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Review of InformationTechnology ServiceDeliveryThe Audit and Evaluation BranchSeptember 2014
Key DatesOpening conference date (launch memo)Review plan sent to managementEnd of fieldworkReview report sent to managementManagement response receivedPenultimate draft report approved by CAEFirst presentation to EAACExternal Audit Advisory committee recommendedDeputy Minister approval dateJune 2012February 2013December 2013May 2014May 2014June 2014June 2014August 2014September 2014Glossary / List of SCSTBTBSAssistant Deputy MinisterAudit and Evaluation BranchBusiness arrangementBusiness Improvement Review CommitteeCorporate Accountability and Administrative RenewalChief Information OfficerCorporate Services BranchDeputy MinisterEnvironment CanadaExecutive Management CommitteeFinance BranchHuman ResourcesInformation ManagementInformation TechnologyInformation Technology Information LibraryShared Services CanadaScience and Technology BranchTreasury Board SecretariatPrepared by the Audit and Evaluation TeamAcknowledgmentsThe review team composed of Graça Cabeceiras, Lise Gravel and Kenneth Gourlay,under the direction of Stella Line Cousineau and Jean Leclerc, would like to thank thoseindividuals who contributed to this project and, particularly, those employees whoprovided their insights and comments.Version ControlDate:File Name:August 27, 2014IT Delivery - Revised Report ver 22July2014-Track Change.docx
Review of Information Technology Service DeliveryTable of ContentsEXECUTIVE SUMMARY . i1Introduction . 11.11.21.32Findings . 32.12.22.33Background. 1Objectives and Scope . 2Statement of Conformance . 2Governance and Coordination of the Relationship with SSC . 3Client Satisfaction with Service Delivery . 5Management of Service Delivery . 8Conclusion . 113.1Subsequent Event: . 11Annex 1 Review Methodology and Criteria . 12Environment Canada – Audit and Evaluation Branch
Review of Information Technology Service DeliveryEXECUTIVE SUMMARYThis review was included in Environment Canada’s 2012 Risk-Based Audit andEvaluation Plan, recommended by the External Audit Advisory Committee and approvedby the Deputy Minister. The objectives of this review were to assess the adequacy ofexisting and planned Environment Canada governance of its relationship with SharedServices Canada (SSC) and the current level of satisfaction with the IT services providedto the program areas and branches in the department.The following conclusion is based on the situation as it existed at the time of the review(between April 2012 and December 2013).Overall, despite the early issues around the communication with stakeholders andconfusion about roles and responsibilities regarding the transfer of assets and servicesto SSC, things have improved. The review concluded that accountability for IT servicedelivery and the associated governance structures are generally adequate. For instance,the organization’s accountability has been formally defined and an oversight body wasestablished. In addition, the creation of an SSC Liaison Office to facilitate businesscoordination between the departments, and supporting business agreement andoperating protocol has helped further clarify roles and responsibilities.The review also concluded that Corporate Services Branch (CSB) follows a number ofbest practices for the management and delivery of its IT services. For instance, CSBhas developed a catalogue of services which is considered to be a best practice andother departments are duplicating it. Results of the client survey also indicated that staffwas generally satisfied with the IT services being delivered. However, issuessurrounding better communications and transparency of service standards andprocesses, such as development, were identified as areas requiring attention.To address the findings outlined in this report, we present the following threerecommendations.Recommendation 1The Assistant Deputy Minister of Corporate Services Branch should review the controlsover existing processes for acquiring IT goods/services such as software and hardwareto ensure that they are still relevant.Recommendation 2The Assistant Deputy Minister of Corporate Service Branch should, in consultation withCSB’s clients, review its service catalogue to bring better clarity over the type of servicesthat are available and how they can be accessed.Recommendation 3The Assistant Deputy Minister of Corporate Services Branch should improve themonitoring of performance against service standards and report back to governancecommittees and clients on a regular basis.Environment Canada – Audit and Evaluation Branchi
Review of Information Technology Service DeliveryManagement ResponseManagement agrees with the recommendations. The detailed management responsecan be found under Section 2 of this report.Environment Canada – Audit and Evaluation Branchii
Review of Information Technology Service Delivery1INTRODUCTIONThis engagement was included in Environment Canada’s 2012 Risk-Based Audit andEvaluation Plan recommended by the External Audit Advisory Committee and approvedby the Deputy Minister.Information Technology (IT) Service Delivery was identified through Audit and EvaluationBranch’s (AEB) annual planning exercise and consultations with the program areas, as ahigh risk in the context of the creation and transfer of IT services to Shared ServicesCanada (SSC). In the run-up to the creation of the new department, and during the firstfew months of the transition, recurring concerns were raised by senior managersregarding the transfer of functions to SSC and the resulting potential impact onprograms.1.1BackgroundCorporate Services Branch (CSB) is responsible for providing leadership and deliveringquality services and support to Environment Canada programs and priorities. Thissupport is categorized in five main streams: Information Management, InformationTechnology, Assets and Material Management, Security, and Real Property services.As such, CSB is responsible for managing a host of different services, including:applications development and support meeting specific needs of the department;database design; web development and support; IT service desk support at multiplelevels; IT security including threat prevention, threat and risk assessments and others.By providing strategic vision and management direction for the delivery and support of ITsolutions, CSB supports program managers across the breadth of these serviceofferings.All of the programs that Environment Canada (EC) delivers to Canadians, and especiallyMeteorological Services and