The Government of Canada's integrated human resource systems Background Jacques M. Pelletier Assistant Commissioner Human Resource Management Sector Correctional Service of Canada Information technology has dramatically changed how the Canadian Government does business and nowhere is this more evident than in human resource branches across the government. Gone are the days when management could base HR plans on past trends. Not only has technology streamlined business practices, added flexibility and improved performance standards, but it has achieved economies of scale and improved efficiencies in a way no one could have foreseen ten years ago. The Government of Canada is committed to being the government most connected to its citizens, with Canadians able to access all government information and services on-line by 2004. Already, youth can register for youth employment programs on-line and taxpayers can submit annual income tax returns electronically. This has been accomplished through a workforce qualified to develop and implement such systems and has had significant impact on the way we work, on our organizational structures and interpersonal relations. This revolution in how the federal government delivers human resource services started seven years ago when Treasury Board (our government employer) urged departments to adopt a single shared systems model in choosing human resources software applications. Prior to 1994, more than 60 personnel systems were used throughout the federal government. The objective was to adopt one government-wide system, however, when this was further investigated, it was quickly determined that the Government would need to approve more than one system, as smaller departments were unable to obtain the same level of savings as the larger departments. Treasury Board approved three already existing HR systems and issued a contract to purchase a fourth commercial, off-the-shelf system. A number of submissions were subsequently evaluated, and the acquisition of the fourth Human Resources Management System (HRMS) was approved. It was agreed that the vendor of the off-the-shelf system would provide and maintain a Government of Canada (GC) version of the HRMS application that would incorporate the additional data and functionality necessary to meet the legislative requirements specific to the Canadian Federal Government. As the government evaluated the four systems, a number of departments concluded that the three existing systems were not able to meet their needs. These systems were not portable, some of which could only function within small departments. Consequently, in 1994, fourteen departments made the decision to move to the fourth option, the off-the-shelf commercial product. Shortly thereafter, a user Cluster group was formed to ensure the application met our requirements. Departments were not pushed to join the cluster, they came on board when they were ready. Currently 18 departments, including several of the large departments, are strategic partners in the Cluster group. Working together towards a common goal posed a challenge for member departments. Over time the participating departments have become sophisticated users of the application and have come to recognize the benefits of eliminating non-essential customisations to the
delivered commercial product in favour of a "bolt-on" approach to modifications. A bolt-on is a method by which essential customisations are built separately and simply linked into the software. By preserving the integrity of the core commercial product through the use of separate "bolt-on" components to address Government of Canada specific requirements, the maintenance costs associated with version upgrades have been significantly reduced. Moreover, the ability of departments to share information, utilize the new version's commercial functionality, and adopt the industry-proven best practices embedded in the product have also been greatly enhanced. It is through this approach to development and implementation that the participating departments have been able to leverage this new technology to its maximum benefit. Of course, the challenge is to get everyone to agree on a core product. The Cluster has already made giant strides in learning the value of cooperation and the power of partnerships. An excellent example of this was demonstrated when the federal government recently adopted a universal job classification system. First, a cluster sub-committee was formed to work with Treasury Board to identify what information was required. Then one department of the government drew up the required specifications while another developed the standardized report in the application for use by all Cluster members. In addition, member departments are now able to share standardized human resource processes. For example, the Cluster group has agreed on the consistent use of a number of codes to be used in the application. As well, the Cluster support team maintains standard tables and produces user documentation. This results in a time and resource savings for each Cluster member as they do not have to re-create tables and documents, but can use standard shared materials. Together the Cluster group represents 40 percent of the public service. When we take issues to Treasury Board, it gives the Cluster stronger representation which affords greater attention. Today, federal departments ranging in size from 400 to 17,000 employees use this human resource management system, and others are in the process of introducing it as their preferred HR solution. The human resource management system integrates human resource activities by removing any artificial barriers between the many human resource disciplines and provides a seamless web of service to our clients through a strong horizontal team approach. Human resource specialists use the application as an automated work tool streamlining many manual processes while management has the opportunity to use the powerful reporting capabilities. The application, through its web-based abilities, can remove cumbersome manual processes while providing fingertip access for employees and managers. Senior managers rely on vital statistics on which they can base forecasts and analyse current and future trends in human resources Human Resource Management System - Correctional Services Canada Prior to Correctional Service Canada moving to our present integrated human resource management system, we operated a number of independent applications to meet our requirements. Unfortunately they were not inter-connected and thus made it very difficult to obtain or cross reference relevant information. 2
