2002/03 Annual Service Plan Report Ministry of Management Services

Ministry Operating Context

Macro-Trends

• Fluctuations in international, national and provincial economies will require governments to ensure that their activities are focused, effective and sustainable.
• The speed of technology and communications will continue to accelerate.
• Public values will continue to emphasize greater transparency, accountability and improved service from government, all for less money.
• Globally, private and public sector use of the shared services model for support and transactional services continues to expand.

Key Challenges

• Support services will be dependent upon client service standards that are consistent, competitive and transparent.
• As ministry purchases of shared services decline in volume as a result of workforce adjustment, the shared services organization will increasingly be faced with the challenge of covering fixed costs of infrastructure while dealing with diseconomies of scale.
• External clients to government will continue to be a diverse and complex group.

Key Opportunities

• Effective stewardship of resources will encourage ministries to collaborate in shared services initiatives.
• Partnerships within the Ministry and with other agencies will enhance flexibility and transparency in the delivery of services.
• Opportunities can be created for broader public sector clients (including other levels of government) to participate in shared services.
• Best practices amongst high performing private and public sector agencies can be adopted to improve business practices and performance.
• Monitoring and reporting of performance results can identify opportunities for improvement and allocate resources more effectively.

Update on New Era Commitments

New Era Commitments Achieved

• The Ministry reviewed Information and Privacy legislation and introduced amendments designed to improve privacy protection, increase openness and accountability and reduce overall compliance costs.

Ongoing New Era Commitments

• The Ministry completed the planning for the implementation of a program for delivering shared services. The new shared services organization, which commenced operations April 1, 2003, will work to eliminate administrative duplication and reduce costs.
• The Ministry is addressing longer-term procurement reform through a whole suite of activities including legislation, policy, training and education to increase public-sector capacity to open procurement practices.
• The Ministry is cutting the cost of paper flow by digitizing all possible government data, forms and information.

Core Business Areas

Since June of 2001, the Ministry of Management Services has been reviewing and aligning its programs in order to support and manage government's internal operations. The Ministry has a budget of $38.57 million, with a number of functions operating in a $1000 vote structure and a Full-Time Equivalent allocation of 1,139.

ORGANIZATION CHART

The Ministry was created primarily to provide key corporate support services to the public sector by implementing a "shared services" model. Shared services refers to the practice of business units within organizations sharing a common set of required support services rather than having a series of support functions duplicated in each business unit. Costs of shared services are reduced over time through a combination of efficiencies from consolidation, business streamlining and related policy change, and technological improvements. The Ministry's Procurement and Supply Services division (which now includes Payroll Services and the Corporate Accounting Service) and the Common Information Technology Services division, comprise the shared services organization — Solutions BC — which was launched in April 2003.

Management Services clients and customers include:

• Provincial Ministries
• Crown Corporations
• Federal and other provincial government agencies
• Schools and universities
• Regional Health Authorities
• Municipalities
• General Public

In order to realize our mandate and achieve our strategic direction, the Ministry has established the following four core business areas:

Procurement and Supply Services:

Provides value-added supply solutions to government, largely on a fee-for-service basis. These include: the acquisition of goods and services; operation of the BC Bid system to post and manage opportunities for public sector contracts; provision of printing and publishing services; mail and related information distribution services; management of the intellectual property program; warehousing; corporate supply and distribution of office supplies, medical supplies and pharmaceuticals, uniforms and other specialty products; disposal of surplus assets; light vehicle fleet management; and employee re-location services.

Except for $4.44 million in voted appropriations, all existing services are fully cost recovered through billings to clients. The division operates with an FTE allocation of 439. Over 26 per cent of the division's revenues are currently derived from other public sector organizations.

In 2002/03:

• BC Mail Plus http://www.bcsolutions.gov.bc.ca/bcmail/ processed and distributed over 20 million pieces of mail. It also provided mail list management for over 110,000 addresses. Over 20 per cent of BC Mail Plus's customers are in the broader public sector.
• Over 4,000 bid notices were posted on the BC Bid site http://www.bcbid.gov.bc.ca/open.dll/welcome.
• Over $398 million in goods and services were purchased through Purchasing Services.
• Queen's Printer http://www.bcsolutions.gov.bc.ca/qp/ printed over 9,500 jobs. Planning and design of printing jobs offers cost saving alternatives to clients.
• The creation of QP LegalEze http://www.qplegaleze.ca/, the government's web based system for searching legislation, increased public accessibility to over 500 statutes.
• The BC Publications Index http://www.publications.gov.bc.ca/ added over 500 links to the Publications site, bringing the total number of publications to over 7,000.

Common Information Technology Services (CITS):

Most of government's mission-critical programs, such as court operations, require support from one or more of the IT services provided by CITS. These services also support network connectivity for schools, pharmacies and all government offices across the province. In all, CITS provides information technology (IT) infrastructure services to 492 client organizations made up of 50,000 end-users, across 3,500 locations throughout British Columbia. This includes all government ministries and those organizations in the broader public sector electing to participate in shared services offerings. Services include: voice and data networks; workstation support; information technology helpdesk services; shared data processing; application hosting (servers); electronic mail; common application software support; security and anti-virus protection; e-government infrastructure; and consulting services. Except for $4.17 million in voted appropriation, all existing services are fully cost recovered through billings to clients.

In 2002/03, CITS:

• Amalgamated all government IT Infrastructure (40,000+ assets and 200+ contracts) under shared services to create economies of scale;
• Provided electronic storage, transport and processing capacity for more than 100 tetrabytes of data (equivalent to 50 billion printed pages);
• Stopped more than 300,000 viruses, preventing disruption to public services; and
• Created new electronic forms that enabled government ministries to conduct 100,000 government transactions electronically rather than on paper.

Corporate and Information Programs:

Provides consolidated corporate programs that support specialized functions, not duplicated elsewhere in government. The programs have common themes and a foundation that is built on information management, including privacy protection, service provision, and access. These programs manage legislation and provide policy and professional advice, tools, resources and services that enhance accountable decision-making, and increase public access to programs and information. Corporate and Information Programs also provides an integrated, multi-channel service for ensuring public access to government programs, services, information and opportunities, while protecting privacy. Corporate and Information Programs has an FTE complement of 137 and an operating budget of just over $11.0 million.

In 2002/03:

• The BC Connects website http://www.bcconnects.gov.bc.ca/ was able to offer 560 services; up from 180 when it was launched in March 2001.
• BC OnLine https://www.bconline.gov.bc.ca/ provided electronic access to over five million transactions for business and government users and the BC OnLine Help Desk achieved a 95 per cent satisfaction rating.
• Enquiry BC http://www.mser.gov.bc.ca/prgs/enquiry_bc.htm responded to over one million inquiries with an overall satisfaction rating of 97 per cent. In response to requests from citizens in the Mountain Time Zone, the Enquiry BC Call Centre adjusted its operating hours to open at 7:30 PST.
• BC Archives http://www.bcarchives.gov.bc.ca/general/backgrnd.htm launched a new search engine, allowing access to 10,000 new and updated entries online.

Corporate and Ministry Support Services

Provides the Ministry of Management Services, as well as a number of other agencies and ministries, with financial administration, personnel management, information technology management, staff development and training, and other related services.