Archived - Management Practices Audit of the Alberta Region - Follow-up Report Status Update as of March 31, 2012

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Action Plan Implementation Status Update Report to the Audit Committee - As of March 31, 2012

Alberta Region, Human Resources & Workplace Services

Management Practices Audit of the Alberta Region
 Approval Date: 20/06/2011
Project Recommendations Action Plan Expected Completion Date Program Response
1. The Regional Director General of the Alberta Region should collaborate with Headquarters to define external client services offered by AANDC and to develop performance targets for the delivery of these services as part of on-going monitoring and management of the performance against established standards. To ensure a consistent, national approach is adopted; standards, performance expectations and monitoring requirements should be formally communicated by Headquarters to all regions. RO Headquarters will work with other sectors and regions to develop departmental approaches to service management that are consistent with Treasury Board Secretariat guidance. These approaches include appropriate governance and management oversight, identifying services that the department offers, setting appropriate service standards and monitoring regimes, and clarifying roles and responsibilities. The Regional Directors General will work will work closely with HQ and other Regions to assist with the development of national approaches. Work is underway. Initial discussions have taken place at DGIOC (April 11, 2011).   Alberta Update
Status: Underway

Update/Rationale:
As of 31/03/2012: 

RO Head Quarters is the lead. Region is supporting initiative.

RO Update: 
Status: Underway

Update/Rationale:
As of 31/03/2012: 

The Regional Operations Sector, Operations and Planning Supports Directorate has taken the lead in Service Standard Management within AANDC. 

Over the past year the following activities have occurred in response to the MPR / MAF Action Items:

  • The Service Management Strategy has been developed and presented to OPS in the Fall of 2011. The 2012-2013 Strategy has been drafted and is anticipated to be presented to OPS Ctte in the Spring of 2012.
  • The Service Inventory List for External Clients was developed and presented to OPS Ctte and Treasury Board in the Fall of 2011.
  • The Service Standard Governance Framework was drafted and presented to OPS in June 2011.
  • The Service Excellence Working Group was established with focus to provide departmental service management oversight and support to DGIOC and OPS Ctte on Service Standard activities.
  • The working group has initiated discussion and consultation with sectors to and identify new services which will be reviewed / assessed by risk and importance.
  • Service Standards for Grants and Contributions were developed and presented to OPS Ctte and approval is anticipated in Q1 2012-2013.
  • RO Sector, OPS Directorate focus on internal services have been on internal services which directly impact the delivery of external services. RO will be working with the Working Group and Sr. Management to further confirm workplan activities for internal services outside of current plan.



    AES: Implementation on-going.
Actions:
Programs with existing service standards:

Formalize existing service standards in a document
September 2011
Programs without service standards:

Direct services
March 2012
Grants and Contributions March 2012
Internal Services June 2012
2. The Director General of the Human Resources and Workplace Services Branch (HRWSB) should revise regional human resources reports to help ensure that sufficient information is provided to management in order to identify and monitor exceptional staffing actions, such as acting assignment extensions greater than one year, to ensure compliance with relevant policies. Where possible, these reports should be consistent nationally and should be incorporated into the existing departmental reporting structure. In cooperation with IT Services, HRWSB released the staffing component of "the Human resources Reporting & Analysis (HRRA) project". This will enable regions to produce their own reports and make their own analysis.

In addition, monitoring of the acting appointment department-wide is conducted on a regular basis, with follow-ups on remedial actions when required. Monitoring reports are presented to HRWSMC.
Implemented Q4 2010-11 HRWSB Update

Status: Request to close

Update/Rationale:
As of 30/03/2012: 

  • National deployment of IHRRS has been released for:
    • Staffing
    • Rentention and Mobility
    • Leave Management
    • Employment Equity
  • Business object reports are available to all the regions. (Leave without pay, End of Acting, End of Assignment / Secondment, End of Student Employment, End of Term, End of Casual employment)
  • HRWSB – Process Improvement launched an automated PeopleSoft report request to increase efficiency and availability for all regions.


