ARCHIVED - Royal Canadian Mounted Police

• Previous Page
• Table of Contents
• Next Page

This page has been archived.

Section IV – Other Items of Interest

Corporate Areas

Corporate Management and Comptrollership (CM&C)

As the RCMP’s functional authority for finance, assets and procurements, CM&C provides a framework of policies, procedures, systems and services to help ensure accountability for financial and asset resources entrusted to managers across the RCMP.

In 2007-2008, there was a continued emphasis across the RCMP on ethics, values and on transparency, openness, accountability and sound stewardship of resources.

Expenditure Control Framework

The management reallocation model was developed, in consultation with the Senior Executive Committee (SEC) Finance Sub-committee, to provide the RCMP with a strategy based reallocation program, rather than reliance on carry-forward funds to address internal pressures. In addition, the process for Treasury Board of Canada (TBS) submissions was further strengthened and work was also carried out to reinforce robust account verification through the development of a standardized account verification process, escalation procedures for non-compliance cases and identification of systems requirements in support of account verification. Further work in this area will continue in 2008-2009.

Live within the Rules

Within the Contract Quality Assurance Program, 45 pre-contract reviews and 350 post-contract reviews were conducted. Reviews of regional procurement units, including Contract Quality Assurance functions, were carried out in the Pacific, Northwest, Atlantic and Central Regions. The terms of reference of the Contract Review Committee were refined and membership expanded to include regional and operational representation. Further development of the Asset Quality Management Framework and associated policy were undertaken and a review of financial and contract management activities for identified Chief Information Officer units was also carried out.

Major Crown Projects

We continue to provide leadership in the management and progressive implementation of major crown projects across the Force in full collaboration with Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC). Significant progress in 2007-2008 included:

• National Headquarters relocation to 3000 Merivale Road (Ottawa, ON) – phased relocation of 3,500 employees to a large, modern facility ongoing with a projected completion date of April 2011

Major Crown Projects include:

• “H” Division HQ (Dartmouth, NS ) – ongoing with a projected completion date of first quarter 2012
• “E” Division Regional HQ (Surrey, BC) – ongoing with a projected completion date beyond 2012-2013
• Pacific Regional Training Centre (Chilliwack, BC) – program development underway
• Connaught Range (Ottawa, ON) – ongoing with projected completion date of 2009-2010
• Ongoing projects at the Canadian Police College (Ottawa, ON)
• Completed projects include:
  • The Innisfail Kennels (Innisfail, AB)
  • Pakenham Breeding Farm (Pakenham, ON)

Completed capital construction and upgrades to “Depot” Division’s training facilities during 2007-2008 included:

• Construction of a new indoor shooting range and upgrades to the existing range
• Expansion of the fitness gym
• Installation of temporary dorms to house the increased number of cadets in training
• Installation of driving and shooting training simulators

For 2008-2009, planned projects at “Depot” Division include:

• Continued construction of the new dining hall
• Improvements to water, electrical and drainage systems
• Lifecycle upgrades to the drill hall and refit of the former
• Museum into additional classroom and training space

Program Activity Architecture

The RCMP’s Program Activity Architecture was streamlined through the elimination of certain lower level elements and the remapping of others to more appropriate higher level activities. In addition, in collaboration with the Strategic Policy and Planning Directorate (SPPD), work has begun to redefine the RCMP’s strategic outcomes and to describe a structure that better reflects the program outcomes of the organization for use in describing and collecting performance information, effective fiscal year 2010-2011.

Corporate Systems Integration

The Corporate Systems Integration (CSI) Project successfully completed Phase I during 2007-2008. The four areas of work underway to integrate resource management and support police service delivery are:

• PeopleSoft migration from Version 8.0 to 8.9 – planning and high level requirements fit analyses have been completed.
• Human Resources business processes are being re-examined and re-engineered where applicable in conjunction with the Human Resource Business Transformation team.
• A Total Expenditure Asset Management (TEAM) prototype is being developed to demonstrate enhanced functionality to address operational support for the RCMP and improve costing and processing ability.
• Bridging/interfacing requirements for systems are being examined to link financial, asset and human resources information to the greatest extent possible, looking towards reducing and/or eliminating duplication of effort.

