TC On-Line Strategic Plan 2001-2004

Context
The purpose of the Transport Canada (TC) Government On-Line (GOL) Strategic Plan is to communicate the department's strategies and action plans required to achieve its Electronic Service Delivery (ESD) objectives for key programs and services on or before the Government of Canada target date of December 31, 2004.  This Strategic Plan is closely aligned with TC's 2001-2004 Business Plan, follows strategies formulated in terms of the TC Functional Business Model developed in 1999-2000 as part of the IM/IT Architecture Framework, and builds on the set of TC GOL initiatives identified to Treasury Board during the fall of 2000.  This plan is harmonized with the Transport Canada IM/IT Strategic Plan and assumes that major infrastructure initiatives in that plan are implemented (particularly RDIMS and ORACLE 11i).

The proposed overarching TC GOL Tier 2 Vision is: " To make Transport Canada more effective in the pursuit of its mission by reengineering our business processes and adapting our services, such that by December 2004, the department will have a critical mass of on-line services."

GOL is one of several business drivers to TC, and is closely related to business transformation. Therefore GOL must be integrated into the departmental and service line business plans.

It should be understood that this plan does not represent an end state, but is rather the first iteration of a living document, which will be adjusted and enhanced to reflect the experience and lessons learned as projects move forward.

Consultative Approach
The Strategic Plan was developed through consultations with the service lines, regional offices, external stakeholders and a selection of national associations located in the National Capital Region.  Given the regions' proximity to the clients, regional participation is integral to the success of the GOL initiatives. The consultations conducted to date should be considered as a first step only, and, going forward, the TC GOL Office will need a well developed strategy and communications plan for engaging the regions, service lines, and key national associations and stakeholder groups.

Strategic Situation
Given the department's strategic directions and the objectives and vision of Tier 2 of the Government of Canada's GOL program, the department needs to take inventory of its key strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats that could influence the development and implementation of the Transport Canada GOL Strategic Plan.  The following situational analysis table was developed as part of the Strategic Plan.

Situational Analysis

Strategic Principles
The methodology for achieving Transport Canada's GOL Tier 2 vision is founded on ten strategic principles.  Success in Electronic Service Delivery depends on improved service delivery to external stakeholders/clients, and, where possible, on achieving real cost/time savings. 

Existing service delivery channels will need to be maintained and integrated into GOL strategies so long as there is an external stakeholder/client need for the delivery channel.  It is important that technology be used to facilitate personal interaction with stakeholders/clients and not replace face-to-face contact.  In addition, GOL initiatives should focus on Transport Canada's core competencies and responsibilities.  Wherever possible, the department should use off-the-shelf solutions and should consider options of partnerships and outsourcing for non-core functions.

Priority Areas of Intervention
The consultation process identified seven priority areas of intervention that had the greatest potential to transform TC's key business functions and services through ESD.  They are: (1) Promoting Safety, Environmental Responsibility and the Role of Transportation, (2) Conducting Inspections & Audits, (3) Issuing & Renewing Documents, (4) Developing and Evolving Regulations & Standards, (5) Program Delivery, (6) Internal Administrative Efficiencies, and, (7) GOL Infrastructure Enablers. 

GOL Program Overview
Given the Strategic Principles and the Priority areas of intervention, identified above, the approach to developing a GOL Strategic Plan starts with building upon GOL initiatives that are currently underway.  These initiatives will be used as the basis of further experience with ESD, and should be used to "seed" additional projects in support of the departmental GOL Vision and the priority areas of intervention.

Additional initiatives beyond the current TC GOL program were identified by the service lines in the fall of 2000 and submitted to Treasury Board as the TC GOL Tier 2 plan. Most of these initiatives were validated in the series of service line and regional consultation sessions that led to the development of the GOL Strategic Plan.  The workshops identified the following key web capabilities that would make a significant difference in the near term, and which would have the biggest impact on the perception and use of Transport Canada on-line functions and services:

• Ability to pay for services on-line
• Submitting documents in electronic format
• Searching Transport Canada documents on-line
• Notification and dialogue
• Inspectors' access to electronic documents

A balanced GOL program is proposed which builds on the current initiatives and is constructed around the priority areas of intervention. The total planned funding for FY01/02 is $5,749K. The GOL projects fall into three categories:

• Ongoing Initiatives
• New Initiatives
• Concept Exploration

Details of the proposed program can be found in Annex A.

As shown in the following chart, the proposed program for 2001/02 attempts to strike a sustainable balance between ongoing initiatives (35%), new starts (50%) and the development of ideas (15%).  This should hopefully create a rolling progression of initiatives, which will sustain the GOL program for the project timeframe.

Proposed GOL Program Investment Distribution (FY01/02)

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1.     Introduction

         1.1      Purpose of Document

         1.2      Historical Planning Context         

2.     Transport Canada Strategic Directions

        2.1      Strategic Objectives

        2.2      Departmental Priorities

        2.3      Electronic Service Delivery Business Drivers

3.     Government On-Line (GOL)

        3.1      GOL Migration Strategy

        3.2      GOL Tier 2 Objectives

        3.3      GOL Tier 2 Vision

4.    Situational Analysis

        4.1      Strengths

        4.2      Weaknesses

        4.3      Opportunities

        4.4      Threats

5.    Transport Canada's GOL Strategic Approach

        5.1      Setting Priorities

        5.2      Strategic Principles

        5.3      Strategic Themes

        5.4      GOL Action Plan

6.    Issues and Risks

        6.1      Horizontal Co-ordination/Integration

        6.2      Business Processes

        6.3      Privacy and Security

        6.4      Stakeholder Participation in GOL

        6.5      Regional Participation in GOL

        6.6      IM/IT Infrastructure

        6.7      Managing Expectations

        6.8      Personal Contact 

Annex A:
GOL Action Plan (FY01/02)

Annex B:
Transport Canada Generic Business Functions

Annex C:
Promoting Safety, Environmental Responsibility and the Role of   Transportation

Annex D:
Conducting Inspections and Audits

Annex E:
Issuing and Renewing Documents

Annex F:
Developing and Evolving Legislation, Regulations and Standards

Annex G:
Program Delivery

Annex H:
Internal Administrative Efficiencies

Annex I:
GOL Infrastructure Enablers

1.    Introduction

1.1     Purpose of Document

The purpose of the Government On-Line (GOL) Strategic Plan is to communicate the departmental strategies and action plans required to achieve its Electronic Service Delivery (ESD) objectives for key programs and services on or before the Government of Canada target date of December 31, 2004. 

It should be understood that this plan does not represent an end state, but is rather the first iteration of a living document, which will be adjusted and enhanced to reflect the experience and lessons learned as projects move forward.

1.2     Historical Planning Context

The October 12, 1999 Speech from the Throne was the formal announcement which launched the federal government's GOL initiative and stated the goal of GOL:

By September 2000, departments were to submit plans, which outlined the GOL initiatives, and plans to achieve the Tier 2 objectives by end 2004.

The Government re-affirmed its commitment to GOL in the January 30, 2001 Speech from the Throne:

Transport Canada began its GOL preparatory work with a discussion paper entitled "Transforming Transport Canada Service Delivery through ESD" (dated March 27, 2000).  Its preparatory work continued with the submission of its Tier 2 initiatives and plan to Treasury Board and the articulation of a draft Transport Canada GOL Vision Paper in fall 2000.

Transport Canada has established a senior level GOL Steering Committee and staffed a full time GOL Project Office to help lead this initiative.  Many small pathfinder projects were launched in Fiscal Year 2000/2001 to help build momentum and gain some early GOL successes.  The development of this GOL Strategic Plan is the next step in implementing a coordinated departmental program to address GOL requirements.

This plan addresses the GOL initiatives, which are outside specific IM/IT infrastructure initiatives (such as RDIMS and ORACLE 11i) and other unique service line projects.  The IM/IT Strategic Plan provides a coordinated view of all IM/IT projects and reflects the GOL requirements identified as initiatives in this plan.

2.    Transport Canada Strategic Directions

2.1     Strategic Objectives

Transport Canada's Mission is:

Our Vision is to ensure:

The 2001-2004 Business Plan, "Looking to the New Millennium", has outlined our strategic objectives and ultimate outcomes as follows:

Figure 1:  Transport Canada Strategic Objectives and Outcomes

 2.2     Departmental Priorities

In October 2000, based on an assessment of the department's current situation, TMX reconfirmed the following six departmental priorities for the coming years:

• Maintain and enhance the safety regime
• Foster competitiveness in a global economy
• Support infrastructure development
• Advance sustainable transportation
• Facilitate transition to the knowledge-based economy
• Complete the divestiture programs

 2.3     Electronic Service Delivery Business Drivers

The departmental priorities that accompany the Vision and Mission statements describe specific changes in TC's work environment that are needed to support the overall visionary change for Canada's transportation system. Consequently, they suggest "business drivers," or drivers for change in Transport Canada's business direction that the IM/IT infrastructure and practices must enable or facilitate.

More specifically, there are at least four high-level business drivers that are motivating the Government of Canada to pursue a greater degree of Electronic Service Delivery (ESD) through Government On-Line:

• Seeking and maintaining relevance (Government To Citizen or G2C relationship) in light of the emergence of intermediaries and the increasing influence of international/transnational actors.
• As Canada becomes a knowledge-based society, there will be a greater expectation for the on-line availability of government services.
• The role of government is evolving from interventionist to enabler/knowledge broker assisting citizens and the economy.
• Cost efficiencies and improved service delivery by government.

In the Government of Canada's Federated Architecture, there are five business drivers derived from an analysis of the government's operating environment with implications for what is expected of the IM/IT infrastructure supporting Electronic Service Delivery:

• Accessibility to Government Programs  - Government information and services will be accessible regardless of location, time, method of access and group (e.g., language, culture, age, and ability).
• Security, Authentication and Authorization - Access to information and services will be authenticated to the degree required by specific information and services. Information will be protected to the level required both internally and externally. The availability and integrity of on-line information and services will be assured.
• Government as an Integrated Enterprise - The Government of Canada will provide a single point of access for coherent government information and services spanning departments and other levels of government .
• Client-Centric Service Delivery - Government information and services will quickly respond to changing expectations (e.g., clustering, complete service fulfillment, speed, reliability, responsiveness, and ease of use, timeliness, customization, and privacy). A comprehensive help service will be provided for all methods of access.
• Efficient and Effective Service and Information Delivery - Delivery costs will be reduced and the quality of services and information will be improved.

3.    Government On-Line (GOL)

3.1     GOL Migration Strategy

The Government of Canada's approach to GOL is founded upon a three tiered migration strategy summarized as follows:

Figure 2:  GOL Migration Strategy

3.2     GOL Tier 2 Objectives

The GOL objectives for Tier 2 are as follows^[1]:

• Deliver key federal programs and services securely on-line.
• Encourage end-to-end, electronic service delivery of key federal programs and services.
• Promote client-centric clustering and integration of information and services amongst service delivery partners.

To do this, it is recognized in the above reference that the "overall vision, mission and business imperatives of the department or agency must drive Tier Two implementation plans"; i.e., a top down approach is to be used based on overall business priorities.

3.3     GOL Tier 2 Vision

A key element for developing and implementing a strategy for change is to have a clear and quantifiable vision of the target end state which lends itself to be translated into meaningful operational terms (objectives, measures, targets and initiatives) for the key management perspectives of an organization.

The starting point for the development of a GOL vision and strategy is, ultimately, the Speech from the Throne, which describes the government's goal for the use of information technology and the Internet in its service delivery vision as described in section 1.2.