AES: Fully Implemented. Recommendation to be closed.
3.The Regional Director General of the Alberta Region should ensure that the Alberta Region Human Resources (HR) Directorate revises the requirement to conduct monitoring of the completion of interim reviews. AES understands that monitoring completion of interim reviews is not required nationally, however good practices in employee management include monitoring. The Alberta Region will continue to actively promote the importance of interim performance reviews through region-wide communiqués from the HR Directorate. The HR Directorate will deliver Employee Performance Management (EPM) and Learning Plan (LP) information sessions in April, May, September, and October for all regional supervisors and managers. The HR Directorate will provide tools, advice and guidance to supervisors and managers at all organizational levels to support them in holding regular EPM and LP meetings / discussions with their staff. April 2011, ongoing Alberta Update
Status: Request to Close (Completed)

Update/Rationale:
As of 31/03/2012: 

EPM and LP information sessions developed and delivered to regional supervisors and managers in Quarter 1 (April and May 2011). Session was also held in October 2011.

EPM and LP Quality Assurance Checklists and Communiqué developed and distributed regionally and nationally in Quarter 1- 2011.

Managers Handbook/Guide to EPMs and LPs developed and distributed to regional supervisors and managers in Quarter 1 - 2011.





AES: Fully Implemented. Recommendation to be closed.
4. The Regional Director General of the Alberta Region should develop and conduct a quality review of a sample of completed Employee Performance Management (EPM) forms to verify that forms are being consistently completed in line with expectations. This action would help to supplement the EPM training already planned by the Region with the aim of improving the performance management process. Based on the preliminary MPR debrief in January, the HR Directorate developed an EPM and Learning Plan (LP) Quality Assurance Checklist. The checklist was distributed to all supervisors and managers in the Alberta Region, the DG HRWSB, the Associate DG HRWSB, the Director of Learning as well as all Regional Directors, Human Resources Services. The Regional Director of HR recommended to the Regional HR Committee (RHRC) that 1 in 4 EPMs and LPs be reviewed by the HR Directorate against the checklist – the recommendation was accepted by RHRC in March and will be implemented in 2011-2012.   Alberta Update
Status: Request to Close (Completed)

Update/Rationale:
As of 31/03/2012: 

100% EPMs and LPs (210) were reviewed by HR against the Quality Assurance Checklist in Quarter 1 – 2011, returning documents to Directorates that did not meet established standards. This is an Ongoing management practice in the Alberta Region.







AES: Fully Implemented. Recommendation to be closed.
Actions:
HR Directorate developed and distributed EPM and Learning Plan (LP) Quality Assurance Checklist.
February 2011, completed
The Regional Director of HR recommended to the Regional HR Committee (RHRC) that 1 in 4 EPMs and LPs be reviewed. March 2011, completed
Recommendation to be implemented in 2011-2012. April 2011, ongoing
5. The Director General of the Human Resources and Workplace Services Branch (HRWSB) should review and modify the EPM Completion Rate report generated through the Human Resource Management System (HRMS) to help ensure that the manual adjustments, currently required to eliminate duplicate counting of acting employees, are no longer necessary. In cooperation with IT Services, the reports were updated to eliminate duplicated entries of acting employees.

For this year, the report will be generated for more accurate data
  HRWSB Update

Status: Request to close

Update/Rationale:
As of 30/03/2012: 

Corrections to report parameters completed by end of Q3 (2010).

Report available as of beginning of Q1.

AES: Fully Implemented. Recommendation to be closed.
Actions:
Corrections to report parameters (complete)
End of Q3 (2010-11)
Upgraded report available as of beginning of Q1. Q1 2011-12
6. The Regional Director General of the Alberta Region should develop and implement a formal documented approach to risk management, including an ongoing process and governance structure for identifying, assessing, and monitoring risk mitigation actions. Headquarters should communicate guidance to all Regions and Sectors to ensure a consistent, national approach to risk management. ("Headquarters" includes Policy and Strategic Direction, the AANDC Risk Champion, and the Risk Management Centre in Audit and Evaluation Sector). Short-term:
Continue on-going risk assessments (FSR, Compliance, Gas, etc.) and continue to report on activities in the quarterly business plans.
  Alberta Update

Status: Underway

Update/Rationale:
As of 31/03/2012: 

In partnership with the Audit & Evaluation Sector, developed a draft regional risk profile. 

