2019–20 Departmental Plan

Minister’s message

As Minister responsible for Shared Services Canada (SSC), I am pleased to present SSC’s 2019–20 Departmental Plan. It sets out our priorities for the year, and how we plan to deliver results.

SSC is building the foundation for a digitally-enabled Public Service. This includes fostering collaboration across the Government of Canada to deliver the best possible digital services Canadians rely on and expect, from filing their taxes to renewing their passports. SSC expertise will also help federal departments keep pace with technological change and growing information technology (IT) security trends.

This Departmental Plan provides details on significant activities for the year ahead. It also presents information about SSC’s financial and human resources management, operational structure, reporting framework and much more.

I encourage you to review SSC’s Departmental Plan to learn how our work supports the Government of Canada’s Digital Vision.

The Honourable Carla Qualtrough, P.C., M.P.
Minister of Public Services and Procurement and Accessibility, and Minister responsible for Shared Services Canada

President’s message

SSC’s success depends on our ability to maintain and optimize a secure and reliable IT infrastructure that federal departments use to deliver digital services for Canadians.

The Government of Canada’s Digital Operations Strategic Plan: 2018–2022 sets out the actions and activities all departments must take to deliver digital government to Canadians. SSC plays a significant role in the delivery of this vision by:

• establishing a reliable, modern, secure and accessible digital network platform
• supporting a digitally-enabled Public Service through the introduction of new workplace tools; and
• providing modern and efficient infrastructure solutions such as cloud computing

We must also keep pace with the rapid changes in technology, as well as the changing expectations of users in the evolving digital environment. To ensure we do so, SSC has created a Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Branch. The CTO role will help SSC to continually evolve products and services ensuring programs for Canadians provided by the federal government benefit from the latest and transformative digital technologies available.

By leveraging federal investments in SSC for continual improvement, we are working hard to strengthen relationships with our partner organizations and to meet the changing digital service needs of Canadians.

Paul Glover
President
Shared Services Canada

Our 2019-20 Departmental Plan At-A-Glance

Our 2019-20 Departmental Plan At-A-Glance – Text version

This plan describes how we will deliver on our responsibilities in the coming year by providing modern, secure and reliable services to Government organizations so they can deliver digital programs and services that Canadians need.

Priorities

Strategic Priorities

• Deliver customer service excellence
• Modernize the Government of Canada digital infrastructure
• Strengthen cyber and IT security
• Build and enable the workforce

Our Core Responsibilities and Departmental Results

Email and Workplace Technology

• Reliable email services
• Quality software and hardware

Data Centres

• Modern and reliable data centre services
• Reliable cloud services

Telecommunications

• Modern and reliable network and telecommunications services

Cyber and IT Security

• Protect data and technology assets

Customer Relationships and Service Management

• Customer satisfaction with service delivery
• Effective service management
• Strong project management
• Efficient procurement

Plans at a glance and operating context

Operating context

The Government of Canada formed SSC by joining IT budgets, systems and personnel from 43 of the largest federal departments and agencies. We are responsible for operating and modernizing the Government of Canada’s IT infrastructure across the public sector. Our mandate is to deliver email, data centre and telecommunications services to federal departments and agencies. We also provide services related to cyber and IT security and the purchase of workplace technology devices, as well as offering other optional services to government departments and agencies on a cost-recovery basis.

Since SSC was created, the Department’s role has matured to reflect evolving business practices. In 2017, amendments to the Shared Services Canada Act made it simpler, easier and faster for SSC customers to purchase some of the most frequently requested IT goods and services without the need to go through the Department. SSC currently shares responsibility for certain of its federal government IT portfolio and services with other departments, including the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, Public Services and Procurement Canada, and Communications Security Establishment Canada (CSE).

Future direction

Canadians expect to receive government services in their preferred format—wherever they are—and whenever they want them. This has led the Government of Canada to focus on offering digital services that are available anytime, on any device, through any communication channel. As the provider of these service platforms, SSC assists customer organizations in serving Canadians more effectively. The new CTO Branch, created in January 2019, will play a pivotal role in continually evolving our offerings to provide services to our customers that reflect the changing digital program and service needs of Canadians.

The recently issued Government of Canada’s Digital Operations Strategic Plan: 2018–2022 provides direction to SSC and all departments on the strategic actions and activities required to deliver on digital government for Canadians. The significant funding provided in Budget 2018 represents a critical first step in the SSC renewal. It also underlines the importance of a secure and reliable IT infrastructure to the successful delivery of digital services to Canadians. The 2018 investment builds on those previously announced in Budget 2016 and the Fall Economic Statement 2017.

Core responsibilities

SSC delivers on its mandate and achieves results for Canadians through five core areas of responsibility.

Strategic priorities

SSC has identified four strategic priorities to drive the Department’s planning and activities within each core responsibility. We are confident they will:

• enable SSC to deliver on the Government of Canada’s Digital Operations Strategic Plan: 2018–2022 for digitally enabled services to Canadians
• support the Minister’s mandate letter commitment to renew SSC to deliver reliable and secure IT infrastructure; and
• help SSC employees to focus their efforts and limited resources on achieving government-wide objectives

The following are some of the key initiatives related to each priority:

Deliver Customer Service Excellence: Hosted Contact Centre Services (HCCS), IT Service Management (ITSM), refreshing IT programs, and Client Executive directorates are all initiatives aimed at improving service delivery to customers.

