• Table of Contents
• Government On-Line Chronicle
• Overarching Principles & Key Areas of Activities
• 2006
• 2005
• 2004
• 2003
• 2002
• 2001
• 2000
• 1999
• Activities Preceding Government On-Line

Chronicle

2001

Michele D'Auray, Chief Information Officer, expresses confidence in Government On-line's progress: "In the 1990s, 're-inventing' government was a much-discussed concept that some believe was premature... In 2001, with the client-service model harnessed to today's Internet technology, the concept has come into its own."

In fact, the year 2001 marks a turning point for the Government On-Line initiative on many fronts:

• the re-designed Canada site, launched early January, is a significant early success to improve access to government on-line services;
• a procurement instrument is set up to ensure quick access to required private sector skills as required;
• the initiative is allocated multi-year funding until the end of fiscal year 2005-2006.

The launch of the re-designed main Government of Canada portal signalled the unwavering march toward a client-centred approach to on-line services delivery. The new site presents three gateways for individual Canadians, for Canadian businesses, and for international clients. Each gateway provides easy access to information and services that are grouped or clustered by topic, client or life cycle event. These new clusters are designed and managed by interdepartmental partnerships bringing to light the difficulties of horizontal governance, partnerships, metrics, content management and service standards in a governmental structure with vertical accountability. They also begin a culture change of working horizontally and highlight opportunities for integrated service.

A procurement strategy is developed to enable the Government On-Line initiative while respecting marketplace diversities. A stream approach is favoured, one for business processes and content services, one for information technology professional services, one for human resources management services, and one for composite solutions. The process involves the qualification of firms, followed by a rapid allocation of work. The supply arrangement is in place by August.

At the beginning of the 2001-2002 fiscal year, the budget for the Government On-Line initiative is $80M. Through the fiscal framework, and additional $120M was allocated to Government On-line specifically to accelerate on-line service delivery. Also, $600M are set aside for the initiative over four years starting in 2002. The fact that funds are secured for the next four years provides the Government On-Line initiative with a basis to set realistic on-line service delivery targets. The funds expanded for 2001 ($200M) are devoted to anchor services under gateways and clusters, scope the policy agenda, build the common technology infrastructure across government, and accelerate the transformation of key government services for on-line delivery through projects that are deemed to provide significant benefits to clients, momentum to the initiative, support inter-jurisdictional collaboration or address policy issues.

Policy, Human Resources and Consultations

The policy agenda is scoped. It entails the renewal of the Management of Government Information Holding policy, the development of metadata standards, the assessment of the impact of on-line service on privacy, the development of standards and guidelines for the long-term management of documents and digital signatures, the update of the enhanced management framework, the implementation of the risk management framework.

The Organizational Readiness Office focuses on a framework to strengthen the information management/information technology community with respect to recruitment, continuous learning, and accelerated development programs.

Two different consultations groups are established:  the Government On-Line Advisory Panel whose members come from across the Canadian society and advise the President of the Treasury Board on Government On-line future directions, and the Government On-Line Research Panel constituted of Canadian Internet users that provide feedback on Internet related issues of interest to the whole of government. The Advisory Panel is in fact a "sounding board" where knowledgeable experts from across the Canadian society-business, academia, and the voluntary sector - work collaboratively to provide advice and recommendations on all areas of Government On-line. The work of the Research Panel is available across the Government of Canada, eliminating duplication of efforts.

Other Government On-Line Milestones

• tabling of "The Governance of Government On-Line. A report on Research Conducted by the Public Policy Forum for the Chief Information Officer of the Treasury Board Secretariat";
• distribution of a Government On-line Kit to Members of Parliament provides them with an overview of the objectives and key milestones of the initiative;
• Accenture, in its eGovernment Leadership Report, "Rhetoric versus Reality - Closing the Gap" rates Canada first among 22 countries;
• release of the Global E-Government Survey by the World Markets Research Center where Canada ranks fourth after the United States, Taiwan and Australia;
• end date for the Government On-Line initiative is moved to 2005 (in effect March 2006) to allow the focus on security to be assessed and acted upon and to take into consideration information management and information technology capacity.

Related Events

• release of the results of "Clients Speak: A Report on Single-Window Government in Canada" that examines the use of "single-windows" for the delivery of services at the municipal, provincial/territorial, and federal levels of government;
• launch of the Institute for Citizen-Centred Services federal by provincial and territorial colleagues. The mission of the Institute is to promote high levels of citizen satisfaction with public sector service delivery. Staffed by public servants from various jurisdictions, it pursues this missions through research, survey tools, benchmarking, and knowledge sharing;
• discussion at the Public Sector Chief Information Officer Council and the Public Sector Service Delivery Council on security, privacy, information management, service clusters, electronic service delivery, and interoperability in various committees;
• shift in priority with more emphasis put on security is prompted by the attack on the World Trade Center in New-York (September).