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FMI
*
IGF JOURNAL
VOLUME 24, NO. 1
advantage of electronic commerce and the
number is growing steadily.
Suppliers are beginning to reap the ben-
efits of the changes taking place. The Open
Bidding Service (OBS) officially begins op-
eration June 1st, 1992. The service is be-
ing provided under licence by Information
Systems Management Inc. (ISM) at no cost
to taxpayers. Notices of the majority of
procurements over $25,000 will be avail-
able online, and any supplier who wishes
can receive bid documents within hours
via fax. The OBS will be upgraded before
the year-end to support instant electronic
downloading of bid solicitations. DSS is
also working on the capability to allow
companies to submit their bid responses to
DSS electronically.
DSS is conducting several Electronic
Data Interchange (EDI) pilot projects in
the procurement area in addition to the
Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) and
direct-deposit initiatives which are well
under way. The department is developing
the infrastructure for departments to order
directly from standing-offer suppliers
through EDI. Client departments and sup-
pliers are participating voluntarily, and the
planning and implementation are entirely
the result of joint development. When
the pilot phases are complete, they will be
added to the procurement environment.
DSS is working towards a seamless elec-
tronic procurement environment, but not
at the expense of individual departments’
needs. The hardest part of implementing
change is changing attitudes. DSS has a
clear goal, and it is pursuing innovation
steadily, incrementally and with the willing
participation of departments and suppliers.
Although a “magic bullet” one-size-fits
all solution could indeed create unified
administration systems, DSS believes that
a more gradual, consensual approach will
reap greater benefits in the long run. A dis-
cussion paper called
Looking Ahead
was re-
leased in March, 1992, which outlines the
strategic direction for the future of SSC.
Looking Ahead
is available at your local DSS
office. DSS is inviting input from suppliers,
client departments and its own staff in de-
veloping more cost-effective and respon-
sive administration systems and services.
Bernie Gorman:
There are a number of things which we
could do differently in order to improve
our administrative processes and service
delivery.
One only need look at the private sec-
tor to see the benefits which can be derived
from fundamentally re-engineering our
administrative processes. For example, both
Ford and Mazda drastically reduced the ad-
ministrative costs associated with accounts
payable by re-engineering their processes
and making better use of available technol-
ogy. Numerous other organizations have
had similar successes in re-engineering their
administrative processes. If the government
could produce similar results, the resources
saved could be redirected to other value
added activities.
Another area which is related to re
engineering, where there is great potential
to realize gains, is cross-functional inte-
gration (e.g., functional areas of materiel,
finance, personnel, and real property).
Through greater integration, gains can be
realized by reducing duplicate activities
(e.g. by moving towards one-time data en-
try) and improved information sharing.
CAR bas recognized this potential and is
actively developing and promoting Com-
mon Information Management principles
which form the foundation for cross-func-
tional integration and re-engineering by
providing data definitions and standards
which are common to all users. The READ
Working Group is currently working on a
re-engineered procurement process.
Jim Westover:
The bottom line for a department will be
reduced costs and efficiency gains. What
the government of Canada does can be
beneficial to the vendor community, in
terms of partnership arrangements, strate-
gic arrangements with service providers for
alternate program delivery methods, and
extensive use of consultants for require-
ments definition and business modelling.
Alliances with major suppliers are essential
to move to an open systems world. As we
all know, restraint in the public service is
here to stay and with public demands for
more and better services at lower costs, al-
ternative service delivery and technological
solutions must be found.
Outsourcing is becoming a fact of life
as departments attempt to optimize their
scarce resources. User wide groups are be-
ing formed and funded centrally with re-
sources drawn from the private sector to
attempt to clearly specify requirements.
The movement to OSI will also facilitate
direction and help focus the software and
the information technology service provid-
ers in supporting the departments techno-
logical needs. The impact of technological
change has started to substantially benefit
program delivery.
We are just at the beginning of an accel-
erated infusion of information technology.
If this technology is properly harnessed it
will enable us to cope with the changes to
administrative systems that are required
to meet new work patterns resulting from
new policy directions, PS 2000 initiatives
and the promotion of single window con-
cept of program delivery.
Arthur Silverman:
Firstly, as I outlined in an article published
in the February, 1992 issue of the
FMI
Journal
, I believe that there are four key
items which would go a long way in im-
proving the management of administrative
systems in government.
The first key item is the adoption of a
strategic view for the management of ad-
ministrative systems in the public service.
Only by doing so will administrative sys-
tems be seen as a vital part of the strategy
of public service organizations and devel-
oped in a way that will maximize the gov-
ernment-wide benefits from each dollar
invested.
The second key item is the involvement
of top management in the system develop-
ment process. If this level of involvement is
not present, the goal of raising the profile
of administrative systems to the strategic
level cannot be achieved.
The third key item is focusing account-
ability for systems development activities
more on operational and financial results
and less on process. By shifting this focus,
developers will be given more authority
to find the best way to get the job done.
The primary incentive will be to provide
a good product rather than ensuring that
processes were adhered to.
The fourth key item is the provision of
an effective integrated development in-
frastructure for the planning and devel-
opment of administrative systems. This
infrastructure, which would consist of pro-
fessionals from both the public and private
sectors, would provide technical expertise
to identify and implement the most effi-
cient means of turning strategic concepts
into properly functioning systems. To
achieve this, it will be necessary to explore
new relationships with outside suppliers.
In addition to these four items, there are
two other points which I would like to dis-
cuss. The first relates to the expanded use
of solution procurement, which should help
ensure that the best solutions are found to
meet the government’s requirements. Solu-
tion procurement is beneficial to both the
government and suppliers in that it removes
many constraints which traditionally im-
peded the efficient acquisition/development
of administrative systems. SSC is making
significant progress in this direction and
I am sure that the benefits will be readily
apparent to departments and suppliers.
