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Section II: Analysis of Program Activities by Strategic Outcome

Strategic Outcome

The School has a single strategic outcome:

By achieving this strategic outcome, the School provides long-term benefits for Canadians by ensuring that employees of the Public Service of Canada across the country have the required knowledge and competencies to serve them with excellence.

In 2009-10, the School delivered on its targets by offering approximately 500 distinct learning activities (courses, events) which accounted for nearly 3,000 individual deliveries. The School's total deliveries resulted in about 200,000 learner days being made available to the Public Service (see Performance Summary Table in Section I).

The School receives appropriated funds for some foundational learning, notably training required under the Policy on Learning, Training and Development, including the Orientation to the Public Service program and Authority Delegation Training. For the most part, other learning products and services developed and delivered by the School are provided on a cost-recovery basis.

The School's products and services are available to all public service employees and organizations through various methods, such as classroom courses, online products, unique learning events and customized delivery. The School has noted a growing interest in customized delivery, which provides federal organizations with the flexibility to meet organizational learning needs by using a blend of existing quality products and services while adapting the approach and content to their needs. This typically results in a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with client organizations.

In 2009-10, revenues generated from MOUs for the School's learning and training products increased from $14.8 million to $16.9 million. These MOUs included the delivery of calendar courses to a group of departmental employees, language teachers providing services within departments, events delivered within departments to address specific departmental learning needs, and change management interventions.

The current economic and fiscal situation had an impact on the School throughout 2009-10, as spending restraint was experienced across client departments. The School is a service provider to federal organizations that consider value for money in their spending on training. In response, the School has responded by reviewing its pricing strategy, establishing incentives for early registrations, and implementing a marketing strategy. While the School forecasted an increase in demand for its programs in 2009-10, due in part to the Public Service Renewal Action Plan, delivery actually stabilized at a level comparable to 2008-09.

From a management perspective, 2009-10 brought an additional financial challenge. After five years of existence, the School has faced increased expenses incurred by the need to redesign some courses and programs, and by adapting to new technologies. This, combined with the implementation of the 2008 horizontal strategic review of the Government of Canada's central human resources organizations (including the School), the School had to reduce its spending and reallocate resources within the organization.

The main efficiencies resulting from review decisions implemented in 2009-10 were:

• $2.52 million from delivering the redesigned Orientation to the Public Service Program. In 2008-09, the School successfully redesigned this program from a two-day to a one-day session, while increasing regional delivery in cities across Canada and reducing required travel expenses. This approach allowed the School to reach targeted efficiencies and helped reduce required travel, which is now paid by Departments.
• $90,000 from eliminating the Senior Leaders Network for deputy ministers
  
• $132,000 from reducing development support for the Assistant Deputy Ministers (ADMs) Seminar Series. Offerings for ADMs will be delivered on a cost-recovery basis.
  
• $360,000 from reducing work on the acquisition and dissemination of best practices, including grants and contributions. Reductions were made to research into best practices and to the delivery of the Innovative Public Management Research Fund.

Government-wide changes, such as the Treasury Board Policy Suite renewal and efforts announced to address the current economic environment, require the School to update its course material on an ongoing basis. These changes also make it necessary for the School to focus on the retraining of public service employees and specialists to ensure they maintain the required skills and competencies to do their jobs effectively.

The School is taking steps to address these changes, including greater outreach to departments and functional communities and increased use of technology. The curriculum review process currently underway will provide for strong course-calendar planning, monitoring and trend analysis for early identification of adjustments to capacity within the School.

The financial situation also had an impact on budget planning. Senior management adopted a distribution of available funds coupled with a business case approach to respond to financial pressures. This change in methodology allowed for earlier discussions and progress towards a more efficient allocation internally. Consequently, it created a closer alignment of available resources to the School's priorities.

