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Information Management in the Government of Canada - A Situation Analysis
During the consultation process, it was acknowledged that numerous examples could be
found across government of the effective application of information management principles
and practices. Those officials managing health information, natural resources information,
the sensitive personal information associated with licensing and social benefits programs,
and other programs where the successful delivery of the program is dependent entirely on
the existence of a high quality information management infrastructure, recognize the
central role information plays in the success of their programs. The ability of the
government to deliver information based programs and services on a daily basis in an
effective and efficient manner is a measure of the extent to which the government has been
able to address challenges such as those presented by new technologies, increasingly
complex client demands, and emerging priorities such as Government On-Line.
Nevertheless, consultation participants identified a number of issues the resolution of
which they felt would be necessary if government programs and services were to continue to
be delivered in an effective and efficient manner. These issues are organized according to
the proposed IM Infrastructure.
- A generally accepted vocabulary for IM
appears to be absent;
- There is a general lack of awareness by public servants of their role in serving as
stewards of information;
- There is a general lack of appreciation for the relevance of information created in the
recent past;
- The requirements of the Canadian public in accessing the range of government information
have yet to be fully identified;
- There is an inconsistent level of awareness by public servants of the existing policy
and legal structure governing government information;
- The roles and responsibilities of the National Library and the National Archives could
be better positioned with respect to supporting the management of published and
unpublished government information.
- The accountability framework for information management is weak compared to other
accountability frameworks such as personnel and finance:
- Overall accountability for IM within government institutions is fragmented and scattered
among IM jurisdictions such as records management and library services as well as program
and service delivery services;
- The efforts of IM committees and groups could be better co-ordinated and focused;
- Central and lead agency responsibilities for IM need to be better positioned to address
IM challenges presented by the emerging electronic environment, Government On-Line, etc.,
as well as information in more traditional formats.
- Policy: The government's primary information policy on the management of government
information holdings as well as the IM
policies of individual government institutions need to be updated and strengthened;
- Information Creation: Public servants lack the criteria for helping them determine what
information needs to be created to support or document what they are doing; systems design
methods often lack an IM component for helping users identify and define their information
requirements;
- Information Use: Information standards and information navigation tools, especially at
the government-wide level have yet to be established; existing classification schemes and
standards and tools for describing information may be inadequate; public servants and the
Canadian public are experiencing difficulty accessing and retrieving government
information which exists in multiple forms and formats; the relevancy, currency and
trustworthiness of documents may be at risk because of the difficulty in tracking multiple
versions; there are barriers to greater public use of some existing infrastructure such as
the National Library's AMICUS database that includes federal government publications
in all formats;
- Information Preservation: Standards and practices for managing the authenticity and
reliability of electronic information through time appear to be lacking; the costs of
preserving information through time may not be reflected adequately in the overall costs
of systems;
- Systems: information management functionality is not being incorporated into the design
of systems to the extent required; the integration of systems in unstructured work
environments is presenting a challenge;
- People: a shared view of what public servants need to know about IM and what skills and
abilities they need to have has yet to be established; training, education, and
recruitment programs for public servants have yet to reflect IM considerations adequately,
especially at the senior levels; a government-wide perspective on the nature of the work
required to build and maintain an IM infrastructure has yet to be established; there are
no government-wide champions for the development of an IM community and there is no
community renewal or community development program; as public servants retire or change
jobs, valuable information and knowledge is lost.
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