Performance Reporting — Continued

Goal 2: Citizens of British Columbia have access to government when and how they need it

British Columbians increasingly expect government services to be accessible in-person, by mail, telephone and electronically. Connecting all government corporate service delivery programs promotes efficiency and accountability. In support of this goal, the planning for electronic and face-to-face services was brought together under the Ministry of Management Services on April 1, 2003. Combining the government's service channels under one ministry will allow it to act as a catalyst for change within government. Ministries will have the tools they require for common planning and solutions for service delivery. Citizens will benefit from innovative, cost-effective, coordinated service delivery.

Objectives:

• Provide British Columbians with accessible, convenient and secure "one-stop" online access to government services.

Core Business Areas:

• Procurement and Supply Services
• Corporate and Information Programs

Strategies:

• Develop the IT infrastructure to enable e-government
• Deliver Single-Window Gateway to make public access to government services more convenient
• Ensure BC Publications Index lists all publications
• Implement electronic system for searching legislation
• Improve the public's access to saleable surplus assets

The Ministry of Management Services 2002/03 – 2004/05 Service Plan identified the establishment of four baseline metrics for performance measures for Goal 2. These performance measures were in support of two identified strategies: developing the IT infrastructure needed to enable e-government; and the delivery of a Single-Window Gateway to enhance public access to government services. These performance measures were dependent on the creation of a Single-Window Gateway. Creation of the Gateway was temporarily put on hold pending a review of the business model, including technology and costs. As a result, establishing baselines has been deferred until the Single-Window Gateway is introduced. This will occur before the end of 2003/04.

In order to demonstrate the Ministry's support of Goal 2, the following new measures have been introduced. These measures link to strategies that are not connected with the Single-Window Gateway.

The Publications Index provides quick and easy access to all Government of British Columbia publications. Creating access to as many government publications as possible is critical to ensuring government accountability and transparency. This year a baseline was established to determine the current number of publications on the Index. The total of 7,197 publications included the addition of over 500 links to the Publications site in January 2003 and represents approximately 90 per cent of government publications.

The Ministry fulfilled its commitment to implement an electronic system for searching legislation with the launch of QP LegalEze. QP LegalEze is a web based subscription service that offers the legal community and other professionals complete and comprehensive access to British Columbia's legislation from the official source; authoritative Regulations; and quick search results. The creation of QP LegalEze increases public accessibility to all provincial statutes (currently over 500) through the public library system.

Free public access to QP LegalEze has been implemented in all BC public libraries and free campus-wide access has been implemented in seven post-secondary institutions as well as to law students and faculty at the Universities of Victoria and British Columbia. A subscription service is available to others who wish to access the service and revenue generated through these subscriptions subsidizes the free access sites. Increasing the subscription base will help move QP LegalEze towards a self-funding model. A baseline of the number of concurrent user licenses was established in 2002/03.