Contaminated Sites

A national plan to address contaminated sites was initiated in 2007-2008 and will be completed by 2010-2011. In 2007-2008, the RCMP received $5M in Federal Contaminated Sites funding. To date, more than 350 site assessments were completed along with complex remediation work at nine sites.

Internal Audit, Evaluation and National Review Services (NRS)

A key element of the governance structure of the RCMP includes the provision of strategic, high quality and professional internal audit; program evaluation; national review services; the development/implementation of policies, standards, tools and procedures; and annual and long-term risk-based audit/evaluation plans serve to support government-wide and Force priorities.

Progress made

Internal Audit

Internal Audit continued to provide assurance services on risk management, control and governance processes, consistent with the International Standards for the Practice of Internal Audit and Treasury Board Policy.

Our ability to deliver on our risk-based plan is contingent on the availability of sufficient numbers of qualified, experienced internal audit staff. We have experienced numerous challenges in this area as we compete with other government departments for a dwindling pool of candidates.

A new Treasury Board Policy on Internal Audit came into effect on April 1, 2006. The implementation of this new policy is a multi-year initiative requiring additional resources, a carefully planned transition and monitoring of results. In 2007-2008, the following elements of the policy have been addressed:

• The establishment of an independent audit committee with members drawn from outside the federal government. In January 2008, the RCMP Audit and Evaluation Committee approved plans to implement an independent audit committee comprised of external members as per Treasury Board Policy. We are currently working to complete our needs assessment that will then lead to the validation of the required competencies for committee members.
• An increased role for the audit committee. The audit committee is now more actively monitoring managements’ actions plans in response to audit recommendations. The Committee accepts and implements the RCMP’s holistic view on risk management, internal controls and governance that is required as per the new Internal Audit Policy from TBS.
• The provision of an annual holistic opinion on the adequacy and effectiveness of risk management, control and governance processes. For 2008-2009, the first opinion will be limited to the RCMP’s effectiveness at implementing risk management in accordance with the integrated risk management framework published by TBS.
• The inclusion of audits in departmental internal audit plans identified by the Comptroller General as part of government-wide or sectoral coverage. Included in the risk-based audit plan update in June 2008 is the horizontal audit by the Office of the Comptroller General on Contracting Information Systems and Monitoring. Yet to be determined are the scope, objectives and required internal audit resources.

Evaluation

In June 2007, an updated Risk-Based Evaluation Plan, for the period April 2007 – March 2009, was approved by the RCMP Audit and Evaluation Committee and focused on those evaluations required to fulfill TBS funding decisions.

Throughout 2007-2008, the Evaluation Directorate has focused on increasing internal evaluation capacity and implementing the Evaluation Plan. As of March 31, 2008, 39% of the evaluation projects included in the Risk-Based Evaluation Plan were on budget and on plan. A shortage of experienced evaluators has had a negative impact on meeting the plan’s expectations.

With a new Treasury Board Policy of Evaluation expected to come into effect in 2008-2009, the volume of evaluation services to be provided to the RCMP by the Directorate is anticipated to increase significantly over the next three years. To address this pressure, during 2007-2008 the Evaluation Directorate continued to increase staffing levels and has reached a current complement of eight evaluation personnel. Additionally, the Evaluation Directorate applied internally to the RCMP Senior Executive Committee (SEC) Finance Sub-Committee for a 2008-2009 funding allocation to meet increased demand. Re-allocation approval for $450,000 has been received for fiscal year 2008-2009, which will be used to further supplement staffing levels.

In 2007-2008, the Evaluation Directorate initiated and completed evaluations on the Balanced Scorecard and Forensic Imaging Services. Numerous other evaluations began in 2006-2007, are currently in the final stage of completion and should be ready for submission to the RCMP Audit and Evaluation Committee on June 12, 2008 including: the Integrated National Security Enforcement Teams (INSET): Source Development Units (SDU), the Full Potential Program; and Shiprider II. Several other evaluations began in 2007-2008 and are ongoing in 2008-2009 including the Canadian Firearms Program, the RCMP Reserve Program and the Critical Infrastructure Protection Program. The Evaluation Directorate will continue to provide independent and objective evaluation services to the RCMP that are consistent with TB’s Standards on Evaluation.