3.3.1       Stakeholder/Client Expectations

The GOL Framework Tier 2 guidelines, outline a set of expectations of service transformation through Electronic Service Delivery from the stakeholder/client perspective:

"A service transformation strategy is ultimately about delivering better service to clients.  It is the responsibility of the department or agency to define their client groups and how the two-way electronic channel interaction develops.  Client groups can expect that by December 31, 2004:

• Key services will be available on-line.  Clients will be able to complete transactions that make-up these key services on-line in an interactive fashion where appropriate security and privacy safeguards are guaranteed.
• Client-centric portals, based on information and service clustering, will be in place that will make finding information and services easy and intuitive.  Information and services will be clustered by community of  interest and subject rather than by federal department or agency.  Clients will be able to personalize how they interact with federal services.
• An enhanced Government of Canada portal will have easily recognizable pointers to client-centric clusters or sub-portals.  Browsing and intuitive navigation services will be available.
• Key services will have predictable response times based on pre-determined published program service standards.  Various help services will be provided on all federal web sites for these key services.  This will include cross-channel integration such as context sensitive links to call centres.
• An advanced search capability with common search principles and similar navigation rules will be available on all federal web sites.  Clients will be able to find information and services even if the exact name of the program or service is unknown.
• Clients will be served consistently by telephone, in-person, by mail, and on-line."

The above list of client expectations is really a more detailed statement of the government's vision for electronic service delivery for key programs and services by all departments and all jurisdictions.  As such, it is recommended that Transport Canada adopt the above as a set of guiding principles for the design of electronic service delivery solutions.

3.3.2       Transport Canada GOL Tier 2 Vision Statement

Taking into account the department's Strategic Objectives and the government wide vision for GOL, the Transport Canada vision for the GOL initiative can be articulated as follows:

To make Transport Canada more effective in the pursuit of its mission by reengineering our business processes and adapting our services, such that by December 2004, the department will have a critical mass of on-line services.

Although it is difficult to define what a critical mass of key services might be, our target is to enable the on-line delivery of at least 10 additional services per year for the GOL project period.

There are a few keys to success for TC implementation of GOL Tier 2 objectives:

• There needs to be a focus on strategically important programs and services, with initiatives evaluated against their contributions to Transport Canada's strategic objectives.  We must be cognizant of client demands and concentrate on the programs and services most relevant to their needs.
• To be cost effective and to meet the compressed timeline, business lines and service lines will have to work together towards common GOL goals.  This requires centralized planning and co-ordination, with decentralized implementation.
• Improving client services through ESD is not enough.  Successful initiatives must also be driven by a compelling business case.

4.    Situational Analysis

Given Transport Canada's strategic directions and the objectives and vision of the Government of Canada's GOL program, the department needs to take inventory of its key strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats that could influence the development and implementation of the Transport Canada GOL Strategic Plan. 

4.1     Strengths

Transport Canada is well positioned among federal government departments to build on its current capabilities to achieve the GOL Tier 2 requirements.  Some of these strengths are as follows:

4.1.1       Client-Focused Organization

The service line organizational structure of Transport Canada is, by its very nature, well aligned with the key stakeholder/client communities in the transportation industry.  Strategic planning needs to recognize this alignment and build upon it by leveraging service line initiatives as the building blocks for electronic service delivery of its client-facing processes.

4.1.2       Regional Presence

The existence of regional offices and Transport Canada Centres allows Transport Canada to be closer to its clients and to better understand their needs.

4.1.3       Relationships With External Stakeholders/Clients

The department generally enjoys excellent relationships with the key organizations within the transportation sector.  There is a willingness among these stakeholder communities to participate and even provide solutions where possible.  It will be important to recognize and build upon this strength through careful communications strategies and providing fora in which external stakeholders/clients can be involved.  There are three levels of potential involvement:

• Transport Canada is represented on many organizations' board of directors and committees.  TC representatives need to be aware of the TC GOL strategy and need to become active agents of the GOL program to leverage this relationship.
• Transport Canada should consider inviting key representatives from stakeholder organizations to participate in an Advisory Committee for GOL.  This advisory committee could provide advice/recommendations to the GOL office and steering committee and could provide feedback from their respective membership on the success of TC GOL initiatives.
• Stakeholder organizations represent specific communities in the transportation sector which would have unique interest in selected TC GOL initiatives.  The department should undertake to encourage project managers to dialogue with the key stakeholder organizations and to leverage the potential they have to bring new opportunities and solutions to the table.

4.1.4       IM/IT Architecture

The department is one of the few that has invested in developing an IM/IT architecture framework and functional business model.  This is a key strategic investment, which will allow the functional service line initiatives to be integrated into an enterprise strategy and enterprise IM/IT infrastructure.

4.1.5       Current Web Presence

Transport Canada's current web site generally conforms to Tier 1 requirements and provides a sound foundation to build the Tier 2 capabilities upon.  Currently planned and ongoing initiatives in the core infrastructure and tools supporting the evolution of the web site are vital to success.

4.1.6       Ongoing GOL Initiatives

The department has a number of GOL initiatives in progress, which form an excellent starting point for the strategic planning cycle.  These initiatives need to be continued in order to maintain the current momentum.

4.1.7       Other Strategic Initiatives

Transport Canada has several other strategic initiatives, which can be leveraged to achieve GOL Tier 2 aims.  Some of these are (from the Transport Canada 2000-2001 Estimates, Part III - Report on Plans and Priorities):

• Intelligent Transportation System
• Monitoring the Canadian Transportation System
• Airports Capital Assistance Program
• Highways Program
• Sustainable Transportation
• Regulatory Reform
• Effective Intervention - Inspection and Monitoring Program
• Safety Management Systems
• Research and Development
• Key Safety Initiatives
• Financial Information Strategy
• Work Force Renewal
• Information Management/Information Technology
• Recruitment and Retention

4.2     Weaknesses

Like many federal government departments and private sector organizations facing the challenge of electronic service delivery, there are internal factors which need to be recognized as potential risks, constraints or at least considerations in the development of the GOL strategy:

4.2.1       Stove-Piped Organizational Structure

While the service line structure is a strength from the point of view of achieving innate alignment with external stakeholders/clients, this very strength becomes a weakness when enterprise level initiatives are being pursued because it inhibits the imposition of central standards and the collaboration among service lines and regions.  A key challenge will be to present a "common face to the client" from the various service lines that are involved in a business's transactions with TC.  This internal challenge adds to the external difficulty of achieving interdepartmental solutions to Tier 2 opportunities (client-centric service delivery through clustering).

4.2.2       Geographical Distribution

The department has offices across Canada.  Maintaining a sufficient degree of GOL program awareness and participation throughout the regions and various TC offices will be a challenge.

4.2.3       Multiple Stakeholder Groupings

Transport Canada has to deal with a multiplicity of stakeholder organizations which, at times, will have competing agendas.  It will take a well developed and well executed communications plan and engagement strategy in order to achieve consensus and meaningful participation across the transportation sector.

4.2.4       GOL Funding

There will be limited funding available within the department to pursue GOL initiatives.  This means that GOL initiatives will be competing with other business needs for funding.

4.2.5       Business Planning

GOL is really about leveraging ESD to improve the quality, efficiency and cost-effectiveness of service delivery and to open up new service opportunities.  In reality, GOL is only one of many pressures that the service lines and department need to recognize and integrate into its business planning cycle.  For this to happen there needs to be a compelling business case for each ESD initiative and a strategic and client advantage to pursue each initiative.  Prioritization of initiatives for funding needs to consider both the strategic and business impact and these initiatives must stand on their own merit against non-GOL projects within service line and departmental business plans. 

4.2.6       IM/IT Infrastructure

Transport Canada, like most departments, has a very heterogeneous IM/IT infrastructure which arose due to a relatively decentralized approach to IM/IT.  It will be a challenge to achieve consolidation and uniformity of standards, equipment and services across the department to support enterprise ESD solutions.

4.2.7       Privacy and Security

The department has made major advances in IT security with the implementation of a Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) capability;  however, the move of more transactions onto the internet will greatly increase vulnerability to security threats and privacy issues.  Infrastructure alone cannot meet this challenge.  It requires a shift in culture and the creation of sound business processes in order to achieve and maintain known and adequate privacy and security measures.

4.3     Opportunities

GOL is about partnership and leveraging the capabilities of technologies to achieve efficiencies and improve service delivery.  The department is not alone, there are opportunities.

4.3.1       Interdepartmental Collaboration

All federal government departments are faced with a similar GOL challenge.  Many of these departments provide similar functions and services or share a similar set of administrative functions and processes.  Treasury Board Secretariat has undertaken to encourage cross-boundary collaboration to achieve common and more cost effective solutions.

4.3.2       External Stakeholder Partnerships

There are external agencies that currently represent significant sectors of the transportation community and who are endeavouring to develop their own web strategies.  There is great potential to leverage their interest and investment to:

• ensure coordination to avoid duplication;
• provide collaborative solutions;
• provide opportunities for outsourcing;
• validate TC ESD initiatives and products from the end user perspective.

4.3.3       Outsourcing

There are many opportunities to outsource internet and portal services in the private sector.  Success in ESD requires a mature build vs buy strategy and a clear focus on what the organizations' key competencies really are.  In this context, it may be possible to field outsourced solutions with little or no capital investment and with overall life cycle cost savings which would enable departmental staff to focus on the actual content and service delivery rather than the maintenance and operation of a service delivery channel infrastructure.

4.3.4       External Funding

External funding may be available for initiatives that can be used as government pilot projects and which further the aim of cross-boundary collaboration.  There may also be opportunities for pilot project funding towards GOL Tier 3 objectives (cross-jurisdictional collaboration) and beyond (developing a participative democracy).   The first round of funding by Treasury Board demonstrated that only those projects with a very high reach would receive funding.  Given Transport Canada's more limited interaction with external clients, we should not expect that external funding will be readily available.

4.4     Threats

As there are opportunities there are also challenges which the department will face throughout the GOL journey.

4.4.1       Rate of Technological Change

The exponential growth in technology, particularly in the application of digital technologies, poses a double threat to TC and its GOL strategy.  Firstly, this technological growth will continue to impact the transportation sector being regulated which could create the challenge of having to rapidly evolve regulations, programs and services throughout the GOL program in order to keep up with the industry.  The second dimension of this challenge is the IM/IT systems available commercially and in use throughout the industry.  The life cycle of a given technology is so short that implementation cycles need to be compressed and solutions need to be fielded which are innately agile (standards based, scalable, extensible and supportable).

4.4.2       Changing Relationships

The internet and world wide web technologies have started a fundamental shift in the relationships that citizens and organizations can create and participate in.  Recognition of this shift and where it could lead, was one of the fundamental reasons for launching the GOL program.  These relationships have already changed and will continue to change as new service delivery channels and new services are provided.  The department must structure its GOL program in such a way that projects are relatively quick and can have measurable/observable impact in order to be able to provide suitable "course corrections" as the strategy unfolds.

4.4.3       Stakeholder/Client Expectations

The 1999 speech from the throne has created an expectation among stakeholders/clients that there will be significant changes to the way departmental programs and services are delivered.  This expectation is not quantifiable and will be subject to all sorts of interpretations.  This will make it difficult for the department to define a clear GOL objective and to establish whether the GOL program has been a success.  A further dimension of this challenge is that once the capability for on-line transactions is provided by TC or any department, stakeholders/clients will create an expectation that all transactions should/could be instantaneous.  The same expectation will exist for email inquiries.  This is a real challenge for a department like TC which has a regulatory function.  Many of the transactions or responses cannot be completely automated since they require the attention of a competent specialist in order to render a decision.  These specialists may feel undue pressure in an on-line environment.

4.4.4       Schedule

Perhaps one of the biggest threats to achieving success is the deadline which has been imposed.  To achieve true business transformation and cross-boundary collaboration takes time, willingness and a framework that facilitates the process.

5.    TC's GOL Strategic Approach

5.1     Setting Priorities

As has been mentioned, there will be limited funding available within the department to pursue GOL initiatives.  This means that initiatives will be competing with other business needs for funding.  The following factors should to be considered when evaluating an ESD opportunity:

Business Criticality

• Will providing this business function through an ESD model help significantly in achieving the TC Vision and Mission?  Will it clearly support TC's strategic objectives? 

