Departmental Results Report 2018-2019

Minister's message

As the new Minister responsible for the Canada School of Public Service (the School), I am pleased to present the School's Departmental Results Report for the 2018–2019 fiscal year (April 1, 2018, to March 31, 2019). This report shows how the School has delivered on its mandate to support management excellence, build individual and organizational capacity and transform its learning products and platforms to support a more modern approach to learning within the Public Service of Canada.

During this period, the School reorganized its learning programs under five distinct business lines to better respond to the needs of public servants: Respectful and Inclusive Workplace, GC and Public Sector Skills, Indigenous Learning, Transferable Skills, and the Digital Academy.

The School also renewed the process of reviewing the relevance and quality of its offerings, and redesigned a number of them to incorporate feedback received from within the learning community and through changes to government policy. In addition, the School now offers a series of premium courses that provide a more intensive in-person learning experience, including in areas such as gender-based analysis plus, Indigenous learning and digital skills.

Going beyond 2018–2019, I am confident in the School's role to support the professional development of public servants, to respond to the learning needs of the public service, and to equip public servants with the knowledge and skills they need to best serve Canadians everywhere.

Results at a glance

In 2018–19, the Canada School of Public Service (the School) provided relevant, responsive, and accessible common learning to federal public servants. Through courses, events, tools and resources, the School equipped public servants with the knowledge and skills they need to serve Canadians with excellence.

To fulfil its core responsibility to provide common public service learning, the School oversaw initiatives that lead to achievements supporting three expected results:

For more information on the School's plans, priorities and results achieved, see the "Results: what we achieved" section of this report.

Results: what we achieved

Core responsibilities

Common public service learning

Description

Using a broad ecosystem of learning products, delivery approaches, and an online learning platform, the School provides public servants with a foundation of knowledge, skills, and competencies needed now and in the future, to serve Canadians with excellence.

To improve learning opportunities for all public servants, the School continues to modernize and update its learning platforms and curriculum to support a more modern approach to learning.

Results

1. Common learning is responsive to learning needs

   In 2018–19, the School provided learning offerings based on a responsive curriculum that aligned with Government of Canada priorities.

   Learning focused on supporting service to Canadians

   In 2018–19, the School's governance structure was enhanced to take into account the School's new business model and evolving public service needs. The School's realigned common curriculum presented learning in a more relevant, sustainable and responsive framework.

   By delineating learning activities in accordance with distinct business lines, the School is better positioned to receive and action feedback through response channels, such as learner surveys, and to leverage it to strategically respond to the needs of learners.

   A curriculum baselining exercise began in 2018–19, to ensure that curriculum is relevant, responsive and aligned with the School's new business model:

   • The School's 402 in-class and online courses were sorted by business line
   • A process was launched to assess the quality, relevancy and accuracy of each course to determine which courses should remain in the curriculum, and which should be retired or improved

   The School also developed a risk-based 3-year Lifecycle Management Plan (LMP) for all of its learning products.

   Alignment with government priorities

   In 2018–19, the School ensured that learning in support of government priorities was addressed in the following areas:

   • Reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples (1,956 registrations in 2018–19)
     • The School consulted with Indigenous communities to inform the development of Indigenous learning, which offers opportunities to understand Canada's shared history and how it impacts us today
     • In-class and online courses were launched with the involvement of Elders, and events were delivered that reached thousands of participants across Canada
     • The School also collaborated with other government departments, including Environment and Climate Change Canada, on their initiatives in support of reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples
   • Diversity and inclusion (56,523 registrations in 2018–19)
     • The School's first CSPS premium offering—a new approach to agile learning development—was a 4-day in-depth advanced course on the application of gender-based analysis (GBA+) throughout the policy cycle
     • The School co-developed an online Introduction to GBA+ course with end-users, policy experts, and gender focal points; a series of micro-learning videos highlighting the importance of GBA+ and its application in government complemented the offering
     • The School delivered 14 one-day workshops on GBA+: Applying Your Knowledge, targeted to a general public service audience
     • The School hosted events using the Positive Space model, offering an inclusive environment for members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and two-spirit (LGBTQ2) communities
     • The School began consultations on disability inclusion, including research into immersive simulation tools and engagement with key stakeholders to identify learning needs, with the aim of building a disability confident public service
     • The School established a Memorandum of Understanding with the Public Service Commission and TBS to provide learning opportunities for hiring managers, students and employees on the accommodation services offered through the Employment Opportunity for Students with Disabilities initiative and the Federal Internship Program for Canadians with Disabilities
   • Responsive to functional learning needs (239,974 registrations in 2018–19)
     • Seven classroom courses underwent major redesigns to keep them evergreen by incorporating government policy changes, new government priorities, and course participant and community feedback in the areas of service excellence, regulations, financial management, and government planning
   • Leadership and management learning (66,704 registrations in 2018–19)
     • The School hosted Project Management Leadership Week in February 2019 with five events reaching an audience of 1,217 participants, in-person and online
     • The School updated its Authority Delegation Training (ADT) program, which is required training for managers and executives, by aligning content with policy changes and reinforcing government priorities
     • The Executive Leadership Development Program (ELDP) continued to be a priority, with a renewed design and enhanced content; over 100 participants took part in this training in 2018–19
     • The School promoted innovative practices across government, including Pathfinder, a capacity building project for data-driven learning decisions and people management

