Table of Contents

• Executive Summary
• Introduction
• Departmental IM/IT Investment Plan Process
• Plans, Priorities & Drivers
• Departmental IM/IT Investment Strategy
• Future Iterations
• Appendix A – Criteria Descriptions
• Appendix B – Priority Setting Criteria
• Appendix C – Transport Canada Business Priorities
• Appendix D – TC 2003/04 IM/IT Expenditure Profile Definitions
• Appendix E – Departmental IM/IT Funding in 2003/04
• Appendix F – Capital Demand - Departmental IM/IT Initiatives
• Appendix G – Potential IM/IT Efficiency Opportunities

Executive Summary

The current economic and political priorities affecting TC, and all government departments, require a change in approach to managing departmental assets, including IM/IT.  The effect of the change in government landscape has driven Transport Canada to acknowledge that:

• There is a need for greater overall transparency as it relates to the management of departmental IM/IT and a clear picture for overall departmental IM/IT spending
• Alignment of an expenditure profile for IM/IT is required in keeping with departmental priorities and fiscal realities
• There is a need to measure departmental IM/IT investment outcomes and validate business benefits resulting in increased accountability for results and performance
• The Expenditure Review initiative requires detailed understanding of current and future IM/IT investments
• Transport Canada needs to actively prepare for Government of Canada initiatives such as Shared Services and common infrastructure
• There is not enough money for everything.

The IM/IT investment plan is a program-driven plan intended to manage departmental IM/IT investments and ensure the department gets the most value from its IM/IT investments while supporting the key operating principles of achieving transparency, judiciousness and accountability of IM/IT investments.

The approach followed in developing the multi-year departmental IM/IT Investment Plan was highly consultative and built upon previous work.  One element in particular that helped shape the departmental IM/IT Investment Plan was the 2003/04 Expenditure Profile.  This profile provided critical information that was used to help understand current spending and to develop the model for future IM/IT investments.

The departmental IM/IT Investment Plan looks at continuing and new investment, balanced with cost efficiency opportunities.  The following table provides a view of the potential demand for IM/IT investment 2005/06 starts and previously committed investments continuing in 2005/06.

* Already approved /carry-over from previous years

** Refer to Appendix F for listing of projects.  The “Prioritized” and “Under Review” figures represent only the known potential 2005/06 IM/IT projects and their on-going funding implications.  Potential 2006/07 and 2007/08 IM/IT projects would be identified through a refresh of the departmental IM/IT Investment Plan resulting from the departmental business planning process.

A series of ten (10) IM/IT cost efficiency opportunities were identified to assist in containing IM/IT costs, primarily in the core infrastructure area (see page 17 and Appendix G – Potential IM/IT Efficiency Opportunities). 

By TMX approving the departmental IM/IT Investment Plan FY 2005-2008, this will result in:

• Funding for the Business IM/IT Investment Committee recommendations for 2005/06 – new investments
• Funding for the further analysis requirement for the implementation of the IM/IT efficiency opportunities
• Expanding the role of IM/IT governance committees to monitor and evaluate performance and results of investment plan with annual reports and presentations to TMX
• Establishing an IM/IT expenditure framework with appropriate control mechanisms for containing costs and limiting discretion for expenditures outside the approved departmental IM/IT investment plan

The IM/IT Investment Plan is not a single point in time document but an approach to managing the department’s overall IM/IT investment.  Future iterations of the IM/IT investment plan will:

• Follow a repeatable process as the plan continues to be regularly refreshed as part of the integrated planning process; and
• Ensure judicious and well-managed IM/IT investments that are aligned with departmental and program priorities.

By continuing to take a whole-of-department view of IM/IT, TC is well positioned to ensure that its scarce resources are aligned with business and government priorities.

Introduction

The TMX endorsed departmental IM/IT Strategic Plan for 2004-2007 established the vision and laid the foundation for IM/IT directions to provide departmental IM/IT related services, support and tools required for program delivery.  A multi-year departmental IM/IT Investment Plan is the next step in realizing this vision.  It provides a means to manage and to monitor departmental IM/IT investments while it addresses the needs for consistency and accountability associated with making judicious IM/IT investment decisions that are aligned with strategic departmental objectives and priorities, including supporting the department’s efforts to realize the Expenditure Review Committee (ERC) Corporate Efficiency targets of $12m by 2007/08.

The departmental IM/IT Investment Plan is founded on the following principles:

• Transparency - Greater overall transparency of IM/IT investment spending across business lines;
• Efficient and Effective Management Program - Departmental IM/IT investments are  judicious and well managed, in keeping with departmental priorities and fiscal realities, including measuring results of the investments made
• Governance - A streamlinedIM/IT governance structure, including planning, must be in place to ensure more effective delivery of strategic and operational level IM/IT services and improve the overall management of departmental IM/IT;
• Alignment With Program Priorities – IM/IT investments and activities must be aligned with business direction for greater effectiveness and efficiency

This Transport Canada (TC) departmental IM/IT Investment Plan identifies many IM/IT initiatives and efficiencies to be considered for the FY 2005-2008 timeframe.   It is fully expected that the list of IM/IT initiatives will grow and change over time in response to the changing program and Government of Canada requirements and that future iterations of this plan will address new IM/IT initiatives as they are identified. These initiatives will support and enable business solutions and contribute to providing robust and reliable IM/IT services, applications, information and tools leading to effective and efficient program delivery.  It establishes a blueprint from which the Departmental Executive Team (TMX) can make decisions on priorities and levels of investment in the context of overall departmental business planning and resource allocation exercises.

Transport Canada, as a department, will benefit from this plan since it will now have a more complete picture of IM/IT spending, regardless of the source of funding.  Managing IM/IT investments as any other corporate asset that requires planning to appropriately support the business will ensure that IM/IT is more closely aligned and supportive of the business initiatives. In addition, the planning associated with identifying and justifying IM/IT investments will provide greater opportunities to manage IM/IT related costs and avoid unnecessary duplication of systems and/or functionality.