• Enhancements to the HCCS under Telecommunications will improve front-line service to Canadians. HCCS will improve administrative capabilities within call centres and increase the responsiveness and level of service on a reliable, modern and secure platform.
• The enhanced capabilities of the enterprise ITSM tool will ensure service excellence to SSC’s stakeholders. Implementing a modern ITSM tool will allow SSC to manage its business consistently for all services, log all service requests and incidents in a single tool, enable consolidated performance reporting, and help drive service improvement.
• Refreshing IT programs will use Budget 2018 funding to upgrade aging equipment and effectively manage the life cycle of critical Government of Canada IT infrastructure. One part of this work is to maintain operations at aging data centres until workloads are moved into the cloud, or where this is not suitable, into enterprise data centres (EDC). This is essential to SSC being able to prevent service delivery interruptions, and provide support to critical applications and sites.
• Client Executive directorates provide a single senior interface for each customer, and are responsible for the effective and efficient delivery of IT services to their respective customer.

Modernize Government of Canada Digital Infrastructure: The government’s digital vision calls for simple, seamless and digitally-enabled services. To achieve this objective, we need modern, secure and effective hosting solutions for applications and data. Under the Cloud Adoption Strategy, departments must consider the cloud as their first option for hosting applications and IT services. Where this is not possible, they will use Government of Canada EDCs.

SSC will continue to establish cloud expertise, and identify challenges customer organizations may face in migrating to the cloud. The platforms for cloud management we are making available will assist in the management of public, private and hybrid cloud environments. In moving to the new digital era, service delivery will be user centric and agile. For example, digital communications initiatives will ensure email services continue with movement into the cloud providing a foundation for digital communication capabilities.

Strengthen Cyber and IT Security: Cyber attacks against the Government of Canada are more frequent and becoming increasingly sophisticated. If successful, they have the potential to:

• expose the private information of Canadians
• cost Canadian businesses millions of dollars; and
• put Canada’s critical infrastructure networks and data at risk

Protecting the Government of Canada’s programs and services from these attacks is of the utmost importance. While delivering modernized IT infrastructure to support SSC’s customers’ mandates, the Department must also provide cyber and IT security that is able to protect the privacy of Canadians and others interacting with the government.

A number of planned SSC-led initiatives will minimize the potential for, and impact of, unauthorized access, misuse or denial of network-accessible resources and data across Government of Canada systems. For example:

• Network Device Authentication will give only authorized entities access to SSC’s network.
• Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) will provide a single view of any IT security incident. SIEM will have improved abilities to predict, detect and respond to cyber threats.
• End-Point Visibility Awareness and Security will identify any existing vulnerabilities and prioritize measures to reduce IT system and infrastructure risks.
• Secure Remote Access Migration will allow Government of Canada employees to securely connect to their departmental data and/or information system from outside government office space.

Build and enable the workforce: SSC’s People Strategy focuses on four areas we believe will help us hire and keep skilled workers. They are:

• recruitment and staffing
• learning and development
• employee engagement and feedback; and
• workplace well-being and mental health

We are also taking steps to improve our onboarding process through various digital solutions.

Key risks

The Government of Canada’s vision for the delivery of digital services depends on an IT platform that is accessible, modern, secure and reliable. The risks SSC faces may impact the delivery of these services to Canadians.

The top risk we face, relates to aging IT systems. In fact, it cuts across all of SSC’s core responsibilities, and has driven the large funding increases the Department has received since 2016. As SSC uses these funds to modernize the Government of Canada’s IT platform, the Department and its customers continue to lower the risk of service disruptions to government digital services and to the Canadians they serve.

Other risks impact all of our core responsibilities as well. We take them into consideration when planning and delivering SSC’s activities and services. They are:

• Availability and Quality of Information: There is a risk that a lack of availability and integrity of internal and enterprise information will impede effective planning, reporting and decision-making within SSC and customer organizations.
• Human Resources Management: There is a risk that SSC will not have the human resources capacity and necessary competencies to improve the delivery of IT infrastructure and services.
• IT Procurement: There is a risk that any of the steps in the IT procurement process from planning to vendor delivery will be unable to meet the pace, sequence and scale required by the Government of Canada’s Digital Operations Strategic Plan: 2018–2022, negatively impacting the ability of SSC and customer organizations to maintain and modernize IT services.
• Service Management: There is a risk that SSC’s capacity and tools for service management are insufficient to support excellence in the delivery of services to customer organizations.

For more information on SSC’s plans, priorities and planned results, see the “Planned results” section of this report.

Planned results: what we want to achieve this year and beyond

Core responsibilities

Email and workplace technology

Description

SSC procures, manages and protects email services for its customer organizations. SSC also acquires and provides hardware and software for workplace devices.

Planning highlights

For 2019–20, SSC has split the email program into two distinct programs, namely Email Services and Digital Communications. The first to better present information on the work we are completing, and the second to show how we will modernize our approach to the future of digital communications. The Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat and SSC are developing direction to procure a larger suite of digital communication tools for the government, including email services. The current set of Government of Canada products will align with this direction to evolve into an open and accessible digital workspace.

Customer organizations receive modern and reliable email services.

The current email services contract will expire in June 2020. SSC will establish an email platform to ensure the continuity of email services for 23 customers currently on the Your Email Service (YES) platform.

The continuing advancement of communications in the digital space will create a fundamental change in our business and how we serve our customers. Feedback from initial industry engagement indicates that the government needs to move faster to embrace and adopt new communication technology and digital tools. To enable the digital communications suite of products, SSC will initiate a pilot program with a few partner organizations over the next year. Once completed, SSC will gather information and report on lessons learned. The introduction of formal, pre-established objective criteria will position SSC to assess these pilots and deploy products to departments only when ready.

Customers receive high-quality, timely and efficient software and hardware provisioning services that meet their needs.

