Description
Internal services are the services that are provided within a department so that it can meet its corporate obligations and deliver its programs. There are 10 categories of internal services:
- management and oversight services
- communications services
- legal services
- human resources management services
- financial management services
- information management services
- information technology services
- real property management services
- materiel management services
- acquisition management services.
Planning highlights
Statistics Canada's internal services will continue to evolve to meet the changing context in which they operate by adapting their processes, controls and oversight practices. The agency's enabling corporate and internal services will provide support and solutions to meet employee and business needs, as the agency continues its efforts to strengthen partnerships, build trust, increase data integration and provide Canadians with the actionable insights they need in a post-pandemic world. Decision making will be informed by a data infrastructure that continues to be more integrated, providing timely insights to foster the agency's cultural values and accountability for outcomes. Internal services will continue providing more efficient and user-centric services.
Data-driven talent management strategy
The 2023–24 data-driven executive performance and talent management program will be anchored in quantitative data and evidence to drive decision making, guide managers in determining performance ratings and help support performance assessment conversations. It will introduce more rigour, with metrics and indicators in the performance review exercise to ensure consistency, reduce bias and improve transparency. Administrative and survey data will be used to validate narrative assessments of key leadership competencies and objectives.
The agency will also continue to focus on modernizing its recruitment practices by solidifying talent pipelines through partnerships with academia and attracting talent in new ways to ensure that people with core and emerging skills are recruited.
Inclusive leadership development program
The implementation of an internal leadership strategy serves to support all employees as true leaders. The strategy seeks to establish
- a culture of ongoing development to promote career growth, encouraging leadership with innovation and supporting curiosity and continuous learning
- a framework that aligns with the agency's values and principles
- a modern program that is cohesive and aligns with current and future initiatives
- leadership development early in an employee's career, with a focus on competency development, soft skills, mentorship, active listening, empowerment of people and communication
- a high standard of leadership and engagement throughout the agency
- renewed and refreshed programs and technologies that resonate with emerging leaders and that are developed with intentional alignment to the future of the agency
- a measurement system to track outcomes and impacts of the leadership program on participants.
This program will include formal training, coaching and mentoring, workshops, keynote speakers, podcasts, videos, fireside chats, and leadership conferences, along with the development of communications products and support for employees as they take ownership of their learning and development journey. It will also offer support to managers as they enable learning and development among their employees.
Well-being
Wellness activities at Statistics Canada will continue to place importance on equipping employees and managers with the appropriate guidance, training and workshops to deal with mental health issues in the workplace. This includes an emphasis on addressing the new challenges that come with working and managing a team within a hybrid environment in an inclusive and equitable way. Furthermore, the agency will continue its analysis of the Statistics Canada and Employment and Social Development Canada Employee Wellness Survey datasets and share new insights in peer-reviewed publications.
Information management
The agency will continue to make progress on the multi-year Enterprise Information and Data Management (EIDM) project, including the implementation of the EIDM roadmap and the information governance framework. Emphasis will be placed on the standards-based privacy protection platform, the onboarding and establishment of standards-based agency metadata and data infrastructure, the management of unstructured information planning, the advancement of an agency data and information framework, and the development and implementation of an effective communications strategy.
The EIDM project is establishing a metadata ecosystem to manage standards-based metadata that will adhere to the findability, accessibility, interoperability and reusability (FAIR) principles; provide the necessary metadata to preserve privacy; streamline the statistical business process through metadata-driven automated processes and reuse of metadata; and support the retention and disposition of data. The metadata ecosystem will provide a single point of access via a metadata hub, which will also serve as the integration layer across the ecosystem. The ecosystem will house metadata on datasets to support an enterprise-wide data catalogue, a questionnaire bank to support development of new surveys, and reference data that can be used both internally and throughout the Government of Canada.
The EIDM project will operationalize a FAIR assessment tool to provide real-time information to statistical programs on their adherence to the FAIR principles, as well as continually advance more robust data management principles.