The four (4) key assumptions made during the development of this plan are as follows:

• The department, as a whole, recognizes the need for and supports the efforts to develop a departmental IM/IT investment plan;
• The departmental IM/IT Investment Plan is based on the TMX endorsed TC IM/IT Strategic Plan 2004-2007;
• The departmental IM/IT Investment Plan is not a single point-in-time list of initiatives, but evolves as part of an ongoing, regular process to manage and plan the department’s investment in IM/IT; and
• Future iterations of the departmental IM/IT Investment Plan will result from the evolved departmental integrated planning process.

This departmental IM/IT investment plan has included validating and prioritizing IM/IT related initiatives currently identified and documented by the business lines and IM/IT.  The multi-year departmental IM/IT investment plan has made use of the TC 2003/04 Expenditure Profile to assist in validation of 2005/06 IM/IT investment scenarios.  It does not include developing a portfolio management process, creating or validating business cases for any IM/IT initiatives slated for funding approval or defining new opportunities to be considered for funding.

This document includes four (4) sections:

Departmental IM/IT Investment Plan Process – this section outlines the process followed to complete the initial Transport Canada IM/IT Investment Plan and the process for future iterations

Plans, Priorities & Drivers – this section summarizes the revised business and IM/IT priorities identified and validated during the national service line consultation sessions

Departmental IM/IT Investment Strategy – this section contains identified departmental IM/IT investment initiatives and includes options to address the challenges and opportunities of managing multi-year IM/IT investments for the short and long-term

Future Iterations – this section provides recommendations regarding the planning and prioritization processes

Departmental IM/IT Investment Plan Process

Although this plan was developed in absence of an integrated departmental business planning cycle, extensive business consultations did take place and the revised departmental IM/IT governance structure was used to validate all IM/IT initiatives and priorities.  The following diagram provides a brief overview of the process that was followed to develop this departmental IM/IT Investment Plan.

Any planning process cannot be conducted in isolation, especially one that addresses an area as extensive as departmental IM/IT investment planning.  As such, it was extremely critical for each business line and region to be consulted to ensure that the business priorities were identified and validated before attempting to prioritize IM/IT initiatives across the entire department.  The need for consultation had to be balanced against the need for expediency in order to have a departmental plan that could be used for the 2005/06 fiscal year.  This initial round of consultations were to refresh the business priorities identified in the IM/IT Strategic Plan 2004-2007 and to identify a preliminary list of projects to be considered for inclusion in the plan.

The process took full advantage of many related initiatives to provide input to this plan, including the Business IM/IT Investment Committee recommended capital IM/IT submissions, TC 2003/04 IM/IT Expenditure Profile, TC IM/IT Strategic Plan 2004-2007, IM/IT Planning Workshops, GOL Plans, Service Line Plans and Expenditure Review documentation.  This information provided a basis for the business priorities, directions, opportunities and identified IM/IT initiatives, to be reviewed and validated in face-to-face consultation sessions with representatives from each National Capital Region (NCR) service line and the regions.

Each identified IM/IT initiative was prioritized by the originating service line into four (4) categories – Critical, High, Medium or Low (See Appendix A – Criteria Descriptions).  These four (4) categories were described using the guidelines established in the Long Term Capital Plan (LTCP) with additional IM/IT considerations since the LTCP categories did not accurately reflect the business priorities for relative comparison purposes.  This prioritization approach provided some common basis when looking at the IM/IT initiatives at the departmental level.  Once the IM/IT initiatives were identified and prioritized within each service line, the results were rolled up for consideration at the business line level.

Additional consultation sessions were held with the NCR and regional management committees to validate the identified service line priorities and ensure the assigned priorities were accurately reflected relative to the business line and region specific priorities.  Comments and feedback received during this round of consultations were used to assist in the preparation for the Business IM/IT Investment Committee meeting, development of the list of IM/IT projects being considered, the monitoring and evaluation metrics and frame the beginnings of the approach for the Business IM/IT Investment Council presentation.

After all consultation sessions were held, the Business IM/IT Investment Committee met to review the IM/IT initiatives prioritized by the business lines in order prioritize all IM/IT initiatives at a departmental level, review IM/IT efficiency opportunities and discuss funding options for the potential departmental IM/IT investments.  See Appendix B – Priority Setting Criteria.

The Business IM/IT Investment Committee recommendations in the following areas were reviewed and accepted by the Business IM/IT Council.

• IM/IT investments starting in 2005/2006
• IM/IT potential efficiency opportunities
• IM/IT investment measurement criteria

Comments and feedback from the members of the Business IM/IT Council regarding the investment model, potential levels of investment and presentation of the IM/IT Expenditure Profile information were incorporated in the presentation deck and Investment Plan document prior to final TMX review.

The ADM CS has reviewed and endorsed the IM/IT Investment Plan.  This was followed by a final round of consultation with regional management committees and NHQ management committees to ensure all revised recommendations were understood and concerns addressed in order to position the plan for final TMX review and discussion.

Future Iterations of the Departmental IM/IT Investment Plan

The departmental IM/IT Investment Plan is not a single point in time document, but is a plan that will be continually updated to reflect evolving business directions, priorities and technological advancements.  It is more than a list of prioritized projects for funding considerations - in addition to prioritizing departmental IM/IT initiatives it also considers the overall spending envelope and IM/IT efficiency opportunities in managing the departmental IM/IT investments.

The process of developing and maintaining a departmental IM/IT investment plan is a cyclical process of planning, monitoring and evaluating progress with governance, process and standards providing the framework to support the financial management and delivery of a set of departmentally prioritized, approved and ultimately, implemented IM/IT investments.  The framework for this is depicted in the following diagram.

The governance structure to support this process is already in place.  Through the use of the Business IM/IT Investment Committee, Business IM/IT Council, IM/IT Architecture and Standards Committee, TMX Capital Sub-Committee (determines the amount of capital funds available for departmental priorities and those which could be used for IM/IT) and ADM CS review, the departmental IM/IT investments are reviewed, validated and prioritized before receiving final review and approval from TMX.  The Business IM/IT Investment Committee reviews all identified initiatives to evaluate and assign a departmental priority based on structured priority setting criteria (See Appendix B - Priority Setting Criteria) that considers the type of initiative, alignment with strategic priorities, business transformation opportunities, partnership opportunities, technical considerations, cost/benefit considerations and risk.

