Report on Plans and Priorities 2013–2014

Table of Contents

• Minister's Message
• Section I: Organizational Overview
  • Raison d'être
  • Responsibilities
  • Strategic Outcome and Program Alignment Architecture (PAA)
  • Organizational Priorities
  • Risk Analysis
    
  • Planning Summary
    
  • Expenditure Profile
    
  • Estimates by Vote
• Section II: Analysis of Program Activities by Strategic Outcome
  • Strategic Outcome
  • Program Activity 1: Foundational Learning
  • Planning Highlight for s2.1.2
  • Program 2: Organizational Leadership Development
  • Planning Highlights for s2.2.2
  • Program 3: Public Sector Management Innovation
    
  • Planning Highlights for s2.3.2
  • Program 4: Internal Services
  • Planning Highlights for s2.4.2
• Section III: Supplementary Information
  • Financial Highlights
  • Future-Oriented Financial Statements
  • List of Supplementary Information Tables
  • Tax Expenditures and Evaluations Report
• Section IV: Other Items of Interest
  • Organizational Contact Information
• Endnotes

Minister's Message

As the minister responsible for the Canada School of Public Service (the School), I am pleased to present the School's 2013-14 Report on Plans and Priorities.

The School plays an important role in supporting the public service by providing learning opportunities that help develop knowledge, leadership and management competencies among public service employees across the country.

In the 2013-14 fiscal year, the School will continue to align its curriculum with government priorities, expand the use of technology within its programming, build on collaboration opportunities within and outside the public service and meet the needs of public servants, now and in the future.

As deputy heads adapt their business and transform their operations, the School is committed to offering relevant products and services designed to help them improve the efficiency and effectiveness of their organizations. Through these offerings, the School is continuing to support the transformation and renewal of the public service and foster a high-performing culture of excellence, resulting in better services for Canadians.

I invite you to read this report and visit the School's Web site (www.myschool-monecole.gc.ca) to learn more about the activities that the School provides to support a strong public service.

Section I: Organizational Overview

Raison d'être

The Canada School of Public Service (the School) is the common learning service provider for the Public Service of Canada. The School has a legislative mandate to provide a range of learning activities to build individual and organizational capacity and management excellence within the public service.

The School has one strategic goal: to ensure that public servants have the common knowledge and the leadership and management competencies they require to fulfil their responsibilities in serving Canadians.

Responsibilities

Established on April 1, 2004, under the Public Service Modernization Act^Endnotesi and operating under the authority of the Canada School of Public Service Act^Endnotesii (CSPS Act), the School's primary responsibility is to provide a wide range of learning opportunities and develop a learning culture within the public service. The School has a direct effect on service to Canadians by increasing the skills of public service employees and the efficiency and effectiveness of public service organizations.

The School, a departmental corporation, is mandated under the CSPS Act to:

• encourage pride and excellence in the public service;
• foster a common sense of purpose, values and traditions in the public service;
• support deputy heads in meeting the learning needs of their organizations; and
• pursue excellence in public management and administration.

The School's program priorities are geared to delivering results in accordance with the Treasury Board's Policy on Learning, Training and Development^{Endnotes iii} (the Policy), which came into effect on January 1, 2006. The Policy highlights the value of learning, with particular emphasis on required training, and the importance of creating a learning culture within the public service.

The School supports deputy head accountabilities with respect to leadership and professional development across the public service by identifying organizational needs and designing and delivering high-quality, practical programs that address the key development needs of public service employees.

As a common service organization under the Treasury Board's Common Services Policy^Endnotesiv the School's curriculum is designed to support public service accountabilities and to respond to leadership competencies and government priorities. As an optional service provider, the School continuously responds to the needs of the public service in the most efficient and effective manner possible.

The School supports Public Service Renewal and its Excellence Agenda by contributing to the renewal of the workforce and workplace by offering a broad suite of courses to advance the agenda.

Moving forward, the newly established Deputy Minister Canada School of Public Service Advisory Committee will provide a forum for consultation, collaboration and discussion on the School's strategic agenda and emerging public service-wide learning priorities.

Strategic Outcome and Program Alignment Architecture (PAA)

The School has a single strategic outcome: "Public servants have the common knowledge and the leadership and management competencies they require to fulfil their responsibilities in serving Canadians." Four programs support this strategic outcome:

• Foundational Learning
• Organizational Leadership Development
• Public Sector Management Innovation
• Internal Services

Text version

Image of the Canada School of Public Service's Program Activity Architecture.

The School has a single strategic outcome: Public servants have the common knowledge and the leadership and management competencies they require to fulfil their responsibilities in serving Canadians.