It became clear to the Department that the collective effort and expense required to support these various systems was far greater than would be required by a single common shared system. Not only would we save in terms of effort and expense but it would allow the Human Resource Management Sector to play a strategic role in the Department's future. For example, with our integrated system we are able to produce complete workforce demographics that enable senior management to forecast succession requirements. The Department made the decision to move to the new system in 1996. However, we quickly realized that it was just not a matter of removing the old systems and installing the new system. Even though, as a member of the cluster, we had invested in an "off-the-shelf" application, we still needed to ensure that we were able to take advantage of the best possible benefits from the application and that we focused our efforts on measurable results, as opposed to processes and procedures. Probably one of the most important steps toward the implementation, was the involvement of our human resource specialists, a non-technical group. By using sound business processes, we ensured that we optimised on the strengths of our legacy systems, the experience of the other cluster departments and the abilities of the new application. We expected that reengineering or adapting our existing business processes would provide the following benefits: Consistency for employees moving between departments. Possibility of electronic transfers between departments Reduction in development and maintenance costs for the department Reduced load on human Resources, especially with self serve applications In the future there may be fewer resources and shared resources, which would require common business processes. Improvement in communication across departments and sharing of best practices Reduction in training requirements for human resource specialists moving between departments Standardized procedures, data reporting Common look and feel Lower risk with a common process Throughout this transition we really became an "agent of change". We impacted the way human resource business was conducted within the Department and empowered our employees and their managers. Our unscheduled leave business process, which is a self-service application, is a perfect example of being an "agent of change". In Canada, employees of the Federal Government are allowed a certain number of days for unscheduled leave (illness or for personal needs) each year. Before the introduction of the human resource management system all leave of this type had to be reported on a paper form, approved by management and then sent to the human resource office for recording. The process was very manual and often times managers, as well as employees, had no idea of the number of days the employee even had available. As 3
well, employees were often delinquent in handing in the paper form causing managers to spend unnecessary amounts of time requesting the forms from certain employees. A study was done in one area of our Department and it was discovered that the Government had most likely lost over one million dollars in unaccounted sick days! So we, in consultation with our human resource experts, our employees and their unions, changed the process! Everyone in CSC has access to a computer or terminal. As a result, employees and their managers can now view their leave balances on the system, so both know immediately what is available. Employees no longer fill in the manual form. They simply call a predetermined number and the adjustment is immediately made within the Leave Module of the Human Resource system. We found this to be a win-win situation for everyone. The employees like it because they can see their own leave and update their personal information such as their home addresses. Managers find it very helpful because they are no longer in a situation of chasing employees for leave forms and know immediately what leave they can approve. The Unions like it as they see it as providing necessary information to their members (our employees). Some of the most challenging issues we had to overcome were the ideas, methods and processes that people use on a daily basis. An entire strategy had to be built around managing this human change. Changing the mindset of employees through more effective uses of time and talents provided an avenue to readily deal with resistance to change. The message that change is an ongoing process, which effects all, involved in all levels of an organisation was sent loud and clear. Because of committed leadership from top down, preparation was made and willingness was exhibited in accepting the fact that fear of change was a challenge and that challenge was met head-on. By continually informing and consulting with our employees, we gave them a feeling of ownership with the new system. They actively participate in the major changes to the system. For example, when the core system