Environmental Stewardship, are critically dependent uponIT services. Among other things, these IT services allow EC to provide Canadians withsevere weather warnings; monitor harmful chemicals in the environment; and performthe analysis required to determine the source of those chemicals.The IT services that support program activities have traditionally been delivered withinthe department; however, since November 2011 many of these services are beingdelivered by SSC.SSC was created on August 4, 2011 to fundamentally transform how the Government ofCanada manages its IT infrastructure and provide an enterprise-wide approach to email,network and datacentre services. It brought together people, technology resources andassets from 43 federal departments and agencies to improve the efficiency, reliabilityand security of the Government’s IT infrastructure. SSC’s mandate is to maintainoperations and provide business continuity, generate savings by optimizing,consolidating and standardizing and to transform the current IT infrastructure for theGovernment of Canada into one that is modern, reliable, efficient and secure.The Deputy Minister of EC remains fully accountable for delivering the department’smandate and its environmental programs and services. The delivery of this mandate isdependent to a significant extent on IT services that are being provided by SSC. AsEnvironment Canada – Audit and Evaluation Branch1
Review of Information Technology Service Deliverysuch, CSB is responsible for managing the relationship between EC and SSC as well asidentifying the needs of the department and ensuring proper coordination.In response to concerns regarding EC management and coordination of the transfer offunctions to SSC and the resulting potential impact on programs, Executive Managementasked internal audit to consider IT service delivery in the context of their risk-based auditplan. They felt that this would assist the department in identifying IT service deliveryissues and minimize any impact on the delivery of services to Canadians.1.2Objectives and ScopeObjectivesTo assess the adequacy of existing and planned EC governance of its relationship withSSC for ensuring that critical IT services are delivered in a way that respects EC’sbusiness continuity requirements for its programs and branches.To assess the current level of satisfaction with the IT services provided to the programareas and branches in the department; and whether the department’s level ofsatisfaction was impacted since the creation of SSC.ScopeThe scope of this review focused on the adequacy (timeliness and quality) of IT servicesbeing provided or coordinated by EC. For further clarity, when reviewing the adequacyof services being provided, we focused on the client’s satisfaction with the services and,where the service was provided by SSC, assessed how CSB governs and coordinatesthe relationship with SSC to help ensure client satisfaction. This review did not includeany work related directly to SSC which would be outside EC’s jurisdiction.While this review covered IT service delivery during the period of April 1, 2012 toDecember 2013, an employee survey, on which some of the observations and results ofthis review are based, was conducted during June-July 2013. In addition, while thereview covered IT services delivered to the entire department, the review work wascarried out mainly in the National Capital Region complemented with teleconferences forregional participation.Annex 1 describes the review methodology and criteria used in the conduct of thisreview.1.3Statement of ConformanceThis review conforms to the Internal Auditing Standards for the Government of Canada,as supported by the results of the quality assurance and improvement program, andapplied in the context of a review.In our professional judgement, sufficient and appropriate procedures have beenconducted and evidence gathered to support the accuracy of the conclusions reachedand contained in this report. The conclusions were based on a comparison of thesituations against the review criteria, as they existed at the end of the fieldwork inDecember 2013.Environment Canada – Audit and Evaluation Branch2
Review of Information Technology Service Delivery2FINDINGS2.1Governance and Coordination of the Relationship with SSCEC has undergone significant governance changes in the past few years resulting in theimplementation of an entirely new departmental governance structure, including theelimination of the EC boards, the creation of CSB,1 staff and budget reductions due torecent budgets and the transfer of some of its IT operations from EC to SSC.As previously mentioned, SSC was created in August 2011 to fundamentally transformhow the Government of Canada manages its IT. All departments included in thistransformation were required to enter into a collaborative relationship with SSC for theprovision of IT services in the areas of e-mail, network and data centre management andsupport. When an organization enters into a collaborative relationship with anotherorganization, some of the minimum stewardship requirements are that accountabilitiesfor the relationship be formally defined; oversight committees be established; themandate be circulated and information received by oversight committees; and strategicdirection and objectives be established.While the Orders in Council that created SSC were in place early in the process, theaccountabilities were not formally agreed upon until a Business Arrangement (BA) and asupporting Operation Protocol (OP) between the Deputy Heads of the two departmentswas signed in November of 2012. The BA is a high-level agreement between bothorganizations that clearly identifies the roles and responsibilities and sets forth thepartnership between EC and SSC. The BA speaks to the general governance of therelationship. In particular, it defines dispute resolution procedures and direct issues tothe SSC Liaison Office as a first point of contact. The Director General of Infrastructureand Operations and EC’s Chief Information Officer (CIO2) are identified in the escalationprocedures if required. It further requires that bi-lateral meetings between the twoDeputy Ministers be held at least once per year to discuss the implementation of thearrangement and requires that EC actively and collab
Review of Information Technology Service Delivery Environment Canada – Audit and Evaluation Branch 1 1 INTRODUCTION This engagement was included in Environment Canada’s 2012 Risk-Based Audit and Evaluation Plan recommended by the External Audit Advisory Committee and approved by the Deputy Minister.