Managing the departmental IM/IT investments is an ongoing activity with the Business IM/IT Investment Committee taking an active role in meeting regularly to review the requirements for new IM/IT investments, both long and short term, and to monitor progress of IM/IT projects underway.  Regular meetings will also enable the committee to respond effectively to short term new investment requirements with a short timeframe for implementation as well as managing long-term needs.  Their recommendations are advanced to the Business IM/IT Council which reviews and makes recommendations. These in turn are reviewed by the ADM CS prior to proceeding to TMX for final approval.

The IM/IT Portfolio Managers, Financial Management Advisors (FMA), Human Resource Advisors (HRA), business lines, Business IM/IT Investment Committee and the Business IM/IT Council all have defined roles to play in the development of future iterations of the departmental IM/IT Investment Plan.  The IM/IT Portfolio Manager role within TIMSD will facilitate the interactions between the program areas and IM/IT activities such as, but not limited to, preparation and review of information (such as PADs)  to be presented to the Business IM/IT Investment Committee and PADs.  The process of meeting with the business lines and regions on an ongoing basis to keep informed of changing requirements and needs is crucial to the priority setting process.  Future iterations of the departmental IM/IT Investment Plan will need to be incorporated into the integrated business planning process to ensure the initiatives are identified, validated, prioritized and approved by the appropriate times to receive funding allocations.

Plans, Priorities & Drivers

There are multiple drivers and influences affecting Transport Canada business lines and IM/IT plans, some of which are outside the control of the department.  The annual Speech from the Throne, budgets and changing political agendas will always influence the business plans and therefore impact on departmental IM/IT spending plans as well.  In addition, government wide initiatives such as the Expenditure Review Committee (ERC), Management Accountability Framework (MAF), Government On-Line (GOL) and shared services continue to provide challenges in planning, budget management and program delivery.

Key business priorities identified in Budget 2005 that affect and support the departmental IM/IT Investment Plan are: improving expenditure management, mainly through the ERC which includes efficiency targets and re-allocation considerations, as well as improving accountability.

Expenditure Review Committee (ERC) has identified a target savings for TC Corporate Efficiencies that are to be realized through corporate efficiencies aimed at more comprehensive and integrated business planning, enhanced access to and use of technology based systems, greater sharing of common services and adoption of best administrative practices. The departmental IM/IT Investment Plan supports these efforts through the plan itself and by identifying efficiency opportunities in how it delivers and supports IM/IT services within the department.

These externally established priorities and key departmental priorities as defined in the RPP, Straight Ahead and various business plans (as they relate to IM/IT investment planning) are pushed down through the business lines and service lines, resulting in IM/IT initiatives that will contribute to meeting the key business objectives.

In addition to business plans and priorities acting as drivers, there are also priorities that arise from the increasing need to access and share information, growing expectations from Canadians and within the department, driving increasing capability and capacity needs, evolving technology and the accompanying concerns for security and privacy.  All these factors influence, on an annual basis, the portfolio of IM/IT initiatives that are put forward for approval and funding.  A significant challenge for departmental IM/IT investment planning is balancing the need for cost containment with the desire to improve service delivery while addressing departmental priorities.

The key strategic departmental business priorities include the following (see Appendix C - Transport Canada Business Priorities identified during the consultation process):

Safe and Secure

1. New Security Policies and Programs
2. Smart Regulation
3. Safety and Security Management Systems

Efficient

4. Market-based Policy Framework
5. Infrastructure, Gateway and Trade Corridors
6. Innovation

Environmentally Responsible

7. Climate Change
8. Environmental Assessment
9. Environmental Protection and Remediation

The current approach to managing IM/IT investment cannot be maintained since it does not address, at a departmental level, the issues of transparency, efficient and effective management, governance and informed decision making.  The current process does not look at initiatives departmentally, but rather, the decisions are being made on the basis of sources of funding available and how much discretionary budget each business line can allocate to its IM/IT needs, a situation which may put TC in the position of having IM/IT spending levels vary substantially from year to year. Although much has been accomplished in the past year towards changing the departmental approach to IM/IT investment planning, there is still more left to achieve in order to establish and ingrain the processes and practices endorsed in this IM/IT Investment Plan in order to manage departmental IM/IT spending.

Managing IM/IT investments at a departmental level involves balancing the plans, priorities and drivers against the cost containment and service delivery needs.

Departmental IM/IT Investment Strategy

Linkage to the TC IM/IT Strategic Plan 2004-2007

During the consultation phase associated with developing this plan, the business priorities identified in the TC IM/IT Strategic Plan 2004-2007 were refreshed and updated.  In addition the following five (5) key goals in the strategic plan were validated.

• Accessing, managing and storing information
• IT infrastructure renewal
• Business enabling IM/IT services
• IM/IT management
• People

The prioritized IM/IT projects contained in this departmental IM/IT Investment Plan have been linked to these 5 key goals as shown below (further details on the prioritized projects can be found on page 14 and in Appendix F – Capital Demand – Departmental IM/IT Initiatives).

TC IM/IT Expenditure Profile 2003-2004

All IM/IT spending can be referred to as an investment, from the spending required to maintain the infrastructure to the development of new business systems.  However, before embarking upon the development of a departmental IM/IT investment plan it is essential to understand the current TC IM/IT investment picture. The TC 2003/04 IM/IT Expenditure Profile was developed and populated in an effort to obtain a better understanding of the current departmental IM/IT spending. It has provided valuable data to help identify various investment areas and current spending profiles.

The TC 2003/04 Expenditure Profile has eight (8) main categories – Hardware, Software, WAN, Telephony, Application Systems, Mainframe Services, IM/IT Strategic Planning and Security Operations, Information Management.  (See Appendix D – TC 2003/04 IM/IT Expenditure Profile Definitions for definitions of each of the categories).  Each of the business lines was responsible for categorizing their IM/IT spending in each of the defined areas.  Control totals for the Expenditure Profile were established using 2003/04 IM/IT figures from BIRM.  This is the first time that TC has collected categorized data on its IM/IT spending to help establish a picture of departmental IM/IT spending and to use the data as a foundation for IM/IT related decision making.

