1. What is the Expenditure Management Information System (EMIS)?
2. What is a Program Activity Architecture (PAA)?
3. What is the difference between BTEP (Business Transformation Enhancement
Process) and PAA (Program Activity Architecture)?
4. What are the major Treasury Board initiatives supported by EMIS?
5. How will EMIS impact reporting to Parliament?
6. How will TBS ensure common advice and standards to ensure comparable
activities in different departments are being measure and reported similarly?
7. How do I obtain a Government of Canada digital certificate
(PKI)?
8. Who is my TBS Program Analyst?
1. What is the Expenditure Management Information System (EMIS)?
The Expenditure Management Information System (EMIS) is an information
platform that has been created to improve decision-making, accountability and
transparency in government. It is a government-wide system that supports the
Management Resources and Results Structure (MRRS) and alignment of information
on the priorities, planned and actual expenditures, and results of program
activities. EMIS will also support and improve the management of horizontal
government priorities (such as aboriginal affairs, security, etc.) that are
shared by many departments.
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2. What is a Program Activity Architecture (PAA)?
The PAA is a subset of a MRRS (Management, Resources and Results Structure) -
it is the 'skeleton' or structure of program activities that reflects
an organization and establishes the information framework for budgeting and
reporting. The PAA identifies the strategic outcomes of the organization,
describes the activities supporting these outcomes and how the organization is
structured to manage them. The PAA has the following key elements:
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3. What is the difference between BTEP (Business Transformation Enhancement Process) and PAA (Program Activity Architecture)?
- BTEP and PAA are concepts both developed at Treasury Board of Canada,
Secretariat, designed to provide expenditure management information on
program activities across government.
- The PAA is an authoritative list of program activities from which
organizations report to both Treasury Board and to Parliament. It reflects
how organizations are structured and how accountabilities are managed. It
defines how program activities contribute to the organization's Strategic
Outcomes.
- The PAA ensures that financial and non-financial information on
priorities, plans, actual expenditures and results is aligned across
departments (horizontal initiatives) as well as within departments.
- In contrast, BTEP provides a high level of aggregation of information on
issues such as public security, health spending, etc. that allows
countries like Canada to make comparisons of its high level priorities
with other countries carrying out similar initiatives.
- BTEP is based on an internationally recognized
standards used to report public expenditures under a comparative model.
- Whereas BTEP provides an overarching view of government activities and
public spending, the PAA drills down to the actual activity allowing
government organizations to manage and budget their resources to achieve
performance commitments. From an operational perspective, the PAA is one
of the vehicles used to support the capture of information that creates
the accounts of Canada in the BTEP model. The other vehicle is the Chart
of Accounts.
- The Expenditure Management Information System will have the capacity to
combine and capture information from both the PAA and the Chart of
Accounts on a regular and ongoing basis.
- This information is necessary to support reporting under the BTEP and
hence permits Canada to report and compare its public expenditures to
those of other countries.
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4. What are the major Treasury Board initiatives supported by EMIS?
- Program Activity Architecture (PAA) - Organizations within the
federal government have submitted their Program Activity Architecture to
Treasury Board of Canada, Secretariat for approval. The PAA is the structure
of program activities upon which they must report expenditures and results to
the Treasury Board and Parliament. The PAA identifies the strategic outcome(s)
of an organization, describes the activities supporting these outcomes, and
how the organization is organized to manage them. The PAA structure is a key
element of the MRRS and will be used as the basis for budgeting and
expenditure management. Each PAA will be linked to various business processes,
including the Annual Reference Level Update (ARLU), Main Estimates, as well as
to the Expenditure Management Information (EMI) and Expenditure Review
Committee (ERC) surveys (also referred to as TBS Operational Reviews).
- TBS Operational Reviews (EMI/ERC surveys) - These surveys collect
information on government activities for the purpose of reviewing existing
expenditures, programs and their management. For the first time, results and
performance data will be linked to program activities.
- Renewal of current expenditure management systems - The
current systems (also referred to as the Legacy systems) will be updated so
that the information of the expenditure management business cycle can be
integrated and made more transparent and available. These systems are: ARLU,
Main Estimates, Supplementary Estimates, Expenditure Status Report, and
Allotment Control System.
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5. How will EMIS impact reporting to Parliament?
Reporting to Parliament is expected to improve as departments and agencies
report their expenditure and management activities (via Estimates and Public
Accounts documents) in line with departmental Program Activity Architectures.
EMIS, as the information technology system, will help capture structured
information and assist users in the stewardship of resources.
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6. How will TBS ensure common advice and standards to ensure comparable
activities in different departments are being measure and reported similarly?
TBS is committed to providing clear supporting rationales for information
requirements and will work with departments to ensure that priorities are
identified for the development of consistent and comprehensive information.
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7. How do I obtain a Government of Canada digital certificate
(PKI)?
To acquire your Government of Canada digital certificate, you
will need to contact the Local Registration Authority (LRA) for your
organization. Some departments may have a small charge for the certificate
registration. If you are not sure who your LRA is, either your security officer
or your administration team may know. Otherwise, simply e-mail us and we will
help you identify your contact emis-sigd@tbs-sct.gc.ca.
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8. Who is my TBS Program Analyst?
To view the list, click here.
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