Table of Contents
1.0 Policy
2.0 Policy statement
3.0 Application
4.0 Policy requirements
5.0 Responsibilities
6.0 Monitoring
7.0 References
8.0 Enquiries
Appendix A - Official Languages and Information
Technology
Appendix B - Strategic Directions for Government
Standardization
Appendix C - Approved Information and Technology
Standards
The objective of government information technology management is to ensure
that information technology is used as a strategic tool to support government
priorities and program delivery, to increase productivity, and to enhance
service to the public.
It is the policy of the government:
- to use information technology in renewing the way the government does its
business, and to maintain a technologically adept and modern Public Service;
- to coordinate, and set overall directions for, government information
technology; and
- to use a business-case approach to develop information technology
strategies based on program priorities, and to select and approve government
information technology investments that best meet the policy objective and
show due regard for employees and members of the public.
This policy applies to all institutions listed in Schedules I and II of the Financial
Administration Act and to branches designated as departments for the
purposes of the Act.
4.1 Coordination and overall government directions
1. Government institutions must:
(a) apply information technology to reduce the burden on respondents from
whom information is collected (e.g. conduct routine transactions
electronically, convert information to electronic form once only), make
information more easily accessible, complete transactions more quickly and
accurately, support employees, and thus reduce costs for all parties;
(b) ensure that information technology allows services to be provided to
the public in both official languages and that it can accommodate the use of
either official language by their employees as outlined in Appendix A;
(c) participate in setting government-wide directions for information
management, in particular, by informing the Treasury Board Secretariat of
their plans and long-term strategies to support the Secretariat's overall
government-wide coordination and direction-setting role;
(d) designate a senior official to represent the deputy head to the
Treasury Board Secretariat and other central agencies for the purposes of this
policy;
(e) develop plans for the transition to full conformance with approved
strategic directions for government, including standardization (see Appendix
B); and
(f) implement approved government information and technology standards in
accordance with Treasury Board criteria (see Appendix C and the supplementary
volume of the Treasury Board Manual, Information and Technology
Standards).
Common-service organizations that have information management
responsibilities must, in addition to the above:
(g) obtain advice, guidance and feedback on their objectives, strategies,
plans and the quality of their services from their clients (see section 5 of
the Guidelines, liaison of common-service organizations and lead agencies with
clients); and
(h) coordinate their plans and services with those of institutions and of
other common-service organizations in the context of Treasury Board strategic
directions (see section 2 of the Guidelines, information management planning).
4.2 Business-case approach
2. Government institutions must:
(a) adopt a business-case approach that is tailored to each institution's
circumstances and needs and that relates information technology strategies and
plans to program priorities and to measurable improvements in program
performance (see section 3 of the Guidelines, business-case approach);
(b) adopt technical strategies that will protect investments, foster
inter-operability, and allow competition among suppliers;
(c) develop Information Management plans that are tailored to their needs
and are derived from and strongly support the institutions' missions and
operational plans (see section 2 of the Guidelines, information management
planning); and
(d) obtain the approval of the Treasury Board for:
- information technology projects if the investment will replace an
existing automated system of comparable value and the total estimated cost
of the project will exceed $3 million, or
- information technology projects if the investment will result in a new
system and the total estimated cost will exceed $1 million.
Notes:
To assist the Treasury Board in deciding on a proposed project, institutions
must provide in their submission the estimated annual cost of operating the
resulting system.
See the Treasury Board Project Approval policy for details on further
information requirements and Treasury Board approvals.
The authority levels specified above may be increased by the Treasury Board
for individual institutions.
4.3 Corporate management
3. Government institutions must:
(a) adopt management practices for information technology (e.g. project and
quality management practices, including systems controls) that promote
innovatively and efficiently acquiring, deploying and administering their
information technology resources to support their program objectives, while at
the same time giving due regard to the needs of people;
(b) inform affected employees of plans for implementing information
technology, advise them of anticipated effects on their jobs in advance of the
change (see section 7 of the Guidelines, information technology in the
workplace: planning for people), and provide them with appropriate training
(section 6 of the Guidelines, education and training for the introduction of
information technology); and
(c) make reasonable provisions for the occupational health and safety of
employees and ensure that ergonomic criteria are specified in procurements of
information technology and related components;
Note:
Collective agreements require that bargaining agents be consulted about
technological change and health and safety issues.