While the Government of Canada moves to its digital vision, we must continue to support operations at aging data centres, prevent service delivery interruptions, and provide assistance to critical applications and sites. Refreshing IT, funded through Budget 2018, will upgrade aging equipment and more effectively manage the life cycle of critical Government of Canada IT infrastructure. This includes the priority replacement of the end-of-support Windows Server 2008 across the government. Various contract renewals for hardware and software maintenance will replace equipment upon failure, update software/firmware security features, and provide technical troubleshooting assistance for SSC’s resources.

Planned results

Departmental results	Departmental result indicators	Target	Date to achieve target	2015–16 Actual results	2016–17 Actual results	2017–18 Actual results
Customer organizations receive modern and reliable email services	Percentage of time the enterprise email service is available	99.9%	March 31, 2020	N/A	100%	100%
	Percentage of time email service outages are restored within established service level standards	100%	March 31, 2020	N/A	N/A	N/A
	Percentage of Government of Canada mailboxes migrated to the enterprise email system	22%	June 30, 2020	11%	14%	16%
	Number of critical incidents impacting legacy email systems	<90	March 31, 2020	N/A	N/A	N/A
	Customer satisfaction with email services	3.6/5	March 31, 2020	N/A	N/A	N/A
Customers receive high-quality, timely and efficient software and hardware provisioning services that meet their needs	Percentage of hardware requests fulfilled within established service level standards (emergency contracts / time sensitive)	90%	March 31, 2020	N/A	N/A	N/A
	Percentage of hardware requests fulfilled within established service level standards (call-ups)	90%	March 31, 2020	N/A	N/A	N/A
	Percentage of hardware requests fulfilled within established service level standards (virtual/inventory)	90%	March 31, 2020	N/A	N/A	N/A
	Percentage of hardware requests fulfilled within established service level standards (requests for volume discounts)	90%	March 31, 2020	N/A	N/A	N/A
Customers receive high-quality, timely and efficient software and hardware provisioning services that meet their needs (continued)	Percentage of software requests fulfilled within established service level standards	90%	March 31, 2020	N/A	N/A	N/A
	Customer satisfaction with hardware and software provisioning	3.6/5	March 31, 2020	N/A	N/A	N/A

Budgetary financial resources (dollars)

2019–20 Main Estimates	2019–20 Planned spending	2020–21 Planned spending	2021–22 Planned spending
121,303,371	121,303,371	122,353,074	121,318,224

Human resources (full-time equivalents)

2019–20 Planned full-time equivalents	2020–21 Planned full-time equivalents	2021–22 Planned full-time equivalents
304	307	307

Data centres

Description

SSC provides modern, secure and reliable data centre services to customer organizations for the remote storing, processing and distribution of data, including cloud storage and computing services.

Planning highlights

To deliver digital services to Canadians, the Government of Canada needs a modern, secure, reliable and accessible IT platform. SSC must move applications from existing aging data centres to modern hosting solutions. Our long-term goal is to move applications into the cloud, or where this is not suitable, into EDCs.

Program and services to Canadians are supported by modern and reliable data centre services.

Workload migration (WLM) deals with the need to move (or migrate) applications and data from any hosting solution to another. While there can be many reasons (that is, critically aging infrastructure, expiring leases and need for immediate expansion), WLM activities always involve working with customer organizations to move key data and applications onto modern platforms. In keeping with the government’s cloud-first policy, SSC will work with customer organizations to prioritize and relocate applications and data directly to a cloud-hosted solution, or to a modern EDC. SSC has successfully established four EDCs.

Cloud services meet the needs and reliability expectations of customer organizations.

Adopting cloud computing represents a fundamental shift in the way the government is planning, acquiring and managing its IT infrastructure. With the movement toward cloud-based solutions as the first choice where possible, the Government of Canada is seeking to use a variety of cloud-based hosting solutions. These new mechanisms will be established to improve the reliability of existing systems and services, and to better balance supply and demand. For applications migrated to cloud services, SSC will provide contract vehicles for cloud services and essential services such as network connectivity to the cloud.

The platforms for cloud management are integrated products for managing public, private and hybrid cloud environments. Although the market is well served by major public cloud service providers, departments and agencies are seeking a greater variety of cloud services. Most are looking for options to host information requiring a higher level of security to meet security and privacy standards. These considerations are part of the work under way to determine how to scale private cloud services, as demand may rise and fall over time. SSC will conduct a proof of concept designed to evaluate the scale and scope of government private cloud service requirements. To increase cloud adoption and use of cloud services, SSC will establish internal cloud expertise, and will identify potential challenges customer organizations may face in migrating to the cloud. These activities will further help SSC to support customer organizations with their cloud-related efforts, as well as to understand the challenges and best practices of the cloud usage life cycle.

Planned results

Departmental results	Departmental result indicators	Target	Date to achieve target	2015–16 Actual results	2016–17 Actual results	2017–18 Actual results
Programs and services to Canadians are supported by modern and reliable data centre services	Percentage of time the new consolidated data centre facilities are available	100%	March 31, 2020	N/A	N/A	100%
	Percentage of time critical incidents in legacy data centre facilities are restored within established service level standards	50%	March 31, 2020	N/A	N/A	N/A
	Number of critical incidents impacting legacy data centre facilities	<20 per year	March 31, 2020	N/A	N/A	N/A
	Customer satisfaction with data centre services	3.6/5	March 31, 2020	N/A	N/A	N/A
Cloud services meet the needs and reliability expectations of customer organizations	Percentage of cloud brokering requests fulfilled within established service level standards	90%	March 31, 2020	N/A	N/A	N/A
	Customer satisfaction with cloud brokering services	3.6/5	March 31, 2020	N/A	N/A	N/A

Budgetary financial resources (dollars)

2019–20 Main Estimates	2019–20 Planned spending	2020–21 Planned spending	2021–22 Planned spending
567,511,944	567,511,944	567,524,350	497,409,201

Human resources (full-time equivalents)

2019–20 Planned full-time equivalents	2020–21 Planned full-time equivalents	2021–22 Planned full-time equivalents
1,665	1,686	1,686

Telecommunications

Description

SSC delivers data, voice and video communication services within and across the Government of Canada. SSC also provides the Government of Canada’s contact centre IT infrastructure, cellular and toll-free services.