The School has four program activities: 1. Foundational Learning; 2. Organizational Leadership Development; 3. Public Sector Management Innovation; and 4. Internal Services.

The sub-activities and sub-sub-activities are as follows:

1.1 Required Training
1.1.1 Orientation to the Public Service
1.1.2 Authority Delegation Training

1.2 Professional Development Training
1.2.1 Functional Communities Programming
1.2.2 Professional Development Programming

1.3 Official Languages Learning
1.3.1 Access to Language Training Services
1.3.2 Language Retention Services

1.4 Online Learning
1.4.1 Online Course Program
1.4.2 Online Collaborative Technology Program

2.1 Leadership Competencies
2.2 Leadership Development Programs
2.3 Leadership Community Building

3.1 Organizational Learning Services
3.2 Innovative Management Practices

4.1 Governance and Management Support
4.1.1 Management and Oversight
4.1.2 Communications
4.1.3 Legal

4.2 Resource Management Services
4.2.1 Human Resource Management
4.2.2 Financial Management
4.2.3 Information Management
4.2.4 Information Technology
4.2.5 Travel and Other Administrative Services

4.3 Asset Management Services
4.3.1 Real Property
4.3.2 Material
4.3.3 Acquisition

Organizational Priorities

Risk Analysis

As a departmental corporation, the School operates in a rapidly changing environment as client organizations work to transform and streamline their operations. The School actively monitors its operational environment and integrates strategic risk management in accordance with the details outlined in its Corporate Risk Profile to ensure ongoing delivery of its mandate and organizational priorities.

The School's Corporate Risk Profile identified three areas of risk to be strategically managed in 2013‑14:

• the relevance of the School's curriculum and the delivery of its products and services;
• maintenance of the School's market share in order to sustain operations and the delivery of its learning; and
• the ability to ensure adequate and timely capacity to meet client learning needs.

A key component of the School's risk management strategy is to ensure that a streamlined analysis and monitoring process is in place to ensure the ongoing review of the School's curriculum. In 2013‑14, the process for curriculum development and product release will be streamlined to enhance the timeliness of the delivery of learning solutions while remaining cost effective and strategically aligned with government priorities. The School will also focus on implementing an enterprise-wide approach to learning that leverages existing collaborative relationships to advance performance management across the public service and expand on flexible learning delivery modes. The role of social media in support of the School's mandate will also continue to be expanded over the year.

To ensure market share sustainability, the School will place a renewed focus on its brand recognition and value proposition, enhancing awareness of its learning services while promoting the School's offerings to client organizations as a cost-effective and strategic investment in organizational performance management. Through the expansion of its regional and online programming, the School will increase access to its learning products and services across Canada. At the same time, the School will build its corporate intelligence with respect to organizational training needs, informing the strategic alignment of the School's financial and human resources investments.

Over the last several years, the School has managed significant reductions to its human resources capacity in an effort to seek efficiencies and "right-size" the organization. Moving forward, the School will focus on building and maintaining the capacity required to be responsive to client needs and support the School's learning services. In particular, changes will continue to be made in the management of human resource capacity to ensure that required competencies are the key drivers for the School's retention strategy and vacancy management.

Ongoing changes in technology will continue to provide opportunities to work in new ways, transforming the way the School conducts its business and delivers learning services. The School will therefore work to capitalize on the capabilities of the I-LMS by moving towards a common learning platform across the public service, facilitating collaboration with partners and stakeholders and increasing the enterprise-wide accessibility of learning services.

In 2013-14, the School will continue to support the Government of Canada's priority of seeking efficiencies by developing an enterprise-wide approach to learning that is both innovative and cost-effective; capitalizing on opportunities to collaborate across departments and agencies; and ultimately equipping the public service with the common knowledge and skills required to re-engineer government operations while sustaining service excellence for Canadians.

Planning Summary

Financial Resources (Planned Spending – $ Thousands)

Human Resources (Full-Time Equivalents – FTEs)

Planning Summary Table ($ Thousands)

The decision to cease the direct delivery of language training and transition to a private sector‑based delivery model in 2012-13 is the primary reason for the reduction in the School's planned spending in comparison with 2011-12.

Planning Summary Table for Internal Services ($ Thousands)

Planning Summary Total ($ Thousands)

Expenditure Profile

Text version

A chart depicting Actual Spending in thousands of dollars for the Canada School of Public Service from 2013-14. Foundational Learning: $55,958, Organizational Leadership Development: $10,546, Public Sector Management Innovation: $9,178 and Internal Services: $22,782.

Text version

A graph depicting the spending and revenue trends for the Canada School of Public Service from 2009-2010 to 2015-16 in thousands of dollars. Figures are provided for the following categories: Expenditures and Revenue.