• Will the use of Electronic Service Delivery provide greater or better access to external stakeholders/clients?

ESD Business Case

• Will the provision of this business function through ESD result in overall departmental cost and or time savings?  Business cases need to consider the entire life cycle of any ESD initiative, including capital, human resource requirements and O&M.  For initiatives to be funded centrally, this includes an assessment of how an ESD initiative can be used to implement a shared or reusable enterprise level ESD solution for the whole department.

• Would the provision of this business function through ESD result in sufficient service improvement and cost savings to the external stakeholder/client that the ESD solution would become the service delivery channel of choice by the external stakeholders/clients.

Ease of Implementation

• availability of funding;
• technical complexity and technical risk;
• scope and scale of organizational, cultural and process changes required within TC;
• requirement for changes to legislation, policy, etc.;
• involvement of external stakeholders within the federal government;
• involvement of external stakeholders within other levels/jurisdictions of government;
• impact on the private sector (clients, partners and stakeholders);
• degree of international co-ordination/change required.

5.2     Strategic Principles

The approach to achieving the Transport Canada GOL Vision is founded on the following strategic principles (these are in addition to the stakeholder/client expectations listed in section 3.3.1 of this plan):

5.2.1       Stakeholder/Client Focus

GOL is about citizen-centric government.  To achieve this vision, and to implement ESD initiatives that have real value requires a philosophy of:  "Design from the outside in;  build from the inside out."  If the new/improved services do not offer significant improvements to the external stakeholders/clients, they simply will not be used and the ESD investment will be lost.  As the GOL program unfolds, continuous dialogue with external stakeholders/clients will be essential to ensure success.

5.2.2       Preserve Existing Service Delivery Channels

Existing service delivery channels must be maintained and integrated into GOL strategies as long as there is an external stakeholder/client need for the delivery channel.  This will require careful planning to ensure consistency across service delivery channels.  It is important that technology be used to facilitate personal interaction with stakeholders/clients and not replace face-to-face contact.

5.2.3       Win-Win Strategy

For any ESD initiative to be successful under the GOL program, it not only must meet client expectations, but it must also create a win-win situation, both for the government and for stakeholders/clients. Existing service delivery channels will need to be maintained as long as there are sufficient numbers of stakeholders who need/desire to use them. Therefore, ESD does not necessarily replace these channels, but rather it attracts users and stakeholders to the new/improved service delivery modes because they are more convenient, easier to use, cheaper for them to use, more accessible, faster and/or provide higher quality service than the current service delivery channels. From the perspective of Transport Canada, chosen ESD initiatives should also have a compelling business case that reflects reduced costs and/or time savings (on the assumption that time savings will translate into lower resource costs).  An exception to this, would be the situation where the new/improved service being offered through ESD was of such strategic importance that it is worth the extra cost.

5.2.4       Balanced Approach

A successful ESD program must provide a balance between quick wins and launching longer term transformational initiatives.  It must also reflect a balance between service line specific priorities and enterprise infrastructure priorities.

5.2.5       Privacy and Security

Relationships with external stakeholders and clients must be founded on mutual trust.  Migration of current transactions to new service delivery channels or creation of new services through ESD will require a high degree of privacy and security in order to develop and maintain the needed trust relationship.  Privacy must be respected and protected in accordance with legislation, and security safeguards must match the sensitivity of the transaction.

5.2.6       Partnership

Within Transport Canada, partnership among service lines is essential to achieve enterprise-level solutions that best leverage ESD investment and to achieve real transformative change within the GOL Tier 2 timeline.  Transport Canada also needs to partner with other government departments and selected external stakeholders in order achieve collective solutions.  GOL is founded on the principle of transparency;  that is, ultimately the stakeholder/client/citizen does not really need to know which department or which organization in a department is providing what piece of the service he or she needs.  Eventually, it is hoped that jurisdictional boundaries will also become transparent.  This vision is only achieved through partnership and a willingness to re-think current roles, responsibilities and processes.

5.2.7       Leverage

To the maximum extent possible, available funding should be used to launch ESD initiatives that have the greatest potential for providing enterprise-level or reusable solutions.  Similarly, TC needs to leverage investments made by other government departments through the establishment of service level agreements wherever possible.  Leverage is one of the keys to avoiding duplication and waste.

5.2.8       Pragmatic Approach

GOL is one of many business drivers that TC must respond to and there appears to be little opportunity for incremental funding to help fund ESD initiatives.  Consequently, TC needs to take a realistic approach to selecting the ESD opportunities (driven primarily by business case).  Planning and implementation of ESD opportunities needs to be integrated into the departmental business planning cycle to ensure that the right emphasis and balance is achieved.

5.2.9       GOL is a Journey

ESD strategies must build upon small incremental steps towards a larger vision with frequent course corrections during the journey.  There is no well defined end state, no ideal solution.  Success in ESD involves taking many small steps and assessing the business impact enroute and modifying the vision and the plan appropriately.  ESD planning is really a culture of leveraging technology to transform the business on an ongoing basis.

5.2.10    Stick to the Knitting

GOL initiatives need to focus on Transport Canada's core competencies and responsibilities.  Wherever possible, the department should use off-the-shelf solutions and should consider options of partnerships and outsourcing for non-core functions.

5.3     Priority Areas of Intervention

The consultation process leading up to the articulation of the Strategic Plan identified seven Priority Areas of Intervention that had the greatest potential to transform Transport Canada key business functions and services through ESD.  Each of these priority areas of intervention is developed in an Annex to this plan.  The following is a listing of the themes with a brief description of each:

Promoting Safety, Environmental Responsibility and the Role of Transportation

Promoting Safety, Environmental Responsibility and the Role of Transportation is the provision, facilitation and exchange of knowledge and information with stakeholders in the transportation industry and the general public with the aim of improving their awareness of: transportation safety, the effect of transportation on the physical environment, and the functioning of the transportation system and its effect on the economy.

Conducting Inspections and Audits

Conducting Inspections and Audits is associated with the verification and validation of regulated transportation industries, equipment, vehicles, owners and operators to ensure compliance with transportation regulations and standards.  Verification involves the audit of documents and records to ensure conformance with approved processes (e.g. for design of equipment, manufacture of equipment, testing of equipment, operation of equipment, etc.).  Validation involves the physical inspection of equipment, vehicles (including aircraft, vessels, etc.), facilities and monitoring of the use of these to ensure conformance of the end product to approved designs and operating procedures.

Issuing and Renewing Documents

Issuing and Renewing Documents includes all transactions of the following nature:

• Recognition of a company, a piece of equipment/vehicle or an individual as competent or capable of conducting some function in accordance with existing legislation, regulations, or standards; or,
• Authorization to conduct some activity in accordance with published or amended legislation, regulations or standards using certified equipment.

The result of these transactions is a document (either physical or electronic) that provides the client with the stated recognition or authorization.

Developing and Evolving Legislation, Regulations, Policies and Standards

This theme would facilitate the creation and amendment of transportation laws, policies and associated standards that are required to implement government priorities, legislation and international agreements.

Program Delivery

This theme involves facilitating the delivery of departmental programs such as:

• Airports Capital Assistance Program (ACAP)
• Port Divestiture Fund
• Port Transfer Fund
• Highway Contribution Agreements
• Grade Crossing Improvement Program
• Bridge Programs
• Sustainable Transportation

Internal Administrative Efficiencies

Internal Administrative Efficiencies addresses the internal financial, administrative, and operational functions such as:

• Human Resource Management
• Operational Resource Management
• Overhead (Infrastructure)
• Financial Exchange

GOL Infrastructure Enablers

This theme addresses common infrastructure enablers which are integral to the GOL program and which support more than one of the above priority areas of intervention.  A priority amongst these enablers would be a capability  for external stakeholders/clients to pay for TC services and fees on the Internet to complete transactions. 

5.4     GOL Action Plan

Annex A contains the Transport Canada GOL Action Plan for fiscal year 2001/2002.  It is anticipated that this action plan will be updated on a yearly basis.

6.    Issues and Risks

6.1     Horizontal Co-ordination/Integration

So far, there has been an apparent lack of visible "horizontal" GOL initiatives that cut across service lines within TC but also which span all departments of the federal government (e.g. human resource management, financial management, etc.).  There needs to be consistency and an integrated approach taken by Transport Canada (and ultimately the federal government) in dealing with companies and other external stakeholders/clients and citizens.  Currently, companies are required to contact different offices, follow different procedures and regulations which are not coordinated across the service lines they touch.   For GOL to be seen to succeed, there needs to be a high degree of consistency and collaboration across service lines, departments, across the federal government and ultimately through all jurisdictions.

6.2     Business Processes

Many of TC's business processes are not mapped or documented within the service lines and business lines.  This will have to be done to support the GOL thrust of business transformation.  This will require that the TC Functional Business Model be kept current and is managed as a corporate asset.  A common business process model based upon generic functions will need to be used across the department in order to achieve true business transformation across the enterprise and to achieve consistency among client-facing processes across the service lines.

6.3     Privacy and Security

Having the compliance and enforcement business activity provided in an electronic delivery model will require an appropriate security infrastructure.  Clients must be provided with a secure channel of communication with TC that provides a very high degree of assurance as to information and privacy stewardship allied with security of transmission, storage and supporting processes.  There is no clear picture currently of how this is to be set up from a technical, managerial or business process point of view as GOL moves forward.

6.4     Stakeholder Participation in GOL

The stakeholder workshops conducted in February 2001 provided a very limited stakeholder view, but it was an important first step in the consultation process.  The GOL office needs to develop and maintain a further dialogue with all key national associations and stakeholder communities for each transport modal to ensure success from the stakeholder/client/user perspective.

6.5     Regional Participation in GOL

Given their proximity to the client, the continued regional participation is integral to the success of the GOL initiatives.  The regional workshops conducted in February 2001 were viewed as a good starting point but there remains a need for a well developed strategy and communications plan.

6.6     IM/IT Infrastructure

The distributed nature of Transport Canada's network arrangement offers a varied level of performance across the enterprise.  As the range of ESD initiatives grows, there needs to be a matched infrastructure program.  The Transport Canada IM/IT Strategic Plan is a comprehensive plan which identifies all IM/IT projects throughout the department which are on-going, new or in the concept exploration or definition phase.  The GOL Strategic Plan requirements are addressed in the IM/IT Strategic Plan, along with the other enterprise IM/IT infrastructure projects and service line unique initiatives.  It is vital that the department implement a sound IM/IT governance framework and maintain a tight integration of the IM/IT Strategic Plan with the GOL Strategic Plan, service line plans and the departmental business plan.

6.7     Managing Expectations

There is concern that the provision of greater information and functionality on-line could greatly increase the volume of interactions and the staff requirements to handle them.  There is also concern that once on-line submission of forms and documentation is available, stakeholders will expect that the transactions would be automatically completed during the session with on-line payment.  This could be done for situations where the processes can be completely automated and monitored by random audits, but a large part of TC's regulatory function requires specialists to read and review documents prior to providing their approvals.  This human dimension can be facilitated by ESD, but not eliminated, and it is important that these specialists do not feel pressured to compromise their due diligence and approval functions.  This will require a very clear indication of anticipated processing times for on-line submissions, automated feedback so clients can monitor progress and a department wide case management capability to help manage the increased number of queries that could arise.

6.8     Personal Contact

As changes to external stakeholder/client service delivery channels are developed, there is a risk that ESD will increase the potential stakeholder/client touchpoints without the department being able to respond.  Without improvements in stakeholder/client access to Transport Canada staff, or even preservation of current levels of accessibility, ESD will be viewed as a failure by the external stakeholders and the general public.  This is particularly true for functions where there is an expectation for consultation.