Final figures from the TC 2003/04 IM/IT Expenditure Profile data reveal that TC spent approximately 11.5% of the TC gross operating and capital budget.  These funds come from a variety of sources including Corporate Services for the required departmental-wide funding, business lines operational budgets, departmental capital budget and special funds. (See Appendix E – Departmental IM/IT Funding in 2003/04 for additional breakdowns of IM/IT spending).  Using 2003/04 as a baseline year, IM/IT spending can be broken down as follows. (Note that DA (Departmental Admin.) includes, but is not limited to, items supporting Departmental initiatives and infrastructure such as hardware, mainframe, telephony, LAN support, Wide Area Network (WAN), voice and salaries and wages.)

DA = Departmental Admin includes CS, Legal and Communications

Hardware = hardware, mainframe services         Source: CIOB, 2003/04
Software = software, application systems
Data = data
Prof. Svs. = Professional Services, Strategic planning

When comparing the Government of Canada (GoC) IT spending profile against the TC IT spending profile, it appears that the range for the majority of the categories are comparable, with only Hardware and Salaries and Wages showing a significant variance.  The variance in the Hardware category can be attributed, in part, to processes that were put in place to manage infrastructure renewal at a national level.  The variance in Salaries and Wages can be attributed, in part, to selective outsourcing practices, which may also have contributed to the slight increase in Professional Services.

From this historical perspective and breakdown into the ten (10) categories (hardware, software, WAN, telephony, mainframe services, application systems, strategic planning, information management, salaries and wages, professional services) it is difficult to identify which components of each of the categories were attributed to typical IM/IT investment categories of new projects, major enhancements, evergreening or sustain activities.  However, it does provide an indication where the largest expenditures are taking place, and therefore the areas that could be initially targeted for IM/IT efficiency opportunities.

Other key findings from the TC 2003/04 Expenditure Profile are that IM costs are not easily defined, but that they are significant; professional services are being used to provide ongoing support and maintenance activities (currently Professional Services data is not captured in BIRM in such a way that provides a clear indication of the dollar amount that has been attributed to new investment or to maintaining existing infrastructure or systems); and that significant areas of spending is occurring in the areas of output services, hardware and software procurement and management, telecommunications and professional services.

IM/IT Investment Management

There are three (3) significant phases for any IM/IT investment management process – planning, implement and monitor, and evaluation.

Planning is the identification and selection of IM/IT initiatives to be considered for funding, which the departmental IM/IT Investment Plan addresses.  In identifying and selecting these initiatives consideration needs to be given to balancing a portfolio of core business needs with strategic versus operational initiatives and single year versus multi-year initiatives.  Subsequent to planning is implementation and therefore putting in place a mechanism to monitor progress against the IM/IT project plans. The final phase is evaluation, an opportunity, post-implementation, to review the investment objectives to determine if they have been met, and validate that planned costs and benefits are in line with the actual costs and benefits.

IM/IT Investment - Planning

Every year, new initiatives are identified in response to new business needs, priorities and advances in technology that can provide the department with improved service or reduced costs.  These new initiatives need to be balanced with the needs of previously approved multi-year initiatives.  As a result of consultation, a number of IM/IT initiatives have been identified and prioritized by each of the business lines.  These have been reviewed and prioritized by the Business IM/IT Investment Committee and Business IM/IT Council to appropriately reflect departmental priorities.

During the consultation process there were a number of identified opportunities for TIMSD to support the business by conducting feasibility studies, developing new systems or developing major enhancements to existing systems. There were also a number of common themes and opportunities identified throughout the consultation process that supported the key goals outlined in the TC IM/IT Strategic Plan 2004-2007.  These are initiatives or areas that will assist and support the business by improving the infrastructure or online or automated capabilities to improve program/service delivery.

A number of IM/IT initiatives and opportunities were identified during the national consultation process and through the FMAs.  (See Appendix F – Capital Demand – Departmental IM/IT Initiatives for a full list of identified initiatives). The Business IM/IT Investment Committee classified the initiatives into three (3) categories – Ongoing, Prioritized and Under Review. Ongoing are those initiatives that had received funding in prior years and were not re-prioritized.  Prioritized were those new initiatives that were discussed and prioritized.  Under Review are the initiatives that the committee required more information before being able to prioritize the initiative, or that the initiative was slated to begin in the 2006/07 timeframe or later.

The following table highlights the potential demand for IM/IT investment funding at this point in time across each of the categories.

* Already approved/carry-over from previous years

** Refer to Appendix F for a full listing of projects

The “Prioritized” and “Under Review” figures represent only the known potential 2005/06 IM/IT projects and their on-going funding implications.  Potential 2006/07 and 2007/08 IM/IT projects would be identified through a refresh of the departmental IM/IT Investment Plan resulting from the departmental business planning process.

A decision to invest in ongoing multi-year (carry-over projects from 2004/05) and new 2005/06 project starts has on-going funding implications to consider.  The following tables identify the on-going considerations for 2005/06 – 2008/09 for projects previously approved and 2006/07 – 2008/09 on-going considerations for 2005/06 starts and a list of the priority ranked initiatives, identified to date, from the Business IM/IT Investment Committee for 2005-2006 consideration.  This list would form the basis for determining which investments would be approved to receive funding depending on the amount allocated by the department for new IM/IT investments.  (See Appendix F – Capital Demand – Departmental IM/IT Initiatives for a complete list of all IM/IT initiatives identified, including those that were not prioritized or included in this iteration of the departmental IM/IT Investment Plan).

* PSMA Implementation requires additional information to be inserted into the priority order but the Business IM/IT Investment Committee felt that it should still receive consideration for the 2005/06 timeframe.

It is expected that this list of prioritized projects will require periodic review and refresh as new initiatives are identified and need to be considered for prioritization and funding, for example, the Environmental Information System is anticipating starting in 2006/07 timeframe so this project information would need to come before the Business IM/IT Investment Committee in sufficient time to be reviewed, prioritized and considered for fiscal 2006/07 funds.

Cost Management

The increasing requirements to manage IM/IT costs and provide detailed accounting on IM/IT expenditures is driving the need to revisit the manner in which IM/IT investments are managed.  It can no longer be assumed that all proposed IM/IT investments will be funded.