Expenditures
2009-10: $138,270
2010-11: $128,634
2011-12: $125,941
2012-13: $100,585
2013-14: $98,464
2014-15: $95,738
2015-16: $95,439

Revenue
2009-10: $70,000
2010-11: $71,695
2011-12: $72,405
2012-13: $50,000
2013-14: $50,000
2014-15: $50,000
2015-16: $50,000

Estimates by Vote

For information on our organizational appropriations, please see the 2013-14 Main Estimates publication.^Endnotesvi

Section II: Analysis of Programs by Strategic Outcome

Strategic Outcome

The School has a single strategic outcome: "Public servants have the common knowledge and the leadership and management competencies they require to fulfil their responsibilities in serving Canadians." Four programs support this strategic outcome:

• Foundational Learning
• Organizational Leadership
• Public Sector Management Innovation
• Internal Services

The School was created to ensure that all public service employees have the required competencies and common knowledge to serve Canadians in the most efficient and effective way possible. To achieve this goal, the School offers a strong curriculum that focuses on the key skills and knowledge required by a dynamic public service that is constantly changing and adapting to the needs of its stakeholders and Canadians. The School also relies on the consistency of its training and learning activities to ensure that public service employees have the common skills and knowledge expected of them.

In 2013-14, through the School's curriculum management activities, the organization will work to ensure a curriculum that is cost-effective and aligned with equipping public service employees with the knowledge and skills necessary for high performance in the workplace, while effectively managing change, and maximizing productivity and transformation across the public service.

Strategic Outcome: Public servants have the common knowledge and the leadership and management competencies they require to fulfil their responsibilities in serving Canadians.

Program 1: Foundational Learning

Program Description

The School, through its Foundational Learning program, contributes to building a professional workforce by providing the learning required for public service employees to serve Canadians. Four initiatives support this program:

• Required Training
• Professional Development Training
• Official Languages Learning
• Online Learning

Financial Resources ($ Thousands)

Human Resources (FTEs)

Planning Highlights

The School will continue to build on existing relationships, including its collaborative work with the Office of the Chief Human Resources Officer, the Privy Council Office, the Treasury Board Secretariat and the Public Service Commission, in strengthening its Performance Management curriculum. This suite of courses is designed to equip employees at all levels of the public service with the knowledge and skills they require to carry out their roles and responsibilities in accordance with the Treasury Board Secretariat's workforce and performance management guidelines.

In 2013-14, the School will actively support the development of an Emergency Management and Security training curriculum. To this end, the School will work closely with the Treasury Board Secretariat, the Privy Council Office and lead security agencies to develop and deliver learning products and services that meet the needs of the security and identity management communities.

In response to emerging learning needs related to the new public service-wide transition to GCDocs, a comprehensive information management and recordkeeping system, the School will offer a suite of GCDocs learning products and services to convey lessons learned, best practices and the School's own organizational implementation strategy.

In an effort to advance the integration of technology and social media in its learning services, the School will continue to seek and develop relationships with other government departments and agencies interested in using I-LMS for their organizational learning needs. Further, the School will advance the implementation of a virtual classroom forum designed to be integrated with the School's I-LMS in support of public service employee learning across the country.

The School will continue to support official languages learning across the public service through several activities: the design and provision of e-learning products and services; research and development; pilot projects and transfer of findings to the industry; acting as a technical authority for pre-qualified suppliers of language training services under Public Works and Government Services Canada national standing offers; supporting public service employees in the development of their learning plans with respect to official languages; and setting standards and monitoring the quality of training provided by pre-qualified suppliers.

Program 2: Organizational Leadership Development

Program Description

The School strengthens the public service and contributes to Public Service Renewal by building the leadership competencies of existing and emerging leaders through leadership development programs.

Across government, there is renewed focus on leadership accountability. This reality, combined with an increasing number of employees and executives eligible for retirement, has increased demand for programs that develop leaders for a modern public service in a globalized environment. Three initiatives support this program:

• Leadership Competencies
• Leadership Development Programs
• Leadership Community Building

Financial Resources ($ Thousands)

Human Resources (FTEs)

Planning Highlights

Learning and professional development are essential to building the leadership capacity required for high performance in the public service, now and in the future. To address this need, the School will expand its leadership development curriculum to include new programming for executives, new seminar series offerings and a new management fundamentals curriculum, all of which are designed to support knowledge building in areas such as leading change, innovation and performance management.

In an effort to provide comprehensive, cost-effective and flexible learning solutions for public service executives, the School will offer its new ConnEXion program, a two-year executive leadership development program, featuring a modular approach to learning that is based on individual learning needs and evolving government priorities. A flexible distance learning component and a virtual community connecting participants with leaders across the public service will also be provided to participants in this program. The organization will also offer a new Management Suite for New Executives, a cost-effective and modular suite of courses designed to support newly appointed executives in their transition to their new role, which focuses on developing essential management competencies.