Program Activity by Strategic Outcome

The School's strategic outcome is supported by four program activities:

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

foundational learning

The Foundational Learning Program Activity aims to provide the common knowledge required by employees of the Public Service. Four initiatives support this program activity:

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

Program Activity: Foundational Learning

2009-10 Financial Resources ($ thousands)			2009-10 Human Resources (full-time employees - FTEs)
Planned Spending	Total Authorities	Actual Spending	Planned	Actual	Difference
66,162	94,470	52,159	443	416	-27
Expected Results	Performance Indicators	Targets	Performance Status	Performance Summary
Public service employees are able to apply the foundational knowledge provided by the School in their workplace.	The School will identify the percentage of participants who intend to apply, are able to apply, and/or have applied the knowledge acquired in foundational knowledge learning activities to their current or future workplace.	The target level of participants able to apply their acquired knowledge is 80%.	Unable to determine	In 2009-10, 93% of questionnaire respondents indicated that they have applied or would be able to apply the knowledge acquired from learning activities. [4] Unfortunately, limitations associated with the data collection methodology have not allowed the School to separate individual learning activities based on program activity areas.

Required Training

Orientation to the Public Service
Orientation programs are offered to new public service employees to provide a foundational understanding of government and the values, ethics and responsibilities that they will draw upon throughout their careers. The School uses a blended learning approach, with a one-day classroom session complemented by prerequisite online training.

Breakdown of Orientation to the Public Service Deliveries

Fiscal Year	Courses Delivered in the National Capital Region		Courses Delivered Regionally		Courses Delivered Nationally
	Offerings	Learners	Offerings	Learners	Offerings	Learners
2007-08	40	4,804	22	2,456	62	7,260
2008-09	55	5,568	47	4,916	102	10,484
2009-10	44	4,935	44	4,188	88	9,123

The School worked closely with three public safety agencies - the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Correctional Service of Canada and the Canada Border Services Agency - to help them align their own orientation programs with the Orientation to the Public Service program.

Authority Delegation Training (ADT)
In accordance with the Policy on Learning, Training and Development, the School continues to deliver Authority Delegation Training to four groups of employees: supervisors, managers, executives (EX-01 to EX-03 levels) and Assistant Deputy Ministers to ensure that these groups are equipped to exercise their delegated authorities. The School was successful at meeting the demands for ADT.

Breakdown of Authority Delegation Training Deliveries

Fiscal Year	Courses Delivered in the National Capital Region		Courses Delivered Regionally		Courses Delivered Nationally
	Offerings	Learners	Offerings	Learners	Offerings	Learners
2007-08	178	4,051	123	2,616	301	6,667
2008-09	234	5,259	138	2,931	372	8,190
2009-10	257	5,891	157	3,147	414	9,038

Professional Development Training

Functional Communities Programming
The School has been working closely with a number of functional communities. In the context of the Policy Renewal Initiative, the entire Information Management curriculum was reviewed and updated to reflect new policies, directives and guidelines.

The School and the Office of the Comptroller General have worked jointly on the development of a core curriculum for the financial management community. The first three fundamental courses of the new curriculum have been developed and validated. These courses will become mandatory for all financial professionals with less than five years experience and for all new community members beginning in September 2010. A new series of workshops and seminars on strategic issues for senior financial officers has also been piloted and will be part of regular programming.

A learning needs analysis has been conducted with the evaluator's community following the launch of the new Treasury Board Secretariat evaluation policy, and a first learning curriculum has been drafted and discussed with heads of evaluation in March 2010.

Statistical data on functional communities include courses for functional specialists as well as non-specialists (managers and employees)

Breakdown of Functional Community Deliveries

Fiscal Year	Courses Delivered in the National Capital Region		Courses Delivered Regionally		Courses Delivered Nationally
	Offerings	Learners	Offerings	Learners	Offerings	Learners
2007-08	358	7,226	255	5,647	613	12,873
2008-09	458	9,222	256	4,177	714	13,399
2009-10	470	8,794	281	3,166	751	11,960

Professional Development Programming
The School enhances the performance and effectiveness of the Public Service by integrating the individual development of public service employees with organization-focused solutions for learning, change management and management innovation. Based, on the National Manager's Community feedback, the School introduced Performance Management Curriculum workshops, leading to more than 60 deliveries across Canada.

