It must be noted that the Meteorological Service of Canada is a much different organization now than it was in 2003. Specifically, atmospheric and climate research is now conducted under the auspices of the Science and Technology Branch. Similarly, information technology activities are carried out under the Chief Information Officer Branch. While Weather and Environmental Services Board strategically manages the work of MSC and Science and Technology related to weather and environmental services, the Information Technology infrastructure critical to everything WES Board does is under the purview of the Departmental Management Services Board. Therefore it will be critical to ensure that all recommendations are implemented in an integrated and horizontal fashion across organizations and Boards to ensure results.
WES Board agrees with the recommendation. The ultimate outcome of a more sustainable organization and infrastructure with strengthened linkages between science, production and service remains a key goal. Significant work was done in first considering alternate service delivery models and ultimately in determining resource requirements to deliver the mandated responsibilities of a sustainable weather service. This was the basis for the MSC Transition. As the A-Base on which Transition was predicated has steadily eroded and as other internal and external drivers have evolved, it is timely to re-evaluate the path forward.
There are a number of “stock-taking” initiatives that are already underway that are larger in scope than just the Transition activities and that will necessarily include them. Given that CIOB is critical to the delivery of Weather and Environmental Services, it will be imperative that DMS Board is engaged in these WES Board activities:
The following sections respond to the more detailed sub-recommendations by expanding on these themes and identifying timelines.
Management Response to Recommendation 1a)
WES Board agrees with the recommendation. The present Transition evaluation report goes a long way to identifying the status of the Transition activities. An Office of the Auditor General evaluation of the MSC’s warning program is also expected to provide valuable insight into the continued relevance of those activities in contributing to ongoing sustainability (the first draft report is expected in summer 2008). These reports will inform the review initiatives and will result in recommendations as to which Transition activities need to continue. This will lead to the development of a business case by fall/winter 2008/2009.
Management response to Recommendation 1b)
The review initiatives will result in an understanding of the relevance and resource needs down to the program level and position us to recommend the path forward to meet our stakeholders’ and partners’ ongoing and increasing demands for environmental information and services. As above, completion is anticipated by fall/winter 2008/2009.
Management response to Recommendation 1c)
As a knowledge-based organization, MSC is critically dependent on its people. The MSC has developed a People Plan to address succession planning and much more. The plan comprehensively addresses the needs of the meteorological enterprise of Environment Canada to effectively integrate business and human resource planning to facilitate the attraction, development and retention of a highly effective and innovative workforce. Again, integration with similar planning at Science and Technology Branch and CIOB will be critical in ensuring that the WES Board is fully equipped with the skill-sets required to move forward on its strategic direction and achieve the desired results.
The MSC People Plan is based on a departmental framework built around the People Component of the Management Accountability Framework developed for the public service at large. The plan is built around three key elements: Inclusive Culture, Building People Capacity and the Healthy and Respectful Workplace. Under these elements, there were 8 key areas identified and MSC Management Champions have been assigned to each one. The Management Champions have established working groups and have begun working on implementation of the tasks identified in the plan.
For succession planning in particular the MSC has already identified critical positions, instituted a coaching and mentoring program for employees interested in moving into management and instituted learning Plans for 95% of its employees. While the MSC is making progress in succession planning, there are challenges with a potential bow wave of retirements as well as the need to maintain unique, national and international subject matter experts. It is recognized that mentoring, coaching, job shadowing and developmental assignments are excellent mechanisms to mitigate this challenge, but scarce resources are impeding the MSC’s ability to move ahead as fast as it would like.
Financial resources needed to implement this people plan will be a part of the business case being developed. MSC will also review the succession action plan to establish a mechanism to better communicate our approach to stakeholders.
Management response to Recommendation 1d)
The current review initiatives as described in this response so far are focused on delivering just this: a recommendation for a strategic direction and implementation plan will be developed by fall/winter 2008/2009.
Management response to Recommendation 2a)
WES Board agrees with Recommendation 2a).
Communications has always been a priority for WES Board/MSC. Recently the MSC Forum was created as a mechanism for managers to exchange information, and communicate the regional perspective. The MSC Forum is chaired by the Assistant Deputy Minister and includes Director Generals, Directors, Regional Directors and Planners. The forum meets every six weeks and ensures that all aspects of MSC/WES Board operations are considered at the management table. This has helped to ensure consistent messaging from management to staff throughout the MSC.
The ADM, MSC (in some sites with the ADM S &T Branch) is conducting cross-country Town Hall meetings with staff in the spring 2008. The purpose of these meetings is to engage MSC, as well as S&T Branch and CIOB staff critical to WES activities in a dialogue for the future. These meetings will focus on successes, on WES strategic directions and on people planning issues and will be conducted on an annual basis going forward.