(d) have in place tested plans to ensure that essential services are
continued when the institution's information technology support systems are
disrupted; and
(e) ensure that the government intercity network is used only for
government business, except in emergencies or when other use is properly
authorized, and that other long distance calls are placed through the
commercial common carrier and are charged to the caller. Government
institutions must also control the distribution of authorization codes for
long distance calls on the government intercity network and monitor these
calls.
The Treasury Board Secretariat is responsible for providing leadership and
coordination of, and setting overall directions for, the management of
information technology on a government-wide basis. It carries out this
responsibility by:
- establishing the policy framework;
- setting overall government-wide directions and goals;
- monitoring government-wide progress against established directions and
goals;
- identifying areas that offer significant government-wide benefits or are
of importance to the government, and leading efforts to achieve a
government-wide solution;
- coordinating the implementation of Treasury Board directions within
information-based common service organizations;
- managing the Government Information and Technology Standards Program (see
below);
- identifying areas where institutions could assist each other in supporting
common information technology objectives;
- providing advice to the Treasury Board and institutions;
- reviewing and making recommendations on submissions that seek the approval
of the Treasury Board for major information technology investments;
- in cooperation with departments and industry, facilitating the provision
of information, tools and opportunities to help information technology
professionals and managers meet the information technology challenges in
government;
- promoting liaison with other governments, the information technology
industry, and other groups in the private sector; and
- defining common and government-wide information on finance, personnel,
materiel and real property.
The Advisory Committee on Information Management advises the Treasury Board
Secretariat on new and existing policies in information management, guidelines
for Information Management plans and strategies, standards, and government-wide
strategic directions. It also acts as a government-wide forum for sharing plans
and disseminating experiences, for improving government-wide coordination and
for other information management issues.
The Government Telecommunications Council makes recommendations to Public
Works and Government Services Canada and the Treasury Board Secretariat on the
annual Business Plan of the Government Telecommunications Agency; the government
telecommunications architect function; major telecommunications plans of
government institutions; new programs or services in response to overall
government priorities; and other related items.
5.1 Common service organizations
Institutions that provide a common service in the field of information
technology are responsible for promulgating the specifications, rates, and
administrative practices relating to the service that they provide.
5.2 Government Information and Technology Standards Program
Institutions with national program or policy responsibilities related to
information technology are responsible for identifying, to the Treasury Board
Secretariat, their officers who participate in national and international
information technology standards activities, and for indicating the nature of
these officers' participation. Furthermore, these institutions are responsible
for sharing the information resulting from these activities with other
institutions, according to the mechanisms established within the Government
Information and Technology Standards Program.
Institutions that provide a common service in the field of information
technology are responsible for ensuring that their service conforms to
government standards. When these institutions perform services, such as
procurement action, on behalf of client institutions, they must ensure these
standards are referred to. These common service organizations are also
responsible for developing information and technology standards within their
mandated areas in consultation with the appropriate advisory committees.
The Treasury Board Secretariat, as overall manager of the Government
Information and Technology Standards Program, provides government-wide support
for the integrated management of information technology; sets strategic
directions for government standardization; establishes mechanisms to develop,
approve, implement and maintain government information and technology standards;
coordinates the government's position as a user for presentation to standards
committees or working groups; and establishes mechanisms to ensure that the work
of government officers in national and international standards is coordinated
and that the information resulting from this work is shared with all
institutions.
Implementation of official languages policy in information technology
The Government Telecommunications Agency is responsible for the
implementation of telephone-answering services in both official languages at
Government of Canada switchboards.