The School also offers a variety of courses designed to enable public service employees to enhance their skills in generic competencies such as writing, negotiating, interpersonal communication, etc.

Breakdown of Professional Development Training Deliveries ^[5]

Fiscal Year	Courses Delivered in the National Capital Region		Courses Delivered Regionally		Courses Delivered Nationally
	Offerings	Learners	Offerings	Learners	Offerings	Learners
2007-08	305	6,262	198	2,792	503	9,054
2008-09	271	5,628	196	3,066	467	8,694
2009-10	375	7,6864	261	3,843	636	11,529

Official Languages Learning

Access to Language Training Services
The School facilitates on-time access to quality-assured language training for public service employees in order to assist them in acquiring and maintaining second official language skills. In 2009-10, 80,550 learner days were delivered by external pre-qualified providers and 30,561 learner days were offered by the School.

In addition, 84 qualified language teachers and facilitators from the School worked on-site in departments across the country. The School also provided language training to 34 students with disabilities in the National Capital Region (NCR).

In 2009-10, 1,600 language learning plans were delivered across the country. These plans include elements such as the estimated number of training hours required by the learner to meet their targeted language proficiency.

In collaboration with Public Works and Government Services Canada, which serves as the contractual authority, the School continued to provide its technical expertise to develop a National Master Standing Offer (NMSO) for the delivery of standardized French and English language training on a national scale.

As part of the Roadmap for Linguistic Duality 2008-2013: Acting for the Future, the School has initiated a number of activities, such as agreements with ten universities across Canada to provide their students with access to 16 second-language learning tools. As of March 31, 2010, there were 193 students participating in this initiative.

Language Retention Services
Over 70 language training products are available online and were accessed 68,360 times in 2009-10. The Language Maintenance and Acquisition Cycle was officially launched in April 2009. The Cycle offers a means of self-directed learning to help employees maintain and even improve their competencies in their second official language.

Online Learning

Online Course Program
The School noted an increase in the number of active Campusdirect accounts between 2008-09 and 2009-10 from 141,155 to 158,915. The total number of times courses were accessed has also increased during this time period from 221,191 to 248,017. This increased use of Campusdirect demonstrates a growing interest in online training delivery. As well, there is an increased focus on reducing travel in order to increase efficiency and control costs. In 2009-10, the School has prepared Campusdirect courses for migration to the ILMS infrastructure. The migration of associated classroom course content is underway.

lessons learned

1. The development and implementation of the NMSO for language training is a complex project, as this is the first time that there has been an attempt to standardize language training delivered by the private sector across the country. Approval was received in 2006, and the School started work in collaboration with Public Works and Government Services Canada. Since its approval, the context of the project has changed and deputy heads' accountability for determining the appropriate training approach for their employees has been reinforced. The School is currently conducting consultations to clarify the needs and expectations of departments in establishing an NMSO.
   
   
2. In an effort to continue to integrate leading practices in its offerings, the School is expanding its use of case studies on current issues in public administration and public policy. It is leveraging and improving existing in-house capacity and building partnerships with other government departments and non-governmental organizations to expand its knowledge of what works, what doesn't, and why.
   
   
3. While approximately 60% of public service employees work in regions outside the NCR, about 40% of the School's learning activity takes place in these regions. While the School has increased its regional offerings, it did not succeed in significantly increasing the number of regional participants. The School is working with its regional clients to re-examine the learning needs of regional employees and to determine if the School's curriculum is sufficiently targeted to the individual needs of each region.

benefits to canadians

Through the delivery of Foundational Learning, the School provides long-term benefits for Canadians by ensuring that public service employees have:

• the language competencies to serve them in the official language of their choice;
• the leading-edge knowledge in their sector of expertise to better serve Canadians;
• full knowledge, references and tools to manage financial, material and human resources effectively; and,
• competency for good management practices.

organizational leadership development

The School strengthens the Public Service and contributes to Public Service Renewal by building the leadership competencies of existing and emerging leaders.