Program 3: Public Sector Management Innovation

Program Description

The School enhances the performance of the public service by disseminating innovations and leading practices in public management and providing public service organizations with advice and support regarding learning and change management. Two initiatives support this program:

• Organizational Learning Services
• Innovative Management Practices

Financial Resources ($ Thousands)

Human Resources (FTEs)

Planning Highlights

In 2013-14, the School will continue to provide leaders with peer-learning opportunities to discuss issues and priorities of common interest, build networks and share best practices while developing value-added niche interventions for federal organizations.

The School will continue to build on a variety of learning delivery models, with a particular focus on enhancing its curriculum, services and events, in order to equip the public service with the knowledge and skills necessary to manage change and transformation. As part of these efforts, the organization will advance its collaborative work with the Public Service Commission and the Office of the Chief Human Resources Officer in offering leadership and workforce management learning services.

The School will continue to deliver learning solutions that contextualize current and emerging international issues to ensure that public service leaders are equipped with the knowledge necessary to situate their respective departments and the Government of Canada within a global context and engage strategically on the international front.

Program 4: Internal Services

Program Description

Internal Services are groups of related activities and resources that are administered to support the needs of programs and other corporate obligations of an organization.^{Footnotes 2} Internal Services include only those activities and resources that apply across an organization and not to those provided specifically to a program.

Financial Resources ($ Thousands)

Human Resources (FTEs)

Planning Highlights

Following the arrival of a new Deputy Minister/President in October 2012, the School will review its current operations and management to ensure alignment with established standards and Government of Canada best practices. As part of this transition, the organization's strategic directions will be informed by the School's newly established advisory committee, which will provide a forum for consultation, collaboration and discussion on the School's priorities and emerging learning needs across the public service.

As part of the School's faculty management activities, the organization will seek to build its instructor capacity by leveraging existing knowledge and expertise within the School and across the public service. This strategic approach will seek to provide the organization with a sustainable and cost-effective solution to meet the learning needs of the public service, now and in the future.

The School will prepare for the implementation of the Government of Canada's Common Human Resources Business Process and continue to strategically manage staffing and vacancies while streamlining its processes and repositioning its staffing framework to meet the requirements of a client service approach.

The organization will foster an enterprise-wide approach to governance and management by promoting the I-LMS as a centralized, comprehensive and collaborative tool to be used across the public service.

In support of the Values and Ethics Code for the Public Sector, the School will implement its own organizational Code of Conduct. To this end, the School will undertake a number of activities, including developing procedures and resources related to ethical behaviour, while promoting employee dialogue and the sharing of best practices through a variety of forums, including a discussion forum and a community of practice.

The School will capitalize on opportunities emerging from the Government of Canada's Open Government Strategy and Recordkeeping Directive by rethinking the design of the School's data management practices, information management system and engagement strategies. Furthermore, the School will continue its transition to GCDocs in order to increase collaboration and information sharing across the organization.

As part of the organization's Service Excellence Strategy, the School will continue to build and strengthen relations with stakeholders in an effort to improve the quality of the School's services, focusing on four key areas: client service experience, client engagement, service and standards and client service culture.

Section III: Supplementary Information

Financial Highlights

Future-Oriented Condensed Statement of Operations and Departmental Net Financial Position
For the Year (ended March 31)
($ Thousands)

No significant changes to expenditures are anticipated for the upcoming fiscal year.

Future-Oriented Condensed Statement of Financial Position
For the Year (ended March 31)
($ Thousands)

The liabilities will decrease primarily due to anticipated payout of severance liabilities and associated reduction of future obligations for this item.

Future-Oriented Financial Statements

The financial highlights presented in this Report on Plans and Priorities are intended to serve as a general overview of the School's financial position. More information is available on the School's Web sitefor financial highlights.^Endnotesvii

List of Supplementary Information Tables

All electronic supplementary information tables listed in the 2013-14 Report on Plans and Priorities can be found on the School's Web site for list of supplementary tables.^Endnotesviii

• Greening Government Operations
• Sources of Respendable Revenue
• Upcoming Internal Audits and Evaluations over the next three fiscal years

Tax Expenditures and Evaluations Report

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 publishes cost estimates and projections for these measures annually in the Tax Expenditures and Evaluations^Endnotesix publication. The tax measures presented in the Tax Expenditures and Evaluations publication are the sole responsibility of the Minister of Finance.

Section IV: Other Items of Interest

Organizational Contact Information

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