The current economic climate and political priorities have caused the department to look inward for opportunities to reduce costs.  IM/IT is one area that is expected to contribute to the department’s total efficiency targets as a result of ERC’s approach to government-wide efficiency opportunities and individual department opportunities.  In previous years, there have been enough funds available to ensure that the majority of IM/IT initiatives received adequate funding.  However, given the current circumstances it is expected that there will be fewer funds available for future IM/IT investments and that competition for those funds will increase as TC responds to demands for increased transparency, accountability and improved expenditure management.

A series of IM/IT efficiency opportunities recommended by the Business IM/IT Council could potentially provide significant savings that may help fund future IM/IT investments.  These opportunities are still in the early stages of project development and require additional investigation and analysis in order to validate the preliminary estimates. (See Appendix G – Potential IM/IT Efficiency Opportunities for full descriptions of each opportunity area).  Many of the IM/IT efficiency opportunities are far more than simple projects that have a net benefit measured in cost savings.  These opportunities have the potential to drive and to effect fundamental change at TC since many of the efficiencies are predicated on process changes or budget re-allocations in order to maximize the benefits to be realized.  This approach to efficiency opportunities is aligned with ERC principles which advocate that moving to a more consolidated approach may reduce managerial flexibility but appears to be justified in view of the potential savings.

The recommended approach for these opportunities is to implement the first 7 in 2005/06.  The remainder will be evaluated in the 2006/07 timeframe to assess the applicability and alignment with other government initiatives to determine if consideration should be given to these efficiencies in the 2006/07 timeframe or deferred to the future.

* Note: These are order of magnitude estimates and require further investigation and analysis for more accurate cost and savings projections.  Some of these IM/IT efficiency opportunities may have alternative scope/implementation plans – the approach that yields the maximum savings has been depicted in these forecasts.

Investment Scenarios

When determining the amount of investment to make it is necessary to differentiate between categories of investment.  The entire departmental IM/IT investment can be broken into six (6) main categories: Professional Services, Application Systems, IM, Infrastructure, Salaries and Wages and Investment.  Infrastructure includes hardware, software, WAN, telephony, mainframe and strategic planning categories from the expenditure profile.  These elements make up the vast majority of the costs associated with providing the core departmental infrastructure.  The data provided from the 2003/04 IM/IT Expenditure Profile will be used as a base year for modeling and projecting future year IM/IT spending.

In future years it will be possible to decrease the departmental IM/IT investment level through the efficiency opportunities and reductions in departmental investments.

IM/IT Investments – Monitoring and Evaluation

During the planning stage of the cycle all initiatives would be vetted against business priorities and subjected to departmental priority setting.  Once the planning stage is completed and approval for funding has been received, the Business IM/IT Investment Committee has ongoing responsibilities to the department that include monitoring progress reports from Project Managers and monitoring indepth results metrics for specific projects.  This ongoing monitoring is required to ensure judicious spending and to provide the necessary information at pre-determined points to consider continuing, corrective or alternative actions (ex. re-profiling of funds).  These metrics would be used by the Project Managers, Project Sponsors, business groups, Business IM/IT Investment Committee, Business IM/IT Council and TMX to monitor the status of a project, providing input to project related decisions and to assist in assessing the value of the project investment to date.

Guidelines for the initial results metrics for measurement are that they are simple, easily measured and easily reported.  Initially, all IM/IT initiatives reviewed and prioritized by the Business IM/IT Investment Committee that received funding should be subject to reporting on the following results metrics.

Proposed Results Metrics for Monitor Phase (During Project Implementation)

All results metric reports would be prepared in a standard project status report template and delivered to the Business IM/IT Investment Committee quarterly.  Many of these metrics are already included in regular project status reports and would simply require that a copy of a quarterly status report be forwarded to the Business IM/IT Investment Committee for review and discussion.

Only those initiatives ‘flagged’ or identified for discussion will be discussed at meetings.  ‘Flagging’ of projects could occur if the project has had previous ‘yellow’ or ‘red’ monitoring reports; multi-year project; TEC > $500k. These criteria will have to be discussed and agreed upon by the Business IM/IT Investment Committee and then distributed to Project Managers.  Any discussion concerning a ‘red’ zone project would take place with the project sponsor and project manager present.

As a result of ‘red’ zone project discussions the Business IM/IT Investment Committee should also have the ability to escalate issues to the Business IM/IT Council regarding recommendations for restructuring or canceling projects based on poor performance or revised cost/benefit schedule during this stage of the cycle.  The final stage of the cycle, evaluation, involves the project sponsor or project manager reporting back to the Business IM/IT Investment Committee to validate the benefit realization that was forecasted when the project was approved for funding.

Proposed Results Metrics for Evaluation Phase (Post-Project Implementation)

All benefits, both tangible and intangible, for a particular investment should be identified, with a proposed approach to measuring these benefits, in the material provided to the Business IM/IT Investment Committee at the time the project is being considered for approval and priority setting by the Business IM/IT Investment Committee.  After the project is completed these benefits should be measured and compared against the original baseline to determine if the expected benefits have been realized.  It is recognized that not all benefits, especially long-term savings, may be realized within the time period that the measurements are being made or that it may not be possible to provide accurate estimates for results metrics development costs.

* Not all projects will have cost savings/cost avoidance elements, in cases of compliance or non-cost savings benefits these may be measured in terms of degree of compliance achieved or degree of benefits realized.

All performance metric reports (project evaluation report in a standard template) should be forwarded to the Business IM/IT Investment Committee within 6 months of project completion, or a predetermined timeframe for discussion.  Any ‘Red’ zone project will require a discussion with the project manager / sponsor present.  If the Business IM/IT Investment Committee determines that the results are of concern the review may be escalated to the Business IM/IT Council.