National Review Services (NRS)

National Review Services (formerly known as Management Review and Quality Assurance) is working to ensure that accountability and professionalism exists at all levels of the RCMP. To accomplish this goal, NRS serves as a policy centre and is responsible for two RCMP quality assurance programs: Management Review (MR) and Unit Level Quality Assurance (ULQA).

Integrated Risk Management (IRM) has been included and is functioning in the ULQA portion of the Annual Performance Plan System (APPS). IRM is included on the Management Review (MR) course. Additionally, IRM will be integrated into the MR report tracking system.

ULQA, as part of the APPS, is now in its second year and has improved functionality and reliability and is providing additional data for trend analysis. Unit managers, nationally, are able to use this system for all phases of ULQA.

NRS involvement is ongoing at National Headquarters (NHQ) in relation to ULQA and MR implementation.

Strategic Policy and Planning Directorate (SPPD)

Strategic Policy

The Strategic Policy Unit is responsible for a range of activities including:

• Coordinating and stewarding Cabinet documents and processes for the organization – The Unit provides support to policy centres in the drafting of Cabinet documents including: providing feedback on drafts; communicating and interacting with Central Agencies; facilitating meetings at both the interdepartmental and Central Agency level; and, ensuring that all relevant internal (e.g., Legal, Human Resources) and external partners are engaged in all steps of the policy development process. The Unit, which acts as the primary point of contact for Public Safety Canada and all other Government Departments as it pertains to Cabinet business, also coordinates RCMP input to Cabinet documents prepared by our Portfolio partners or other government Departments and Agencies, as well as ensures representation at key meetings. Additionally, the unit is responsible for facilitating meetings of Senior Management for the purposes of identifying RCMP priorities for Cabinet business and preparing weekly updates on the status of relevant Cabinet and Parliamentary business.
• Providing policy advice and support on a range of issues impacting the organization – This past year, the Unit was tasked with providing support to the Senior Executive in its interactions with the Task Force on Governance and Cultural Change in the RCMP. This support involved the research and analysis of issues relating to governance, oversight mechanisms and machinery of government. The Unit is also providing direct support to the RCMP’s Change Management Team (CMT) as it coordinates the implementation of the RCMP’s Transformation Agenda.

Strategic Planning and Performance Management

The RCMP continues to consider strategic planning as essential. As such, we continue to work within a structured planning cycle. Our planning cycle continues to have three significant periods. The first review in late Spring re-affirmed our five current national strategic priorities, ensuring the organization continued to focus on them. The second review provides the organization an opportunity to gauge progress and make adjustments as required. The third review in late winter allows the organization to ensure both operational and strategic directions are appropriate.

Performance Management System

In the Fall of 2006, the RCMP implemented Annual Performance Plans (APP, formerly known as Detachment/Unit Performance Plans (DPP/UPP)) across the organization, at the detachment and operational unit level, to ensure consistent application of performance management principles throughout the organization. Over the last year, 1,192 plans were created to address issues that were considered a priority to the communities we police and to our detachments and units across the country. During 2007-2008, the Performance Management Unit of SPPD focused efforts on training and improving the APP electronic application. During the past year, the focus has been on training middle managers and senior managers at the divisional level, in addition to the ongoing support provided to users in the divisions. The functional improvements of the application resulted in a higher level of satisfaction among users in the field and improved data input. It has contributed to an increased ability to assess key risks impacting detachments and units across the Force, which will increase our capacity in the business planning process.

In 2008-2009, we will continue to enhance our training and the development of the electronic application in the area of performance management. We will work toward integrating the Annual Performance Plan process into the Management Development Program to ensure long-term sustainability and understanding of the process for new managers.

Integrated Risk Management

Integrated Risk Management continues to be in the forefront of the RCMP’s Performance Management philosophy. The RCMP now utilizes integrated risk assessment principles when conducting unit level quality assurance processes as part of the Annual Performance Plan methodology.

The RCMP implemented the Risk Register application in July 2007. It is intended to assist managers in understanding, documenting and monitoring the most critical risks impacting their area of responsibility and the objectives they set out to achieve. The Risk Register brings consistency to the consideration of corporate risk and will help the organization better collect, analyze and apply risk related information.