Planning highlights

The digital government vision is for the Government of Canada to be an open and service-oriented organization that operates and delivers programs and services to people and businesses in simple, modern and effective ways that are optimized for digital and available anytime, anywhere and from any device. As outlined in Blueprint 2020, workplace technology devices will be essential for a modern workplace and a collaborative, mobile workforce.

Customer organizations receive modern and reliable network and telecommunication services.

Several initiatives will ensure SSC delivers modern and reliable telecommunications necessary for the delivery of services to its customers and Canadians both now and in the future.

Through Network Transformation, a Government of Canada network strategy will be developed to define and establish the network architecture and services required to deliver Canada’s digital platform, and to identify and establish the SSC capabilities required to implement and support the government-wide network.

The Enterprise Mobile Device Management strategy will allow customers to securely manage next generation mobile devices and services. Enterprise Mobile Device Management was established as a common enterprise solution to support all smartphones, for all partners, and be a foundational platform to evolve mobile services in the future.

Call centres are an important way for public servants, Canadians, businesses and other organizations to engage government. Most departmental call centres rely on voice communications via landlines. This makes them unable to easily handle advanced features, such as new multi-media communications channels. HCCS modernizes the network infrastructure supporting operations for these key entry points. Under HCCS, departmental call centres will move to a government-wide contact centre solution that has enhanced functionality and modern communication channels. The benefits of HCCS include a reliable, modern and secure platform, increased responsiveness, more efficient and cost-effective infrastructure, and improved administrative capabilities.

The Workplace Communication Services initiative is an important part of SSC’s efforts to consolidate and modernize the Government of Canada’s telecommunications infrastructure. As SSC continues the transition from traditional telephone voice services to modern communications options (that is, Voice over Internet), we are focused on service readiness for our customers. The Workplace Communication Services initiative will ensure new services are robust, tested and ready for implementation.

Planned results

Departmental results	Departmental result indicators	Target	Date to achieve target	2015–16 Actual results	2016–17 Actual results	2017–18 Actual results
Customer organizations receive modern and reliable network and telecom-munications services	Percentage of time critical enterprise Internet outages are restored within established service level standards	60%	March 31, 2020	N/A	N/A	N/A
	Percentage of time the Mobile Device Services Cellular Network is available	99.5%	March 31, 2020	N/A	N/A	N/A
	Percentage of time the contact centre service is available	99.95%	March 31, 2020	N/A	99.998%	100%
	Percentage of sites migrated to the Government of Canada Network Wide Area Network	56%	March 31, 2020	N/A	N/A	N/A
	Customer satisfaction with telecommunications services	3.6/5	March 31, 2020	N/A	N/A	N/A

Budgetary financial resources (dollars)

2019–20 Main Estimates	2019–20 Planned spending	2020–21 Planned spending	2021–22 Planned spending
646,602,308	646,602,308	607,034,746	525,436,730

Human resources (full-time equivalents)

2019–20 Planned full-time equivalents	2020–21 Planned full-time equivalents	2021–22 Planned full-time equivalents
1,616	1,637	1,637

Cyber and IT Security

Description

SSC works with other Government of Canada departments to provide secure IT infrastructure services to ensure the confidentiality, integrity and availability of electronic information stored, processed and transmitted by the Government of Canada.

Planning highlights

As we embark on digital transformation and modernization, SSC must also continue to ensure the security of the Government of Canada’s IT infrastructure. Adopting cloud computing will not change the responsibility to provide secure, reliable and interoperable digital services.

Government of Canada data and technology assets are protected by secure IT infrastructure.

During 2019−20, SSC will focus on several initiatives within the Cyber and IT Security core responsibility to protect Government of Canada data and technology assets.

Secure Cloud Enablement and Defence is a key component to successful cloud solutions. It will create a network security zone to reduce exposure to cyber threats. We will do this by establishing trusted interconnection points on the periphery of the government network. This zone will enable the secure exchange of data with external organizations, including any cloud environments under contract with the Government of Canada.

A number of SSC-led initiatives under the Infrastructure Security Program will help advance the next phase of Canada’s Cyber Security Strategy. The resulting products will aim to minimize the impact of any unauthorized access, misuse or denial of network-accessible resources and data, to government operations and services to Canadians.

• End-point Visibility Awareness and Security will allow the government to identify vulnerabilities on any Internet-connected end-point devices (that is, laptop, tablet or mobile device) on its networks. With this information, it will be possible to prioritize remediation measures to reduce IT system and infrastructure risks.
• Secure Remote Access Migration will renew and rationalize the existing secure remote access infrastructure, and process all secure remote access connections at the EDCs. Government of Canada users will be able to securely connect to their departmental data and/or information system from external sources using their government-supplied end-point device.
• Network Device Authentication will create and manage digital identities for devices, applications, services or processes within SSC’s network. This will help provide information and service improvements.
• SIEM provides a single view of IT security incidents across Government of Canada systems. It will renew the existing SIEM infrastructure, and expand and customize the processing of security logs from the EDCs. Once implemented, the improved functionalities will enable the Government of Canada to predict, detect and respond to cyber threats and risks to IT systems and infrastructure.