   Innovation in digital government

   In 2018–19, the School increased capacity in digital learning across government through its Innovation and Policy Services Branch (IPSB) and the Digital Academy (DA). Three large Digital Academy events, including the Annual Digital Open Government Forum, reached an audience of over 1,600 public servants from across the country. As well, Busrides.ca, a pilot micro-learning platform, offered learners the ability to watch, listen or read up on the latest digital topics. Seven episodes were launched, reaching 2,994 users.

   The School piloted a premium line of learning offerings to managers and supervisors on topics such as agile leadership, design, data, artificial intelligence and DevOps.

   The School also enhanced its own digital footprint, with a revitalized web and social media presence.

2. Quality common learning is provided to the core public service

   In 2018–19, the School continued to deliver a streamlined curriculum that supports government priorities and responds to the common learning needs of public servants nationwide. The School reached 148,410 unique learners, with 504,087 registrations overall.

   The School used results-driven analytics to better understand how users access School resources. Web analytics applications were installed on its internet site, learning platforms, and in learning products to acquire data on user behaviour and how users access online services and content provided by the School. This data helped platform design teams and business lines:

   • improve product quality
   • make data-driven decisions on content design and flow
   • improve user experience
   • tailor products and services based on evidence

   To ensure that its learning products remain relevant and up to date, the School launched 16 products through its standardized, centralized approach to managing the School's curriculum.

   In 2018–19, the School enhanced the quality of common learning by engaging key governance bodies and client organizations to identify and address learning challenges. For example:

   • a new External Advisory Committee (EAC) comprised of eminent Canadians from the public, private, and academic sectors to provide a more diversified governance structure that contributes new points of view and renewed innovations
   • the Enterprise Editorial Board (EEB), an interdepartmental stakeholder engagement committee comprised of directors general, representing a broad cross-section of federal organizations; the EEB identified priorities and trends for learning and provided advice on the ongoing relevancy and effectiveness of its curriculum and delivery methods

   The School leveraged relationships with external stakeholders and subject-matter experts to design and deliver course offerings, learning events, and other learning tools. For example,

   • during the creation of the Indigenous Learning Series, consultation with subject-matter experts from First Nations, Métis, and Inuit communities ensured that the School delivered a well-informed, Indigenous-based curriculum
   • premium content for GBA+ was developed in collaboration with Women and Gender Equality Canada and other government departments, with over 100 public servants engaged during the design and co-creation process
3. Common learning is accessible to all employees of the core public service across Canada

   In 2018–19, the School undertook initiatives to remove multiple forms of barriers that can prevent public servants from accessing learning activities.

   Technological accessibility

   As of 2018–19, all online courses designed and built by the School are mobile responsive, allowing content to resize automatically to the size of the device being used, be it a smartphone, a tablet, or a computer monitor.

   The School's external-facing website was successfully renewed to:

   • modernize its interface
   • comply with Canada.ca web guidelines
   • respond to visitor feedback

   The School continued to work with Shared Services Canada on deploying wireless networks (GCWIFI) and increasing bandwidth capacity in the regional offices.