did not meet our requirement to follow-up, report and monitor the employment of our temporary correctional officers, a team of HR specialists, correctional officer supervisors and systems specialists was put together to analyse the situation. The team came up with a "bolt-on" solution that met the departments needs. Everyone played an intricate role in the analysis, development, and implementation of the solution. Like most commercial software applications, the commercial Human Resource Management System has included new functionality with each version release. Our present Human Resources system provides several tools that are integral to decision-making, help automate our business processes and improve the delivery of our business. The system provides services from the rudimentary transactions such as the process to hire, pay, promote and transfer employees within our organisation to tools for decision-making in regard to our workforce. Now that organisations are becoming dispersed and global, and either decentralised or farreaching, it s not easy to understand what talent is where within the organisation. It can be very difficult to know whether you have certain talent and skills in either another location or another country. And tools such as resource management allow you, in a matter of seconds, to do a search across all available skills within the organisation. You can be sure that you are finding the best people to fit the skills of the task at hand, whether it s an internal project or a service being offered to customers. 4
Our Human Resource application offers comprehensive HR solutions, from recruitment to compensation to workforce development. In addition, through integration with our collaborative applications, self-service transactions can extend this functionality to our employees and managers. Features included are: Global workforce management Uses a single application to meet national and regional requirements, with comprehensive international language, and multiple currency capabilities. Meets the cultural and regulatory requirements in Canada and many other countries. Uses the Assignments Module to maintain accurate, comprehensive information on employees on assignment within and outside CSC, as well as exchanges with the private sector and international work arrangements. Total compensation management, reporting, and analysis Our compensation system includes salary plans/grades/steps, multiple pay components, variable compensation plans, and benefits. Budgets for and administer salary planning by pre-defined groups. Administers simple to complex, cash and non-cash variable compensation programs. (In Canada, the pensions of our retirees are handled centrally by the Superannuation Directorate of the department responsible for Government Services, and not by the Heads of Human Resources in the various departments Responsive workforce recruitment Controls and manages job requisition data and will eventually post openings, and allow online searches. Tracks applicants by personal data, skills, education, training, test results, and work experience. Routes resumes, schedules interviews, and tracks results, then process offers and new hires. Competency, career, and succession management Identifies and associates competencies with individuals, jobs, positions, and project teams. Identifies employee development needs, and then enrols employees in training programs. Finds leadership and talent gaps in the organisation, and identifies and follows up on high-potential employees. Comprehensive health, safety, and labour relations management Creates an accurate, up-to-date record of the steps taken to resolve labour relations 5
problems, and help the organisation avoid liability issues. Tracks detailed data on incidents, injuries, illnesses, dangerous occurrences, first aid and medical aid treatments, accident investigations, corrective actions, compensation claims, and medical examinations. Integration with our collaborative applications (such as our internal web) Using the Manager's Desktop, employees can update their own personal and demographic data, and managers can view employee status data, including their training history and leave usage. Eventually, with the next version's capabilities, applicants will be able to review job descriptions and apply online, and hiring managers will manage the whole process, from posting to interviewing to hiring. As well, employees will review their compensation history online; including pay and job changes, and managers can administer compensation programs. Employees will be able to update competencies, review their training summary, request training enrolment, and submit training requests. The Human Resource Management System Implementation - Correctional Services Canada Senior management support is one of the main keys to a successful implementation of any system. Without senior management's commitment to the new system, implementation will not move forward nor will it receive adequate financial resourcing. At Correctional Services, we sought and received our senior management's agreement for both the initial system and financial resourcing through a high level presentation. However, this is a continual process and each time there is an increase in financial requirements the project director must return to senior management and present the additional need for approval. Senior management must see that the application is more than a transactional processing system. It needed to be linked to the business objectives of the organisation to show how the system helps achieve results. As well, it has to be allied to senior management's vision for the federal government. For example the application has to meet the requirements of the government's commitment for doing business over the World Wide Web. It was important