The Government of Canada’s Secret Infrastructure (GCSI) allows customers to create, store and transmit information at a classified level (up to Secret). Expansion of the GCSI will consolidate Secret infrastructures currently supported by SSC to allow for more secure and cost-effective operations, with the addition of improved availability and disaster recovery capabilities. With Voice over Internet Protocol Classified Unified Communications, the current portfolio of SSC unified communications solutions and services will provide a foundation to implement Secret Voice over Internet Protocol and videoconferencing services on the GCSI.

The Smartphone for Classified initiative will implement and operate secure mobile communications services (that is, voice and instant messaging) and supporting infrastructure for classified (Secret) information. Beginning in 2019–20, Smartphone for Classified will support senior leaders in government with secure voice and information management services.

Planned results

Departmental results	Departmental result indicators	Target	Date to achieve target	2015–16 Actual results	2016–17 Actual results	2017–18 Actual results
Government of Canada data and technology assets are protected by secure IT infrastructure	Percentage of time security services are available	99.8%	March 31, 2020	N/A	N/A	N/A
	Customer satisfaction with SSC’s cyber and IT security services	3.6/5	March 31, 2020	N/A	N/A	N/A

Budgetary financial resources (dollars)

2019–20 Main Estimates	2019–20 Planned spending	2020–21 Planned spending	2021–22 Planned spending
160,348,092	160,348,092	159,491,203	147,595,091

Human resources (full-time equivalents)

2019–20 Planned full-time equivalents	2020–21 Planned full-time equivalents	2021–22 Planned full-time equivalents
708	716	716

Customer relationship and service management

Description

SSC provides customer relationship and service management functions to ensure customers are supported and engaged and their IT services are well managed throughout their life cycle.

Planning highlights

Delivering customer service excellence is a key strategic priority for SSC. We focus on putting customers first. Maintaining strong customer relationships and using disciplined service management practices are central to our approach.

Customers are satisfied with SSC’s delivery of services.

Through its department-wide Customer Service Strategy, SSC will examine best and leading-edge practices that result in exceptional customer service, and will investigate tools and strategies that promote superior service and support. SSC will encourage departments and employees to discuss their differing experiences in obtaining and delivering shared services.

The Customer Satisfaction Feedback Initiative (CSFI) aims to measure customer satisfaction and to inform SSC’s Continual Service Improvement program. The CSFI resulted from findings in the 2015 Fall Reports of the Auditor General, and is a key part of SSC’s Service Management Strategy. The strategy promotes a customer-oriented culture of service management excellence through improved visibility and accessibility of services. It includes engagement of customers through a customer satisfaction program, with a focus on continual improvement. Surveys conducted as part of the CSFI are completed by the chief information officers of SSC’s partner organizations.

Customers are provided with effective service management.

ITSM refers to an organization’s planning, delivery, operations and control of IT services offered to customers. SSC’s ITSM approach is customer-centred. It aims at driving service management excellence and improving customer experience through greater engagement and better performance reporting.

SSC has established the Service Management Transformation Program, which sets a five-year direction (2017–22) for the delivery of a series of consolidation, improvement and transformation initiatives. These initiatives are aimed at establishing standards, processes and tools for the delivery of Government of Canada IT services, in alignment with service management governance. The Service Management Transformation Program includes multiple initiatives, of which the Enterprise ITSM Tool Project and the Process Evolution Initiative are central.

• The enterprise ITSM Tool Project will procure and implement a modern, scalable and enterprise ITSM tool solution capable of enabling and automating SSC’s evolving and maturing ITSM processes. Once fully implemented, the new tool will provide SSC with a unified view of all service and incident management requests, and enable consolidated performance reporting.
• The Process Evolution Initiative is a multi-year initiative to establish enterprise-wide SSC IT service management processes. The initiative will deliver configuration ready service management processes required to configure the tool.

The benefits from these two initiatives include standardizing SSC ITSM processes, and providing a single window into SSC services supporting customers. This will enable a more consistent and proactive delivery of SSC services to customers and improve the overall customer experience. This in turn will lead to timely improvements to the systems and faster service restoration times from any service disruption, improving availability and quality of online services used by Canadians.

IT infrastructure services relied on by customer organizations are supported by strong project management and efficient procurement.

To meet the Minister’s mandate regarding the modernization of SSC, efforts are being undertaken to modernize procurement practices so that they are simpler, less administratively burdensome, encourage greater competition, and include practices that support our economic policy goals.

To ensure value for money is obtained on contracts undertaken, SSC is presently working with Public Services and Procurement Canada to implement pilot initiatives for the development of a vendor management framework. These pilots will seek to score vendors’ performances on their execution of SSC contracts. The outcome of the pilots and lessons learned will support the implementation of a broader Vendor Performance Management framework.

Planned results

Departmental results	Departmental result indicators	Target	Date to achieve target	2015–16 Actual results	2016–17 Actual results	2017–18 Actual results
Customers are satisfied with SSC’s delivery of services	Average rating provided in response to the Customer Satisfaction Questionnaire	3.6/5	March 31, 2020	2.8	3.1	3.4
Customers are provided with effective service management	Percentage of critical incidents under SSC control resolved within established service level standards	60%	March 31, 2020	N/A	N/A	N/A
IT infrastructure services relied upon by customer organizations are supported by strong project management and efficient procurement	Percentage of SSC-led projects rated as on time, in scope and on budget	70%	March 31, 2020	N/A	N/A	N/A
	Cost of procurement per each $100 of contracts awarded	$1.75	March 31, 2020	N/A	N/A	N/A

Budgetary financial resources (dollars)

2019–20 Main Estimates	2019–20 Planned spending	2020–21 Planned spending	2021–22 Planned spending
205,306,097	205,306,097	187,260,747	172,731,344

Human resources (full-time equivalents)

2019–20 Planned full-time equivalents	2020–21 Planned full-time equivalents	2021–22 Planned full-time equivalents
1,228	1,244	1,244

Financial, human resources and performance information for the SSC Program Inventory is available in the GC InfoBase^{Footnote i}.