Annex A:  
GOL Action Plan (FY01/02)

The current GOL Action Plan represents a balanced approach between maintaining momentum of ongoing initiatives, launching a wide range of new starts in all priority areas of intervention, and laying the groundwork for future initiatives through concept exploration.  The total FY01/02 program funding requirement is $5,749K and is distributed as shown in the following figure and tables.

Figure A-1:  Proposed GOL Program Investment Distribution (FY01/02)

The following three tables list the GOL initiatives in each of the three categories (funding requirements in dollars):

Table A-1:  Proposed Ongoing Initiatives (FY01/02)

 Table A-2:  Proposed New Initiatives (FY01/02)

 Table A-3:  Proposed Concept Exploration Initiatives (FY01/02)

The GOL investment distribution by strategic initiative is summarized in the following figures:

Figure A-2:  Proposed FY01/02 Program by Priority Area of Intervention

This profile for the first GOL Strategic Plan reflects the fact that Transport Canada already has a substantial web presence to build upon, but that internal administrative systems were largely paper based and required significant investment in order to achieve efficiencies through ESD.

Figure A-3:  Proposed FY01/02 Program by Service Line

Stakeholder/Client Perspective

From the stakeholder/client perspective, there is a short list of web site capabilities which would have the biggest impact on the perception and use of Transport Canada on-line functions and services.  These are:

• The ability to pay for services on-line:  As a minimum this requires the capability to set up an account and process credit card payments.  The Payment On-Line priority area of intervention addresses this requirement.
• Submitting documents in electronic format:  The lack of this capability creates significant administrative overhead for the transportation industry and for the department.  This is addressed primarily under the Issuing and Renewing Documents priority area of intervention.  The current theme contains several new initiatives upon which to build a departmental capability.  Submitting documents in electronic format is also a consideration in the Conducting Inspections and Audits theme, but there are no GOL initiatives to address this capability in this theme;  rather, the approach taken is to expand upon the results of initiatives in the Issuing and Renewing Documents theme at a later time.
• Searching Transport Canada documents on-line:  Transport Canada has a lot of information available on-line which supports the Promoting Safety, Environmental Responsibility and the Role of Transportation theme and also the Developing and Evolving Regulations and Standards theme.  These documents are supposed to be on-line in HTML format, but there is a lot of information which is only provided in PDF format.  This makes searching on the Transport Canada web site extremely cumbersome and also results in large documents being downloaded when only a small segment of the document is actually required.  Initiatives such as the "TC e-Directory ", "Web Site Content Management Facility" and "Enhanced Web Search and Thesaurus" address some of the core infrastructure requirements, but a study should be done to see how there could be more rapid progress for the most critical documents currently available on the Transport Canada web site. 
• Notification and Dialogue:  These web  site capabilities are key to Promoting Safety, Environmental Responsibility and the Role of Transportation as well as to Developing and Evolving Regulations and Standards.  The ListServ initiative is a good pilot initiative for establishing a publish-subscribe capability for the Transport Canada web site.  This capability needs to be used by all service lines to set up a notification capability for the communities they serve.  There also needs to be a bulletin board capability to promote dialogue with Transport Canada and among the various user communities, particularly to support consultation during the Developing and Evolving Regulations and Standards functions.  The ability to conduct web casting is also a key capability which underpins any participative government initiative.
• Inspectors' Access to Electronic Documents:  This is a key capability to provide more efficient and effective inspections and audits.  It is visible to the stakeholder/client as delays and inadequate information at the inspectors/auditors finger tips during an inspection and audit.  These delays and lack of information create overhead and cost to the stakeholders/clients.  A repository of external stakeholder/client submitted documents and a searchable repository of regulations and standards available on-line to inspectors and auditors would greatly improve the services they provide and result in time and cost savings to the industries they inspect and audit.  This is not addressed in the current plan.  A pilot project should be considered to construct a data base using Oracle 9i which would contain all documents submitted electronically by the stakeholders/clients and which would be easily searchable and available on Transport Canada's Intranet.  This approach would leverage the department's investment in Oracle infrastructure and would provide the repository for electronic document submission initiatives under the Issuing & Renewing Documents priority area of intervention.

As was mentioned in Issues and Risks, Transport Canada needs an enterprise contextual and conceptual level functional business model and business process model.   The requirement for enterprise models has not been directly addressed in the initiatives identified in this plan, although some level of process modelling will likely occur at a lower level as part of some of the initiatives.  Enterprise models are needed for three reasons. 

• Firstly, true business transformation cannot be achieved without these models. 
• Secondly, the service line GOL initiatives need a common framework in order to minimize duplication and to promote collaboration and the development of solutions that can be replicated by other service lines. 
• Finally, external stakeholders and potential partners need a standard model for Transport Canada's business functions and high level processes in order to participate in potential joint or outsourced solutions and to ensure that there is consistency among the ESD services being provided.

Annex B:
Transport Canada Generic Business Functions

The following is a list of TC Generic Business Functions that have been identified during the IM/IT Architecture development and which were refined during the consultations leading up to the formulation of the first draft of the TC GOL Strategic Plan.  Strategic priority groupings reflect the terminology used in the Year 2000 Program.

Annex C:
Promoting Safety, Environmental Responsibility and the Role of Transportation

Description

Promoting Safety, Environmental Responsibility and the Role of Transportation is the function of providing and facilitating the exchange of knowledge and information with stakeholders in the transportation industry and the general public with the aim of aim of improving their awareness of: transportation safety, the effect of transportation on the physical environment, and the functioning of the transportation system and its effect on the economy.  In terms of the TBS GOL Mapping of services by subject clusters and common business processes, it is the application of the Knowledge Management business domain to external stakeholders.  It encompasses the processes of:

• Information Access (Static)
• Information Access (Dynamic)
• Information Exchange (Collaboration)

Rationale

Promoting Safety, Environmental Responsibility and the Role of Transportation is a TC generic business function aimed at delivering all three of  our strategic ojectives through the achievement of the following Key Results Commitments:

• Transportation industry awareness of, and compliance with, regulations and standards
• Public awareness

Objectives

The objectives of applying Electronic Service Delivery to the function of Promoting Safety, Environmental Responsibility and the Role of Transportation are as follows:

• Reduce TC costs in providing this function
• Improve accessibility by external clients/stakeholders to key TC documents and information
• Facilitate greater dialogue between TC and the various transportation sectors and communities of interest

Vision

The following ideas collectively describe key elements of a vision for 2004-05 for the Promoting Safety, Environmental Responsibility and the Role of Transportation function using an ESD model, and were derived primarily from the workshops held with the service lines in January and February 2001:

• Have personalized service
• Automated and "push" of selected information
• Browse an on-line training catalogue
• Link to external sources (particularly international sources) with an advanced search capability, tailored links and automated "push" of information regardless of source (publish-subscribe approach to information dissemination)
• Access Service Difficulty Reports on-line with selective notification of clients when new information is posted.  These reports should provide early notification of potential problems and should be available from Canadian and international sources and by aircraft/equipment type.
• Access Aerodrome Safety Circulars on-line and providing timely information and reminders for bird hazards, animal control, winter operations, etc.
• Access aerodrome video on-line for operators to be able to obtain near real time video of the weather, runway and ramp conditions at their destinations and alternates while flight planning and en route
• Provide searchable policies, regulations, safety guidelines, safety procedures, best practices, etc., on-line and in Plain Language for client awareness and training
• Case law and Case History on-line:  To provide a comprehensive on-line service it will be necessary to put case law and case history on-line in an interactive searchable format along with relevant data analysis 'snap shots'.  Providing this information on-line will considerably aid internal Tribunal support whilst also providing a clearer picture to industry
• Provide eForms and embedded instructions for completion
• Provide searchable information on safety and system related products and where to obtain them
• Provide on-line training - CD ROM-based static training and webinar dynamic training
• Detailed registration of TC related sites and sub-sites on all major search engines

Strategic Approach

The strategic approach is built upon the following key elements:

• Providing searchability of documents through the provision of HTML documents with metatags (in addition to the current Portable Document Format PDF format) on all TC websites.
• As much as possible, taking a progressive approach to legacy document conversion in which documents are converted to HTML only when they are amended/updated.
• Providing a common desktop environment that enables authoring of documents in HTML, conversion to PDF and posting on the TC web site in a highly automated, configuration controlled environment.
• Development of a metadata dictionary and search engine that provides improved searchability of all TC websites and conforms with the GOL Portal search engine.
• Providing ListServ functionality centrally to all TC websites.
• Providing on-line video conferencing centrally to all TC websites.
• Providing basic email, chatroom and on-line payment functions centrally to all TC websites.
• Ensuring current and new TC web sites and web pages meet GOL common look and feel and accessibility guidelines.
• 1-800 service and contact centre.

(These will be grouped into near term actions to meet the intermediate Tier 2 milestone at end 2002 and longer term actions to meet the final Tier 2 milestones at end 2004 e.g.  near term goal is to have all new documents on the web in HTML and PDF by end FY 01/02 to meet the intermediate Tier 2 GOL milestone).  Another example should  be to have Payment On-Line in place and accessible by all TC websites by end 2002 to meet the GOL intermediate Tier 2 milestone).

Stakeholders

• Canadian and international businesses
• Citizens (Canadian and international)
• Employees of companies
• Members of agencies, associations & organizations (Canadian and international)
• General public (the travelling public and the public potentially impacted by transportation systems, e.g. environmental impact, accidents, etc.)

• Businesses (Canadian and international)
• Agencies, associations & organizations (Canadian and international)
• Private operators
• Foreign governments
• Other jurisdictions (e.g. provincial and municipal governments)

Results (Intermediate Outcomes)

Implementation of an ESD model to the Promoting Safety, Environmental Responsibility and the Role of Transportation function could be expected to support the following results (Intermediate Outcomes) indicated in the Transport Canada Business Plan 2000-2003.

Implementation of an ESD model to the Promoting Safety, Environmental Responsibility and the Role of Transportation function could be expected to support the following results (Intermediate Outcomes) indicated in the Transport Canada Business Plan 2000-2003.

• Industry acceptance and adoption of new technology and systems compliant with related regulatory requirements
• Improved regulatee awareness and acceptance of safety regulations, standards, policies and procedures
• Development of a strong safety culture in the TC regulated community
• National consistency in the application and enforcement of regulations and more targeted inspections in higher risk areas
• Adoption by industry of safety management system components, e.g. safe practices
• Recognition of the shared roles and responsibilities of regulatees and their ability to develop a strong safety culture
• Increased public awareness of the dangers inherent in grade crossings and involvement in eradicating the problem of trespassers on railway property and in road safety
• Enhanced understanding of the technological, operational and human factors involved in highway/grade crossing collisions and trespassing incidents
• Increased understanding and acceptance of safety management concepts and principles
• Implementation by industry of safety management plans and enhancement of safety programs
• Enhanced awareness of human factors and safety management systems across the entire spectrum of the civil aviation community
• Improved awareness by devolved entities and acceptance of and compliance with safety and security regulations, standards, policies and procedures
• Collaboration among all levels of government and partnerships with stakeholders re: safety culture, performance measures and information sharing
• Increase in TC business conducted electronically by citizens, various levels of government and private institutions

ESD for the Promoting Safety, Environmental Responsibility and the Role of Transportation function will also support achievement of the following Key Results shown in the 2001-2004 Business Plan ("Looking to the New Millennium"):

• Consistent and high standards of safety and security and international competitiveness through harmonization.
• Reduction of risks and subsequent reduction in the number of accidents and fatalities and public confidence in the safety and security of the transportation system.
• Implementation by stakeholders of SMS to improve safety practices and foster a strong safety culture leading to a reduction of risks of accidents and fatal accidents.
• A 30 percent reduction in road collisions and fatalities by the year 2010.
• A target of a 50 per cent reduction in the number of highway/railway grade crossing collisions and trespassing incidents on railway property by 2006.
• Continued improvement on the high level of safety in Canada, moving toward the 2005 target of a 25 percent reduction in the five-year average number of aviation accidents and fatal accidents, and high level of public confidence in our civil aviation program, moving toward the 2005 target that 90 percent of respondents in public opinion research will say that air travel is safe or very safe.
• Moving toward meeting the Flight 2005 safety target of a 40 per cent reduction in the five-year average number of major airline accidents.
• The timely and efficient provision of Transport Canada information and services to meet demands by stakeholders and the public.