   Geographic accessibility

   To improve accessibility to public servants across the country, the School:

   • held learning weeks in all regions with locations outside the School's existing delivery sites, providing access to in-person training and professional development in remote areas or areas with limited budgets for travel
   • increased leadership and management learning offerings regionally, including piloting a new 3-day project management course in the Pacific region

   Linguistic duality

   The School responded to recommendations of the 2017 audit of the Commissioner of Official Languages. The majority of management actions are now complete, including:

   • establishing an Official Languages Action Plan, an Official Languages Standard for all business lines and employees, and a Guide to Official Languages Best Practices to support product design and development in both official languages
   • strengthening the language quality control process for learning product development
   • providing learners with the ability to receive training in the language of their choice by continuing to provide course offerings in both official languages in all regions, promoting linguistic duality

Under Section 18(2) of the Canada School of Public Service Act, any unspent revenue in a given fiscal year can be carried forward and spent in the following fiscal year. Part of this revenue carry-forward was spent to implement new activities in business lines, with the objective to develop a world-class public service that is equipped for the digital age.

The overall increase in full-time equivalents results from the creation of a new branch dedicated to promoting responsive, accessible learning in support of the Government of Canada's digital agenda and its objectives for innovation and experimentation.

Financial, human resources, and performance information for the Canada School of Public Service's Program Inventory is available in the GC InfoBase.

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
• Real Property Management Services

Results

To modernize and streamline its internal services, in 2018–19 the School:

• realigned its resources under 5 key business lines (Respectful and Inclusive Workplace, GC and Public Sector Skills, Indigenous Learning, Transferable Skills, and the Digital Academy)
• created a new Office of the Ombud, which includes a Workplace Well-being team and a Values and Ethics team

These organizational changes helped harmonize functions within the School and better align resources to deliver on key results.

The difference between "planned spending" and "actual spending" represents the amount that the School spent using its statutory authority to bring forward the unspent revenue from the previous year.

Increased Internal Services support was required due to the increased volume of activities under the main core responsibility and the launch and ramp-up of new activities.

Analysis of trends in spending and human resources

Actual expenditures

Departmental spending trend graph

Lower expenditures were recorded in 2017–18 after 3 years of major investments to implement the School's new business model. Actual spending increased in 2018–19 with the introduction of innovative services and new learning programs. While the School will continue to invest in its learning platform and pursue the development of its digital platform and innovative services, planned spending is expected to remain stable starting in 2020–21.

Actual human resources

The increase in full-time equivalents is primarily the result of the provision of services for the new branch and ongoing support provided by Internal Services related to these initiatives.

Expenditures by vote

For information on the Canada School of Public Service's organizational voted and statutory expenditures, consult the Public Accounts of Canada 2018–2019.

Government of Canada spending and activities

Information on the alignment of the Canada School of Public Service's spending with the Government of Canada's spending and activities is available in the GC InfoBase.

Financial statements and financial statements highlights

Financial statements

The Canada School of Public Service's financial statements (unaudited) for the year ended March 31, 2019, are available on the departmental website.

Financial statements highlights

Actual spending increased in 2018–19 due to higher operating expenses resulting from investments in a modernized and diversified curriculum and the ever-greening of information technology equipment.

Revenue decreased due to a change in the accounting treatment of funding received for the Executive Leadership Development Programs.

The increase in "Total net liabilities" is mainly due to the increased salary that remained unpaid at the end of the fiscal year and for which the due date has not yet occurred.

The increase in "Total net financial assets" is a result of increased cash requirements for higher liabilities.

The increase in "Total non-financial assets" reflects the acquisition of assets and the renovation of office space.

The overall net financial position of the School is better than the previous year due to the increase in non-financial assets, composed mainly of tangible capital assets.

Supplementary information

Corporate information

Organizational profile

Appropriate minister: The Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos, President of the Treasury Board

Institutional head: Taki Sarantakis, President

Ministerial portfolio: Treasury Board

Enabling instrument: Canada School of Public Service Act, S.C. 1991, c. 16

Year of incorporation / commencement: 2004

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 the Canada School of Public Service's website.

Raison d'être

The primary responsibility of the Canada School of Public Service is to provide a broad range of learning opportunities and to establish a culture of learning within the public service.

The School has one strategic outcome: Federal public service employees have the common knowledge, skills and competencies to fulfil their responsibilities in serving Canadians.

Mandate and role

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 was created on April 1, 2004, when the legislative provisions of Part IV of the Public Service Modernization Act came into force.

The School was created from an amalgamation of the following 3 organizations: the Canadian Centre for Management Development, Training and Development Canada, and Language Training Canada. It has been part of the Treasury Board Portfolio since July 2004.