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 services that support program delivery in the organization, regardless of the Internal Services delivery model in a department. These services are Management and Oversight Services, Communications Services, Legal Services, Human Resources Management Services, Financial Management Services, Information Management Services, Information Technology Services, Real Property Management Services, Materiel Management Services, and Acquisition Management Services.

Planning highlights

SSC has developed its People Strategy to attract, recruit and keep the right talent, and to facilitate job mobility within a safe, healthy, respectful and supportive workplace. We ensure our employees have the modern and effective workplace tools they need for success within a digital government. We are always seeking digital solutions to enable employees to serve Canadians and work effectively. These need to be interconnected, intuitive and accessible when and where needed, and include updated business processes to make day-to-day work efficient.

In addition to recruiting new employees to meet its customer service expectations, SSC must address the issue of vacancies caused by retirement and departures. However, while many SSC employees will be eligible to retire over the next six years, the Department has a large Computer Systems population that tends to take retirement well past eligibility dates. As we function effectively as a virtual workplace, we will likely benefit from recruitment and retention outside of the National Capital Region. SSC promotes diversity and inclusion as an operational asset. Our intensive and innovative recruitment approaches are already bringing a younger workforce on board.

Recruitment alone will not resolve the need for additional skilled labour. Technology skills are in short supply in society in general. This means professional development, including transitional training for employees in evolving jobs, will also play a role. Professional development will enable employees to refresh existing skills, upskill for new evolving requirements, or develop new skills.

Communications and engagement are key elements of our service delivery and are essential to the effectiveness of all our internal and external activities. The Communications directorate’s strategy to continually improve its services and products has two main communication objectives:

• Ensure SSC employees understand the impact of their work on the lives of Canadians. SSC employees should also understand how their work contributes to overarching SSC priorities. In order to offer great service, they will receive the right information at the right time through the right channel.
• Improve the brand image of SSC with external stakeholders through a variety of approaches, combining traditional and innovative activities. Telling our story to the right people at the right time with the appropriate tools, messages and services will increase the impact of how the information is received.

Budgetary financial resources (dollars)

2019–20 Main Estimates	2019–20 Planned spending	2020–21 Planned spending	2021–22 Planned spending
199,818,129	199,818,129	199,805,699	195,459,002

Human resources (full-time equivalents)

2019–20 Planned full-time equivalents	2020–21 Planned full-time equivalents	2021–22 Planned full-time equivalents
1,189	1,204	1,204

Spending and human resources

Planned spending

Departmental spending trend graph – Text version

	2016-17	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22
Statutory	74,849,017	79,468,472	92,314,486	94,086,352	95,264,555	93,809,547
Voted	1,606,520,720	1,718,444,823	1,938,809,887	1,806,803,589	1,748,205,264	1,566,140,045
Total	1,681,369,737	1,797,913,295	2,031,124,374	1,900,889,941	1,843,469,819	1,659,949,592

SSC’s planned spending reflects the amounts approved by Parliament, to support the Department’s core responsibilities. The approved amount is net of vote-netted revenue of $665 million.

The total expenditures net increase from 2016–17 to 2017–18 is mainly due to an increase in salaries and employee benefits.

The forecast spending for 2018–19 represents the authorities to date, including the newly signed collective agreements and the carry forward from 2017–18, as well as the approved central vote for Budget 2018 new funding such as:

• 2021 Census of Population
• Service Integrity
• Refresh of Infrastructure Technology; and
• Cyber and IT Security Initiatives

The decrease in planned spending from 2018–19 to 2019–20 is mainly due to the following:

• time-limited projects and initiatives, such as Canada’s G7 Summit
• funding for initiatives that are lower in 2019−20 than in 2018−19 such as Program Integrity, 2018−20 Immigration Levels Plan and other decreases in funding such as signed collective agreements; and
• transfers to other departments that have increased from 2018−19 to 2019−20 such as the permanent transfer of the Security Operations Centre to CSE to establish a Canadian Centre for Cyber Security

Planned human resources

Estimates by vote

Information on SSC’s organizational appropriations is available in the 2019–20 Main Estimates^{Footnote ii}.

Future-Oriented Condensed Statement of Operations

The Future-Oriented Condensed Statement of Operations provides a general overview of SSC’s operations. The forecast of financial information on expenses and revenues is prepared on an accrual accounting basis to strengthen accountability and to improve transparency and financial management. The forecast and planned spending amounts presented in other sections of the Departmental Plan are prepared on an expenditure basis, as a result, amounts may differ.

A more detailed Future-Oriented Statement of Operations and associated notes, including a reconciliation of the net cost of operations to the requested authorities, are available on SSC’s website.

Future Oriented Condensed Statement of Operations for the year ending March 31, 2020 (dollars)

Financial information	2018–19 Forecast results	2019–20 Planned results	Difference (2019–20 Planned results minus 2018–19 Forecast results)
Total expenses	2,630,421,370	2,605,611,623	(24,809,747)
Total revenues	661,590,283	666,477,168	4,886,885
Net cost of operations before government funding and transfers	1,968,831,087	1,939,134,455	(29,696,632)

The decrease in planned expenses from 2018−19 to 2019−20 is mainly due to the following:

• time-limited projects and initiatives, such as Canada’s G7 Summit
• funding for initiatives that are lower in 2019−20 than in 2018−19 such as Program Integrity funding and the Immigration Levels Plan, and other decreases such as signed collective agreements; and
• transfers to other departments that have increased from 2018−19 to 2019−20 such as the permanent transfer of the Security Operations Centre to CSE to establish a Canadian Centre for Cyber Security

Additional information

Corporate information

Organizational profile

Appropriate Minister: The Honourable Carla Qualtrough, P.C., M.P.