Throughout the MSC Transition, employee surveys were conducted to assess the staff’s perceptions and identify concerns. We have recently completed the 2007 MSC Employee Survey and will be reviewing the results in the next few months as well as the next steps. In addition, we will be launching an Intranet site as approved by MSC Management to provide enhanced information such as bi-weekly ADM news items, progress on our strategic exercise, updates on our people plan and a connection with WES activities. A generic email has also been created for all staff to provide their comments and views on the future directions of WES. (WESVisionSME@ec.gc.ca)
The ADM, MSC will continue to consult and communicate horizontally within Environment Canada through his Priority Management Board membership and participation.
Management response to Recommendation 2b)
WES Board agrees with Recommendation 2b). WES Board recognizes that the stakeholders’ concerns raised in this evaluation will need to be further explored and addressed.
We will continue to build on long-standing relationships with Other Government Departments, non-federal partners in academe, Emergency Measures Organizations and the provinces in communicating our strategic directions and action plans. The MSC National Advisory Board – key to the development of the previous MSC Transition strategy – will be re-invigorated as a forum to seek input. Board membership is being updated to include a broad range of key stakeholders. The first meeting of the new Advisory Board will be held in the fall 2008 and the focus will be the strategic review initiatives.
A proactive strategy is also being developed for the ADM MSC (WES Board delegate) to connect with other key stakeholders both internal and external to government on the evolution and direction-setting of WES programs. WES Board commits to the development and initiation of this strategy this spring.
Management response to Recommendation 3
WES Board and DMS Board agree with the recommendation. Significant work has been carried out over the past several years in identifying a variety of performance indicators for the WES program. More recently, the WES Board Quality Management System has been working towards registration to the ISO 9001:2000 International Standard. This standard focuses on using performance information to continuously improve the quality of our information and services to better meet the needs of clients.
We have completed Phase I of the Quality Management System (QMS) project which saw sixteen activities (Outcome Projects), including four CIOB activities, successfully ISO registered in 2007 and we are moving forward to expanding the registration to include an additional twenty one activities by the fall of 2008, essentially registering all WES Board operations. ISO registration will certainly contribute to meeting this recommendation.
The QMS work will be entirely in step with the performance framework being developed in support of the Program Activity Architecture (PAA). This performance framework will identify metrics relative to all PAA levels right up to the ultimate Outcomes. The QMS will stay linked to this effort to ensure consistency with the PAA objectives and metrics. Together, these initiatives will produce an upward cascade of metrics showing the contribution of activities to intermediate results and ultimate outcomes.
WES Board commits to implementing phase two of the ISO 9001:2000 registration by fall 2008. WES Board commits to implementing a new PAA with performance measures up to the ultimate Outcome level by fall 2009. Through these activities and the lessons learned from the MSC Transition evaluation, MSC will be well-poised to propose an effective performance measurement framework for future endeavours.
Management response to Recommendation 4
WES Board and DMS Board agree with the recommendation.
For the first three years of the project the project funds including carry-forward were properly tracked. A disconnect happened in the 4th year where the carry-forward was not tracked and budgeting was based on previous year’s expenditures.
Tracking funds and expenditures is a shared accountability among all management structures at Environment Canada. DMS Board in consultation with the Chief Financial Officer will work with the WES Board to determine how the mechanism(s) currently available within the departmental financial systems are best used to enable the priority management boards and organizations to effectively exercise their financial accountability.
Proposed Implementation Plan
Following is an outline of the implementation plan for the Management Response to the Recommendations contained in the Evaluation of the MSC Transition Project. Financial resources required for this implementation are not addressed herein. In many cases, activities will fall under the responsibility of WES Outcome Project Group 2B3 and as such will depend on adequate resource availability.
| Recommendation | Task | Lead | Target Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Articulate a strategy and a path forward to sustainability |
|
ADM, MSC | Sept 2008 Early winter 2008 Ongoing with regular updates Fall/winter 2008/2009 |
| 2. Communication of strategic direction to staff and external stakeholders | MSC staff and internal stakeholders
|
ADM, MSC | April-June 2008 Annually |
| 3. Strengthen performance measurement, monitoring and reporting at outcome level | QMS and phase 2 ISO Certification PAA review and identification of performance measures at Outcome levels |
ADM, MSC | Fall 2008 Fall 2009 |
| 4. Ensure that mechanisms to track and report financial information are in place | Departmental Management Services (DMS) to clarify process for tracking allocations, budget cuts and expenditures of new and A-based funds and mechanisms. | ADM, Finance and Corporate Branch | Schedule to be determined by DMS Board by fall 2008 |