to position the product as integral to decision-making and as a tool to improve the delivery of business. We needed to get the message out about how this HR system can function in our environment to serve business needs in comparison to the more rudimentary administration and reporting functions of the legacy systems. As well we had to demonstrate how the application could lever the HR function out of the financial/operational side of business and into a management/decision-making role. It was essential to demonstrate to management that the HR system is not merely a useful tool in the HR branch, but also supports and enables the business of managing employees in all areas of the organisation. We realized that moving the application out of the HR environment would be essential to its whole-hearted acceptance at senior levels. We also realized that we were competing for limited financial resources. Our business case had to be strong enough to stand against other areas of the Department who were also 6
lobbying for these same resources. Careful attention to planning was essential given our annual financial cycle. Budget requirements are presented once a year, as a result we had to be extremely well prepared to defend our request for funding, as an opportunity lost results in long delays. A team was put in place for the actual implementation. The team consisted of members from within the department from both the functional and technical areas. Members were made up of HR specialists, employees and managers. An overall project plan was created that included the following: A Communications Plan: which outlined how, what and when we would communication to the HR experts, managers and employees before implementation, during implementation and post implementation. A Management of Change Plan: to assist us with the challenges of being an agent of change. The plan had to ensure that everyone's concerns were heard and followed up, that each area involved had an opportunity to be both consulted and to provide feed back. The management of change plan had to be very forward thinking in that it had to foresee what possible hurdles would come up. Re-engineering of the Existing Business Processes Plan: This was probably one of the most difficult areas to implement. People become very attached to old ways and methods of operating. We included a strategy to help convince our employees that change was a good thing and that they would be able to remain efficient and effective. The most important ingredient for making this a success was the involvement of the employees themselves in the process. A Training Plan: this plan outlined the methodology and schedule for training our 4,500 users located in many different physical locations across Canada. This plan had to include training for HR specialists, managers and employees, and had to be delivered within a tight timeframe. A Human Resource Sector Web Page: which provides on-line access to job opportunities, career management information, learning and development opportunities, employee leave entitlements and benefits. This web page is always evolving to better meet the needs of our users. Development plans and planned roll outs are posted on the site. And of course, The System Implementation Plan: which had the all of the many steps and milestones for the physical move from our legacy system to our new system. As with the implementation of any new system, there was a transition period during which time we ran both the new and old systems on a parallel basis. During this transition phase, which lasted approximately six months, there was an increased demand on resources given that staff had to feed and maintain both systems. 7
Human Resource Management System (HRMS) as a Tool in Support of Strategic Planning The role of human resources planning is to provide line managers with HR information to influence and assist them in decision making so as to ensure the right people are available in the future to respond to changing business requirements. Business decisions taken today impact on resources presently available and affect the balance between future human resources supply and demand. An effective integrated HRMS supports strategic planning. It serves as a major source of data from which major HR analyses, strategies, reports and briefing documents for senior management are based. Our HRMS promotes understanding of critical issues included in the CSC HR Framework and Key Result Areas: demographics, workforce well-being, resourcing and learning and development. Recently the appointment of a new Regional Deputy Commissioner in our Pacific Region was announced. Using data extracted from our HRMS, the management team of the HRM Sector was able to give him a comprehensive overview of the demographics of his region, along with the HR challenges he will be facing over the next few years. Effective human resources planning allows CSC managers to monitor business plans closely, to integrate future HR requirements with departmental strategic and operational plans, and, where necessary, re-align HR initiatives in line with CSC core values and strategic objectives. The quality of data in the HRMS impacts the organization`s ability to analyze its labour force and to respond to future pressures. CSC supports and encourages employee development. This in turn has a direct impact on employee movement, both within and outside of the organization. Our HRMS allows us to examine mobility, turnover and separation statistics, thereby ensuring a degree of stability, continuity and vision to the future. This ongoing monitoring contributes to the development of recruitment and learning strategies, which in turn ensure a balance of supply and demand Lessons Learned Through this experience the Department learned many valuable lessons. Senior Management support is essential to the success of the project. It provides vision, strategic direction and ensure alignment with departmental and government directions. As well, Senior Management will determine source and adequacy of funding; and ensure that funding is in place to support the annual budget. Support from Senior Management promotes the value/benefits of the system with counterparts throughout the Department. Data integrity can completely destroy a system's credibility. Areas responsible for the input of the data must take ownership of it and be responsible for its quality. It is essential that resources be dedicated to support and train employees responsible for the data entry. These employees must understand the importance of the accuracy of their work and how the information is used by senior management to make strategic business decisions. 8
