Table of Contents
1. Executive Summary
Canada has a long-standing commitment to openness and accountability as a cornerstone of a strong, modern democracy. From the passing of access to information legislation over 30 years ago to current Open Government and proactive disclosure activities, the Government of Canada has worked to ensure transparency on federal operations to enable Canadians to hold their government accountable. The commitments included in Canada’s Action Plan on Open Government 2014-16 will further the progress on the delivery of transparent and accountable programs and services focused on the needs of Canadians.
The proactive release of data and information is the starting point for all other Open Government activity. Accordingly, the Government of Canada has firmly established an “open by default” position in its mandatory policy framework by issuing the Directive on Open Government .
Ever since the NFB was founded in 1939, one of its mandates has been to present all facets of Canadian life to Canadians and other nations through works in film and other media. The advent of the Internet has dramatically enhanced the agency’s ability to share Canadian realities by letting it distribute its inventory of 13,000 works via the Web and other platforms. In support of the Directive on Open Government, the NFB will continue its efforts to achieve sharing and transparency by making available to the public all data and information of business value that supports its mandate. The present implementation plan describes the objectives of this initiative, the challenges to be overcome, the factors for success, the expected results, and the steps to be followed to achieve them.
To make its data and business information open to the public, the NFB will have to meet some major cultural, organizational, and technical challenges. It will have to pay particular attention to information related to the works in its collection that are subject to laws protecting intellectual property. After conducting a complete inventory of its data and information, the NFB will have to change its processes so that these data and information can be extracted and published on the Open Government website. The agency has already implemented a Media Asset Management system and launched an information management project called Eureka that will help it meet the objective of providing services that are open by default to the Canadian public.
The NFB’s openness efforts will produce results that support two of the five objectives of the agency’s 2013-2018 Strategic Plan:
- To increase the presence, awareness and impact of the NFB’s works by enhancing meaningful relationships with Canadians and world audiences. The development of an open dialogue with citizens will be an opportunity to establish a meaningful relationship and engage with the Canadian public and our various clienteles.
- To transform the organizational structure into a fluid, dynamic, evolving organism that enhances its ability to work and create differently. Openness of data and information will help to promote collaboration and synergy.
To achieve these results, the NFB will put new governance structures in place, along with new decision-making and monitoring processes. In particular, the NFB’s Information Management Senior Official will be responsible for ensuring progress on its Open Government Implementation Plan. This official will be supported by two committees—the Steering Committee and the OGAccess committee—that will assist him in making data and information open, as well as in protecting personal privacy and lifting access restrictions. A communication plan will also be put in place to make NFB employees aware of the open-by-default policy and enlist their support for it.
The NFB’s Open Government Implementation Plan (OGIP) will be carried out over a period extending through March 2020 so that all of the steps required by the Directive on Open Government can be completed. Progress on these efforts will be reviewed annually so that the plan can be adjusted as necessary.
2. Approvals
Luisa Frate
Information Management Senior Official
Finance, Operations and Technology Division
National Film Board of Canada
Date
Marie Josée Drouin
Director, Information Management
Finance, Operations and Technology Division
National Film Board of Canada
Date
Claude Joli-Coeur
Government Film Commissioner and Chairperson
National Film Board of Canada
Date
3. Purpose
This document describes the National Film Board’s plan to complete activities and deliverables aligned to the requirements of the Directive on Open Government, in order to achieve full compliance by the implementation deadline.
The objective of the Directive is to maximize the release of government information and data of business value to support transparency, accountability, citizen engagement, and socio-economic benefits through reuse, subject to applicable restrictions associated with privacy, confidentiality, and security (Directive on Open Government, Section 5.1).
The expected results of the Directive on Open Government (Section 5.2) are that Canadians are able to find and use Government of Canada information and data:
- to support accountability;
- to facilitate value-added analysis;
- to drive socio-economic benefits through reuse; and,
- to support meaningful engagement with their government.
4. Context
4.1 Mandate, Vision and Mission
The NFB is recognized as one of the world’s great creative laboratories. As Canada’s public producer and distributor, it produces and distributes distinctive, relevant and innovative audiovisual works.