Institutional Head: Paul Glover, President, Shared Services Canada

Ministerial portfolio: Public Services and Procurement Canada and Accessibility, and Minister responsible for Shared Services Canada

Enabling instrument: Shared Services Canada Act^{Footnote iii}

Year of incorporation / commencement: 2011

Other: Associated Orders-in-Council include Privy Council Numbers 2011-0877; 2011-1297; 2012-0958; 2012-0960; 2013-0366; 2013-0367; 2013-0368; 2015-1071 and 2016-0003^{Footnote iv}

Raison d’être, mandate and role: who we are and what we do

“Raison d’être, mandate and role: who we are and what we do” is available on SSC’s website.

Reporting framework

SSC’s Departmental Results Framework and Program Inventory of record for 2019-20 are shown below.

Departmental Results Framework and Program Inventory of record – Text version

Internal Services support all Core Responsibilities and Program Inventories.

Core Responsibility 1: Email and Workplace Technology

Departmental Results Framework

Customer organizations receive modern and reliable email services.

• Percentage of time the enterprise email service is available
• Percentage of time email service outages are restored within established service level standards
• Percentage of Government of Canada mailboxes migrated to the enterprise email system
• Number of critical incidents impacting legacy email systems
• Customer satisfaction with email services (five point scale)

Customers receive high-quality, timely and efficient software and hardware provisioning services that meet their needs.

• Percentage of hardware requests fulfilled within established service level standards
• Number of software requests fulfilled within established service level standards
• Customer satisfaction with hardware and software provisioning (five point scale)

Program Inventory

• Digital Communications
• Email Services
• Hardware Provisioning
• Software Provisioning
• Workplace Technology Services

Core Responsibility 2: Data Centres

Departmental Results Framework

Programs and services to Canadians are supported by modern and reliable data centre services.

• Percentage of time the new consolidated data centre facilities are available
• Percentage of time critical incidents in legacy data centre facilities are restored within established service level standards
• Number of critical incidents impacting legacy data centre facilities
• Customer satisfaction with data centre services (five point scale)

Cloud services meet the needs and reliability expectations of customer organizations.

• Percentage of cloud brokering requests fulfilled within established service level standards
• Customer satisfaction with cloud brokering services (five point scale)

Program Inventory

• Bulk Print
• File and Print
• Middleware and Database
• Data Centre Facility
• High Performance Computing Solution
• Mid-Range
• Mainframe
• Storage
• Cloud Brokering

Core Responsibility 3: Telecommunications

Departmental Results Framework

Customer organizations receive modern and reliable network and telecommunications services.

• Percentage of time critical enterprise internet outages are restored within established service level standards
• Percentage of time the Mobile Device Services Cellular Network is available
• Percentage of time the contact centre service is available
• Percentage of sites migrated to Government of Canada Network Wide Area Network
• Customer satisfaction with telecommunications services (five point scale)

Program Inventory

• Local Area Network
• Wide Area Network
• Internet
• Satellite
• Mobile Devices and Fixed-Line Phones
• Conferencing Services
• Contact Centre Infrastructure
• Toll-Free Voice

Core Responsibility 4: Cyber and IT Security

Departmental Results Framework

Government of Canada data and technology assets are protected by secure IT infrastructure.

• Percentage of time IT security services are available
• Customer satisfaction with SSC’s cyber and IT security services (five point scale)

Program Inventory

• Secret Infrastructure
• Infrastructure Security
• Cyber Security Strategic Planning
• Security Management and Governance

Core Responsibility 5: Customer Relationships and Service Management

Departmental Results Framework

Customers are satisfied with SSC’s delivery of services.

• Average rating provided in response to the Customer Satisfaction Questionnaire (five point scale)

Customers are provided with effective service management.

• Percentage of critical incidents under SSC control resolved within established service level standards

IT infrastructure services relied upon by customer organizations are supported by strong project management and efficient procurement.

• Percentage of SSC-led projects rated as on time, in scope and on budget
• Cost of procurement per each $100 of contracts awarded

Program Inventory

• Strategic Direction
• Service Management
• Customer Relationships

Changes to the approved reporting framework since 2018–19

Supporting information on the Program Inventory

Supporting information on planned expenditures, human resources and results related to SSC’s Program Inventory is available in the GC InfoBase^{Footnote v}.

Supplementary information tables

The following supplementary information tables are available on SSC’s website:

• Departmental Sustainable Development Strategy
• Gender-based analysis plus
• Status report on transformational and major Crown projects

Federal tax expenditures

The tax system can be used to achieve public policy objectives through the application of special measures such as low tax rates, exemptions, deductions, deferrals and credits. The Department of Finance Canada publishes cost estimates and projections for these measures each year in the Report on Federal Tax Expenditures^{Footnote vi}. This report also provides detailed background information on tax expenditures, including descriptions, objectives, historical information and references to related federal spending programs, as well as evaluations, research papers and gender-based analysis. The tax measures presented in this report are the responsibility of the Minister of Finance.

Organizational contact information

General inquiries

Please send your inquiries to the following email address: SSC.information-information.SPC@canada.ca.

Media inquiries

Please send your inquiries to SSC.media-medias.SPC@canada.ca or to the Media Relations Office by telephone at 613-670-1626.