Three initiatives support this program activity:

• Leadership Competencies
• Leadership Development Programs
• Leadership Community Building

Program Activity: Organizational Leadership Development

2009-10 Financial Resources ($ thousands)			2009-10 Human Resources (full-time employees - FTEs)
Planned Spending	Total Authorities	Actual Spending	Planned	Actual	Difference
12,783	18,505	14,179	102	100	-2

Expected Results	Performance Indicators	Targets	Performance Status	Performance Summary
Public service managers, executives and senior leaders are satisfied with the leadership development courses, programs and activities received.	The School will measure the degree of satisfaction of public service employees with the leadership activities provided.	Leadership activities receive an average rating of 4 on a 5-point scale on overall satisfaction.	Exceeded	In 2009-10, the average satisfaction rating was 4.4 on a 5-point rating scale.
Public service managers, executives and senior leaders are able to apply their leadership competencies in the workplace.	The School will determine the percentage of public service employees who intend to apply, are able to apply and/or have applied the knowledge acquired through leadership development activities in their workplace.	The target level of participants able to apply their acquired knowledge is 80%.	Unable to determine	In 2009-10, 93% of questionnaire respondents indicated that they have applied or would be able to apply the knowledge acquired from learning activities. [6] Unfortunately, limitations associated with the data collection methodology have not allowed the School to separate leadership development activities based on program activity areas.

performance analysis

Leadership Competencies

Throughout 2009-10, the School continued to provide a range of leadership training activities to supervisors, managers, executives and senior leaders. A total of approximately 22,400 learner days for leadership training activities were recorded.

In response to demands for additional programming related to the international context in which public service employees work, progress was made on expanding the suite of training activities to include courses such as How the EU Works and How Washington Really Works.

Leadership Development Programs

In 2009-10, the School continued to successfully deliver leadership development programs such as Direxion, Living Leadership and the Advanced Leadership Program designed to provide structured and comprehensive career development to high-potential public service employees. The School also continued to develop a number of "how to" management skills courses such as Providing Effective Feedback and Effective Two-Minute Briefings.

2009-10

Leadership Development Program Breakdown	Offerings	Learners	Learners Days
Career Assignment Program / Direxion	25	143	1,430
Management Training Program / i-leadership	14	317	1,494
Advanced Leadership Program	2	52	1,250
Living Leadership - Executive Excellence Program	14	125	2,002

Leadership Community Building

In 2009-10, emphasis was placed on building leadership communities across the Public Service and advancing leadership through partnerships, which resulted in discussion of the learning and development needs of the various communities.

A new Learning Roadmap for Managers was launched and distributed widely to assist managers and departments in planning their development. This product was strongly endorsed through the 2010-11 Public Service Renewal Action Plan.

lessons learned

1. Through its work with the community of senior leaders, the School has altered its approach to leadership training. The growing demand is for shorter, sharper interventions rather than longer-term courses, and for more programming on mastering the job at hand. Feedback received from partners indicates that programming for senior leaders needs to be more focused on the fundamentals.
   
   
2. The School has worked with central agency partners to support key learning components of Public Service Renewal (e.g.: the Advanced Leadership Program and employee development). In addition, new learning options were explored and courses were designed and updated to incorporate leading practices.

benefits to canadians

Through the delivery of Organizational Leadership Development, the School provides long-term benefits for Canadians by ensuring that the existing and emerging leaders of the Public Service:

• are highly-skilled, forward-thinking, and global-minded;
• have access to coaching, training and development programs to help build and reinforce their leadership skills;
• are ready to fill executive positions and lead key government initiatives; and,
• are equipped to serve the needs of elected officials effectively.

public sector management innovation

The School enhances the performance and effectiveness of the Public Service by integrating the individual development of public service employees with organization-focused solutions for learning, change management and management innovation.