The NFB’s productions offer special insight into the diversity and vitality of Canadian culture and are an essential part of Canada’s national cultural heritage. The NFB works in collaboration with emerging and established filmmakers, creators, and co-producers in every region of Canada, as well as with Aboriginal and culturally diverse communities and with partners around the world. Its international successes have garnered Canadian filmmaking unrivalled attention worldwide, affirming the excellence of the NFB’s offerings. Since its founding in 1939, the NFB has created over 13,000 productions and won over 5,000 awards, including 8 Webbys, 14 Canadian Screen Awards, 12 Oscars and more than 90 Genies. Its creators continue to break new ground in both the form and content of documentaries, animated films and multiplatform digital projects, as well as in digital and 3D animation.
To reach Canadians on the platforms of their choice, the NFB has embraced a variety of channels: digital delivery for Web-based streaming, compressed digital files for mobile devices, DVD, e-cinema, and more. We’re harnessing new technologies and reinventing how media is created and shared, while making our vast archives more accessible than ever.
NFB productions are accessible to Canadians everywhere, in both official languages. Our online Screening Room, NFB.ca, provides instant access to NFB productions and video on demand (VOD) channels showing the finest in Canadian and international independent fiction films and point-of-view documentaries. In addition, our works are featured on television, in theatres, and at public libraries and community-based screenings across the country.
For decades, the NFB has also been a trusted supplier of educational content to schools. Millions of Canadian students benefit from our productions each year through CAMPUS, our online educational portal.
The NFB produces in both official languages through its English and French Programs, which comprise several production studios, each headed by an executive producer. Its films are made by independent staff and directors in the various regions of Canada. The NFB has eleven production centres across Canada: Montreal, Toronto, Moncton, Halifax, St. John’s, Winnipeg, Regina, Edmonton and Vancouver.
The NFB has established an effective distribution network with partners in both the public sector (public and school libraries) and the private sector (distributors, cataloguers, movie theatre chains, video retail outlets, etc.) in order to provide access to its audiovisual works in all provinces and territories of Canada. Additionally, the NFB acts as a distributor abroad.
The NFB in the Context of the Federal Government and the Audiovisual Industry
The NFB is not one of the 43 partner departments of Shared Services Canada, but does strive for the economies of scale and efficiencies provided by the shared government services that are available to it, notably by using the shared travel reservations system and by being one of the first organizations to request the use of the My Government of Canada Human Resources system.
The NFB also has an atypical status among Government of Canada departments and agencies, because its primary mandate is not to administer programs but to produce and distribute audiovisual works. The audiovisual production industry is subject to a number of laws regarding copyright and intellectual and artistic property. The production of an audiovisual work involves contributions from numerous partners, artists, and artisans who grant usage licences to the NFB. For example, even if a film is produced by the NFB, its components are not the property of the NFB. The status of NFB productions in terms of government information of business value that can be made open is a complex issue that must be considered carefully.
4.2 Challenges and Responses with Respect to Open Government
Challenges with Respect to Open Government
Implementing the concept of data and information that are open by default represents a major change in the agency’s processes and involves meeting several challenges.
The first challenge is primarily technological. It consists in completing the inventory of the NFB’s data and information and integrating its information systems. This initiative was begun several years ago, when the NFB first undertook its digital shift. As a result, the NFB has implemented numerous methods of processing digital media and information for the production of audiovisual works. The NFB has also implemented new information systems for managing digital assets, but some of its data are still maintained on its legacy systems, and the process of migrating these data must be completed in order to make them accessible to the public.
The second challenge concerns the NFB’s organizational culture. The NFB must encourage an organizational culture that recognizes the importance of information as a strategic resource. This resource must be evaluated from the standpoints both of organizational security and protection of privacy. The NFB must also establish an environment that is conducive to sharing data and information with the Canadian public. The NFB must strike the right balance among information protection, information sharing, information security, and the transparency of its governance mechanisms to the Canadian public.