The Canadian Workplace Automation Research Centre serves as a focal point to
gather, exchange and disseminate information on the sources of information
technology hardware, software, documentation, and services that can be used in
either or both official languages.
The Public Works and Government Services Canada is responsible for
maintaining a bilingual vocabulary of information technology in the context of
the National Standards System of Canada which is administered by the Standards
Council of Canada.
5.3 Telecommunications directories
The Government Telecommunications Agency is the common service organization
for government telecommunications within Canada and the United States. It serves
as the central coordinating agency for the preparation of federal government
listings for all public telecommunications directories (blue page listings) in
Canada. The Government Telecommunications Agency is also responsible for the
publication of Government of Canada telecommunications directories for all of
these directories. The Agency determines the relevant specifications and
administrative practices.
External Affairs and International Trade Canada is the common service
organization for the government's international telecommunications. It is
responsible for Government of Canada listings, apart from operational units such
as those of the Armed Forces, that are published in international directories.
These listings are published with due consideration to the administrative
practices of foreign countries.
The Treasury Board Secretariat will evaluate institutions on their compliance
with the policy requirements and on the benefits realized from information
technology investments as recorded in their business-case analyses.
The implementation of this policy will be monitored through the coordination
process, in particular through institutions' strategies and plans, and through
internal audit reports.
This policy is issued under the authority of the Financial Administration
Act.
This policy should be read in conjunction with other Treasury Board policies
on Common Services, Official Languages, Long Term Capital Plans, Project
Approval, Project Management, Managing Major Crown Projects, Procurement Review,
Management of Other Specific Government Initiatives, Security, Staff Training,
Technical Barriers to Trade, and Work Force Adjustment, and with applicable
collective agreements.
This policy revision cancels Chapter 445 of the Treasury Board Administrative
Policy Manual.
Enquiries concerning the intent and implementation of this policy should be
directed to:
Management of Information Technology,
Office of Information Management,
Systems and Technology
Treasury Board Secretariat.
In implementing the requirements of the Official Languages Act
(1988) with respect to the language of work, institutions must:
- use the attached annexes A and B, which include targets for acquiring
bilingual information technology goods and services destined for regular and
wide use in designated bilingual regions; and
- indicate to Public Works and Government Services Canada their language
requirements for proposed information technology procurements.
Public Works and Government Services Canada must:
- incorporate official-languages requirements into its information
technology procurement policies; and
- with the Treasury Board Secretariat, monitor the implementation of the
policy.
In 1992 the Treasury Board Secretariat, in consultation with industry and the
Advisory Committee for Information Management, assessed the impact of the
official-languages requirements for information technology. It was determined
that information technology goods and services fully compliant with this policy
were not yet available and so targets could not yet be established for the
longer-term objectives shown in Annex B as "to be determined." The
Treasury Board Secretariat will continue to monitor developments in this area
and will establish appropriate targets once a sufficient number of compliant
products are available.
Annex A
Matrix of progressive objectives for bilingual
microcomputer systems*
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Level 1
|
Level 2
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Level 3
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A. Hardware
|
|
|
|
- microcomputers
- word processing equipment
- related printers
- other peripheral equipment
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All new word processors and related printers to have accented
characters. All new stand-alone microcomputers to have accented
characters.
|
Level A-1 plus all new communicating microcomputers to have accented
characters.
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All keyboards, displays and printers to have accented characters.
|
|
Target: 1989-90
|
Target: 1990-91
|
Target: 1991-92
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B. Software
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|
|
|
(applies to commercial and in-house designs)
- systems software
- application software
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Applications software data input and output possible in either official
language or both. No accents.
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Level B-1 plus applications software operational messages in either
official language or both.
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Level B-2 plus applications software data and messages with accents.
Systems messages in either official language or both.
|
|
Target: 1989-90
|
Target: 1990-91
|
Target: 1991-92
|
C. Related documentation
|
|
|
- systems user manuals
- operations procedures (including customer equipment maintenance
manuals)
- program specifications
- policy documentation
- contract documentation
- user requirements
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End-user documentation available in both official languages.
