
planning and assessing progress against management improvement. Departments and
agencies are formally engaged in the 2005/2006 MAF assessment process to work
together with central agencies to identify management strengths and weaknesses
using the MAF indicators.
MAF will continue to evolve as an instrument of accountability and a tool for
analysis and will provide continuing support to the government's management
improvement agenda.
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