The NFB must not neglect the efforts necessary to identify and classify information of business value, in particular information related to its core audiovisual production mandate and the works in its collection that are subject to laws on intellectual and artistic property. The decision whether or not to make certain information open can have major consequences for the NFB’s operating methods.
Lastly, the NFB must allocate the human and financial resources needed to carry out the open data and information project activities concurrently with many other priorities, without compromising its ability to fulfill its mandate.
The NFB will have to establish working groups to consider how to overcome these challenges and promote communication, across all parts and at all levels of the organization, about the importance of open information management. Throughout this project, training and briefing sessions will be provided at all levels to establish mechanisms for making data and information open.
Responses with Respect to Open Government
NFB.ca and the NFB digitization plan
The 13,000 audiovisual works that the NFB has produced over the past 75 years and more constitute the agency’s most important business assets. For this reason, in 2008, we launched a major project to digitize these works and make them available to as many people as possible on the Web and other digital platforms. We have not yet completed this task, because we keep striving to take advantage of new technologies and because we are using digitization as an opportunity to restore certain major works so that we can always offer them with the best possible quality. But we have already made some 3,500 titles available to the Canadian public in digital form. We will continue this project by adding new content to our online screening platform and by offering new ways of accessing this content.
Media Asset Management system
The NFB has recently implemented a new system for managing media content. It is known as the Media Asset Management (MAM) system, and it comprises several modules, including:
- the Works Management System (WMS), which catalogues all of the bibliographic metadata on the NFB’s cinematographic works;
- the Media Information System (MIS), which stores all of the technical metadata regarding these works;
- Telescope, which provides a user-friendly interface for consulting the metadata and viewing the media stored (videos, posters, photos, graphic elements, etc.).
These systems are integrated with our online and mobile viewing platform, NFB.ca. This new media information management platform will enable the NFB to extract information resources of business value for posting on the Open Government portal.
Eureka project
The NFB has undertaken various projects to comply with the Directive on Recordkeeping, under the umbrella project name Eureka. Through the Eureka project, we have already identified some of the NFB’s information resources of business value and some of the locations where this information is stored throughout the NFB, and have begun to analyze our work processes and information flows. All of these activities will continue over the coming years and have already provided a strong foundation for the NFB’s ongoing Open Government initiatives.
4.3 Critical Factors for Success
The critical factors for the successful execution of the OGIP include:
- having clear, sustainable management and governance to provide the guidance and support needed to meet the NFB’s Open Government obligations;
- adapting the ways that the NFB performs its tasks so that the concept of open by default becomes the natural way of designing and delivering its services to the Canadian public;
- securing the financial and human resources needed to fund and support the activities required for the execution of the OGIP;
- providing the training needed to modify the NFB’s business processes and adopt appropriate technologies to produce data and information that are open by default.
5. Outcomes
5.1 Contribution to Open Government Outcomes
-
Like all federal departments and agencies, the NFB has already established certain processes to ensure transparency and proactive accountability, such as disclosing the Commissioner’s travel expenses and all contracts worth over $10,000, and posting on our website the access to information requests that we receive. The agency will continue these activities while publishing all of its business data and information. Our commitment to Open Government is part and parcel of the federal government’s efforts to maximize the release of information and data of business value to support transparent decision-making and accountability within our agency. We also hope to engage citizens by enabling them to reuse the agency’s business data and information, subject to the applicable restrictions to protect privacy, confidentiality, and security.
Because the NFB operates in the cultural sphere, the agency will also participate in the government’s efforts to sensitize the public to the concepts of copyright and intellectual property.
5.2 Vision and Strategic Orientations
The NFB’s strategic vision is to become a major player in the global media landscape. We know that our industry is undergoing profound transformations and that our success depends on our ability to adapt, to evolve, and to project ourselves boldly and ambitiously into the future. To do so, the NFB has established the following five major orientations that will guide its actions in the coming years, as set out in the 2015-2016 Action Plan presented by the Government Film Commissioner and Chairperson of the National Film Board, to operationalize the NFB’s 2013-2018 Strategic Plan:
- Consolidate the NFB’s financial capacity;
- Work together;
- Strengthen our leadership;
- Increase work outreach and the NFB’s engagement;
- Take advantage of our assets.