An essential element often missing from implementations is a detailed project plan: why the software is being implemented, what parts of the business it will touch, and how long it will take. The lack of a clear plan also leads to another common problem with continual additions to the functionality and scope of the project. The project will never be completed as long as no limit has been set for the functionality and scope. We learned to plan more carefully by managing project scope and budget closely. Through this careful monitoring we were able to deliver on time and within budget. It's critical to map out business processes before implementing a system. System implementation gives you an opportunity to review processes and to find better ways to do things. Simply having the application reflect existing practices, is like just making an existing route faster, instead of finding a better route. Another area in which we could have done better was in the decision to customise the off-theshelf package. Customisation was deemed necessary to bring an application in line with specific company processes, but this was a mistake. Customisation adds time and cost to an implementation, as well as making it hard to upgrade an application once the developers have strayed from the vanilla version. Businesses really need to evaluate the need for customisation. However, should a customization be required, find a method of customizing that will maintain the applications integrity and not increase your maintenance efforts and costs. Correctional Services Canada met this challenge by using the bolt-on approach Human resource management systems involve people throughout a department, and the long list of troubled or failed implementations attests to the effects of neglecting people issues. The Department learned from the implementation to communicate better with users, to pick and train employees more carefully, and to work more closely with business managers. A phased implementation can generate good will with business executives and users who might otherwise fail to see the benefit of an application suite. This not only makes it less daunting and more manageable, but also lets the business derive immediate benefit from high-return applications. Conclusion The use of HRMS is evolving to meet the needs and wants of its users. There is clearly a shift from straight housekeeping data to information that will contribute to the strategic agenda (competency profiling, career management, succession planning, matching people with work). It is imperative that our HRMS serve as an effective means of gathering, storing and analyzing HR information. The Canadian government is currently overhauling its HR Management Regime, which will undoubtedly result in line management assuming more accountability for the management of their human resources. In response to this, managers will have to have direct access to HRMSs and such systems will be fundamental to the improved management of human resources. HRMS is a powerful tool which will increasingly assist managers in making strategic business decisions. It will never replace the analytical skills required of our HR staff, but it will prove to 9
be invaluable to us in our role of strategic partners, agents of change, champions of staff and HR experts. Biography Jacques M. Pelletier Assistant Commissioner, Human Resource Management Correctional Services Canada Jacques M. Pelletier was appointed to the position of Assistant Commissioner, Human Resource Management on May 15, 1999. In this capacity, he is accountable for facilitating achievement of Mission correctional goals by a qualified, results producing, and sustainable workforce working in a secure, reasonable, humane environment. The Assistant Commissioner, Human Resource Management achieves this by ensuring delivery of human resource programs and providing value added timely advice on human resource matters. He is a key member of the Executive Committee and reports to the Commissioner of Corrections. Specific functions of the management positions reporting to the Assistant Commissioner are Labour Relations, Organisational Design and Resourcing, Learning and Career Development, Organisational Renewal, Information Management and National Headquarters Operations. Mr Pelletier represents Correctional Services Canada (CSC) on a number of intergovernmental committees including Human Resource Council, Human Resource Forum, Universal Classification Standard Implementation Forum and the Personnel Advisory Group. Mr. Pelletier lectures at École nationale d'administration publique on organisational behaviour and human resource management. Throughout his career he has been engaged in the management of missions to Bénin, Brazil, Cameroon Ivory Coast, China, Costa Rica and Tunisia. Mr. Pelletier holds a Masters Degree in Business Administration and degrees in Bachelor of Business Administration and Bachelor of Arts from the University of Montreal. 10