The profile incorporated the identified risk in regional planning documents (HR Plan, Business Plan, Quarterly Report, and executive Performance agreements) – March/April 2012

Draft profile to be finalized and mitigation plan developed





AES: Implementation on-going.
Medium-term:
The Risk Champion for the department, with support from the Chief Risk Officer will develop department-wide risk management tools.
Initiate tool discussion in September 2011
Regional Directors General will support these and implement risk management tools in their regions that support and are consistent with the national approaches.

HQ Risk leads visited regions in October 2010 to review risk practices and provide training. Regions to continue ongoing liaison with risk leads re: support for regional risk management practices. Regional Corporate Risk Profiles to be integrated into regional business planning process and documents for 2012/2013
Implement tools by March 2013
7. The Regional Director General of the Alberta Region should collaborate with Headquarters to establish service standards for all corporate services, including Accounting, IM/IT, Administration and Resource Management. The standards established should be applied consistently across the Department and be reported and monitored in the Regional Quarterly Report, as is currently the case for Human Resources. Alberta Region, Director Corporate & Funding Services to engage with RO Regions to gather current performance measures for functional areas, propose recommendations to standardize and address potential gaps.

Provide consolidated Regional RO Sector recommendations for Review and endorsement from the CFO Sector (functional lead).
  Alberta Update

Status: Underway

Update/Rationale:
As of 31/03/2012: 

RO Head Quarters is the lead. Region is supporting initiative.



RO Update:
Status: Underway

Update/Rationale:
As of 31/03/2012: 

Focus in 2011-2012 was on consultation and development of Regional Standard Indicators for Quarterly Reports on Priority Grant and Contribution programming. 

This was completed through collection throughout the year, continued review process is underway to establish 2012-2013 standard indicator commitments for quarterly reports.

Efforts from RO were placed on supporting the departmental DRAP working group in reviewing and analysis internal service areas which would support establishment of service standards for major corporate service areas nationally. Such as Accounts Payable, Procurement, and areas of Human Resources. 

The IMIT Corporate Services were supported and implementation for the implementation of shared services was completed throughout the year and funding and resources identified and realigned. 

Regional Operations implemented the Classification Centres of Expertise as per DG HR direction and continues to resource efforts in support of Centralized Compensation transition to Miramichi.







AES: Implementation on-going.
Actions:
Regional review and consolidation of functional performance indicators
Completed by end of Q1 2011-12
Review and endorsement by CFO Sector Q2, 2011-12
Implementation of recommendations End of Q2 2011-12
8. The Regional Director General of the Alberta Region should collaborate with Headquarters to expand the financial information captured in the regional planning documents that support the Regional Quarterly Report, such that the cost of planned activities are documented and monitored. As articulated in the 2011-14 Corporate Business Plan, the department will work at improving integrated planning and resource alignment by establishing principles and process (including schedule and calendar) for integrated planning and consult with internal partners (HR, CFO, AES) March 2012 Alberta Update

Status: Request to Close (Completed)

Update/Rationale:
As of 31/03/2012: 

Financial status information has been integrated in the regional Quarterly Report





AES: Fully Implemented. Recommendation to be closed.
9. The Director General of the Human Resources and Workplace Services Branch (HRWSB) should coordinate the updating of the revised directorate titles for the Alberta Region in PeopleSoft. This will help to ensure that the system appropriately reflects the true structure of the Alberta Region. The reorganisation, including the revision of the titles for Alberta region, has been completed in PeopleSoft as of April 1, 2011. Because PeopleSoft has a limit in the amount of characters in the description, acronyms must be used to represent the Divisions specific needs. April 1, 2011 HRWSB Update

Status: Request to close

Update/Rationale:
As of 30/03/2012: 

Completed in PeopleSoft as of April 1, 2011

AES: Fully Implemented. Recommendation to be closed.

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