Performance Indicators

Implementation of ESD to the Promoting Safety, Environmental Responsibility and the Role of Transportation function could be expected to contribute positively to the following Performance Indicators excerpted from the Transport Canada Business Plan 2000-2003:

• Level of public confidence in aviation security
• Risk exposure data with absolute numbers and degree of associated risk
• Public confidence and levels of perception of risk (surveys, consultation)
• Collaboration efforts and partnerships undertaken
• Degree of participation and collaboration of data sharing
• Public confidence and stakeholder satisfaction with levels of service and safety

Linkages

The Promoting safety & Awareness priority area of intervention is linked to the following TC departmental priorities:

Promoting Safety & Awareness also links to the following Key Initiatives outlined in the TC Business Plan, 2000-2003

• Continued promotion by the department of the implementation by regulated industries of formal frameworks for integrating safety into daily operations
• Rail Safety Direction 2006 and Road Safety Vision 2001/2010
• Flight 2005 - a Civil Aviation Safety Framework for Canada
• Stakeholder consultations - Ongoing engagement with provincial and local government departments and agencies, industry, associations, shippers, carriers and other stakeholders to build support for departmental policies and activities, monitor stakeholder concerns and provide input to aid in development of departmental policies and programs.
• GOL Electronic Service Delivery
• Communications strategy
  • Maintain public confidence in the transportation system in terms of safety and security, economic efficiency and environmental protection.
  • Enhance the understanding of the contribution of transportation and Transport Canada to the quality of life of all Canadians.
  • Contribute to the adoption of desirable transportation behaviours and decisions by stakeholders and partners.

High Level Project Plan

Table C-1:  Proposed Promoting Safety, Environmental Responsibility and the Role of Transportation Initiatives

Each of these initiatives stands on its own merit, but the real opportunity will be to leverage these parallel initiatives and create synergy among them.  For example, the Marine Portal will be fielding technologies which could be used for the TC website.  Similarly, the structuring of publications databases (e.g. the Civil Aviation Publications Database) should be done with central co-ordination so that a common data model will evolve to facilitate tagging of documents and the development of search engines.

Issues and Risks

• Project definition
• Project management, including project linkages to other Priority Areas of Intervention
• Cross-service line understanding/commitment
• Funding pressures
• Stakeholder expectations with regard to outcomes
• Clarity on federal, provincial and municipal governments' jurisdictions
• Business transformation, culture change and training

Annex D:
Conducting Inspections and Audits

Description

Conducting Inspections and Audits is the TC generic business function associated with the verification and validation of regulated transportation industries, equipment, vehicles, owners and operators to ensure compliance with transportation regulations and standards.  Verification involves the audit of documents and records to ensure conformance with approved processes (e.g. for design of equipment, manufacture of equipment, testing of equipment, operation of equipment, etc.).  Validation involves the physical inspection of equipment, vehicles (including aircraft, vessels, etc.), facilities and monitoring of the use of these to ensure conformance of the end product to approved designs and operating procedures.

The requirement to conduct inspections and audits cuts across most of the service lines, e.g. Civil Aviation, Transportation of Dangerous Goods, Rail Safety, etc. (For example, Civil Aviation safety inspectors conduct air operator and aircraft maintenance organization inspections, as well as inspections on aircraft, aerodromes, heliports, airports and flight training schools. The Surface Branch of Railway Safety conducts detailed track inspections and level crossing inspections. The Transportation of Dangerous Goods Directorate (TDG) and the Railway Safety Equipment and Operations Division perform Facility Inspections and Freight, TDG, and Passenger Car Inspections.)

Rationale

Conducting Inspections & Audits is a Transport Canada business function that supports a Government-wide Mission Critical function under the umbrella heading of "Investigations, Inspections, Regulation and Promoting Compliance". It supports directly the TC mission of "To develop and administer policies, regulations and programs for a safe, efficient and environmentally responsible transportation system". More specifically, the Conduct Inspections & Audits business function supports the achievement of the following TC Key Results Commitments that were shown in Section 2.6 of TC's 2000-2001 Report on Plans and Priorities:

• Effective and harmonized legislation, regulations and standards in all transportation modes
• A simplified, modern and effective regulatory regime
• Transportation industry awareness of, and compliance with, regulations and standards
• Public awareness about safety
• Accident and fatality statistics and trends, and accident rate comparisons in the aviation, marine, rail and road modes, including the transportation of dangerous goods

Objectives

With regard to the Conduct Inspections & Audits business function, the use of Internet technologies combined with other ESD tools and capabilities is expected to:

• Reduce costs to Transport Canada, by reducing the scope, duration and overall costs of inspections and audits
• Reduce the requirement for inspections and audits
• Streamline the pre-inspection, pre-audit phase to reduce preparation time and expense for both TC inspectors and clients
• Provide better services to clients through more effective and timely inspections/audits
• Improve the quality and coverage of inspections and audits
• Improve effectiveness for Transport Canada inspectors and other employees
• Improve the work environment for TC employees through the use of electronic tools and methodologies that make their jobs easier

Vision

The following ideas collectively describe a vision for 2004-05 for the Conduct Inspections and Audits business function using an ESD model, and were derived primarily from the workshops held with the service lines in January and February 2001:

• Searchable regulations database so clients can locate applicable regulations
• Regulations and policies on-line and in Plain Language
• On-line inspection guidelines for customers- what will be inspected, what to do to prepare for the inspection, how long would a typical inspection take
• Forms and templates with completion instructions on-line
• Ability to complete all forms and inspection reports on-line - by client and by inspectors
• Case management tools for inspectors
• Common "360 degree" industrial database of all TC clients across all service lines
• Inspection scheduling system to track when inspections are due and automatically send email to appropriate inspection office / inspector, as well as to track follow up actions by the client or the inspector
• FAQs created and maintained on the TC website, so that people who are inquiring about TDG matters or other issues related to audits/inspections can locate the appropriate FAQ to answer their specific query
• Inspection Manual on-line:  The current inspection manual needs to be put on-line in a manner that will allow both modal and broad cross-modal information extraction.

Strategic Approach

Following are the key elements specific to this priority area of intervention. There is a strong linkage between this priority area of intervention and the "Issuing and Renewing Documents" priority area of intervention. Please note that the following key elements are not necessarily in chronological order.

• An integrated, cross-service line network repository would greatly facilitate the scheduling of inspections and audits and provide other valuable information to inspectors. This secure database would be available on-line to Transport Canada employees across the enterprise, specifically to all inspectors and to their lines of management. In addition to storing the results of inspections and audits, the network repository would also be able to generate "flags" to management when an inspection for a particular client is required in the upcoming quarter, calendar year, etc. Clients could also fill out and submit a web form requesting an inspection or audit.
• Electronic tools would help management to schedule inspections/audits and keep the inspectors informed of upcoming client commitments. The network repository would be structured so that it could be interrogated according to various "slices & dices", including (for example) by geographic region, client name, dates, prime service line, pertinent regulations that apply, etc.
• The network repository would also provide inspectors, by client, with the history of inspections, previous inspection reports, as well as with the details of which TC personnel had been in contact with the client and when. These particular capabilities might not be available initially, but could be provided later through case management tools (to be added after 2003), after some initial experience with the network repository had been gained.
• The network repository would provide the inspectors with information and documents that had been submitted by clients, e.g. technical specifications/descriptions, photographs, engineering drawings, attestations, etc. In the world of engineering design, manufacture and certification of equipment, vehicles (e.g. aircraft, ships, trucks, etc.) or operating procedures, generally there is a requirement for submission of certain documents (e.g. drawings, designs) for approval. These same documents are the ones that inspectors in the field need to have access to in order to verify/audit processes and records, and to validate the end result of processes by physical inspection of equipment
• As is discussed under the "Issuing & Renewing Documents" priority area of intervention, supporting documents provided by clients for the purposes of audits and inspections are assumed to be transmitted and stored in Portable Document Format ("PDF "). This format reflects all of the same visual characteristics of the original paper-based system of client documents and also allows for version control, since each document would have the date and necessary client approval signatures preserved in the PDF representation. The inspections/audits would need to verify (as is done today) that the submitted documents are indeed "real" and are used (e.g. using random sampling checks).
• While in the field, inspectors would have secure on-line access to the network repository and other electronic tools, such as e-mail, case management tools, the TC Intranet and the Internet. On-line resources thus available to the inspectors would include the on-line Inspection Manual, checklists, templates, best practices, links to the detailed regulations, legislation, etc. Inspectors would have access to these capabilities either through portable (wireless) computing devices or via wireline connections. This would enable them to prepare inspection reports while "on the road" and to download their reports (with digitized photographs) directly from the field, thus saving valuable time and resources and improving service to clients.

Stakeholders

• Clients:
• Canadian and international businesses
• Partners:
• Businesses (Canadian and international)
• Agencies, associations & organizations (Canadian and international)
• Private operators
• Foreign governments
• Other government jurisdictions (e.g. provincial and municipal governments)
• Other federal government departments

Results (Intermediate Outcomes)

Implementation of an ESD model to the Conduct Inspections & Audits business function could be expected to support the following results (Intermediate Outcomes) indicated in the Transport Canada Business Plan 2000-2003.

• Improved regulatee awareness and acceptance of safety regulations, standards, policies and procedures
• Development of a strong safety culture in the TC regulated community
• National consistency in the application and enforcement of regulations and more targeted inspections in higher risk areas
• Improved ability to identify where safety interventions are most needed
• Implementation by industry of safety management plans and enhancement of safety programs
• Collaboration among all levels of government and partnerships with stakeholders re: safety culture, performance measures and information sharing
• Effective and efficient management of information and technology through alignment with the business and Government of Canada PKI, EDM, GOL and strategic infrastructure initiatives
• Increase in TC business conducted electronically by citizens, various levels of government and private institutions
• Increased ability of employees at all levels to share information across the department and with clients, partners and stakeholders
• Contributing to the acceleration of the acceptance of E-business in the transportation sector
• Improved awareness by inspectors of evolving roles and responsibilities

ESD for the Inspections and Audits function will also support achievement of the Key Result shown in the 2001-2004 Business Plan ("Looking to the New Millennium"):  Reduction of risks and subsequent reduction in the number of accidents and fatalities and public confidence in the safety and security of the transportation system.

Performance Indicators

Implementation of ESD to the Conduct Inspections & Audits business function could be expected to contribute positively to the following Performance Indicators excerpted from the Transport Canada Business Plan 2000-2003:

• Risk exposure data with absolute numbers and degree of associated risk
• Public confidence and levels of perception of risk (surveys, consultation)
• Degree of participation and collaboration of data sharing
• Increase in the # of TC programs and services within the secure reach of employees, other levels of government, citizens and business
• IM/IT planning fully integrated with business planning process including the creation of a departmental IM/IT investment strategy
• Effective IM/IT application framework
• Studies that will contribute to advancing the state of understanding of E-Business and E-Commerce and what it means for the transportation sector
• Public confidence and stakeholder satisfaction with levels of service and safety

Linkages

The Conducting Inspections & Audits priority area of intervention is linked to the following TC departmental priorities:

• Maintain and enhance the safety regime
• Facilitate the transition to a knowledge-based economy

Conducting Inspections & Audits also links to the following Key Initiatives outlined in the TC Business Plan, 2000-2003

• Continued exploration and promotion of the most appropriate forms of interventions by our inspector community to achieve compliance
• Continued promotion by the department of the implementation by regulated industries of formal frameworks for integrating safety into daily operations
• Rail Safety Direction 2006 and Road safety Vision 2001/2010
• Flight 2005 - a Civil Aviation Safety Framework for Canada
• GOL Electronic Service Delivery

 High Level Project Plan

There are currently two GOL initiatives identified under this priority area of intervention. 