Future Iterations

Recommendations for future iterations of an annual departmental IM/IT Investment Plan include:

• Should be tied to the business planning cycle to achieve a well-rounded plan with the least amount of additional effort

• Extend the responsibilities of the Business IM/IT Investment Committee beyond prioritizing and recommending initiatives for approval to include establishing a review schedule and conducting reviews of each approved IM/IT investment, monitoring progress of initiatives underway, making recommendations regarding initiatives that should be terminated, modified or accelerated and verifying benefit realization
• Should be expanded to include IM/IT initiatives that are funded out of business line OOC funds and minor capital budgets
• Repeat the TC IM/IT Expenditure Profile data gathering and analysis on an annual basis in order to assess the spending levels against the departmental IM/IT investment plan
• Should include multiple on-ramps throughout the planning cycle for IM/IT initiatives that have been deferred for priority setting for this iteration, or new initiatives that are identified, to be reconsidered once additional information is made available at specified time points

Appendix A – Criteria Descriptions

These four (4) criteria were modified from existing criteria for the sake of simplicity and expediency to assist each service line in prioritizing their IM/IT initiatives. These criteria definitions are based upon the LTCP project priority classifications and the Business IM/IT Investment Committee priority setting criteria as they relate to IM/IT initiatives.

Appendix B – Priority Setting Criteria

Transport Canada IM/IT Project Selection Criteria
(endorsed by the Business IM/IT Investment Committee)
Table 1.0 IM/IT Project Selection Criteria

Business Rules

1.0 Classification of Project Submissions

All IM/IT submissions are classified according to type and user focus. The purpose of this approach is two fold:

• To identify projects that will have the greatest (positive or negative) impact upon the info/infra-structure
• To ensure that a balance of various types of internal/external and service improvement/business transformation project proposals are prioritized and recommended

The classification is determined at the outset of the selection process and is a determining factor in the weighting of the criteria.

Classifications

• Feasibility Studies –Short-term projects carried through to determine the feasibility of a larger undertaking. A feasibility project usually includes the background to the project, an analysis of the project rationale, a technical study, a financial study, a management study, legal aspects of the initiative, risk identification and expected outcomes.
• New Pilots – Small-scale projects such as Proofs of Concept carried through in controlled environments such as within regions, service lines and programs before enterprise rollout. A pilot project is a once-through test, which leads to refining the design, and then to full implementation of a larger undertaking.
• New Projects–Large-scale projects that might already have gone through the piloting or feasibility study stages. New Projects could have demonstrated their feasibility elsewhere in industry/ government. The outcome of these projects might be a completed transformation of the business function, and/or reengineering of the service provision.
• Enhancements-Significant enhancement to existing tools, applications and other IM/IT assets would be defined as a new submission where this enhancement is beyond that envisioned as part of O&M. Excluded from consideration are infrastructure upgrades.

2.0 Weights

The purpose of the selection process is to quantify the potential value of each project based on a concrete set of criteria, and to be able to prioritize project proposals based on overall scores. The weighting system is the key to the establishment of a transparent selection process.

There are two levels within the weighting hierarchy: the percentage split between strategic and operational types of criteria, and the weight of each criterion within each of the two criteria types. The percentages are determined by consideration of the relative importance of criteria types to the classification of the proposed project.

3.0 Distribution of Weights between Categories

Feasibility Study: Strategic Criteria 90%. Operational Criteria 10%

More emphasis is on Strategic Criteria than Operational Criteria since the reason for feasibility studies is to test their potential to become operational projects over time.

Pilot: Strategic Criteria 40%. Operational Criteria 60%

More emphasis is on Operational Criteria than Strategic Criteria, since the reason for the pilot is to test the operational viability of the project.

New Project: Strategic Criteria 25%. Operational Criteria 75%

More emphasis is on operational criteria due to the need for determining the long-term viability of the project.

Enhancement: Strategic Criteria 50%. Operational 50%

Investments in new development initiatives should clearly demonstrate strategic benefits to the business group and department. Operational criteria are weighted as heavily because new development submissions should not entail undue operational burden on the business group or departmental IM and IT infrastructures

4.0 Rated Criteria

The rated criteria provide submission evaluators with a means by which to assign quantitative metrics to project submissions. Submission ratings enable the Business – IM/IT Investment Committee to prioritize IM/IT investments. Below are the guidelines for rated strategic and operational criteria.

4.1 Strategic Criteria

The strategic criteria determine how well the project supports the department’s business plan and the department’s efforts to draw more value from its strategic investments. The importance of this set of criteria varies depending upon the type of project.

R1 Demonstrates alignment with strategic departmental business priorities

The submission should demonstrate alignment with strategic departmental business priorities including:

• New Security Policies and Programs
• Smart Regulation
• Safety and Security Management Systems
• Market-based Policy Framework
• Infrastructure, Gateway and Trade Corridors
• Innovation
• Climate Change
• Environmental Assessment
• Environmental Protection and Remediation

R2 Addresses legislated or government mandated requirements

R3 Demonstrates potential for business transformation leading to the measurable gains in process efficiency, productivity, service improvement, and other tangible benefits; identifies the cost of not investing in this submission

The project demonstrates potential through all four of the following ways:

• Increases administrative efficiencies, employee productivity, ROI, cost avoidance, etc. (across departmental, business line, service line)
• Improves operational and regulatory work
• Enhances decision-making
• Common/horizontal service ("corporate-wide solution”)
• Opportunities to leverage existing applications, systems

R4 Assesses collaboration/partnership opportunities including leveraging existing tools and sharing development costs

The submission should identify partnerships and opportunities for collaboration and leveraging existing tools

4.2 Operational Criteria

The rated operational criteria help to determine how well the project can be executed and how well it can be made operational. These criteria cover risks, costs, project management approach and the impact it will have on the IM/IT environment.