Target: 1989-90
|
Level C-1 plus operational procedures and documentation for design
staff in both official languages.**
Target: 1990-91
|
All documentation available and issued simultaneously in both official
languages.**
Target: 1991-92
|
D. Related training
|
|
|
|
- for end users
- for operational and development staff
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End-user training in both official languages.
|
Level D-1 plus training for operational staff in both official
languages.
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All training (including systems development training) in both official
languages.
|
|
Target: 1989-90
|
Target: 1990-91
|
Target: 1991-92
|
* includes microcomputers, communicating computers and multi-user office
systems.
** documentation used to build a system, e.g. program specifications, can be
in the language of choice of the programming team taking into consideration
future maintenance strategy.
End users: persons using the system to input program data or obtain displayed
or printed program printout. Does not include design staff.
Operational messages: messages displayed or printed that are directed to
operational or maintenance staff.
Annex B
Matrix of progressive objectives for bilingual
information technology systems
(Mainframe and minicomputers)
|
Level 1
|
Level 2
|
Level 3 Level 4
|
A. Hardware
|
|
|
|
- mainframes and minicomputers
- peripheral equipment
- online terminals
- communicating equipment
- computer room conditioning equipment
|
All new online terminals to have accented characters.
Target: 1989-90
|
Level A-1 plus all new communicating microcomputers to have accented
characters.
Target: 1990-91
|
All terminals and printers to have accented characters.
Target: 1991-92Level A-3 plus all equipment markings and labels to be
in both official languages.
Target: 1991-93
|
B. Systems and support software
|
|
|
(applies to commercial and internal designs)
- includes control programs, handlers, and debugging.
|
End-user data input and output possible in either official language or
both. No accents.
|
Level B-1 plus operational messages in either official language or
both. No accents.
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Level B-2 plus accents for end-user data and operational messages in
either official language or both.Level B-3 plus diagnostic messages for
systems developers and data capture or retrieval in either official
language or both.
|
|
Target: 1990-91
|
Target: 1992-93
|
Target to be determined**
Target to be determined**
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C. Application software
|
|
|
|
(applies to commercial and internal designs)
|
End-user input and output possible in either official language or both.
No accents.
|
Level C-1 plus operational messages in either official language or
both. No accents.
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Level C-2 plus accents for end-user data and operational messages in
all new programs. Level C-2 plus program comments in both official
languages (except when there is a commercial program copyright holder).
|
|
Target: 1989-90
|
Target: 1990-91
|
Target: 1991-92
Target to be determined**
|
D. Related documentation
|
|
|
- user manuals
- procedures for operation, including customer equipment manuals
- policy documentation
- user requirements
|
Documentation for end users available in both official languages.
Target: 1989-90
|
Level D-1 plus bilingual documentation (e.g. procedures) for
operational staff.
Target: 1990-91
|
Level D-2 plus bilingual equipment manuals.
Target: 1991-92All documentation, including systems specifications, in
both official languages and issued simultaneously, except program
documentation.*
Target to be determined**
|
E. Related training
|
|
|
|
- for end users
- for operational staff
- for development staff
|
End-user training in both official languages.
|
Level E-1 plus operational staff training in both official languages.
|
Level E-2 plus development staff training in both official
languages.All training in both official languages.
|
|
Target: 1989-90
|
Target: 1990-91
|
Target: 1991-92
Target to be determined**
|
* documentation used to build a system, e.g. program specifications, can be
in the language of choice of the programming team, taking into consideration
future maintenance strategy.
** targets (shown as "to be determined") for the longer-term
objectives will be determined once a sufficient number of compliant products are
available.
End users: persons using the system to input program data or obtain displayed
or printed program output. Does not include operational, design or maintenance
staff.
Operational messages: messages displayed or printed that are directed to
operational or maintenance staff.
Strategic directions for government standardization are plans for specific
groups of standards to be adopted by the government. These strategic directions
usually coincide with specific areas defined for national or international
standardization.
