Internal Services

Description

Internal Services are those groups of related activities and resources that the federal government considers to be services in support of programs and/or required to meet corporate obligations of an organization. Internal Services refers to the activities and resources of the 10 distinct service categories that support Program delivery in the organization, regardless of the Internal Services delivery model in a department. The 10 service categories are:

• Acquisition Management Services;
• Communications Services;
• Financial Management Services;
• Human Resources Management Services;
• Information Management Services;
• Information Technology Services;
• Legal Services;
• Materiel Management Services;
• Management and Oversight Services; and
• Real Property Management Services.

Results

Financial management and planning

The Department of National Defence (DND) and the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) financial management and planning functions are key factors enabling the institution to implement Strong, Secure, Engaged (SSE). DND/CAF ensure the effective oversight and accountability for SSE, and continue to build and maintain a high-performing financial management function as a steward to the finance community for recruitment, talent management and retention to meet SSE ambitions.

DND/CAF’s advancement of analytics and leverage of digital technologies continued as part of the government-wide digital transformation initiative. Information management and technology modernization has been employed throughout the department, including through the transformation of our business processes and tools. DND/CAF continued to modernize the business of defence while maintaining a commitment to effective and efficient governance and functional oversight over financial management activities, including costing in the department by way of compliance with Treasury Board’s Guide to Cost Estimating published on 10 June 2019.

The implementation of the Financial Planning and Forecasting tool began in FY 2019-20 as a means to increase process efficiency and improve analysis and decision-making. This tool provides DND/CAF with an enhanced ability to provide timely, accurate and tailored financial planning and forecasting data to support strong analyses and recommendations.

Civilian human resources management

Effective civilian Human Resources (HR) management remains critical to the successful implementation of SSE. In FY 2019-20, our attention focused on optimizing the civilian HR business model.

Processes have been streamlined to enable smarter and faster human resources focusing on people, processes and technology. We continued to implement a series of flexible, innovative and outcome-driven business transformation initiatives to enable a hyper-personalized approach for clients, and to ensure consistent and strategic HR capabilities. We have seen improvement in the efficiency and effectiveness of our compensation, labour relations, staffing and classification functions through effective HR planning, prioritizing requests and increasing our capacity.

During FY 2019-20, we recorded significant improvements in compensation. We continue to ensure that employees are paid accurately and on time. Compensation team capacity has been increased from 158 to 320 Full-Time Equivalents (FTE) to better respond to employee compensation issues, and to be proactive in avoiding potential issues before they occur by supporting military and civilian managers in pay administration. DND compensation has expanded its full-service approach by increasing one-on-one consultations with compensation advisors, expanding client care by contacting employees directly, and increasing in-person services on bases and wings. As of 31 March 2020, the department’s backlog had been reduced from 77 539 to 35 558 active cases, a reduction of 41 951 outstanding cases (54%). In addition, we have seen a reduction of 7 379 employees impacted by Phoenix (28%). The sustained reduction of backlog and business process improvements are the direct result of our investment in compensation services, and our strong collaboration with the Public Services and Procurement Canada.

We have increased our capacity to measure performance and provide civilian workforce business intelligence and analytics to senior decision makers. Dashboards on a variety of topics, including compensation, staffing and Public Service Employee Survey results, are provided to the department’s most senior management on a consistent basis, allowing them to make informed evidence-based decisions.

Investments continued in digital HR capabilities, including the HR GO app. Information regarding civilian HR programs, services and initiatives, like mental health support, recruitment at DND, and the Military Spouse Employment Initiative, are added weekly and users can access tools like pay calculators, standardized work descriptions and leave type lookups. The HR GO app, designed with input from our Defence Team members, puts civilian HR information and tools at users’ fingertips and is the first of its kind in the federal government. In the first nine months since its release, the HR GO app has almost 10 000 downloads across all mobile platforms with daily utilization between 1 000 - 3 000 views.

The HR Connect Resources Virtual Client Contact Center was implemented as a complementary service delivery channel for accessing HR programs and services. Available online and through a toll-free number, it has received and answered 15 821 employee and manager queries on various HR subject matters, including compensation, staffing, classification and labour relations.

Increased focus on executive talent sourcing over FY 2019-20 has included the innovative use of LinkedIn Recruiter to source talent, attract passive applicants and has helped develop recruitment strategies. Active advertising and promotion of job opportunities through various social media forums took place to ensure diverse talent was reached, such as the launch of a LinkedIn Community Life Page which aimed at promoting the leadership culture and diversity, branding as well job opportunities.

The department’s Student Civilian Hiring Program continued to leverage all available federal student hiring programs to employ students across the country in diverse fields. For three consecutive years, DND has met or exceeded its target to hire 1 200 students. Specifically in FY 2019-20, the department:

• Attended and organized student recruitment events across the country;
• Created pools of qualified student candidates, enabling quick and easy matches of students to available jobs; and
• Promulgated student employment and learning. To this effect, 322 Students were bridged in public service jobs following their student employment.