Two initiatives support this program activity:

• Organizational Learning Services
• Innovative Management Practices

Program Activity: Public Sector Management Innovation

2009-10 Financial Resources ($ thousands)			2009-10 Human Resources (full-time employees - FTEs)
Planned Spending	Total Authorities	Actual Spending	Planned	Actual	Difference
11,268	12,988	8,253	77	69	-8

Expected Results	Performance Indicators	Targets	Performance Status	Performance Summary
Public service organizations have access to the tools and services to help them integrate learning, manage change and innovate.	The School will track the number of organizations provided with Public Sector Management Innovation services.	The target is 25 departments and agencies.	Mostly Met	The School's Strategic Change Group worked with 29 organizations from 21 distinct departments and agencies.
Public service organizations integrate learning, manage change and innovate by adapting leading practices.	The School will measure the degree of satisfaction of public service organizations with the School's Public Sector Management Innovation services.	The target is an 80% satisfaction rate.	Unable to determine	The School did not measure this degree of satisfaction.

performance analysis

Organizational Learning Services

The School has worked closely with management teams in other federal departments that are looking for organizational change management advice. In 2009-10, the School's Strategic Change Group worked with 29 organizations from 21 departments to support organizational change management initiatives that affected 15,000 employees.

As part of its commitment to management innovation, the School continued to support the programming of the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) in governance and public sector reform in developing countries. In 2009-10, the School managed three CIDA-funded projects with Mali, Brazil and Russia.

Innovative Management Practices

Sound public administration training requires a strong connection with the Canadian academic community. In 2009-10:

• The annual University-Public Service Symposium was held in May 2009 and was attended by more than 70 academics and senior officials.
• As part of the School's Public Servant-in-Residence Program, six senior public service employees were approved to proceed with an assignment at a university.
• The Deputy Minister University Champion Program was expanded to include 10 additional champions and 11 universities, for a total of 33 champions for 40 institutions.

lessons learned

1. The School is a resource for public service departments, agencies and communities, supporting them in the acquisition and dissemination of leading-edge management practices. Management challenges can be addressed in part by integrating leading practices into learning across the School's suite of offerings. This will require the development of an agenda of leading practices related to emerging challenges.

benefits to canadians

Through the delivery of Public Sector Management Innovation, the School provides long-term benefits for Canadians by ensuring that the public service has:

• the capacity to manage organizational change in a concrete environment;
• management teams that are competent to lead change effectively and to collaborate; and
• a more effective management in addressing emerging challenges.

internal services

Internal Services are comprised of groups ^[7] of activities and resources that are administered to support corporate obligations of the organization.