R5 Technical Fit

The proposed project should demonstrate how it would fit within the IM/IT environment as it is implemented:

• Describes potential fit within the TC Technical Environment in the following ways:
  • Integrates with existing policies and architecture standards where applicable, or
  • Establishes new standards where none existed before (within the IM/IT architecture)
  • Leverages existing tools within the current architecture

R6 Operational Cost Analysis

The proposal should provide an analysis of the costs of implementation and becoming operational, including:

• Up-front costs (TEC), such as:
  • Hardware and software purchases,
  • Design and development
  • Project management
  • Installation costs
  • Consultation fees
  • Transition costs,
  • Supplies,
  • Travel, salary and training directly related to render the asset into service
• Ongoing costs (PAD), such as:
  • Salaries,
  • Operational and maintenance cost projections
• Indirect costs (PAD), such as:
  • Training the users and related travel
  • Initial productivity losses
  • IM/IT support (network management, data administration, hotlines), etc.
• Operational benefits
  • Direct savings or deferred expenses
  • Improved services or efficiencies
• Measurement of benefits
  • Proposed approach to measuring benefits including data items that would be captured and analyzed
  • Project timeframe for benefit realization

R7 Risk Assessment

The proposal should provide an analysis of the risks, identifying those that are within the scope of control of TC, likelihood of occurring and identify risk mitigation strategies

Appendix C – Transport Canada Business Priorities

Government Wide

Government wide priorities that affect Transport Canada are identified through the Speech from the Throne, Budget speeches, ongoing initiatives such as the Management Accountability Framework and various other initiatives such as Government Online (GOL) and Shared Services.  Not all of these initiatives affect all business lines of Transport Canada but some have direct and indirect affects on departmental IM/IT plans.

Identified priorities from the Speech from the Throne (as they relate to TC and the departmental IM/IT Investment Plan):

• Expenditure review
• Focus on commercialization and enabling technologies, where applicable
• Updating legislative framework
• Manage urban sprawl and investment in infrastructure
• Encourage environmental awareness
• Implementing National Security Policy
• Maintaining and improving international relationships

Identified priorities from Budget 2005 (as they relate to TC and the departmental IM/IT Investment Plan):

• Establish and maintain a sound fiscal framework, including the Expenditure Review Committee (ERC) efficiency and savings targets
• Improve financial accountability and management, recognizing that this may mean reallocating funds when necessary to achieve efficiency targets and/or reducing managerial flexibility
• Consolidate purchasing government-wide
• Improve service quality and efficiency
• Strengthen governance and accountability
• Sound stewardship of public resources
• Introduce more shared systems and simplifying and standardizing process for administrative activities

Identified priorities from the Management Accountability Framework (MAF):

• Develop a departmental reporting framework
• Linkages to the People, Citizen-Focused Service, Stewardship, Accountability, Results & Performance elements

Identified priorities from Government Online (GOL):

• Continuing to evolve and move forward, broadening the use of GOL for external stakeholders
• Refocused on information, transaction and collaboration

At Transport Canada, “strategic priorities” refer to sectors of intervention that are given priority over the medium term (i.e. 3 years) in support of strategic outcomes.  In 2005-06, key departmental activities will be aligned to nine strategic priorities:

Safe and Secure

1. New Security Policies and Programs
2. Smart Regulation
3. Safety and Security Management Systems

Efficient

4. Market-based Policy Framework
5. Infrastructure, Gateway and Trade Corridors
6. Innovation

Environmentally Responsible

7. Climate Change
8. Environmental Assessment
9. Environmental Protection and Remediation

Appendix D – TC 2003/04 IM/IT Expenditure Profile Definitions

Definitions for each of the categories and how the business lines were to allocate their IM/IT spending across Capital, OOC, Salaries & Wages and Professional Services for each of the categories is outlined below.

Appendix E – Departmental IM/IT Funding in 2003/04

Appendix F – Capital Demand - Departmental IM/IT Initiatives

2005-06 Prioritized New Project Descriptions

1.  Communications Security Equipment Replacement (COMSEC)

The Government of Canada, led by the Communications Security Establishment (CSE) has initiated the ‘Canadian Cryptographic Modernization Program’, which is staged to replace all aging cryptographic equipment in use within the Government of Canada. The first phase of this project is focused on the replacement of the secure telephone products by September 2007. As part of this GoC initiative and due to equipment obsolesce TC must therefore replace its entire secure phone inventory by September 2007.

2.  ECATS Phase II - PAD

Phase I of the ECATS initiative, completed in March 2005, was directed at collecting electronically operational air carrier data from all domestic and foreign commercial air carriers operating in Canada.  Phase II of the program would extend the initiative to electronic collection of air cargo statistics, general aviation-related operational data and financial information from both commercial air carriers and general aviation operators.

3. Departmental Application Developer Toolset

The purpose of this project submission is to request funding to acquire a set of productivity tools to be used by departmental application developers (both at HQ and in the regions, where applicable) in support of their daily activities. The tools specifically targeted by this project fall into the following three categories; testing and performance tuning tools (QACentre); process and data modeling tools (AllFusion); middleware tools (BizTalk);

The categories of tools (and brands) above have been identified through a series of needs analysis studies conducted by TIMSD with departmental developers over the course of this past year and using data extracted from the departmental IM/IT Strategic Plan.

4.  Navigable Waterways Database System

The current system version, recently transferred to TC from DFO, has a number of technical problems that necessitate development and implementation of a new version of the Navigable Waterways Database System (NWDS).  Going forward with this initiative now will improve the system’s ability to provide the best possible information for planning, reporting and decision making while promoting consistency in program delivery.

5.  CANUTEC Information System (CIS)

The proposed CANUTEC Information System (CIS) will consist of 8 integrated sub-systems which will allow CANUTEC to manage information on chemical products, companies, emergency response guidelines and rules, etc.

The proposed CIS will replace a number of existing applications and will provide a single window to information resources that are currently accessible through several different user interfaces.

6.  Public Complaints System Enhancement

The existing Public Complaints System (which is a MS Access-based application) gives the Motor Vehicle Defect Investigators the ability to register complaints received by the general public.  This project consists of enhancing the current application, for example: (1) rendering it into a browser-based application, accessible by the investigators, regional contractors, and the general public; (2) design the application and its security model to reflect separate access right to data and functionality by each user group; (3) add an archival capability and rendering it accessible; etc.

7.  Civil Aviation Medicine Information System (CAMIS): (A3H137-8446)

CAMIS is a non-discretionary database consisting of medical information pertaining to all pilots across Canada.  There is a requirement to enhance the system to enable Civil Aviation Medicine to transmit medical protected B documents across Canada and around the world.  These enhancements include; new reports, module to capture special cases, module to capture details of Civil Aviation Delegated Medical Examiners (CAMEs) education, built in administration tables and security features.