In the context of the government’s commitment to an open dialogue with citizens, the NFB has always maintained a close relationship with the Canadian public. The fourth major orientation in the NFB’s action plan is intended to strengthen this relationship by developing an active dialogue with the public.
Works produced by the NFB have often given Canadian minorities the opportunity to express the situations that they experience, and Canadian citizens in general the chance to express their opinions about common causes. Whether or not one agrees with their directors’ viewpoints, NFB works make people think and they encourage social engagement and societal debate. The NFB will put tools in place to pursue this dialogue with the Canadian public around our works and major current issues in society and public affairs. Since 2008, by employing the technology of the Internet to produce interactive works and present artistic installations, and by making increasingly extensive use of social media, the NFB has given itself the tools it needs to build a two-way dialogue with Canadians.
The second major orientation, Work together,specifically addresses the objectives of Open Government by striving to optimize internal information management systems and present our institutional data (including costs, revenues, audiences, users, and assets) on an integrated platform.
The benefits of the NFB’s initiatives will include internal optimization of our processes for managing data and information, ensuring greater transparency in all decisions that the agency makes. The dialogue opened with citizens will bring creators and their audiences even closer together, leading to the creation of works that reflect the subjects of interest to the Canadian public and thus further affirm the NFB as an essential cultural institution in Canadian society.
6. Governance Structures and Decision Processes
The following subsections describe the governance structures and decision processes that support Open Government at the NFB and the way that the associated responsibilities are delegated and fulfilled.
6.1 Roles and Responsibilities – Deputy Head and Information Management Senior Official
The governance of the NFB’s Open Government Implementation Plan (OGIP) is informed by the responsibilities identified for the Information Management Senior Official (IMSO) and Deputy Head (DH) in sections 6 (Requirements), 7 (Monitoring and Reporting Requirements), and 8 (Consequences) of the Directive on Open Government.
Role |
Responsibilities |
---|---|
Deputy Head (DH) |
The Deputy Head (the Commissioner) is responsible for:
|
Information Management Senior Official (IMSO) |
The Information Management Senior Official (IMSO) designated by the Deputy Head is responsible for:
In terms of monitoring and reporting requirements, the Information Management Senior Official (IMSO) designated by the Deputy Head (the Commissioner) is responsible for:
|
Open Government Governance and Information Management at the NFB
Role |
Responsibilities |
---|---|
Steering CommitteeFootnote 1 |
The Steering Committee, chaired by the IMSO, includes representatives of all of the NFB’s divisions, and its responsibilities include:
|
Chief Information Officer (CIO) |
The Chief Information Officer (CIO) is responsible for:
|
OGAccess CommitteeFootnote 2 |
The OGAccess Committee, chaired by the Chief Information Officer (CIO) is composed of the departmental security officer (DSO), legal services representatives, functional specialists in IM, the access to information and privacy (ATIP) coordinator, and the Information Technology Security Coordinator (ITSC). Its primary responsibilities are as follows:
|
Approach to and Governance of the NFB OGIP
The NFB’s initiatives with regard to Open Government are derived from an analysis of the commitments in Canada’s Action Plan on Open Government 2014-16 and the requirements of the Treasury Board Secretariat Management Accountability Framework. As shown in Figure 3, the Chief Information Officer (CIO) uses this analysis to develop a first draft of the NFB’s Open Government Implementation Plan (OGIP), consults the OGAccess Committee and the Steering Committee concerning it, then has it validated by the Information Management Senior Official (IMSO) before recommending its adoption by the Deputy Head.
The NFB OGIP will be updated annually through a process of consultation with representatives of the various administrative units and governance bodies. This feedback cycle enables the open data and information project activities to be monitored.
Process for Approving and Publishing NFB OGIP Deliverables
As shown in Figure 4, once all of the NFB’s divisions have prepared their data and information inventories, the Steering Committee, in collaboration with the OGAccess Committee, will analyze them and determine which OG deliverables should be given priority for publication in accordance with the OG requirements shown in the Planning Table in section 7. All of these deliverables must then be approved by the Chief Information Officer (CIO) before they are published on the Open Government portal (open.canada.ca).
