There are three areas in which we are going to pursue improved guidance. They are clarifying the roles and responsibilities of leads versus partners, clarifying guidance with respect to a consolidated view of reporting, and clarifying financial costing and reporting.
We have existing guidance we can build from. My understanding of “as appropriate” is that there's no condition there. We are to take what we have and to refine and hone that guidance so that it is crystal clear to departments what is required with respect to the utilization of resources allocated for horizontal initiatives and how to report those initiatives.
Our existing guidance identifies an end-to-end business process. It starts with identifying the need. Can you solve it vertically, or do you need to work horizontally to solve an initiative? It sets out how you would go about identifying that need and the consultations required. Then it explains the process around a cabinet approval. One of the key requirements is to identify how we're using resources already allocated to departments, and how those new incremental resources would be brought to bear to solve this horizontal approach.
The third step is to create an inventory of programs. There are some 1,300 or 1,400 programs out there in the Government of Canada. In some cases we need to create new ones, but in others we can leverage existing resources. The approach to horizontal initiatives is meant to tap into what is out there already, what we can draw from, and what existing programs, performance information, and data can be brought to bear to support the desired outcome.
Then we get into Treasury Board approval processes and the allocation of monies from Treasury Board approved by Parliament through the estimates.
Then we have guidance on performance measurement, and we are very clear in the guidance that there is a distinction to be made between the lead and the partner department. I believe we can further clarify what the lead department requires from partners and how they are to roll up that information in terms of a consolidated view. Then there's guidance on execution, program implementation, annual reporting, and then finally a close-out report.
I think that provides a very healthy starting point from which we can work with our partners, confirm what is clear and remains in place, and perhaps identify where they may need some additional support and guidance in terms of putting appropriate reporting in place.
What we heard on Monday was that there is some need to work with departments on more specifics on performance measurement, performance indicators, and perhaps a clearer distinction between moving beyond inputs and outputs and into outcomes.