8.  Enhance Recalls Database

The existing Recalls Database (MS Access application) is a repository of recalls on vehicles, which is used by the Motor Vehicle Defect Investigations and Recalls division, within the Road Safety Service Line. This project consists of enhancing the current application by: (1) rendering it into a browser-based application by the divisional staff and by the general public; (2) design the application and its security model to reflect separate access right to data and functionality by each user group; (3) enhance the search mechanism to include a natural language search engine and the implementation of a "sounds like" feature; etc.

9.  Transportation Portal

The development of a Transportation Portal fits with the Government of Canada’s Government On Line vision of collaboration and service transformation and fits within Transport Canada’s external service delivery mandate for the departments own Web presence.

As a result, Transport Canada Communications Group sponsored a study to examine the feasibility of a Transportation Portal.  Evidence exists of a demand for transportation subject-matter information, and to provide the information in a customized and comprehensive package.  A Transportation Portal would incorporate information from all jurisdictions and be a gateway for Canadians to seamless, subject-driven information on transportation-related matters.

10.  Web Server Platform (Software Licensing Optimization)

The purpose of this project proposal is to acquire funds to implement a hardware solution which would rationalize the licensing costs associated with a number of departmental web software services such as the Crystal Enterprise reporting tool and the MapInfo mapping software. Recent changes in software licensing agreements for these products have seen a move from server based licensing to CPU based licensing. TC’s current production web servers were purchased and configured a couple of years ago for scalability, performance and redundancy meaning that these servers which configured with the maximum 4-CPUs allowable which, in turn, implies that to meet the new licensing agreements, our initial software license purchase costs and on-going support would be quadrupled to match the 4-CPU servers configurations that we show currently.

11.  Aerodromes and Air Navigation Safety Information Management System

The Aerodromes and Air Navigation Branch currently has a number of data repositories, both electronic and otherwise, which were designed to meet the needs of individual sections or divisions.  As a result of a recent merger of Branches there is a requirement to modernize the databases and data management tools into a common data management system that meets the overall business requirements of the new Branch, and incorporates other databases and sources of data from other areas of Transport Canada, other Government Departments and non-government organizations.

12.  Aircraft Certification Interface Project (ACIP)

The Aircraft Certification Branch of Transport Canada Civil Aviation (TCCA) wishes to embark on a collaborative initiative for data sharing with Bombardier Aerospace (BA) by establishing a mutually agreed secured data base including all necessary data associated with type certification and post type certification of aircraft.  The system will improve the efficiency of data access and transfer of information by several magnitudes, and will eventually expand to include other major clients in the business of type certificating products.

13.  General Aviation System

The General Aviation (GA) Branch is responsible for the licensing of all pilots and flight engineers; the licensing and testing standards; and the safety regulations, inspection and monitoring of all Canadian flight training units.  The Branch is also responsible for regulating aircraft registration and leasing; maintaining a Canadian Aircraft Register; and maintaining a safety oversight of recreational aviation and special flight operations such as air shows.

The GA System model is a phased approach to a fully integrated functional system for the future of General Aviation.  From this single system, all current GA functionality will be possible.

14.  Ongoing Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Enhancements (Oracle 11i)

The purpose of this project is to permit the Department to continually improve the ERP system implemented under the BIRM project.  Specifically funds are required in order to test and implement: new application family-packs; enhancements to system functionality; and minor extensions to the ERP system footprint, that may be required prior to the next major system upgrade.

15.  Collaboration Tools

The project will prepare policy and guidelines for the collaboration environment, conduct a proof of concept pilot to validate the policy and guidelines, develop a requirements specification for a collaborative tool suite, and acquire and deploy an appropriate suite of standard collaboration tools for departmental use or establish a TC standard suite of approved products that can be acquired as needed.

Collaboration software or groupware refers to programs that help people work together collectively while located remotely from each other. Collaborative services can include such capabilities as the sharing of calendars, file sharing, collective writing, e-mail handling, communities of practice (COP), public consultation, bulletin boards, shared database access, electronic meetings with each person able to see and display information to others, etc.

16.  Integration of Applications with RDIMS/CCM Mercury

The purpose of this project submission is to request funding to allow the enhancement of a number of “key” departmental business applications to provide the capability of integrating unstructured data (stored in RDIMS, ex. Word documents, faxes, spreadsheets, diagrams etc. with its corresponding structured data (from the business data base itself, e.g. tombstone data, inspection data, registration data, etc.) to provide a single window of access into a given business line’s electronic information holdings (eg. a virtual repository). It should be noted that while significant benefits have been achieved in managing our unstructured information with the implementation of the RDIMS solution, even greater benefits would be anticipated with the integration of both information types.

17.  Wireless Infrastructure

This project would provide Wireless LAN infrastructure for Tower C and the regional offices. The technology includes the access points (described above) and security equipment that will provide clients with secure wireless connectivity to the TCI. The Wi-Fi network card for client laptops/computers is not included in this proposal.

It has been identified that 40% of TC staff are mobile, with the bulk of these being inspectors. Mobile users need to return to their workstation in order to connect to the TCI when they are in the office. With Wi-Fi enabled laptops, these users would be able to connect to the TCI from anywhere within Tower C or the regional offices, as well as larger TCCs.

18.  Public Service Modernization Act (PSMA) Implementation (Human Resources Information Management Systems update related to the Public Service Modernization Act).

The Public Service Modernization Act is bringing legislative changes that affect the way departments do HR business.  Increased delegation and accountabilities, and modifications to business processes and practices bring new information requirements and additional reporting requirements.  To ensure Transport Canada can comply with those requirements, the Human Resources Management Systems (including TIPS) will need to be updated in order to support the new information and reporting requirements.

With new HR business processes being introduced and additional authority being delegated to the department, Transport Canada will need to update its Human Resources Management Systems (including TIPS) to ensure it can gather and process the information to meet legislative requirements on a national basis.

If the department cannot report back to central agencies on legislative reporting requirements, delegation could be withdrawn from the department causing embarrassment to the Deputy Minister.

Appendix G – Potential IM/IT Efficiency Opportunities

* order of magnitude estimate