Performance Analysis

Program Activity Highlights

Activity	Status on Performance and Results
Management Priorities	The School delivered several initiatives supporting government-wide public service renewal priorities, which were reported to the Clerk of the Privy Council. In the past year, the School used the results of the Management Accountability Framework assessment to develop management actions and to improve its decision-making. Information technology infrastructure was established for ILMS, including the pre-production and production environment. The launch was delayed until early 2010-11.
Support to the Board of Governors	In 2009-10, the School's Board of Governors held two meetings, in May and October 2009, to discuss key issues and priorities facing the School. The School regularly informed the Board of Governors of the School's activities to ensure understanding and to support the decision-making process.
Audit	The School's Departmental Audit Committee met four times in 2009-10. An Annual Audit Plan was developed, and the School continued the implementation of its approved three-year risk-based audit plan. An audit of the statement of financial position of the School as of March 31, 2009 was undertaken by an external audit firm. The audit determined that the financial position of the School was reported accurately. An audit of internal controls over financial reporting was conducted and determined that these controls were generally operating efficiently. Deficiencies were related to a lack of documentation and review as well as an inadequate segregation of duties. The School participated in one horizontal audit, conducted by the Office of the Comptroller General, one audit conducted by the Office of the Auditor General and two studies by the Public Service Commission.
Evaluation	The School's five-year Evaluation Plan was revised to reflect current priorities. In 2009-10, three program evaluations were undertaken to support decision-making, and one was concluded. The School provided learner evaluation materials for its offerings resulting in 2,876 evaluations. The School also launched two learning evaluations to measure knowledge gain and three learning evaluations to measure behaviour change resulting from a learning activity. Nine ad hoc evaluation reports were completed on various courses and programs offered by the School, and a five-year trend report on evaluation results is in progress.
Communications and Marketing	The School continued enhancement of communications by improving its intranet site. To improve communications with employees and external stakeholders, the communications function was reinforced to provide support to senior management, programs and services. Marketing approaches were developed for the Finance and Procurement and Material Management Communities through the client analysis program. A support tool that provided business intelligence nationally was developed to improve decision-making and allowed for more effective marketing. Outreach activities were strengthened in order to increase awareness of the School products and services, maintain revenue targets and seek new business.
Human Resources Management	The School's compensation and benefits services, which were previously out-sourced, were transferred to the Human Resources Branch to enhance efficiency and effectiveness. A comprehensive suite of staffing options were used, resulting in 340 staffing actions. Human resources service standards were developed, implemented and evaluated, and communicated to all employees. As a follow up to the 2008 Public Service Employee Survey, the School developed a consolidated action plan that focuses on four key areas: 1) Delegations; 2) Time management; 3) Tools to support work; and, 4) Feedback from staff to management. Individual branch action plans were created to address specific issues identified. A committee was established to monitor progress on the action plans.
Review of Policies	The Human Resources Branch monitored policy instrument revisions from the Office of the Chief Human Resources Officer and made appropriate adjustments to the School's human resources policies and programs as required. The internal policy on contracting and the contracting desk guide were updated, while the terms of reference for a quality assurance function were also completed. The Internal Audit Charter and the Departmental Audit Committee Charter were updated in 2009-10. The School's Authority Delegation Training for senior leaders, along with other leadership courses, were updated to ensure alignment with Treasury Board policies. In 2009-10, the School's Corporate Risk Profile was updated using input from designated risk owners and was approved by the School's Management Committee in Fall 2009.
Financial and Asset Management	The School has successfully implemented the Chief Financial Officer model and continues to review its internal policies and processes to ensure that they align with Treasury Board policy updates. An automated Integrated Planning Tool has been implemented, incorporating all relevant planning elements within a corporate framework. In April 2009, the School successfully completed the transition to a new service provider, Health Canada, for its financial system (SAP) support. The School developed new procedures for tracking capital assets and its asset inventory was updated to reflect new investments. In 2009-10, the School, in collaboration with Public Works and Government Service Canada, developed a strategy that seeks to minimize reliance on, while optimizing the use of, rented spaces.

lessons learned

1. The collection of data to determine whether the School has met its targets established in its performance measurement framework continues to be a challenge. Moving forward, the School will have to review its data collection methodology to ensure its relevance in assessing performance and targets.
   
   
2. The School will work towards achieving the proper balance between maximizing the efficiency of its offerings while providing participants with a range of timing options. The School has determined that, in some cases, increasing its number of offerings has lead to a decrease in the number of participants per session. The School will continue to examine this trend in an effort to identify areas where improvements can be made.
   
   
3. The implementation of the ILMS has brought many challenges related to the management of change within the School and with its clients. Challenges included planning and working in an integrated fashion. In response, the School conducted a review of the ILMS governance to ensure that work was proceeding in an integrated fashion. As a result of this review, a number of working groups were disbanded and the integration of the project was refocused on the ILMS Integration Committee whose membership includes the School's vice-presidents and directors general. This governance review and related changes improved shared decision-making and served to advance the project.

benefits to canadians

The work performed under this program activity assures Canadians that the School's operations are managed in a transparent, accountable and effective manner through the provision of advice and analysis related to the School's activities.

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