Public Service Commission: Open Government Implementation Plan

Table of Contents

• 1. Executive Summary
• 2. Approvals
• 3. Purpose
• 4. Context
• 5. Outcomes
• 6. Governance Structures and Decision Processes
  • 6.1 Roles and Responsibilities – Deputy Head and Information Management Senior Official
  • 6.2 Roles and Responsibilities – Key Stakeholders
  • 6.3 Communication, Awareness, and Engagement
• 7. Planning Table
  • Planning Table A: Directive on Open Government Requirements

1. Executive Summary

Canada has a longstanding 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.

The mandate of the Public Service Commission (PSC) is to promote and safeguard merit-based appointments and, in collaboration with other stakeholders, to protect the non-partisan nature of the public service. Under the delegated staffing system set out in the Public Service Employment Act (PSEA), the PSC fulfills its responsibilities by providing policy guidance and expertise, conducting effective oversight, delivering innovative staffing and assessment services, and reporting to Parliament on the performance of the staffing system and non-partisanship in the public service.

The key drivers for change at the Public Service Commission are to remain aligned with the core principles of the mandate of the Commission, by providing open data and information as it relates to the mandate and the information available to the Commission, not only in the areas where the Commission is already  publishing reports (such as the Annual Report to Parliament and the Survey on Staffing), but also where the data and information can support better decision-making, and information needs of Canadian citizens and other groups offering programs and support to Canadians.

The publication schedule for the annual update to the OGIP will be in line with the TBS calendar and at the same time as the MAF input, to ensure full alignment and same approval path.

The Public Service Commission sees great opportunity in continuing to open its data and information as it relates directly with its mandate to report on the application of the PSEA across the Government of Canada and support better decision-making to staffing delegates. The Commission is looking forward to continue proactively providing information that can enable self-regulation and continue to support HR planning, through the yearly planning cycles.

2. Approvals

3. Purpose

This document describes the Public Service Commission’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 March 31^st, 2020 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.

This document may also describe, if applicable, the institution’s plan to complete activities and deliverables aligned to one or more of the twelve commitments described in Canada’s Action Plan on Open Government 2014-16.

4. Context

The mandate of the Public Service Commission (PSC) is to promote and safeguard merit-based appointments and, in collaboration with other stakeholders, to protect the non-partisan nature of the public service. Under the delegated staffing system set out in the Public Service Employment Act (PSEA), the PSC fulfills its responsibilities by providing policy guidance and expertise, conducting effective oversight, delivering innovative staffing and assessment services, and reporting to Parliament on the performance of the staffing system and non-partisanship in the public service.

As of March 31, 2015, the Public Service Commission is comprised of 737 employees, of which 11 work in Nova Scotia (Halifax), 41 work in Quebec (Montreal), 663 work in the National Capital Region (Gatineau), 17 in Ontario (Toronto), and 5 in British Columbia (Vancouver)^{Footnote 1}.

The Public Service Commission is one of Shared Services Canada’s (SSC) partners. As such, the infrastructure components (network, data centre and telecommunications) are provided by SSC. The PSC maintains a portfolio of applications ranging from small to very large in scope, including the applications supporting all public service staffing (Public Service Resourcing System) and Priorities Management for Persons with Priority status. The Public Service Commission also provides services for testing, whether for entry-level or senior level personnel, some of which use the technology platforms. The technological environment is varied, and the organization is continuing its journey to rationalize legacy applications, and adopt GC Enterprise standards. Data is not yet consolidated in a single Enterprise Data Warehouse (EDW) however, there are plans to continue to include more data into the PSC EDW, which will facilitate collating and releasing of information for the purpose of Open Government / Open Data directive.

The Public Service Commission is the custodian of sensitive information about public servants, Persons with Priority status, investigations related to the application of the PSEA, appointments and other staffing-related data, etc. Given the level of sensitivity of this information, considerations of privacy will be paramount to the Commission’s strategy to release information to the public in order to ensure it meets its commitments and obligations, both from an OpenGovernment / OpenData standpoint, but as well from an information Stewardship standpoint.

The Public Service Commission sees great opportunity in continuing to open its data and information as it relates directly with its mandate to report on the application of the PSEA across the Government of Canada and support better decision-making to staffing delegates. The Commission is looking forward to continue proactively providing information that can enable self-regulation and continue to support HR planning, through the yearly planning cycles.

There will be a requirement to ensure the Commission publishes data in a way that is consistent with other departments reporting on shared subjects (either reporting on same / similar data, or owning part of the original datasets forming the Commission’s aggregated information). Part of the solution will be to clarify inclusions and exclusions, and basis for selection of the data and information being shared.

Establishing proper timing and frequency of updating datasets will be key to ensuring the Commission complies with the directive, while at the same time providing proper conditions to be able to answer public enquiries in a meaningful way.

5. Outcomes

• The Public Service Commission will contribute to the Government of Canada’s goal of transparency of institutional decisions and decision-making processes through providing staffing data and priorities management information to the Canadian public;
• These datasets can also contribute to not only providing valuable information to PSEA organizations and other programs aimed at supporting persons seeking employment in the public service (including veterans and Persons with Priority entitlement), but also allow for the development of targeted programs to assist specific groups in securing jobs within the Government of Canada.
• The release of information with regards to political activity will provide valuable information to the Canadian public with regards to public servant’s political activity and will contribute to strengthen Canadian citizen’s confidence in the Government of Canada and its employees.
• Release of datasets related to staffing will facilitate continuing monitoring the performance of the staffing system through raising awareness of current status of the staffing system, in terms of effectiveness, efficiency and fairness.
• It is expected that there will be efficiency gains in time by accessing the data directly and in a useable format in comparison with data released in the Annual Report and other aggregated reports.
• It is expected that release of regional distribution of public service jobs will contribute to improve transparency of the Government of Canada and will also contribute to various research on labour market and skills set required for government jobs

6. Governance Structures and Decision Processes

The following sub-sections describe the governance structures and decision processes that support open government and how those responsibilities are delegated and fulfilled within the institution.

7. Planning Table

Institutions to provide content based on the instructions in the Guidance on Using the Open Government Implementation Plan (OGIP) Template (including the deliverables and milestones listed in Annex A – Planning Table A Deliverables / Milestones).