The specific standards that have been approved for government use in support
of the strategic directions are listed in the Guidelines, Chapter 2-2, Appendix
A. The detailed implementation and application criteria and the technical
specifications for these standards may be found in the Information Technology
Standards volume of the Treasury Board Manual.
The Treasury Board has approved four strategic directions for government
standardization.
Open systems interconnection
Open systems interconnection (OSI) supports the goal of inter-operability
among government computer communication systems. It represents a strategy
governing the development and implementation of all computer communication
systems. An OSI architecture is preferred over any manufacturer-specific or
installation-specific architectures.
The objectives for endorsing OSI are: to promote effective inter-working
between computer communications systems from different vendors; to promote fair
and equitable competition in procuring information technology products and
services; and to protect the government's investment in information technology.
It is the policy of the government that:
- information technology procurement requests state a clear preference for
systems and products based on the standards that support OSI; and
- by the mid-1990s, all major institutional computer communications systems
be based on products and services that conform to OSI.
To implement this policy, institutions and common-service organizations must:
- require vendors to indicate, in their responses to procurement requests,
their commitment to OSI and the availability (present and planned) of
products and services based on OSI; and
- ensure that preference is given to products and services conforming to
standards that support OSI.
In implementing these policy requirements, institutions must:
- reflect the current stage of evolution of OSI standards and government OSI
profiles; and
- take into account their plans for having toward conformance with OSI.
(These plans may require acquiring some non-conforming products in the short
term to support existing systems.)
The Treasury Board Secretariat will assist institutions by publishing
guidelines and providing advice on the development and implementation of plans
to conform with OSI.
Public Works and Government Services Canada and the Treasury Board
Secretariat monitor procurement requests, Information Management plans and
Treasury Board submissions to ensure that products and services based on OSI get
preference.
The Treasury Board Secretariat, Public Works and Government Services Canada,
and Industry and Science Canada will encourage Canadian suppliers to meet these
policy requirements for OSI.
Electronic service
Both the Treasury Board strategic direction document, Enhancing Services
Through the Innovative Use of Information and Technology (see Chapter 1-2) and
the 1992 federal Budget identify electronic service as a government priority to
improve service to the public and to increase internal efficiency.
Institutions have implemented information technology systems to automate
internal processes, but often resort to paper or human interaction to
communicate with external organizations or individuals. The electronic service
strategy aims to overcome barriers to automating external communication.
It is the government's policy that, by the end of the decade:
- all information be converted to electronic form once only and then shared
with all applications for which it is required,
- all routine transactions be carried out electronically, thereby
eliminating paper documents, except where they are absolutely necessary for
legal reasons, and
- government-wide standards be adopted for electronic service technologies,
e.g. electronic data interchange (EDI), smart cards, bar codes and
information exchange formats.
To implement this policy, institutions must:
- use government standards (which are endorsements of national or
international standards) for new applications involving the exchange of
information with outside organizations;
- develop plans (with the organizations they exchange information with) for
the migration of existing applications to government standards; and
- where possible, provide client interfaces based on electronic service
technologies that comply with government-wide standards (e.g. smart cards,
EDI, bar codes, and information exchanges formats).
The Treasury Board Secretariat will obtain expert and professional advice on
electronic service issues (e.g. legal questions) and will provide advice and
guidelines to assist institutions in implementing electronic service pilots and
operational systems.
Portability of applications
The objective of the applications portability strategy is to enable
applications (programs, data and people) to be transferred from one hardware and
operating system environment to a wide range of different environments.
Achieving this objective requires adopting standards for the services an
application may require. These services are grouped, based on the elements of an
open systems environment, as follows: system (language and operating system),
communication (network), information (database, data interchange and a
transaction processing), human-computer interaction (windowing, graphics, a
character-based user interface and a user command interface).
It is the government's policy that institutions must migrate towards portable
applications.
