Frequently Asked Questions

Common Questions About Searching GEDS

1. How can I see an organizational hierarchy for the Government?
2. My search failed to find the entry I wanted. Is it missing?
3. Why are not all public servants' e-mail addresses available?
4. How are accented characters handled for searches?
5. Why does my search take so long?
6. How can I make my search faster or avoid size/time limits?

Common Questions About This Directory

1. What is GEDS?
2. What type of information is available to the public on GEDS?
3. How do I add/change information in GEDS?
4. How often is the information in GEDS updated?
5. What benefits does GEDS provide?

Common Questions About Searching GEDS

1. How can I see an organizational hierarchy for the Government?

When you first connect to the directory, you will notice a link below the search form that allows you to browse through a list of all the federal government departments and agencies. If you select a department, all its sub-organizations are listed; continue following the links to see the entire organizational structure.

2. My search failed to find the entry I wanted. Is it missing?

There are several reasons why you may not be able to find a specific entry when performing a search.

If you encountered a size or a time limit, this means that your search was taking too long or that too many entries matched your search value. The operation was stopped with partial results. The time limit is 100 seconds and the size limit is 325 entries. If the entry you were looking for appears to be missing, this does not necessarily mean that it is not present in the directory. It may be that the search operation reached the limit and stopped before the entry you were looking for was found. Refine your search to avoid size or time limits.

If you were performing a search on title, role or organization with accented characters, the results are matched literally. You may have missed an accent in the spelling of the search value or it may also be that the word was incorrectly spelled without the accent when it was entered into the directory.

If you were performing a "begins with" search on title, role or organization, try a "contains" search instead.

The entry you are looking for may not be in GEDS. Departments and agencies are solely responsible for updating the information regarding their organization in GEDS. Most departments list employees under their Branches. However, some departments only list their main Branches with a general enquiries number with no people entries. Other departments may choose to list contact information of only their managers and upper management.

3. Why are not all public servants' e-mail addresses available?

The decision to release e-mail addresses rests with the individual departments and agencies.

4. How are accented characters handled for searches?

For "surname, given name" searches, accented characters always match their non-accented equivalents. For all other types of searches, accented characters do not match their non-accented equivalents.

5. Why does my search take so long?

Response times for searches will always vary depending on the amount of network traffic and other design factors such as firewalls and communication line speeds. Other factors that will affect response times include the number of matches to your search and the scope of your search (whether it was the entire federal government or restricted to a department). Note also that the "contains" searches are known to take much longer than other types of searches. For performance reasons all searches are subject to a 100 second time limit and a size limit of 325 entries.

6. How can I make my search faster or avoid size/time limits?

The following tips will help get better performance on your searches:

• Restrict the scope of your search as much as possible. This means if the entry you are searching for is inside of Health Canada, then perform your search from inside of Health Canada, not from the top Government of Canada level.
• Specify as much information as possible in the Value Box. For name searches, select preferably the "Surname, Given name" search field and type in the surname and given name. For title searches, type in as much of the title as you know. For example, if you are looking for the director of operations, type "director of operations" not just "director".
• For "contains" searches, try "begins with" searches instead. This will give you a faster result if you know how the search value begins. For example, if the title you are searching on is "Director of Informatics" then perform a "begins with" search instead of a "contains" search.

Common Questions About This Directory

1. What is GEDS?

Government Electronic Directory Services (GEDS) provides a directory listing of federal public servants and manages the Government of Canada telephone directories. GEDS searches all regions: Ottawa-Gatineau, Atlantic, Quebec, Ontario, Western and British Columbia/Yukon.

2. What type of information is available to the public through GEDS?

Canadians have access to public servants' names, titles, telephone and facsimile numbers, departmental names, and office locations within the governmental structure.

The public now also has access to some public servants' e-mail addresses.

3. How do I add/change information in GEDS?

Please contact the data administrator for your department.

4. How often is the information in GEDS updated?

It is the responsibility of each individual department to provide regular updates. The information can be updated by the departments on a daily basis.

5. What benefits does GEDS provide?

GEDS provides up-to-date telephone directory information across federal organizations. The elimination of duplicated effort in the collection, distribution and publication of the various federal telephone and e-mail directories leads to cost reductions.

A variety of search capabilities allows users greater flexibility in locating the information they require.

GEDS is also an important element of the information technology infrastructure necessary for the implementation of future government information and electronic commerce services.