Modernizing Government
The e-Ontario strategy
by Heather Hudson
THE ONTARIO GOVERNEMNT IS transforming the way it offers public services, as well as how it operates as an organization. A bold new agenda is set to transform the Ontario Public Service (OPS) into a more modern, cost-effective and efficient organization.
This past summer, the Ministry of Government Services was created to expedite the modernization agenda and the rebuilding of public services. This ministry brings together, in one organization, responsibility for external service delivery to the public, internal service delivery to staff, human resources and I&IT. At the same time, it ensures the protection of consumers’ privacy and access to information. This will help Ontario improve service delivery to both internal and external clients while realizing efficiencies and meeting fiscal objectives to help the government achieve a balanced budget.
The I&IT component of the modernization agenda includes a new strategy called ‘e-Ontario’. This strategy will support service improvements, make more efficient use of I&IT assets and help save $100 million in expenditures by 2007-08. It is a foundation for making government services ‘surprisingly simple’ – an important goal for the province.
“Key to achieving our e-Ontario goals will be taking an enterprise-wide approach to the delivery of services, both to the public and across the OPS,” said Michelle DiEmanuele, Deputy Minister of Government Services and Associate Secretary of the Cabinet. “Re-focusing how we manage I&IT spending across the organization will allow us to ensure spending is targeted to government priorities supporting the ministries’ front-line programs and services. Accordingly, accountabilities will be re-balanced to reflect this new direction.”
e-Ontario is about the more strategic and efficient use of government I&IT assets and resources. The strategy will follow a multi-staged approach that will help the government anticipate business issues, meet an increasing demand for technology solutions, and manage a changing risk profile related to aging computer equipment and systems.
THE ORIGINS OF e-ONTARIO
The e-Ontario strategy is built upon the 1998 I&IT strategy, which helped the Ontario government achieve high levels of service-user satisfaction and global recognition while slowing the rise of I&IT costs.
In 2004, this strategy was reviewed by a third party as part of a series of reviews of government spending to ensure efficient funding of priority programs, activities and projects. In his review of the I&IT strategy, former Ontario government deputy minister Ron Vrancart recognized that I&IT played a critical role in helping the OPS deliver high quality programs and services, achieve a world leadership position in e-government and realize significant cost savings.
His recommendations for improvement included developing a new I&IT strategy that would build on the 1998 strategy to maximize the value and efficiency of I&IT investment and operations within the Ontario government. It would also foster collaboration across the OPS, the broader public sector, other jurisdictions and the private sector to contribute to a more globally competitive Ontario economy.
In late 2004 and into the winter of 2005, a planning team prepared a multi-year strategy and business case that would fulfill the e-Ontario goals. Although e-Ontario is an evolving strategy, it has distinct phases.
The e-OPS phase E-Ontario is currently focused on assisting with OPS transformation and putting the foundation in place: this is the ‘e-OPS’ phase. This stage will achieve the targeted cost savings of $100 million by 2007-08 while providing more flexible public services. Some of the components include:
Continuing consolidation and standardization of I&IT infrastructure services
Already, projects such as service desk infrastructure and desktop management are working toward the e-Ontario goal. The new strategy is expanding on and accelerating activities like these so that benefits such as more streamlined internal processes can be realized even faster.
Better managing I&IT assets
Better management will help keep costs as low as possible and allow Ontario to get more value from these investments. There are vast assets across the OPS, including information, equipment and applications. Many of these are past their useful life cycles. Ontario will use a strategic approach to address if, how and when to replace them.
Deploying best-practice IT service management more widely
IT service management (ITSM) is a best-practice approach to quality service management. It uses consistent, excellent, standard, repeatable processes and eliminates costs associated with less efficient approaches. In addition, the widespread adoption of ITSM practices will shorten the time needed to respond and adapt to change. This will be especially important in enabling Ontario to work across traditional boundaries inside and beyond the OPS.
Increasing the use of common applications and services
Creating an application once and reusing it many times is more efficient than creating, deploying and supporting many variations on the same theme. Using common applications wherever possible also makes the skills needed to work with them – both in development and use – transferable from one place to another and supports the enterprise-wide approach.
THE e-PUBLIC SECTOR PHASE
The ‘e-public sector’ phase of the e-Ontario strategy reaches beyond the OPS into the broader public sector and proposes working with other jurisdictions to benefit from each other’s efficiency and effectiveness by:
• Supporting and building on existing business initiatives and priorities
• Working where there are natural opportunities to build trust and demonstrate the value of collaboration
• Collaborating strategically with the broader public sector and other jurisdictions enabled by a standardized I&IT infrastructure to provide better service and save tax dollars.
Collaboration is essential to delivering public services to people and businesses in a simple, seamless and timely fashion and can be very cost effective. The standardization of IT will enable this delivery by permitting the traditional borders that separate services to be crossed behind the scenes.
Working together will help accelerate the adoption of best practices, and is a step toward linking services, reducing investment requirements and saving taxpayers time and money.
A VISION OF THE FUTURE
Once e-OPS and e-public sector service improvements and savings are realized, Ontario will be able to explore opportunities for collaboration with leaders across different sectors of Ontario’s economy to support the province’s overall economic competitiveness.
Heather Hudson is a senior writer at the Ministry of Government Services.
