GC Application Platform as a Service (GCaPaaS) is saving money and reducing risk

Public servants in Government of Canada (GC) departments and agencies rely on various applications to do their work and deliver efficient services to Canadians. These applications are often released separately by departments and are hosted on different servers. The lack of standardized and whole-of-government platforms leads to increased costs and security risks.

Recognizing that there was a better way to approach this, Shared Services Canada (SSC) has stepped in to provide an innovative whole-of-government solution.

SSC is introducing GC Application Platform as a Service (GCaPaaS), a centrally managed and supported service that offers modernized platforms for the daily use of applications. With GCaPaaS, the GC will be able to reduce the number of siloed applications across departments and agencies. This means reduced costs, enhanced security and streamlined processes, which improves:

• service delivery
• operations
• provisioning
• security
• risk management

One recent example of the impact of this approach relates to the GC's audit community. Previously, more than 1,000 GC employees used an audit management tool to manage audits and streamline their workflows. But each organization managed their own version of the tool, and each version was housed on aging infrastructure with specific maintenance needs.

Using GCaPaaS to host a new replacement solution is expected to generate more than $66 million in savings for the GC over the next 5 years. Housed in the cloud and with its simplified support model, the new application will be standardized to ensure consistency for all users. Compared to previous solutions, it reduces up-front costs by 85% and ongoing costs by 75%.

Another GC community that will be supported by GCaPaaS is Access to Information and Privacy (ATIP). New GCaPaaS-enabled enterprise solutions will empower departments and agencies to process information requests faster, enabling compliance with government mandates and regulatory requirements. The new solutions will also enable organizations to secure data and reduce risk. The tools will scale to different tiers to accommodate the number of pages analyzed and the total number of requests to meet organizational IT performance demands.

"The GCaPaaS approach provides extra value beyond cost avoidance, as it allows our team to focus precious resources on things like security assessments and monitoring for applications that are unique to our Agency, rather than common applications like ATIP case management."

How can GC organizations leverage GCaPaaS? GC partners and clients can order the applications and request the GCaPaaS service through the GC Hosting Services Portal. The common applications will be delivered in the cloud using utility-based ordering. This means that partners and clients can order the service without a Business Requirements Document. GC partners and clients should reach out to their Client Executive for more information.

SSC continues to evaluate new opportunities for the GCaPaaS approach, onboarding more organizations to the platform to boost the project's scale.

Want to learn more about other innovative projects at SSC? Read this article about remote Internet: Innovative solutions for remote Internet connectivity