6.2 Roles and Responsibilities – Key Stakeholders
Role |
Responsibilities |
---|---|
Every Division |
|
IM/IT |
Coordinating and measuring Open Government performance
Managing standards and communications
Quality assurance
Publishing on and administering the Open Government portal
Security
|
HR |
|
Communications |
|
Purchasing |
|
Financial and Administrative Management |
|
Marketing |
|
Access to Information and Privacy (ATIP) Coordinator |
|
Legal Services |
|
6.3 Communication, Awareness, and Engagement
THE NFB plans to conduct communication, awareness, and engagement activities that will support the execution of its Open Government Implementation Plan (OGIP) and facilitate the cultural changes necessary to implement Open Government at the NFB.
A communication plan will be prepared in 2015-2016 to clarify and define the activities to be carried out and the strategies to be used to raise employees’ awareness of the NFB’s OGIP and engage them in executing it.
7. Planning Tables
The NFB plans to makes its data and information open over a time horizon starting in October 2014 and ending in March 2020, and divided into five years as follows:
- Year 1: to .
- Year 2: to .
- Year 3: to .
- Year 4: to .
- Year 5: to .
The Steering Committee and the OGAccess Committee are composed of employees from the NFB’s various administrative units. Depending on the workload that these two committees have to handle, some units may have to hire people to meet these needs. The NFB will specify the human and financial resource requirements during the annual review and update of this timetable.
Reference |
Compliance Requirement |
Deliverables/Milestones |
Responsibility |
Activities |
Start Date |
End Date |
Human and Financial Resources |
Progress Status |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
DOG 6.1 |
Maximizing the release of Government of Canada open data (structured data) and open information (unstructured documents and multimedia assets) under an open and unrestrictive licence designated by the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat. |
NFB's Data Release Plan. |
CIO |
|
Year 2 |
Year 3 |
|
Not begun |
NFB's Information Release Plan. |
CIO |
|
Year 3 |
Year 4 |
|
Not begun |
||
DOG 6.2 |
Ensuring that open data and open information are released in accessible and reusable formats via Government of Canada websites and services designated by the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat. |
Listing of accessible and reusable formats (for data and information) to be used at the NFB. |
CIO |
|
Year 2 |
Year 2 |
|
Not begun |
Conversion process(es) for data identified for release whose native format is not accessible and reusable. |
CIO |
|
Year 2 |
Year 5 |
|
Not begun |
||
Conversion process(es) for information identified for release whose native format is not accessible and reusable. |
CIO |
|
Year 3 |
Year 5 |
|
Not begun |
||
Release process to support the publication of NFB's data. |
IMSO |
|
Year 3 |
Year 5 |
|
Not begun |
||
Release process to support the publication of NFB's information. |
IMSO |
|
Year 4 |
Year 5 |
|
Not begun |
||
DOG 6.3 |
Establishing and maintaining comprehensive inventories of data and information resources of business value held by the department to determine their eligibility and priority, and to plan for their effective release. |
Methodology for establishing a data inventory. |
CIO |
|
Year 1 |
Year 2 |
|
In progress |
Methodology for establishing an information inventory. |
CIO |
|
Year 1 |
Year 3 |
|
In progress |
||
Data inventory (detailed, itemized list(s) that describe the volume, scope and complexity of the data held by the NFB). |
CIO |
|
Year 1 |
Year 2 |
|
Not begun |
||
Information inventory (detailed, itemized list(s) that describe the volume, scope and complexity of the information held by the NFB). |
CIO |
|
Year 2 |
Year 3 |
|
Not begun |
||
Renewal process(es) to maintain the currency of the NFB's data inventory. |
CIO |
|
Year 3 |
Year 5 |
|
Not begun |
||
Renewal process(es) to maintain the currency of the NFB's information inventory. |
CIO |
|