Business Planning

In 2007-2008, the planning unit drafted policy for business planning and performance management in the RCMP. To complement the policy, the unit produced a Planning and Performance Management Guide which has been published on the internal website. The guide offers planning units across the organization a tool to enable standardization of the planning function.

Core Surveys

Core Surveys of Canadians, clients, partners and stakeholders were conducted in February 2008 supplying the survey metrics used by managers to assess progress against their objectives. The results were also used to determine areas that may require improvement and were made available on both the external and internal websites. For more information on Surveys visit:
www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/surveys/index-main_e.htm

Integrated Operations Support

Following the recommendations made in the report on the Task Force on Governance and Cultural Change in the RCMP, the SPPD commissioned the Institute On Governance (IOG) to “provide strategic advice to the Commissioner and the Senior Executive Committee (SEC)” regarding governance. The subsequent report focused on the roles and responsibilities of SEC and its secretariat. Recommendations were made to increase the effectiveness of SEC by including the Integrated Operations Support (IOS) unit in the future role of the SEC Secretariat. It is expected that this amalgamation will streamline the business process and increase effectiveness of the secretariat. IOS has engaged in discussions with Executive Services and Ministerial Liaison (ES&ML) to amalgamate.

Public Security and Anti-Terrorism

The Public Security and Anti Terrorism initiative is now referred to as the Public Security Initiatives as a result of a decision by TBS in 2007-2008.

During 2007-2008, the RCMP received approximately $151M in Public Security funding that is managed by a Public Security National Coordinator. Twenty-two RCMP initiatives are funded either solely or partly through this source of funding. A reallocation process was held for the in-year transfer of identified surplus funding to initiatives encountering pressures, namely the INSET initiative. The reallocation process enabled the RCMP to ensure a minimal lapse of this fenced funding for this reporting cycle. The mandated Public Security Annual Report was completed and submitted to TBS on time.

The results of a survey of Public Security program managers supported a need to align the quarterly Public Security reporting requirements with the current APP process. A business case to link Public Security reporting to the current web-based reporting system of the APP was approved in 2007-2008. A record of decision was obtained in early April 2008, recommending the functionality be added to the Performance Management Toolkit during the upgrade scheduled for 2008-2009.

Information Management/Information Technology (IM/IT)

The IT Program is a critical enabler of the RCMP’s integrated policing approach. Many of the IM/IT networks and systems provided and maintained by the Chief Information Officer (CIO) Sector are used by the broader Canadian law enforcement community:

• The Major Events Services Project (MESP) addresses the operational requirement for event management support. It includes:
  • The Event Management Planning Tool (EMS). EMS is currently being used for the 2010 Olympics’ planning component.
  • The Security Accreditation Management System (SAMS). SAMS is was successfully implemented for the accreditation of the World Cup Skiing Event at Whistler, BC in February 2008.
  • An interface to the Human Resources Management Information System (HRMIS).
  • Enhancements to the Total Expenditure Asset Management (TEAM).
• The RCMP is part of a TBS pilot project on investment planning. If successful, this initiative could translate into increased authorities for the RCMP and, more importantly, increased responsiveness to operational needs.

The Human Resources Sector

In December 2007, the Task Force on Governance and Cultural Change in the RCMP, completed its review and prepared a number of recommendations that have substantial Human Resources (HR) implications. A Change Management Team (CMT) has since been established to lead and coordinate the RCMP’s response to the recommendations. In the interim, the HR Sector will continue to play a prominent role in addressing identified concerns in the areas of leadership development, workload levels, staffing and promotions processes, employee performance management and the discipline system. In 2007-2008, it was able to achieve progress in several key areas, despite the challenging and ambiguous environment.

Recruiting Strategy

The demand for trained RCMP members is a product of legislative, contractual, program and policy obligations through which the Force meets its commitment to Canadians for Safe Homes and Safe Communities. Significant progress has been made in support of the efforts of the Regional Recruiting Offices’ ability to attract more applicants from more diverse cultural groups and to improve timeliness and responsiveness of the selection process. While results from investments and proactive recruiting efforts in previous years are evident today, they will only be fully realized over the next two to four years. Significant achievements included:

