Information as a Public Resource: Three Stages of Government Transformation

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Information as a Public ResourceThree Stages of
Government Transformation

• Donald G. Lenihan
• President and CEO
• Crossing Boundaries National Council

Slide 1
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The CB National Council

• Proposed as a new kind of forum that will act as
  a champion for the transformation and improvement
  of government and governance in the 21st century

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The CB National Council

• Council is composed of
• Deputy ministers and elected officials from
  federal government and all 10 provincial
  governments
• Representation from municipal and territorial
  governments and Aboriginal organizations
• Also includes representation from civil society
  and private sector

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Imagining the Future

• Which governments finances would you like to
  run?
• ?????????????
• There is a golden opportunity to develop a new
  resource for the 21st century Information (and
  knowledge)
• It is to the knowledge economy what oil was to
  the industrial onea source of wealth, prestige,
  power, influence and opportunity

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How do we develop it?

• Governments have vast information holdings. But
  they are scattered across programs and
  departments.
• How do we consolidate the information and turn it
  into a valuable public resource?
• It requires a transformation of how government is
  organized and works.
• We can imagine the process as having three
  stages
• Drilling
• Extracting
• Refining

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Stage One Drilling Down

• Service Canada is a one-stop service to
  Canadians by phone, on the Internet, and in
  person for social benefits and other programs.
• The goal is to provide integrated services such
  as
• Automatic cancellation of benefits, etc, on
  registering a death
• Reducing the number of forms for a business
  license
• The right person must have the right information
  at the right time.
• THE BASIC PRINCIPLE
• Integrated services require integrated information

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The New Public Infrastructure

• Service Canada is part of a new generation of
  public infrastructure
• Service utilities exist in many provinces and
  other countries
• Service utilities are, first-and-foremost,
  NETWORKS
• They establish and maintain the links that are
  needed for integrated services
• We can think of them as a combination
  drill-and-refinery for extracting and developing
  information as a new resource

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Stage Two Extracting the Resource

• Building the new infrastructure and using it to
  extract and develop information involves a new
  approach to how government is organized.
• An enterprise-wide approach establishes an
  integrated information systema networkacross a
  whole service area.
• A service area could be
• a set of transactions, such as social benefit
  cheques
• a service cluster, such as seniors
• a policy field, such as health

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Extracting the Resource (cont)

• Integration separates the information from
  specific services so that it can flow more freely
  through the (enterprise) system.
• A second wave of integrated services is coming.
• Client-based services are information-intensive.
  Integration increases the volume by an order of
  magnitude.
• As this next wave hits, it will free up huge
  volumes of information.

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Stage Three Refining the Resource

• The third stage of transformation is refining the
  resource to create new products and services. It
  is already happening.
• Officials in other areas have recognized that and
  enterprise approach could also transform what
  they do
• Accountability and transparency
• Evidence-based policy
• Services to businesses and citizens

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Emerging New Infrastructure

• IRP
• Canada Health Council/CIHI
• GEOPHYSICS DATABASE
• Statistics Canada
• Education Council

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Other Enterprise Areas?

• Science and Research
• Security
• Regulatory enforcement
• Services to citizens and businesses

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Issues

• Privacy
• Making horizontal connections and investments
• How many enterprises do we need?
• Information Overloadthe need for standards and
  quality control
• Federalism

Slide 13