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A Summary of the Problem with IMThe IM DeficitInside the Government of Canada, needs at all levels are not being met because of problems with IM. These problems undermine the ability of programs to function well and achieve desired outcomes, and cause programs to incur unnecessary costs. Ultimately, problems with IM interfere with the ability of the Government of Canada to meet the needs of Canadians. The gap between our current IM capability and what is required—the “IM deficit”—is not the same for all programs. IM needs fall into three categories, according to the type of client program IM is serving: the needs of any GC program; the special needs of executive programs; and the special needs of integrated service delivery programs. The level of sophistication in terms of need is very different for these clients. While the level of IM capability is not uniform across the Government, it is consistently lower than required, as illustrated below. While individual programs and departments can “make do” in this environment, operating at a level that is less than optimal, problems with IM make enterprise management at the executive or corporate level highly challenging, and horizontal initiatives for service integration particularly difficult if not impossible to design and implement. Each of these deficits is discussed in more detail below. The Program DeficitPrograms need quality information to function and be managed well and for the delivery of their services. They need information to trace decisions and processes. They also need their information to be preserved and safeguarded and to be made available to collaborators as appropriate. These needs are not being fully met because of poor information availability and inadequate preservation and safeguarding of information. These deficiencies make it difficult and inefficient for programs to fulfill the needs of their clients and to be managed responsibly. Poor information availability is indicated by the following problems affecting programs:
Inadequate preservation and safeguarding of information is evidenced by the following problems that are affecting programs:
Poor information availability and inadequate preservation and safeguardingof information undermine productivity and the ability to be accountable and transparent. They impede good program management, informed decision-making and information sharing. They jeopardize the Government’s ability to ensure that Canadians’ information is responsibly stewarded. The Enterprise Management DeficitGovernment-wide, corporate or executive level programs need assurance that Government of Canada’s record of processes and decisions has integrity and that clients’ rights are being upheld in the conduct of Government business, specifically in the handling of personal information. These programs need the ability to aggregate information vertically for Ministerial accountability, and horizontally for programs and services spanning departments and jurisdictions. This is essential for government to operate as an enterprise. Executive programs also require that information holdings be organized and information management processes be structured so that the Government can undertake change with agility. Finally, the executive needs all programs in the GC, including the IM Program, to operate effectively within the context of the whole enterprise of government. These needs are not being fully met because of poorly implemented IM rules and practices and because the IM Program is not operating effectively in the enterprise context. In some cases, these inadequacies prevent the GC executive from being able to live up to information-related accountabilities to Canadians and to manage the GC effectively as an enterprise; in others, it makes it more expensive to do so. Poorly implemented IM rules and practices are demonstrated by the following problems experienced by executive programs:
The fact that the IM Program is not operating effectively in the enterprise context is indicated by these problems experienced by executive programs:
Poorly implemented IM rules and practices prevent GC executive programs from being assured that the Government record has integrity and that clients’ rights are being upheld. Horizontal aggregation of information is difficult or impossible. Vertical aggregation for Ministerial accountability is more time-consuming and costly than necessary. Inflexibly structured information holdings and parochial IM processes impede change. The fact that the IM Program is not operating effectively in the enterprise context reduces the overall ability of the GC to act as an enterprise. The Horizontal Operations DeficitIn order to deliver programs and services that cross organizational boundaries, integrated service delivery programs need information that can be interpreted correctly out of the context in which it was captured or created, and effectively and efficiently aggregated with information collected elsewhere. These needs are not being met because of misaligned information and information management processes. This inadequacy makes it inefficient and sometimes impossible for integrated service delivery programs to combine services or integrate service outputs to provide higher valued outputs to clients and achieve more strategic outcomes. Misaligned information and information management processes is evidenced by the difficulty service delivery partners experience aligning information. This prevents integrated service delivery programs from correctly interpreting and effectively and efficiently aggregating information. Root CausesThe problems summarized above are felt by IM’s clients, and they are all symptoms of problems internal to IM. These internal problems are the causes of the problems experienced by IM’s clients. Some of these are root causes. Root causes are the real source of problems. Addressing the root causes of problems completely solves them. Addressing a problem directly or addressing its intermediate causes often proves unsuccessful. Because they are “at the source”, unaddressed, root causes just produce new problems. A single root cause can contribute to many problems—the number of problems in a business domain is typically much higher than the number of root causes. When developing solutions, identifying the root causes of problems accomplishes two important goals:
The root causes of IM problems are summarized below. They are grouped by business area within the IM Program, namely program management, rules and practices, capability and capacity, information handling and community and culture. IM Program Management
IM Rules and Practices
IM Capability and Capacity
Information Handling
IM Community and Culture
These root causes in program management, rules and practices, capability and capacity, information handling and community and culture will be the focus for the design of solutions to IM problems. |
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