Gender, diversity and inclusion

In February 2020, the Directorate for Gender Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in DND and the Directorate for Integration of Gender Perspectives in the CAF received approval to merge into one organization in order to optimize coordinated and consistent efforts to influence policies, directives, programs and operations to advance gender equality, increase diversity and inclusion, and promote and protect human rights. The new Directorate will consist of Gender Equality and Diversity specialists and analysts and has 14 full-time equivalents. This team will report directly to the Chief of the Defence Staff and the Deputy Minister through the Corporate Secretary and the Director of Staff of the Strategic Joint Staff.

The Defence Team continued its systems-wide institutional approach to integrating Gender-based Analysis Plus (GBA+) requirements and accountabilities into processes and systems, and to provide technical expert support for conducting intersectional gender-based analyses. Progress was also made towards improving the collection and use of anthropometric data for women and men to inform the procurement of Integrated Soldier Systems project and platforms.

In FY 2019-20, DND continued to raise awareness and build capacity to conduct GBA+. Specifically:

• The Defence Team had an internal network of approximately 100 GBA+ Focal Points and Gender Focal Points, as well as five full-time gender advisors within the CAF;
• Training was provided to Defence Team members through the delivery of clinics, workshops, and orientation sessions;
• A GBA+ Data Resource Tool to support DND/CAF capacity to conduct GBA+ was also developed and disseminated; and
• The CAF continued to work with international partners such as the Nordic Centre for Gender in Military Operations and the European Security and Defence College to facilitate opportunities for CAF members to attend courses focused on building knowledge and skills to operationalize gender perspectives.

DND/CAF created a Champion for the Modernization of Sex and Gender Information Practices, who is a member of the interdepartmental network of such Champions, focused on raising awareness and supporting the implementation of the April 2019 Government of Canada Policy Direction on the Modernization of Sex and Gender Information Practices. DND/CAF also established an internal working group to develop implementation plans and, along with Veterans Affairs Canada, engaged in a Treasury Board Secretariat-led Design Jam on “Working in the Military” to brainstorm on how to align with the policy direction.

Communicating with Canadians

The department communicates with Canadians about the work that the Defence Team is doing to protect Canada, defend North America, in partnership with the United States, and contribute to a more peaceful and stable world. We use digital media and platforms as the primary means to tell the National Defence story and to connect and interact with Canadians, while continuing to use multiple communications channels to meet their diverse information needs.

In FY 2019-20, the following activities reflected some of our multi-faceted efforts to inform and engage with Canadians about CAF operations and exercises (such as Operations PRESENCE, GLOBE, LENTUS, and LASER), as well as DND policies and programs:

• Strategic communications advice and support to Ministerial announcements and events, the development of narratives to promote operational success and capability, and active social media engagement;
• More than 600 stakeholder engagement activities, with almost 18 000 participants, contributed to building better understanding within targeted audiences about Defence priorities, issues and challenges;
• The Media Relations Office managed 2 218 media requests – responding to 96% within deadlines – and issued 210 media products to report progress on CAF operations and Defence initiatives;
• The National Veterans’ Week Speakers Program received an unprecedented 3 108 requests for CAF speakers. CAF members volunteered to give 2 506 presentations at schools and community organizations, reaching more than 741 400 Canadians;
• To increase recruitment and strengthen the CAF, our recruitment marketing campaigns were focused on promoting the unique full and part-time career opportunities offered by the CAF, along with addressing priority/threshold occupations and the Reserve Force; and
• We continued to improve the National Security and Defence theme on the Government of Canada’s website, Canada.ca, so that users can easily access information about CAF missions and Defence policies and programs. Relevant content was also posted to CAF and DND social media platforms.

National Defence Headquarters move to Carling Campus

In early 2017, Defence Team members from the National Capital Region (NCR) began moving into a newly renovated, state-of-the art workplace in Ottawa’s west end called National Defence Headquarters or NDHQ (Carling). In FY 2019-20 we took delivery of five buildings, and completed all Information Technology fit-up and furniture installation for office spaces, collaborative work areas and special purpose spaces. We completed the moves for all organizations intended to work in these workspaces. Exterior landscaping was initiated, installation of interior security systems and wide area Wi-Fi occurred, as well as the commissioning of the guardhouses.

Work will continue into FY 2020-21 with planned delivery of the Auditorium in the Pavilion and the planned close-out of the Carling Campus Project.