Real transformation of the generic functions of conducting inspections and audits would require consideration of the following types of studies/initiatives as funding and opportunities become available:

• Examine the types of documents typically submitted by clients (and used by inspectors) to determine if PDF format is appropriate for most instances
• Gather input from inspectors to determine the design of a network repository that would best facilitate their work re: scheduling, client information, etc. At the same time, conduct an initial study with the inspectors to establish parameters for potential case management tools that they feel would support their work. Use this information to plan the underlying IM/IT infrastructure changes/investments for the ESD model.
• Study the inspectors' requirements for laptops, PDAs and/or other equipment that would allow them to leverage an ESD model while in the field
• Work with clients to design the web form(s) that would work best for them, re: scheduling audits/inspections, and also what information regarding inspections they would find useful to be added to the TC website
• Design and implement the network repository (target: end of 2002), along with a change management and training plan for inspectors and managers
• Develop and roll out case management tools for the inspector community (2003 and beyond)
• Roll out (additional) portable devices (notebook computers, etc.) for the inspector community (2003 and beyond)

Issues and Risks

• Project definition
• Project management
• Cross-service line understanding/commitment
• Security infrastructure
• Funding
• Business transformation, culture change and training

Annex E:
Issuing and Renewing Documents

Description

Issuing and Renewing Documents is the generic business function that includes all transactions of the following nature:

• Recognition of a company, a piece of equipment/vehicle or an individual as competent or capable of conducting some function in accordance with existing legislation, regulations, or standards; or,
• Authorization to conduct some activity in accordance with published or amended legislation, regulations or standards using certified equipment.

The result of these transactions is a document (either physical or electronic) that provides the client with the stated recognition or authorization.

Rationale

Issuing and Renewing Documents is a Transport Canada business function that encompasses the following generic functions from the IM/IT Architecture functional business model:

• Issue and renew permits
• Issue and renew certificates
• Issue and renew licenses
• Issue and renew clearances, credentials, certificates
• Perform registration
• Certify companies

The high level function ("Issuing & Renewing Documents") supports a Government-wide Mission Critical function under the umbrella heading of "Investigations, Inspections, Regulation and Promoting Compliance". It supports directly the TC mission "To develop and administer policies, regulations and programs for a safe, efficient and environmentally responsible transportation system". More specifically, the Issuing and Renewing Documents business function supports the achievement of the following Key Results, as shown in the TC 2001-2004 Business Plan ("Looking to the New Millennium"):

• Consistent and high standards of safety and security and international competitiveness through harmonization
• Enhanced security, and a reduction in marine accidents and incidents that may otherwise result from possible fraudulent duplication/unlawful interference
• The timely and efficient provision of Transport Canada information and services to meet demands by stakeholders and the public
• Effective and efficient program delivery through strategic IM/IT investments and optimum e-service opportunities

In addition, this business function is tied closely to the Safety and Security business line's mandate: "Develops national legislation, regulations and standards, and carries out monitoring, testing, inspection, enforcement, education and research and development activities for the safety and security of all transportation modes".

Objectives

With regard to the Issuing and Renewing Documents business function, the use of Internet technologies combined with other ESD tools and capabilities is expected to:

• Provide better, higher quality services to clients through faster, easier means of issuing and renewing permits, certificates and licenses
• Improve clients' accessibility to a wide variety of TC documents
• Reduce costs to Transport Canada, by simplifying the issuance and renewal of permits, certificates and licenses
• Improve the work environment for TC employees through the use of electronic tools and methodologies that make their jobs easier

Vision

The following ideas collectively describe a vision for 2004-05 for the Issue and Renew Documents business function through an ESD model. These ideas were derived primarily from the workshops held with the service lines in January and February 2001:

The following ideas collectively describe a vision for 2004-05 for the Issue and Renew Documents business function through an ESD model. These ideas were derived primarily from the workshops held with the service lines in January and February 2001:

• Conduct transactions easily, self-serve, on-line with remote access
• Common approach and framework for all transactions
• Transactions are completed subject to on-line payment
• Users will be advised in real time, during the transaction, of any missing or incorrect information (on-line validation)
• Process information on website - a high level "how to do it" road map with search engine
• All forms and templates on-line, with ability to complete forms on-line
• Instructions on all forms linked to / embedded in the forms (roll over box, hyperlink to instructions and relevant legislation and regulations)
• Ability to upload all required supporting documents electronically (that support published standards for electronic document submission).  This would include text based documents and images such as blueprints, drawings, specifications, photographs, data files, etc.
• Ability to accept payments (credit cards) and make payments (EFT) (for refunds)
• Ability to authenticate applicant (PKI)
• Ability to track progress of application through the TC process (similar to FedEx's approach to tracking a shipment)
• Electronic issuance of the permission document
• For renewals, forms should identify elements requiring updating
• E.g.:  commercial pilots need to maintain a current medical, aircraft type certification and an instrument rating in order to operate aircraft.  In an ESD environment, there is a seamless integration between the air operator's database (flight logs), exam centres and a TC database which maintains an automated record of pilot currency.  Medical information is automatically updated directly from the examining doctor's office.  The pilot is advised automatically when something is coming due and he can monitor the status of his license at anytime over the Internet.  Fees can be paid on-line using a credit card.  A new physical artifact (license) would not be required with every renewal.  However, if a license or certificate with official stamps/seals is required it can be obtained from any convenient government office (including Canadian embassies if overseas).

 Strategic Approach

The strategic approach is built on the following key elements. Please note that these elements are not necessarily in chronological order. This priority area of intervention has strong linkages to the "Conducting Inspections & Audits" and "Payment On-Line" priority areas of intervention.

• A secure Payment On-Line capability is required in order to support the ESD process (The elements of "Payment On-Line" are described under the priority area of intervention of that name.)
• In order to support the issuance of a permit, license, etc., the applicant must be able to upload various supporting documents (as required) to Transport Canada in an appropriate format. E-mail attachments and on-line forms based submission of documents are assumed to be adequate, provided there is a clear statement on the form that any fraudulent entries are a criminal offence (this maintains the same level of authentication as the current paper based environment), and provided that an adequate inspection and audit program is in place.
• In the world of engineering design, manufacture and certification of equipment, vehicles (e.g. aircraft, ships, trucks, etc.) or operating procedures, generally there is a requirement for submission of drawings, technical specifications or other documents for approval. These same documents are the ones that inspectors in the field need to have access to in order to verify/audit processes and records, and to validate the end result of processes by physical inspection of equipment.
• A key component to the ESD model for issuance and renewal of documents is the HTML forms based submission of supporting documents/drawings in an unalterable format, such as Portable Document Format (PDF), for certification, approval, etc. This format reflects all of the same visual characteristics of the original paper-based system of client documents and also allows for version control, since each client document would have the date and necessary client approval signatures preserved in the PDF representation.
• Similarly, it is assumed that PDF format is appropriate for the issuance/renewal document itself, since the resulting document cannot be easily tampered with.  If seals or stamps are required for the document/permit/license, they should be able to be ordered on-line, paid for on-line, and mailed/couriered to the client. If desired by the client, the seals could also be obtained at a government office, and/or at Canadian embassies if overseas.
• The document/license/permit should have a telephone number on it so that the validity of the document can be verified by an authority, if required. This means that the telephone number must be supported on a 24/7 basis, worldwide.
• An enterprise level on-line repository will be required, structured to be searchable by company, name of individual, equipment part number, serial number, component, etc. The repository would initially be accessible only by TC approvers and inspectors. (Read-only access of the repository by companies or individuals with respect to their information only is suggested as a possible follow-on initiative, since this will require PKI in order to authenticate who is making the information request. It is recognized that there are various complexities associated with allowing read only access by clients, and further study of this would be required before any design/implementation decisions might be made.)
• The clients should be able to view, on-line, the status of their application for a new or renewal document.
• Both the "Issuing & Renewing Documents" and the "Conducting Inspections & Audits' priority areas of intervention would benefit greatly from case management tools to allow tracking of the engineering change activity taking place and to provide an integrated source of information for the approvers and inspectors in order to have a clear impression of what each client is doing. It is suggested that the case management capability be considered as a second phase, once electronic documents (issuance and renewal) are available in ESD mode.
• For licensing personnel, wherever possible there needs to be automated processes (like there are for provincial drivers' licenses) to provide on-line licensing with payment and subsequent mailing of a license artifact (where required). Only exceptions should be handled with human intervention.

Stakeholders:

• Clients:
  • Companies and private citizens seeking TC certificates, licenses, permits, etc., nationally and internationally.
• Partners include:
  • Other individuals and agencies involved in the process of certification, licensing etc. (e.g. doctors performing a medical examination for a commercial pilot's license renewal)
  • Individuals and organizations that need to view/validate/recognize the license, certificate, permit, etc.
  • Other governments and international standards/regulatory bodies involved in international agreements on the issuance and recognition of certificates, licenses, permits, etc.

Results (Intermediate Outcomes)

Implementation of an ESD model to the Issue & Renew Documents business function could be expected to support the following results (Intermediate Outcomes) indicated in the Transport Canada Business Plan 2000-2003.

Implementation of an ESD model to the Issue & Renew Documents business function could be expected to support the following results (Intermediate Outcomes) indicated in the Transport Canada Business Plan 2000-2003.

• Effective and efficient management of information and technology through alignment with the business and Government of Canada PKI, EDM, GOL and strategic infrastructure initiatives
• Increase in TC business conducted electronically by citizens, various levels of government and private institutions
• Increased ability of employees at all levels to share information across the department and with clients, partners and stakeholders
• Effective and efficient management of IM/IT through alignment with departmental business planning and government initiatives
• Contributing to the acceleration of the acceptance of E-business in the transportation sector

ESD for Issuing and Renewing Documents will also support achievement of the following Key Results shown in the 2001-2004 Business Plan ("Looking to the New Millennium"):

• The timely and efficient provision of Transport Canada information and services to meet demands by stakeholders and the public
• Effective and efficient program delivery through strategic IM/IT investments and optimum e-service opportunities.
• Consistent and high standards of safety and security and international competitiveness through harmonization
• Enhanced aviation security for international flights, and reduced accidents and security incidents that may otherwise result from unlawful interference
• Enhanced security, and a reduction in marine accidents and incidents that may otherwise result from possible fraudulent duplication/unlawful interference

Performance Indicators

Implementation of an ESD model for the Issue & Renew Documents business function could be expected to contribute positively to the following Performance Indicators that were suggested in the earlier Transport Canada Business Plan 2000-2003.

Implementation of an ESD model for the Issue & Renew Documents business function could be expected to contribute positively to the following Performance Indicators that were suggested in the earlier Transport Canada Business Plan 2000-2003.