Under the Canada School of Public Service Act, the School, as a departmental corporation, is mandated to:

• encourage pride and excellence in the public service
• foster a common sense of the purposes, values and traditions of the public service
• support the growth and development of public servants
• help ensure that public servants have the knowledge, skills and competencies they need to do their jobs effectively
• assist deputy heads in meeting the learning needs of their organization
• pursue excellence in public management

In this regard, the School acts much like a corporate training and development institution for the federal public service. It supports common public service learning at all levels nationwide and over 90 federal departments and agencies, allowing them to focus on delivering mandate-specific training and development.

For more general information about the department, see the "Supplementary information" section of this report.

For more information on the department's organizational mandate letter commitments, see the Ministers' mandate letters.

Operating context and key risks

Information on operating context and key risks is available on the Canada School of Public Service's website.

Operating context

To deliver on the Prime Minister's mandate for the President of the Treasury Board and Minister of Digital Government, the School promotes a culture of measurement, evaluation and innovation in its program design and delivery. The School also grounds its own decisions in meaningful data and indicators, allowing it to better monitor progress and pave the way for the results expected from a high-performing and professional public service.

Reflecting the whole-of-government scope of its mandate, the School provides common learning linked to government priorities, including renewed Indigenous relationships, digital government, diversity and inclusion, gender-based analysis plus, project management and healthy workplaces, among others. Its programming fosters public service excellence and supports the government's agenda.

The School is primarily funded by a stable base of appropriations, which is complemented by cost recovery.

In 2018–19, the School made several internal changes to maximize the organization's effectiveness and efficiency. More specifically, it revised its executive structure to improve the alignment of its learning program and internal services to fully support the collaborative development of innovative, agile and practical programs that address the key development requirements of public service employees.

To enhance its focus on key government and public service priorities and improve the learning experience for public servants, the School realigned its common curriculum into five new business lines:

• Respectful and Inclusive Workplace
• GC and Public Sector Skills
• Indigenous Learning
• Transferable Skills
• Digital Academy

As a result of this realignment, the School is better able to meet the common learning needs and expectations of the federal public service and support government priorities, while departments and agencies focus on delivering mandate-specific learning.

In 2018–19, the School's classroom curriculum was delivered by experts and leaders including 30 full-time national faculty members and more than 180 part-time associate faculty members from within the public service, providing pertinent and current learning experiences to learners.

The School continued to enhance its digital platform, GCcampus, which offers a wide range of learning opportunities to public servants anytime, anywhere and in both official languages. New technologies are making it possible for the School to begin transitioning to a paperless learning delivery model and to offer more learning products online, increasing access to learning for public servants.

The School regularly engages with client organizations by way of quarterly forums, as well as its GCcollab group and the Deputy Head community. These platforms provide client organizations with methods and opportunities to identify issues they might be facing. Further outreach was sought in 2018–19 through a series of consultation and engagement sessions with the School's key departmental client groups, including Points of Contact, Required Training Coordinators, the Heads of Learning Forum, the Human Resources Council and functional communities.

Key risks

The School designed and regularly monitored mitigation strategies to address the different levels of identified risk to ensure that its risk response adequately supported the organization's new business model, mandate and priorities.

Reporting Framework

The Canada School of Public Service Departmental Results Framework and Program Inventory of record for 2018–19 are shown below.

Departmental Results Framework and Program Inventory

Supporting information on the Program Inventory

Financial, human resources and performance information for the Canada School of Public Service's Program Inventory is available in the GC InfoBase.

Supplementary information tables

The following supplementary information table is available on the Canada School of Public Service's website:

• Gender-based analysis plus

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. This report also provides detailed background information on tax expenditures, including descriptions, objectives, historical information and references to related federal spending programs. The tax measures presented in this report are the responsibility of the Minister of Finance.

Organizational contact information

Telephone: 1-866-703-9598
Fax: 1-866-944-0454
Email: csps.registrar-registraire.efpc@canada.ca
Website: www.myschool-monecole.gc.ca

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)

A Departmental Result represents the change or changes 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)

Consists of the department's Core Responsibilities, Departmental Results and Departmental Result Indicators.

Departmental Results Report (rapport sur les résultats ministériels)

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

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 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 2018–19 Departmental Results Report, 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 initiatives (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 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 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 Strategic Outcome(s) or 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.

results (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.

Strategic Outcome (résultat stratégique)

A long term and enduring benefit to Canadians that is linked to the organization's mandate, vision and core functions.

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.

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