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Status Report on Major Crown Projects
Global Case Management System
Description
The Global Case Management System (GCMS) is a multi-year program that will replace several aging, archaic and incompatible core business systems of CIC and the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), some of which are 30 years old, that support over 240 points of service across Canada and around the world. It is an integrated, case-management-based set of applications and infrastructure components that will support the client operations of CIC and the CBSA.
Once in place, the GCMS will improve overall program integrity, effectiveness and client-service delivery. It will also facilitate communications and data sharing between CIC and the CBSA and with our other partners for the purposes of administrating Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA). In addition, the GCMS will provide the technological foundation to support new business initiatives and capitalize on innovative technology by replacing outdated systems that are extremely difficult to support and maintain.
Project Phase: Building on the success of the first deployment of the GCMS in 2004 (the Citizenship Release), the project is in an intense planning phase that includes the re-evaluation of strategies for completion.
Lead Department: Citizenship and Immigration Canada
Participating Agency: Canada Border Services Agency
Contracting Authority: Public Works and Government Services Canada
Prime Contractor: None. (The Department is doing system integration.)
| Major Milestones | Date |
|---|---|
| Treasury Board approves funding for the GCMS project at the same time as CIC’s Treasury Board submission on the implementation of policy reforms and the new IRPA. | August 2000 |
| Treasury Board grants preliminary project approval and major Crown project designation to the GCMS. | March 2001 |
| Treasury Board grants Effective Project Approval (EPA) to the GCMS. | January 2002 |
| Request for proposal for the acquisition of a commercial, off-the-shelf software package for case management posted for tender by Public Works and Government Services Canada. | February 2002 |
| Contract for the off-the-shelf software package for case management awarded. | March 2003 |
| Business modelling and high-level requirements completed. | May 2003 |
| Treasury Board grants Amended Effective Project Approval to the GCMS to address the impact of procurement delays. | October 2003 |
| The first GCMS business component (Citizenship) is implemented. | September 2004 |
| Treasury Board grants a second amendment to the EPA to address the impact of cumulative slippage, include critical new requirements in project scope and provide for an incremental deployment approach. | September 2005 |
| Completion of a System Under Development audit of the GCMS project. | November 2005 |
| Treasury Board grants a third amendment to the EPA to address a wording anomaly in regards to GST. | December 2006 |
| Independent Review in Dec. 2006 indicates a need to assess project status and review options for completing GCMS objectives. | December 2006 |
| Treasury Board grants a fourth amendment to the EPA to undertake this assessment and to develop revised go-forward plan. | February 2007 |
| Treasury Board grants a fifth amendment to the EPA, extending the timeframe for completion of a substantive go-forward plan to late fiscal 2007–2008. | October 2007 |
| The project is completing the planning phase for the go-forward option and finalizing a substantive plan for Treasury Board approval. | February 2008 |
Summary of Non-recurring Expenditures
Global Case Management System ($ Millions, including GST)
| Global Case Management System | Currently Estimated Total Expenditure |
Expenditures to March 31, 2007 |
Planned Spending 2007–2008 |
Planned Spending Future Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Project definition Preliminary project approval |
16.7 | 16.7 | – | – |
| Planning Effective project approval | 50.4 | 50.4 | – | – |
| Implementation (amended effective project approval) | 223.8 | 184.2 | 24.2 | TBC |
Progress Report and Explanation of Variances
- Preliminary project approval was obtained from Treasury Board on March 1, 2001, with a planned cost of $194.8 million (excluding GST).
- Effective project approval (EPA) was obtained from Treasury Board on January 31, 2002, with a planned cost of $194.8 million (excluding GST) and a completion date of March 31, 2005.
- Shortly after the preliminary project approval, a decision was made to acquire and configure a commercial client relationship management software package rather than custom-develop the functionality required for the GCMS. This necessitated a lengthy competitive procurement process that began in March 2001, with an expected completion date of July 1, 2002. Cumulative procurement and contracting delays beyond CIC’s control, totalling nine months, prevented the contract from being awarded until March 26, 2003. This delay affected activities and resources highly dependent on the outcome of the procurement process. While the project management team took steps to mitigate the impact of the delay, the cost of the delay was assessed at $7.8 million (excluding GST).
- Approval of an amended EPA was obtained from Treasury Board on October 9, 2003. In recognition of the impact of the procurement delay, Treasury Board increased the project spending authority by $7.8 million to $202.6 million (excluding GST). Subsequent implementation plans addressed the impact of the procurement delay and adjusted the overall project completion date to December 31, 2005.
- The transfer of certain CIC functions to the newly created Canada Border Services Agency beginning in December 2003, as well as lessons learned from the first GCMS deployment in September 2004, necessitated further adjustments to the GCMS Project Plan. These changes formed the basis of a second amendment to the EPA, granted by Treasury Board in September 2005, and resulted in a net increase of $40.2 million to the project budget over two additional fiscal years, for a total budget of $242.8 million (excluding GST) between fiscal years 2000–2001 and 2007–2008.
- In preparing for the September 2005 amended EPA, the Treasury Board Secretariat requested that a System Under Development (SUD) audit be performed on the GCMS. Preliminary audit findings were available at the time of the amended EPA submission, and final SUD audit results were released in November 2005. The SUD audit suggested that the project management team bring more discipline in some project management elements. All of the SUD audit recommendations have been accepted and corrective actions have been taken.
- As a result of an independent review conducted in December 2006, CIC and the CBSA reconsidered GCMS implementation options. The review recommended that the project management team take the time to conduct a project quality verification and to consider alternative options for completing GCMS objectives. An amended EPA approval was obtained in February 2007 providing an increase in project authority to undertake this assessment as well as to revise the authority to be inclusive of GST. The total authority subsequent to this approval is $290.9M (including GST).
- Results of the project quality verification and options analysis indicated that the project scope and complexity must be reduced and focus placed on first delivering the business components of greatest value. An option was identified which will deliver an integrated case management processing capability for immigration processing in the network of overseas missions, with remaining functionality to support inland processes being delivered as post-project initiatives. The International Region option provides considerable business value, capturing the majority of departmental case management workflow, and delivering the bulk of functionality required for all case processing lines of business that can be leveraged for inland processes.
- Currently, the project is in an intense planning phase, developing substantive strategies and plans for completion of the reduced scope option.