• Increase in the # of TC programs and services within the secure reach of employees, other levels of government, citizens and business
• GOL integrated with application development and IM/IT planning
• Turnaround time in response to requests for information (e.g. ATIP)
• IM/IT planning fully integrated with business planning process including the creation of a departmental IM/IT investment strategy
• Effective IM/IT application framework
• Studies that will contribute to advancing the state of understanding of E-Business and E-Commerce and what it means for the transportation sector

Linkages

ESD of the Issuing & Renewing Documents business function will support the following departmental priorities:

ESD of the Issuing & Renewing Documents business function will support the following departmental priorities:

• Maintain and enhance the safety regime
• Foster competitiveness in a global economy
• Facilitate transition to the knowledge-based economy

It will also support the Management Agenda outlined in the TC 2001-2004 Business Plan, specifically:

• Implementing an IM/IT Framework; and
• Renewing the Info/Infrastructure

In addition, Issuing and Renewing Documents links to the following Key Initiatives that were outlined in the TC Business Plan, 2000-2003:

• GOL Electronic Service Delivery
• TC IM/IT Framework
• E-Business and Transportation
• Adoption of an integrated data management framework including development of a multi-modal warehouse of occurrence statistics and other safety related information

High Level Project Plan

Table E-1:  Proposed Issuing and Renewing Documents Initiatives

Transformation of the generic business functions which comprise "Issuing and Renewing Documents" would require consideration of broader issues than those being addressed in the current grouping of projects and are linked to the transformation of the inspection and audit functions.  Consideration should be given to studies and initiatives in the following areas:

• Examine supporting documents typically submitted by clients (and used by TC approvers and inspectors) to determine if PDF format is appropriate for most instances.
• Gather input from approvers/inspectors and involve them in the design of the on-line forms that applicants would use to submit requests for new/renewal licenses/permits, etc.
• Work also with clients to design the web form(s) that would work best for them. Gather information from clients regarding additional items (both content and format) and FAQs they would find useful to be added to the TC website, all for requesting new or renewal documents/licenses/permits.
• Dovetail the management of this project with the "Payment On-Line" capability and the "Conducting Inspections & Audits' project rollout
• Design a searchable, enterprise level network repository for use by TC approvers and inspectors that contains the requests from clients, status of the requests, related documents, etc.
• Develop and implement the necessary near term actions to meet the Tier 2 milestones for end 2002 and end 2004; i.e. provide capability to have the various types of licenses/permits, etc. available for issuance to clients in PDF format by the end of 2004, or earlier. Establish the necessary processes (business transformation) to provide seals/stamps for certain documents in concert with the on-line issuance and renewal processes. Establish the processes and on-line capability for clients to track their requests for new/renewal documents.
• Design and carry out a change management and training plan for approvers, inspectors and managers.
• Downstream, conduct a study with the approvers/inspectors to establish parameters for potential case management tools that they feel would support their work related to issuing and renewing documents. This is considered to be a second phase item, for 2003 or 2004.

Issues and Risks

• Project definition
• Project management, including project linkages to other Priority Areas of Intervention
• Cross-service line understanding/commitment
• Security infrastructure
• On-line payments
• Acceptability by other authorities of paper artifacts (if printed by the client)
• Project funding
• Business transformation, culture change and training

Annex F:
Developing and Evolving Legislation, Regulations Policies & Standards

Description

Developing and Evolving Legislation, Regulations and Standards is the TC generic business function of creating and amending the transportation regulations and associated standards that are required to implement government transportation policies, legislation and international agreements.

Rationale

Developing and Evolving Legislation, Regulations and Standards is a business function directly supporting the strategic objective of "A safe and secure national transportation system" through the achievement of the following Key Results Commitments:

• A simplified, modern and effective regulatory regime
• Effective and harmonized legislation, regulations and standards in all transportation modes

It also supports the objective of "A competitive, efficient and effective transportation system" by contributing to the Key Results Commitment of:

• The removal of institutional and legislative barriers to transportation operations

The use of Electronic Service Delivery and Internet technologies are expected to greatly facilitate the dialogue between TC and stakeholders during the preparation of regulations and standards in keeping with the Government of Canada vision for a more participative government and the department's strategic objectives.   Greater public engagement and a "digital democracy" are GOL Tier 3 goals.  Initiatives in this theme will serve as pilot projects for creating dialogue on policy, legislation, regulations & standards.

Objectives

The objectives of applying Electronic Service Delivery to the function of Developing and Evolving Legislation, Regulations and Standards are as follows:

• Reduce the time required to create, approve and publish new/amended regulations and standards
• Improve the quality of the regulatory framework by involving earlier and more extensive opportunities for stakeholder participation
• Reduce the travel and meeting costs associated with stakeholder consultation

Vision

The following ideas summarize a vision for 2004-05 for the Developing and Evolving Regulations & Standards strategic theme through an ESD model. These ideas were derived primarily from the workshops held with the service lines in January and February 2001:

The following ideas summarize a vision for 2004-05 for the Developing and Evolving Regulations & Standards priority area of intervention through an ESD model. These ideas were derived primarily from the workshops held with the service lines in January and February 2001:

• Web site with ability to publish proposals with links to other relevant sites
• Search engine to search all policy proposals
• Ability to receive input (such as surveys) and comments on proposals and store in database
• Ability to analyse database contents
• Ability to register stakeholders for personalized service and receive system generated emails - advisory on new proposals, updates on current proposals
• Discussion group(s), with TC as moderator

Strategic Approach

The strategy is to leverage the Internet infrastructure and functionality fielded under the Promoting Safety, Environmental Responsibility and the Role of Transportation priority area of intervention to facilitate the implementation of web-enabled communities of interest to support the regulatory consultation activities of each transportation mode.  True transformation of these regulations and standards development functions will require process reengineering of the current processes before technology can be used to provide ESD solutions.

Stakeholders

The stakeholders are communities of interest which are most impacted by specific regulations and standards.  The communities of interest could comprise:

• Canadian and international businesses
• Owners and operators of transportation vehicles and equipment
• Members of agencies, associations & organizations (Canadian and international)
• Other government jurisdictions within Canada
• International governments
• Other federal government departments
• The general public impacted by the transportation industry

Results (Intermediate Outcomes)

Implementation of an ESD model to Developing and Evolving Legislation, Regulations & Standards could be expected to support the following results (Intermediate Outcomes) indicated in the Transport Canada Business Plan, 2000-2003

Implementation of an ESD model to Developing and Evolving Legislation, Regulations & Standards could be expected to support the following results (Intermediate Outcomes) indicated in the Transport Canada Business Plan, 2000-2003

• Improved regulatee awareness and acceptance of safety regulations, standards, policies and procedures
• Development of a strong safety culture in our regulated community
• National consistency in the application and enforcement of regulations
• Recognition of the shared roles and responsibilities of regulatees and their ability to develop a strong safety culture
• Collaboration among all levels of government and other stakeholders
• Increased stakeholder awareness, understanding and acceptance of changes
• Thorough understanding of the transportation priorities and concerns of stakeholders regarding safety, urban mobility, infrastructure needs, competition policy, trade corridor development and the environment
• Increased ability of employees at all levels to access and share information across the department and with clients, partners and stakeholders
• Collaboration by partners, other government departments, provinces, international agencies and academia on transportation innovation for the public good
• Effective and efficient management of information and technology through alignment with the business and GoC PKI, EDM, GOL and strategic infrastructure initiatives
• Provision of a timely and relevant flow of information regarding the regional environment into Headquarters

The implementation of ESD for Developing and Evolving Legislation, Regulations & Standards will also support the following Key Results stated in the Transport Canada 2001-2004 Business Plan:

• Consistent and high standards of safety and security and international competitiveness through harmonization
• Implementation by stakeholders of SMS to improve safety practices and foster a strong safety culture leading to a reduction of risks of accidents and fatal accidents
• An efficient, effective, flexible, affordable and accessible transportation system enabled through the CTA
• The timely and efficient provision of Transport Canada information and services to meet demands by stakeholders and the public
• Effective and efficient program delivery through strategic IM/IT investments and optimum e-service opportunities
• Improved departmental performance and results.  Cost-effective departmental policies and programs.  Transport Canada as a leader in performance-based measurement

 Performance Indicators

Implementation of ESD to Developing and Evolving Legislation, Regulations & Standards could be expected to contribute positively to the following Performance Indicators excerpted from the Transport Canada Business Plan 2000-2003:

• Collaboration efforts and partnerships undertaken
• Integration of regional input / concerns / issues in department policies
• Levels of public confidence and perception of risks
• Turnaround time in response to requests for information
• Effective IM/IT application framework

High Level Project Plan

There are no initiatives funded in the FY01/02 plan which address the potential for ESD to enhance the consultation process associated with developing and evolving regulations and standards.  Marine Safety had undertaken an initiative in FY00/01 funded at $7,500 to address the Canadian Marine Advisory Council (CMAC) but no further funding was requested.  Service lines need to develop strategies to address this requirement by redesigning their current processes and exploiting new on-line capabilities (such as ListServ) as they are fielded by the department.

Issues and Risks

• Project definition
• Project management, including project linkages to other Priority Areas of Intervention and continuity across the transportation modes
• Cross-service line commitment
• Funding
• Stakeholder expectations with regard to timing, on-line capability and outcomes
• Business transformation, culture change and training

Annex G:
Program Delivery

Description

The TBS framework for GOL (Tier 2 Guidelines) provides the following definition of a program in the GOL context:

Within this GOL strategic planning context, administration of the following programs (examples, not an exhaustive list) is included under the Program Delivery priority area of intervention:

• Airports Capital Assistance Program (ACAP)
• Port Divestiture Fund
• Port Transfer Fund
• Highway Contribution Agreements
• Grade Crossing Improvement Program
• Bridges Program
• Sustainable Transportation

Rationale

The intent is that the department should use Electronic Service Delivery tools to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of program management and delivery. The priority area of intervention  "Program Delivery" relates closely to the generic function of "Managing Programs" from the IM/IT Architecture functional business model. "Managing Programs", in turn, supports the Government-wide Mission Critical function under the heading of "Investigation, Inspection, Regulation and Promoting Compliance". Further, the following business functions in the Program & Divestitures service line were identified as supporting the Government-wide Level 2 function of "Negotiating Agreements and Treaties", and more specifically, the TC generic function "Transfer Assets".

• Develop and evolve regulations
• Grant and contribution management
• Internal and external consultation
• Issue leases and licenses
• Manage assets
• Manage programs
• Manage training programs
• Measure performance
• Perform remedial activity
• Promote sustainable transportation
• Support functions
• Transfer assets

The Program Delivery priority area of intervention supports the achievement of the following Key Results, as shown in the TC 2001-2004 Business Plan ("Looking to the New Millennium"):

• Effective administration of airport leases
• A safe, efficient and effective surface transportation infrastructure, based on sustainable development principles, that promotes inter-provincial and international trade, meets the needs of Canadians, and is responsive to commercial and personal traffic
• A reduced burden on the federal taxpayer for the operation of Canadian ports
• A safe, efficient and effective surface transportation infrastructure, based on sustainable development principles, that promotes inter-provincial and international trade, meets the needs of Canadians, and is responsive to commercial and personal traffic
• An environmentally sustainable transportation system for Canadians
• A reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector, in support of Canada's national target and a reduction in the impact of air emissions from the transportation sector
• An airport system that is able to meet the needs of Canadians and is responsive to passengers and local communities
• A port system that is able to meet the needs of Canadians and is responsive to passengers and local communities

Objectives

With regard to the Program Delivery priority area of intervention, the use of Internet technologies combined with other ESD capabilities and tools are expected to:

• Improve the efficiency of program delivery, including the necessary approvals and other documentation required for funds transfer
• Improve the department's ability to consult with stakeholders on the administration of existing programs, and the development of new programs
• Facilitate ongoing improvements to programs

Vision

The following observations (from the service line workshop) describe key elements with respect to ESD and the Program Delivery business function. The observations also consider elements of public consultation.