Information Management

The refreshed Defence Information Management Plan was approved, and derivative objectives such as the development and implementation of standardized performance measures for the program (Information Management [IM] Health Check) was achieved. Pursuant to the new Treasury Board Secretariat Policy on Service and Digital, a refresh of the entire IM policy suite was initiated. GCDocs implementation remains on hold across the department, and DND/CAF continues to liaise with stakeholders to improve technological enablement of information management across DND/CAF.

Information Technology

DND's Enterprise Resource Management tools were modernized to support the department's transformation to evidence-based decision-making. DND’s Enterprise Resource Management tools are used to capture its business information related to finance, human resources materiel management, etc. to inform decision-making and reporting. Substantial efforts and resources have been directed towards modernizing and adding tools to enable business forecasting. Highlights from FY 2019-20 include:

• In support of improving the information and data to better enable data analytics in the department, progress has been made on the following:
  • Materiel Identification to improve master materiel data and to implement a master data governance management capability;
  • Modernization and Integration of Sustainment and Logistics to modernize the Defence Supply Chain, more specifically, by enhancing and integrating warehouse and distribution capability; and
  • Financial Planning and Forecasting to implement department-wide processes and enabling tools for in-year financial forecasting and out-year financial and business planning.
• The Defence Resource Management Information System Modernization project was initiated. and a series of workshops with the key departmental stakeholders as well as strategic studies were conducted in support of the project initiation;
• The Fixed-Wing Search and Rescue as well as the Electronic Information Exchange projects progressed;
• Worked with the Government of Canada Financial and Material Management solution to ensure convergence on the enterprise resource planning software and alignment to the common financial business processes;
• Assumed chairmanship of the Defence Interest Group, an organization assembling defence organizations from 19 countries with SAP to define and prioritize the military Defence and Security module for the next Enterprise Resource Planning system; and
• Improvements were made to Enterprise Business Intelligence and Analytics services. Implemented the supply chain business analytics within the materiel groups supply chain business analytics capability.

Defence Data, Innovation and Analytics

DND continued to align its priorities to enable data and analytics throughout the department and contribute to the implementation of the defence policy. The following are DND’s key highlights for FY 2019-20:

• Launched the Defence Data Strategy in fall of 2019. The strategy was published with a vision of leveraging data in all aspects of defence programs in order to enhance defence capabilities and decision-making, and provide an information advantage during military operations;
• Published a Deputy Minister and Chief of the Defence Staff Joint Directive on Data Management informed by key documents such as SSE, and the Government of Canada’s Policy on Service and Digital and Directive on Service and Digital;
• Defined a framework that outlines principles, structures, roles and responsibilities for governing enterprise data assets. This framework constitutes a first step towards instituting master data management practices;
• Completed Phase 1 of DND/CAF’s Analytics Roadmap and Operating Model. Phase 1 was a detailed assessment of gaps in data capabilities and enterprise analytics. Phase 2 commenced in February 2020 and will articulate a vision and guiding principles for analytics in DND/CAF, and the basis for an operating model for the future;
• Established Analytics Support Centres in most of the organizations within the department. Regular support was provided, specifically with onboarding, training, policy and solution enablement; and
• Enhanced education and training to enable analytics and sound data practices. Specifically, the department:
  • Completed a Needs Assessment for training and education;
  • Launched the Online Guide for Business Intelligence Reports for Consumers;
  • Created a data and analytics electronic-library;
  • Provided training and educational courses/events including the Royal Military College Analytics workshops;
  • Provided Web Intelligence author training;
  • Supported the Canada School of Public Service/Digital Academy in the drafting of the Government of Canada Data Competency Framework; and
  • Coordinated DND members on their Digital Premium Practicum and developmental efforts towards creating a Discover Data workshop.

---

---

Departmental Litigation Oversight

The ongoing management of several class actions across DND/CAF has highlighted the need for the department to consider the implementation of a structured, persistent and deliberate approach to the management of the entire lifecycle of litigation for complex, multi-organizational litigation cases. In order to align broad efforts through a single point of oversight, it was decided in November 2019 that a new secretariat-type program oversight function would be created to manage and coordinate activities related to complex litigation. The Departmental Litigation Oversight (DLO) capability is accountable for enabling strategic management, coordination and provision of non-legal advice, enabling the department to meet the legal and moral obligations related to settlement agreements and appropriately manage associated risks to ensure compliance. The DLO is accountable to the Deputy Minister, reporting through the Associate Deputy Minister and is supported by a complex litigation program oversight (policy and analytics) team, client preparedness, claims verification, administration and communications capabilities.

Key Corporate Risk(s)

One DND/CAF key corporate risk can be associated with Internal Services. There is a risk that the unavailability of accurate, reliable data, information management and knowledge transfer arrangements will impede DND/CAF evidence-based decision-making and policy making. This risk is prevented and mitigated by many of the controls articulated as activities of the Internal Services as listed above.

Budgetary financial resources (dollars)