Year 4 |
Year 5 |
|
Not begun |
||
Assets included in the data inventory are evaluated to determine their eligibility and priority for release. |
CIO |
|
Year 2 |
Year 2 |
|
Not begun |
||
Assets included in the information inventory are evaluated to determine their eligibility and priority for release. |
CIO |
|
Year 3 |
Year 3 |
|
Not begun |
||
DOG 6.4 |
Developing, posting to the designated website, implementing, and annually updating the departmental Open Government Implementation Plan (OGIP). |
Governance structures are in place to oversee the implementation of the NFB's OGIP. |
IMSO |
|
Year 1 |
Year 1 |
|
In progress |
NFB's Open Government Implementation Plan (OGIP). |
IMSO |
|
Year 1 |
Year 1 |
|
Not begun |
||
Signatures in section 2 (Approvals) of the NFB's OGIP. |
IMSO |
|
Year 1 |
Year 1 |
|
Not begun |
||
NFB's OGIP is staffed and funded. |
IMSO |
|
Year 2 |
Year 5 |
|
Not begun |
||
Monitoring and reporting processes for assessing progress and maintaining the currency of the NFB's OGIP. |
CIO |
|
Year 2 |
Year 5 |
|
Not begun |
||
NFB's first annual update to the OGIP. |
IMSO |
|
Year 2 Q4 |
Year 2 Q4 |
|
Not begun |
||
NFB's second annual update to the OGIP. |
IMSO |
|
Year 3 Q4 |
Year 3 Q4 |
|
Not begun |
||
NFB's third annual update to the OGIP. |
IMSO |
|
Year 4 Q4 |
Year 4 Q4 |
|
Not begun |
||
NFB's fourth annual update to the OGIP. |
IMSO |
|
Year 5 Q4 |
Year 5 Q4 |
|
Not begun |
||
DOG 6.5 |
Maximizing the removal of access restrictions on departmental information resources of enduring value prior to transfer to Library and Archives Canada as part of planned disposition activities. |
Methodology for the removal of access restrictions from data and information resources of enduring value prior to their transfer to the LAC. |
CIO |
|
Year 3 |
Year 4 |
|
Not begun |
Methodology for the removal of access restrictions from data and information resources of enduring value prior to their transfer to the LAC is integrated into the NFB's disposition plans and procedures. |
IMSO |
|
Year 3 |
Year 4 |
|
Not begun |
||
DOG 6.6 |
Ensuring that the above Open Government requirements are integrated into any new plans for procuring, developing, or modernizing departmental information applications, systems, or solutions in support of the delivery of programs and services. |
Governance structures are in place to ensure that the requirements of the Directive on Open Government are integrated into any new plans for procuring, developing, or modernizing departmental information applications, systems, or solutions. |
CIO |
|
Year 1 |
Year 2 |
|
Not begun |
Directive on Open Government requirements are integrated into the NFB's procurement process(es) for information applications, systems, and solutions, |
Director, |
|
Year 2 |
Year 2 |
|
Not begun |
||
Directive on Open Government requirements are integrated into the NFB's development process(es) for information applications, systems, and solutions |
CIO |
|
Year 1 |
Year 5 |
|
Not begun |
||
Directive on Open Government requirements are integrated into the NFB's modernizing process(es) for information applications, systems, and solutions. |
CIO |
|
Year 1 |
Year 5 |
|
Not begun |
||
DOG 7.1 |
Departmental information management senior officials, as designated by the deputy heads, are responsible for overseeing the implementation and monitoring of this directive in their departments. |
Performance framework for the monitoring of the NFB's progress against the activities and deliverables / milestones in the OGIP. |
CIO |
|
Year 1 |
Year 5 |
|
Not begun |
Progress against the activities and deliverables / milestones in the OGIP is regularly reported to the governance structures in place to oversee the implementation. |
CIO |
|
Year 1 |
Year 5 |
|
Not begun |
||
Performance framework for the monitoring of the NFB's ongoing compliance to the requirements of the Directive. |
IMSO |
|
Year 1 |
Year 5 |
|
Not begun |
||
Process to ensure significant difficulties, gaps in performance, or compliance issues are reported to the Deputy Head (DH). |
IMSO |
|
Year 1 |
Year 5 |
|
Not begun |