• Clearly display what we own and manage (detail at the property level, who the service parties are)
• Performance indicators are widely available (for public accountability)
• Faster response to client (on-line submission of projects)
• Application criteria are clear and widely available
• Useful in a strategic context (causal relationships)
• Help the public understand what the programs do and what their objectives are
• Drill down from the programs to the objectives
• How to overcome the effect of less human contact?
• Information is available to people to understand the issues
• Simple response tool
• Timely, easy, frequent, flexible, multi-lingual, accessible
• 24/7 - anywhere/anytime
• Expectations managed
• Go to the people (where groups might gather)
• How to determine who is responding?
• Representative results

Visitors to the Transport Canada website can now navigate easily to the area that describes a variety of programs operated by the department.  The programs are listed by type and also by geographic region.  A map of Canada with "clickable" spots for the program locations is also available on the site allowing "drill down' to get more detailed information. A list of objectives and success metrics is provided for each program, so that citizens can read for themselves how the program is progressing, year by year.  A feedback button allows people to provide their inputs and ideas with regard to each program and how it is being administered.  Transport Canada has ensured that every message sent via the website is responded to within a predictable timeframe, so that people's expectations can be met.

Strategic Approach

As noted above, the intent of this priority area of intervention is for the department to use Electronic Service Delivery tools to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of program management and delivery. Transport Canada would continue to look at the various programs that it administers, e.g. Highway Contribution Management Program, and prioritise the opportunities for application of an ESD model. Pilot projects would be used to gain initial experience, following which the capabilities gained and the applications developed could be rolled out to other programs, as appropriate.

Stakeholders

Clients:

• Citizens (who will benefit from more efficient, effective program definition and delivery, including more effective consultation)
• Businesses (Canadian and international)

• Other government jurisdictions (e.g. provincial and municipal governments)
• Other federal government departments
• International governments (e.g. US Government for border crossings)
• Lessees of property
• Businesses

Results (Intermediate Outcomes)

Implementation of an ESD model to the Program Delivery business function could be expected to support the following results (Intermediate Outcomes) indicated in the Transport Canada Business Plan 2000-2003:

• Acceptance by local interests of airport operating responsibilities
• Acceptance by local interests of port ownership responsibilities
• Improvements to transparency in the governance of NAS airports, primarily in the areas of pricing practices, accountability and public consultation
• The continued efficient operation of federal bridge facilities and effective method of delivering departmental programs
• Governance and operations in compliance with letters patent
• Private/public partnerships to fund infrastructure
• Improved provincial highway infrastructure
• Improved border crossings
• Integration, within Transport Canada, of sustainable development principles into the development of legislation, policies, programs and operations
• Improved management of environmental issues for TC properties and operations
• Better stakeholder understanding of, and engagement in, opportunities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the transportation sector

Performance Indicators

Implementation of ESD to the Program Delivery business function could be expected to contribute positively to the following Performance Indicators excerpted from the Transport Canada Business Plan 2000-2003.

• Number of airports divested
• Number of ports divested
• Number of airports in compliance with policy framework
• Number of CPA's in compliance with letters patent
• Number and size of urban transit projects
• Border crossings improved
• Negative environmental impacts of departmental operations reduced
• Reductions from the baseline case in GHG emissions from transportation sources

Linkages

The Program Delivery priority area of intervention is linked to the following TC departmental priorities:

• Support infrastructure development
• Advance sustainable transportation
• Complete the divestiture programs

There are also linkages to the following Key Initiatives outlined in the TC Business Plan 2000-2003.

• Airport Divestiture
• Port Divestiture
• Local Airport Authorities (LAA) Lease Review
• Bridge Management Strategy
• Canada Port Authority (CPA) Monitoring
• Surface Infrastructure Programs
• St. Lawrence Seaway Real Property
• Sustainable Development Strategy
• Stewardship of TC Properties and Operations

 High Level Project Plan

There are several projects planned to address ESD potential for the management and delivery of programs.

Figure G-1:  Proposed Program Delivery Initiatives

 Issues and Risks

• Project Definition
• Project management
• Funding
• Business transformation, culture change and training

Annex H:
Internal Administrative Efficiencies

Description

Transport Canada intends to pursue a broad spread of electronic service delivery initiatives across all its internal administrative infrastructure as a complimentary activity to external GOL activity.  Activities will address the administrative activities below in Figure 1.  Because of the relationship of payment to providing a range of services (such as payment on-line with credit cards for consumers and clients), it has been addressed separately. 

Figure 1 -Internal Administrative Efficiency Activity Areas[2]

Rationale

The intent is that the department should have congruency between its external client facing GOL posture and its internal administrative posture as it relates to electronic service delivery.  Employees should for example be able to transact the majority of their personal work related administration on-line at a time and place of their choosing.

Objectives

The objective is to provide an electronic service delivery mechanism for the maximum number of administrative services on a 7/24 secure and reliable basis, accessible internally via TCI with an appropriate range of services also available externally over the Internet.

Vision

The vision is that the majority of administrative activities will be 'e-enabled' including establishing an electronic signature infrastructure for documentary approvals.  There will be a 'self help' electronic environment for most employee related services which will be accessed via TCI.  Regulations related to all aspects of the department's administration will be provided on line in a user friendly form with search capabilities.  All employees will be able to submit expense claims on-line and to get a direct deposit payment for the same.  Suppliers will be able to submit invoices and be paid on-line.

The major thrust of the GOL expenditure for administrative efficiency is on employee (client) service via the HR On-Line initiative.

HR-on-Line:  HR resourcing (also known as Staffing On-Line) will be automated providing for the identification of HR gaps in sufficient time to initiate appropriate staffing actions including recruitment if required.  The entire business process and work flow related to selection of new employee and bringing the employee on strength will be supported electronically.

The vision is also for leave and extra duty requests to be processed electronically with all appropriate knock-on effects dealt with electronically (pay, benefits etc) in an integrated manner.  Employees will be able to view salary payment details and expense payments on-line.  Expense claims will be submitted on-line, with appropriate audit arrangements for receipt verification, such that no employee is disadvantaged by location and work hours from being properly compensated for expenses incurred as a result of TC duties.

Employee Self Service: This component of the HR On-Line initiative covers Self service viewing and updating of personal information; HR transaction triggers for managers (staffing, classification, pay); Staffing On-Line and E-Learning

The approach will be to look at TC's HR business processes, re-engineer and then build on the current 'HR On-Line' web portal and the underlying infrastructure (TIPS, SIMS II and Oracle database infrastructure) in an incremental manner to bring an increasing range of HR services on line.  TC will also work within the TIPS Cluster to leverage relative experiences with the other two departments using TIPS.

Benefits

The alignment of the department's internal and external electronic service profile, allied with both efficiency and cost savings.

Stakeholders

All the department's 4,800 employees are core stakeholders in this Administrative Efficiency priority area of intervention.  Other stakeholders include suppliers and contractors that the department acquires goods and services from.

Results

Establishment of a modern web enabled administrative environment operating on a 24/7 basis including an electronic HRM system providing an integrated HR management and service environment.

Linkages

The Administrative Efficiency priority area of intervention is linked indirectly to the following non GOL projects:

• IT/IM Infrastructure Upgrades
• Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) Security
• SIMS II
• IDFS Upgrade (Oracle 11i implementation)

Project Plan

The initiatives listed Table H-1 comprise the Administrative Efficiency priority area of intervention:

Table H-1 -  Proposed Administrative Efficiency Initiatives

Issues and Risks

Project Definition:  Formal project definition is currently lacking for the initiative in a global sense although many elements of the HR On-Line sub-initiative are defined and ready to proceed into implementation.

Annex I:
GOL Infrastructure Enablers

The Transport Canada IM/IT Strategic Plan 2001-2004 outlines the IM/IT strategy and action plans required to support Transport Canada's strategic business objectives throughout the planning period.  As such, it is closely linked to the GOL Strategic Plan in that it integrates the GOL Electronic Service Delivery initiatives into the total departmental IM/IT strategy and action plan.  The departmental business and IM/IT strategy is structured around six components or "strategic thrusts":

1. Business Transformation (which includes the GOL priority areas of intervention and initiatives)
2. Information
3. Applications
4. Technology
5. Security and Privacy
6. Management

Transport Canada is using a managed IM/IT architecture approach to IM/IT strategic planning.  Thrusts 2 to 6 provide the action plans needed to implement the planned future architectures (by 2005) which are needed to support the department's business needs.  GOL specific needs are identified in this GOL Strategic Plan and are captured in the Business Transformation strategic thrust of the IM/IT Strategic Plan.

The "GOL Infrastructure Enablers" priority area of intervention identifies the common infrastructure enablers which are integral to the GOL program and which support more than one of the functional priority area of intervention.

Table J-1:  Proposed GOL Infrastructure Enablers

Payment On-Line

Transport Canada intends to increase and expand electronic financial exchange activity including 'Payment On-Line' as a key GOL strategic 'e-enabler' across all business lines.

Providing the ability to pay for products and services via the Internet or over the telephone is now a standard commercial activity.  Citizens have accepted the use of credit cards and other financial exchange arrangements over the Internet and telephone for paying for products and services.

Payment On-Line will support payment for products and services provided as a function of the following generic TC business functions (where there is currently some payment activity), namely:

• Issue & Renew Certificates
• Issue & Renew Permits
• Issue & Renew Clearances, credentials, certificates
• Issue & Renew Licenses
• Support Functions (various functions including the sale of publications).

Rationale

Although the number of Canadians or clients served by 'Payment On-Line' is modest there is high potential for improving service delivery to this client base by providing a 24/7 service with a faster turnaround.  A high proportion of TC's clients are expected to take advantage of this service.

Although the service is neither highly visible or innovative its adoption is fully in keeping with the federal government's and TC's GOL image and moreover it addresses client expectations.

Objectives

The objective of providing Payment On-Line is to improve client service through establishing multiple payment channels, by December 2002, within a 7/24 service environment that is accessible by the Internet, telephone or fax  anywhere in the world.  The client cost of gaining access is to be negligible within Canada regardless of access method used.

Vision

The vision is that any publication, certificate, license or permit issued, or provided, by TC that requires payment before release to a client will be capable of being paid for over the Internet using a credit card.  TC will have the functionality to have the validity of any credit card type checked and payment authorized by the card issuer to the Receiver General whilst retaining a full record of the transaction.  Clients unwilling to use the Internet will have an alternative payment channel offered via a 1-800 telephone number or a 1-800 fax number.

The entire service will be provided on a 7/24 best effort basis.

Regular clients will not need to re-key any tombstone data (name, addresses, credit card type etc) but will be required to re-key their credit card number.  All orders will generate an email acknowledgment to the requester.  Where possible products will also be delivered electronically once paid for.

Suppliers will be able to submit invoices electronically and be paid on-line.

Strategic Approach

The strategic approach is to leverage the upcoming investment in IDFS upgrade (expected early FY 2002/3) by sequentially establish a range of 'payment on line' sub-components, post IDFS upgrade, to achieve payment on line for all stakeholders and clients.  The final collective arrangement will 'normalize' payment for TC products and services across all business lines.  A common 'payment window' will be established for retail clients (pilots for example). 

As an interim Pathfinder project the GOL office proposes to acquire a commercial credit card payment on line system to gain corporate experience, meet client expectations in the near term and provide flexibility for the final implementation posture.  Feasibility study activity FY 2001/2002 will examine all aspects of the issue from a variety of client perspectives and bring forward firm implementation strategies for FY 2002/2003 based on upgrades to IDFS.

Stakeholders

Stakeholders include TC's suppliers and TC's clients. 

Results

By encouraging and increasing the use of the Internet for business conduct the initiative will directly contribute towards two departmental priorities:

'Facilitate transition to the knowledgebase economy'

Linkages

The initiative is linked to the following GOL projects which have a payment on-line component to their implementation:

• Desktop Procurement
• Aviation Publications
• Electronic Payment of Invoices
• Marine Portal
• Ship Registry/Small Vessel Licensing System
• HR on line

Issues and Risks

Project Management:  These are potentially complex enterprise wide projects requiring full EMF application.

[ "A Framework for Government On-Line: Tier Two Guidelines", Office for Government On-Line, CIO Branch, Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, July 6, 2000.

[2] Aligned with federal government GOL business function clusters.