Digital solutions
Statistics Canada has embarked on a critical evolution of its digital ecosystem, with several significant shifts taking place at the same time. The agency is aligning its vision and direction with a clear view of its hybrid future within the Digital Ambition framework. Continuing into 2023–24, the agency will focus on
- pivoting its digital mindset tools and solutions to help employees focus on results, enhance productivity, improve mobility and agility, and ensure that the agency can access the right talent
- enabling its programs to leverage the new Data Analytics as a Service platform to support the development of new data insights; collaboration both within and outside the agency; and the application of new data analytics methods, such as machine learning and data science
- adjusting its working practices to use the cloud and fully leverage the potential of the cloud
- establishing digitized, mobile-enabled and data-driven work practices that enable virtual collaboration
- committing to being an environmentally sustainable agency (e.g., paperless office)
- aligning current processes to hybrid-by-design methods and approaches
- reviewing and prioritizing policies and procedures to ensure that they are consistent and effective for working in a hybrid work environment.
This ongoing modernization will provide the ideal environment for employees to thrive in a hybrid-by-design model, with key objectives to ensure it is user-centric, intuitive, accessible and secure.
Because employees are working not only in this new way, but also in new locations, Statistics Canada's Cyber Security Division has increased its capabilities to support and defend the business of the agency. The division itself continues to grow and evolve to meet the challenging demands of protecting the integrity, confidentiality and availability of Canadians' data. Strengthening the agency's cloud security posture has been a major focus, as Statistics Canada continues to optimize services through comprehensive vulnerability and risk management capabilities, strategic evaluations and benchmarks, and the continuous realignment of people and technologies to meet the demands of the shifting cyber landscape.
The agency has enhanced processes that align with the Government of Canada's strategic direction for incident management to protect, detect and respond to cyber threats, and to safeguard critical systems and data. Another focus is the evolution of a security-conscious workforce as the first line of cyber defence and integration of security into all organizational aspects and functions to ensure resiliency. The agency is committed to ensuring that the cyber security capabilities for the first census in the cloud (in 2026) will meet the highest standard.
Internal audit and evaluation
In 2023–24, the Audit and Evaluation Branch will conduct audits, evaluations and advisory engagements to yield insight into the appropriateness of decision-making and governance structures and processes that enable the agency's employees to operate effectively within a strong management regime. Moreover, evaluations with a user-centric focus will assess the relevance of programs. This will provide insight into the degree to which user needs are being considered and met in program design and delivery.
Planning for contracts awarded to Indigenous businesses
Statistics Canada incorporates Indigenous businesses as part of its procurement strategy. This includes identifying voluntary Procurement Strategy for Aboriginal Business set-asides and raising awareness about the initiative within the agency. The agency's target was established based on consultations with key internal stakeholders, such as Security and Facilities Management, and knowledge of forthcoming information technology professional service contracts where a multi-contract procurement strategy allows for set-asides. The target also takes into consideration commodities that have been historically supplied by Indigenous businesses. Although the agency's procurement is primarily targeted to commodities with historically lower Indigenous representation, Statistics Canada is confident in meeting its 5.5% Indigenous procurement target for 2023–24. The agency will also continue to explore future opportunities to help achieve the mandatory minimum target by 2024–25.
| 5% reporting field description | 2021–22 actual % achieved | 2022–23 forecasted % target | 2023–24 planned % target |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total percentage of contracts with Indigenous businesses | N/A | N/A | 5.5% |
Planned results for Statistical Information
The following table shows, for internal services, budgetary spending for 2023–24, as well as planned spending for that year and for each of the next two fiscal years.
| 2023–24 budgetary spending (as indicated in Main Estimates) | 2023–24 planned spending | 2024–25 planned spending | 2025–26 planned spending |
|---|---|---|---|
| 72,783,788 | 72,783,788 | 70,296,376 | 67,980,043 |
Planned human resources for internal services
The following table shows, in full-time equivalents, the human resources the department will need to carry out its internal services for 2023–24 and for each of the next two fiscal years.
| 2023–24 planned full-time equivalents | 2024–25 planned full-time equivalents | 2025–26 planned full-time equivalents |
|---|---|---|
| 610 | 584 | 564 |