Appendix: definitions

Appropriation (crédit)

Any authority of Parliament to pay money out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund.

Budgetary expenditures (dépenses budgétaires)

Operating and capital expenditures; transfer payments to other levels of government, organizations or individuals; and payments to Crown corporations.

Core Responsibility (responsabilité essentielle)

An enduring function or role performed by a department. The intentions of the department with respect to a core responsibility are reflected in one or more related departmental results that the department seeks to contribute to or influence.

Departmental Plan (plan ministériel)

A report on the plans and expected performance of an appropriated department over a three-year period. Departmental plans are tabled in Parliament each spring.

Departmental Result (résultat ministériel)

Any change that the department seeks to influence. A departmental result is often outside departments’ immediate control, but it should be influenced by program-level outcomes.

Departmental Result Indicator (indicateur de résultat ministériel)

A factor or variable that provides a valid and reliable means to measure or describe progress on a departmental result.

Departmental Results Framework (cadre ministériel des résultats)

The department’s core responsibilities, departmental results and departmental result indicators.

Departmental Results Report (rapport sur les résultats ministériels)

A report on the actual accomplishments against the plans, priorities and expected results set out in the corresponding Departmental Plan.

Evaluation (évaluation)

In the Government of Canada, the systematic and neutral collection and analysis of evidence to judge merit, worth or value. Evaluation informs decision-making, improvements, innovation and accountability. Evaluations typically focus on programs, policies and priorities and examine questions related to relevance, effectiveness and efficiency. Depending on user needs, however, evaluations can also examine other units, themes and issues, including alternatives to existing interventions. Evaluations generally employ social science research methods.

Experimentation (expérimentation)

Activities that seek to explore, test and compare the effects and impacts of policies, interventions and approaches, to inform evidence-based decision-making, by learning what works and what does not.

Full-time equivalent (équivalent temps plein)

A measure of the extent to which an employee represents a full person-year charge against a departmental budget. Full-time equivalents are calculated as a ratio of assigned hours of work to scheduled hours of work. Scheduled hours of work are set out in collective agreements.

Gender-based analysis plus (GBA+) (analyse comparative entre les sexes plus [ACS+])

An analytical process used to help identify the potential impacts of policies, programs and services on diverse groups of women, men and gender-diverse people. The “plus” acknowledges that GBA goes beyond sex and gender differences. We all have multiple identity factors that intersect to make us who we are; GBA+ considers many other identity factors, such as race, ethnicity, religion, age, and mental or physical disability.

Government-wide priorities (priorités pangouvernementales)

For the purpose of the 2019–20 Departmental Plan, government-wide priorities refers to those high-level themes outlining the government’s agenda in the 2015 Speech from the Throne, namely: Growth for the Middle Class, Open and Transparent Government, A Clean Environment and a Strong Economy, Diversity is Canada's Strength, and Security and Opportunity.

Horizontal initiative (initiative horizontale)

An initiative where two or more departments are given funding to pursue a shared outcome, often linked to a government priority.

Non-budgetary expenditures (dépenses non budgétaires)

Net outlays and receipts related to loans, investments and advances, which change the composition of the financial assets of the Government of Canada.

Performance (rendement)

What an organization did with its resources to achieve its results, how well those results compare to what the organization intended to achieve, and how well lessons learned have been identified.

Performance indicator (indicateur de rendement)

A qualitative or quantitative means of measuring an output or outcome, with the intention of gauging the performance of an organization, program, policy or initiative respecting expected results.

Performance Information Profile (profil de l’information sur le rendement)

The document that identifies the performance information for each program from the Program Inventory.

Performance reporting (production de rapports sur le rendement)

The process of communicating evidence-based performance information. Performance reporting supports decision-making, accountability and transparency.

Plan (plan)

The articulation of strategic choices, which provides information on how an organization intends to achieve its priorities and associated results. Generally a plan will explain the logic behind the strategies chosen and tend to focus on actions that lead up to the expected result.

Planned spending (dépenses prévues)

For departmental plans and departmental results reports, planned spending refers to those amounts presented in the Main Estimates.

A department is expected to be aware of the authorities that it has sought and received. The determination of planned spending is a departmental responsibility, and departments must be able to defend the expenditure and accrual numbers presented in their departmental plans and departmental results reports.

Priority (priorité)

A plan or project that an organization has chosen to focus and report on during the planning period. Priorities represent the things that are most important or what must be done first to support the achievement of the desired departmental results.

Program (programme)

Individual or groups of services, activities or combinations thereof that are managed together within the department and focus on a specific set of outputs, outcomes or service levels.

Program Inventory (répertoire des programmes)

Identifies all of the department’s programs and describes how resources are organized to contribute to the department’s core responsibilities and results.

Result (résultat)

An external consequence attributed, in part, to an organization, policy, program or initiative. Results are not within the control of a single organization, policy, program or initiative; instead they are within the area of the organization’s influence.

Statutory expenditures (dépenses législatives)

Expenditures that Parliament has approved through legislation other than appropriation acts. The legislation sets out the purpose of the expenditures and the terms and conditions under which they may be made.

Sunset program (programme temporisé)

A time-limited program that does not have an ongoing funding and policy authority. When the program is set to expire, a decision must be made whether to continue the program. In the case of a renewal, the decision specifies the scope, funding level and duration.

Target (cible)

A measurable performance or success level that an organization, program or initiative plans to achieve within a specified time period. Targets can be either quantitative or qualitative.

Voted expenditures (dépenses votées)

Expenditures that Parliament approves annually through an appropriation act. The vote wording becomes the governing conditions under which these expenditures may be made.