• There has been an increase in interest about the RCMP as a result of the national coordination of consistent marketing products including radio, transit and on-line advertisements, unprecedented proactive recruiting efforts and appropriate financial investments. This is evidenced by record attendance at career presentations and 1.3 million hits on the recruiting website. The Privy Council Office also recognized the need for a comprehensive advertising campaign to support our recruiting efforts and sponsored a proposal for an additional $850,000 to expand our Internet, radio and transit advertising. The RCMP’s recruitment campaign received a level of recognition from the communications industry when it was presented with an international platinum MarCom award from the Association of Marketing and Communications Professionals.
• The RCMP National Recruitment Program (NRP) and its supporting partners have taken steps to enhance the application process, including the introduction of an “Applicant Focused Block Processing Model”, the development of an online “e-recruiting tool” and the establishment of a dedicated Civilian Member recruiting unit. Block processing was designed to evaluate applicants more expeditiously through “clustering” of several phases of the recruiting process, while maintaining the high recruitment standards of the RCMP.
• In support of the organization-wide recruiting objective, the Recruiting Priority Steering Committee was created and subsequently approved a comprehensive strategy map “to recruit a qualified and diverse RCMP workforce in sufficient numbers to enable operational readiness”.

Succession Planning

The HR Sector recognizes the importance of continually improving its leadership development programs and its succession planning processes in order to ensure continuous and effective leadership in the face of high numbers of new members and increased retirement levels. While some progress has been achieved, significant improvements will still be required. Effective succession planning is dependent on a number of other factors, including integrated information systems and processes to collect and share the right information, as well as workforce planning processes that require all line managers to identify their future workforce needs. Existing weaknesses in these areas are being addressed. Within this context, some concrete improvements were made in 2007-2008:

• Reinstated the use of a form that allows current and prospective officers/executive to identify their career interests on the Human Resources Management Information System (HRMIS). This will increase the organization’s ability to identify potential leadership candidates, to map their career interests with organizational needs and to develop succession planning strategies.
• Implemented a process to ensure that all officers qualified for the Senior Executive Development Program receive priority consideration for mandatory training programs including Official Languages training and Public Policy Development.
• Conducted research into the feasibility of an interactive software program that would bundle organizational information available in HRMIS in order to assist with succession planning.

Support and Engagement of RCMP Employees

The HR Sector has recognized the importance of workforce engagement and its link to productivity and has taken a number of steps to develop a deeper understanding of the value of investing in wellness. Some specific achievements for 2007-2008 in the areas of employee wellness and engagement include:

• Made employee engagement an HR Critical Objective on the RCMP Balanced Scorecard for 2008-2009. As a result, each of the Divisions became accountable for developing their own supporting initiatives aimed at improving problem areas identified in the 2007 RCMP employee survey.
• Began statistical work to develop an engagement index, in partnership with the Canada Public Service Agency and the Treasury Board Secretariat.
• Analyzed trends of employee survey results over time to contribute to the report prepared by Linda Duxbury (The RCMP: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow: An Independent Report concerning Workplace Issues at the Royal Canadian Mounted Police) and the Task Force on Governance and Cultural Change in the RCMP.
• Advanced a number of other occupational health initiatives including: contribution to a global pandemic plan; development of a personal protective standard; creation of safety protocols for the self-administration of medical counter-measures for Chemical Biological Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) teams; and development of standards for the use of hearing aids.
• Significantly advanced the use of “generic” work descriptions to streamline and improve standardization. Forty-two new national generic work descriptions were developed and implemented

Occupational Health and Safety

A key component of the Human Resources Sector is ensuring a healthy workforce and that Regular Members and Special Constables are “fit for duty”. Occupational Health and Safety has advanced a number of initiatives that will have a direct impact on the workforce including:

• Contributed to a global pandemic plan, development of a personal protective standard, creation of treatment protocols for the self administration of medical counter measures by CBRN teams and the development of leading edge standards and protocols for hearing impaired personnel who are returning to operational duties.
• Contributed to improving the Regular Member recruiting application process by decentralizing the scoring and reviewing of the psychological test (MMPI-2). It also initiated a review of the medical component to identify areas that can be improved and streamlined.
• Revised the Health Care Entitlements and Benefits policy in order to implement a new Occupational Health Care Model. This model provides for three levels of care (basic, supplemental and occupational) and ensures a more systematic approach and greater accountability for health care decisions.

• Previous Page
• Table of Contents
• Next Page