To implement this policy, institutions must:
- give preference to products that comply with standards when standards that
cover the individual elements of an enterprise-wide open systems environment
are approved for government use; and
- where an institution can justify the short-term use of a product that does
not comply with an applicable standard, obtain a commitment from the
supplier that a version of the product complying with the standard will be
available in the near future.
Enterprise-wide open systems
Enterprise-wide open systems environment refers to a broad standardization
strategy wherein all elements in the application development and operating
environment conform to appropriate standards. The goals of this strategy are: to
have information technology systems that are inter-operable; portable
applications, data and people (i.e. users and systems developers); and common
client interfaces to applications.
This strategy is contingent on adopting a comprehensive set of standards
covering quality, systems development methods, security, documentation,
information elements, user interface and management processes. These standards
would apply equally whether products are procured externally or developed
internally.
It is the government's policy that institutions must migrate towards an
enterprise-wide open systems environment.
To implement this policy, institutions must:
- give preference to products that comply with standards when standards that
cover the individual elements of an enterprise-wide open systems environment
are approved for government use; and
- where an institution can justify the short-term use of a product that does
not comply with an applicable standard, obtain a commitment from the
supplier that a version of the product complying with the standard will be
available in the near future.
The following pages contain a list of the information and technology
standards approved for government use by the Treasury Board. For specific
details concerning these standards and their approved implementation and
application criteria, refer to the Treasury Board Information and Technology
Standard (TBITS) documents contained in the Information and Technology Standards
volume of the Treasury Board Manual.
Approved Treasury Board Information and Technology Standards
General information
TBITS-0 General description of the Treasury Board information and technology
standards publications
Network services, applications and management
TBITS-1 Open systems interconnection - Basic reference model
TBITS-6.1 Canadian open systems application criteria (COSAC) - Overview
TBITS-6.2 COSAC - Internetworking profile
TBITS-6.3 COSAC - Profile for local area networks, LAN
TBITS-6.4 COSAC - Profile for message handling service, MHS
TBITS-6.5 COSAC - Wide area network profile
TBITS-6.6 COSAC - Security profile
TBITS-6.7 COSAC - File transfer, access and management
TBITS-6.9 COSAC - Telecommunications wiring system in government owned and
leased buildings
TBITS-6.10 COSAC - Test
TBITS-6.11 COSAC - Naming and addressing for government message handling
applications
TBITS-6.12 COSAC - OSI registration in the federal government, guidance
document
Database services
TBITS-2 Database language SQL
TBITS-16 Internal magnetic tape labels
TBITS-17 External magnetic tape labels
Data interchange services
TBITS-3 Coded character set for information interchange
TBITS-10 Electronic data interchange
TBITS-10.1 Government of Canada implementation guideline for electronic data
interchange
TBITS-11 Codes for the representation of names of countries
TBITS-12 Codes for the representation of currencies and funds
TBITS-14 Standard generalized markup language (SGML)
TBITS-24 Bar coding
TBITS-25 Materiel coding
User interface services
TBITS-5 Canadian government keyboard standard for information technology
equipment
TBITS-15 The use of French characters with IBM-compatible personal computers
TBITS-23 Information technology vocabulary
Operating systems, services and utilities
TBITS-7.0 Guide to the POSIX open system environment
TBITS-7.1 Portable operating system interface for computer (POSIX)
TBITS-7.2 Portable operating system interface (POSIX) part 2: shell and
utilities
Programming services
TBITS-4 Programming language COBOL
TBITS-8 Programming language C
TBITS-9 Programming language Ada
Environmental services
TBITS-13 Guideline on office ergonomics
Quality
TBITS-18 Quality management and quality assurance standards - Guidelines for
selection and use
TBITS-19 Quality systems - Model for quality assurance in design/development,
production, installation and servicing
TBITS-20 Quality systems - Model for quality assurance in production and
installation
TBITS-21 Quality systems - Model for quality assurance in final inspection
and test
TBITS-22 Guidelines for the application of ISO 9001 to the development,
supply and maintenance of software
TBITS-26 Software product evaluation - Quality characteristics and guidelines
for their use
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