7:30 am – 8:30 am– Atrium
Registration and Breakfast
8:30 am – 8:45 am – Room 118DE
Welcome Remarks
Katie Brown, Chair, PPX Symposium Planning Committee
8:45 am – 9:45 am – Room 118DE
Keynote Speaker
The Treasury Board of Canada’s Policy on Results – Progress and Prospects
Derek Armstrong is Executive Director of the Results Division at the Treasury Board Secretariat, having joined the department in 2007 after working with Finance Canada and the Privy Council Office. His team provides analysis and advice on government-wide results, evaluation, and evidence use in decision making to support Treasury Board submission and budget development. Since 2016, Derek’s mandate has been heavily oriented to implementing the government’s new Policy on Results and developing a government-wide data strategy for results. In prior roles, he headed a team actively involved in open data and information management practices across government, including creation of the GC InfoBase.Description:
This presentation will summarize progress-to-date on the implementation of the Policy on Results (2016). It will identify the Policy’s structural elements, discuss their degree of implementation, as well as delve into how these elements are contributing to a strengthened culture of performance measurement, evaluation and innovation in program and policy design and delivery. Finally, it will examine challenges and how these are being addressed to maintain the results momentum and the alignment of resources with priorities.
9:45 am – 10:15 am – Room 118DE
Peter Green Memorial
Tom Wileman, Retired, Office of the Auditor General of Canada, and Treasurer of PPX
Steve Montague, Partner, Performance Management Network Inc. and PPX Vice-President
Academic Collaborations
Eric Champagne, Associate Professor of Public Administration at the University of Ottawa’s School of Political Studies , and Board Member of PPX
10:15 am – 10:45 am – Room 118C
Break in the Tradeshow Area
Concurrent Sessions
10:45 am – 11:45 am
Session 1 – Room 106H
Deriving Value by Asking the Tough Questions
Description
This presentation will detail the importance of knowing what you do and why, what you care about and where you are trying to go as you design a performance measurement system that adds true value for your organization. The presentation will also cover some tools and mechanisms to help answer those big questions.
Session 2 – Room 118A
Positioning Internal Audit to Contribute to More Strategic Organizational Outcomes
Description
This presentation will show participants how to identify better ways they can make more strategic contributions to their organization in their professional activities by showing how the delivery of internal audit can be designed to deliver better outcomes for their organization. By focusing on the innovative implementation of established audit standards, the presentation will show how the strategic implementation of audit requirements in the following areas can achieve better outcomes:
- More strategic risk-based internal audit planning;
- More strategic audit planning;
- More strategic audit examination: and
- More strategic audit reporting.
The presentation will be delivered in a way to make the learnings transferable to other areas of internal oversight as well as to program managers.
Session 3 – Room 118B
Resource Alignment Reviews – The Role of Business Modeling and Technology Enablement
Description
The TBS Policy on Results has signalled the importance of aligning resource management with performance reporting. Resource Alignment Reviews are considered one of the three pillars of the Government of Canada’s new expenditure management regime. The challenge however is how to effectively demonstrate and operationalize the linkages between inputs (aka resources), outputs (aka programs and services), and outcomes (aka desired results).
While logic modeling is a useful high-level approach, it is typically only a visual representation of often more theoretical causal relationships. To truly understand and manage resource allocations, many organizations are now considering more advanced business modeling and/or operational planning techniques, both of which are closely aligned to solid performance reporting frameworks.
This presentation will examine a variety of business modeling and planning strategies in play at a number of Federal Departments such as Health Canada, Veterans Affairs, and Treasury Board Secretariat. It will also demonstrate how technologies such as SAP (Business Planning and Consolidation (BPC), Business Intelligence (BI) and Strategy Management (SSM)), Qualiware (Government of Canada’s Enterprise Architecture technology standard), and the advanced use of Excel-based modeling, are intrinsic parts of this new evidence-informed decision-making environment.
11:45 am – 1:15 pm – Room 118DE
Lunch & Keynote
To Be Advised
1:15 pm – 1:30 pm – Room 118C
Break in the Tradeshow Area
Concurrent Sessions
1:30 pm – 2:30 pm
Session 4 – Room 106H
Approaches and Methods for Assessing the Relevance of Canadian Government Programs
This session will be delivered in French only.
Description
The Policy on Evaluation (2009) was evaluated in 2013-2014. This evaluation highlighted the difficulties associated to the assessment of program relevance and called for an increased flexibility on the requirements related to its systematic assessment. The objective of this session is to describe in an empirical manner, how relevance is measured in federal evaluations under the Policy on Evaluation in order to better understand the implications of this recommendation. The presented approach is exploratory, as program relevance has not been significantly addressed in previous research. The proposed study covers the first six years of the Policy on Evaluation (2009 – 2014) and uses a qualitative analysis of federal evaluation reports, followed by key informant interviews.
Session 5 – Room 118A
Emerging Promising Practices on Integrating Gender-based Analysis in Evaluation
Description
This session presents early findings on emerging promising practices from Jane’s case study line of evidence on integrating gender-based analysis in the federal government evaluation function. Given the federal government’s recent emphasis on gender equality, and subsequently gender-based analysis, research efforts in this area were expanded from a small sample (3) to include organizations focussing on building related capacities amongst results units, including those gender-based analysis in specific evaluation efforts, and an organization considering and electing not to include gender-based analysis in a specific evaluation. Drawing on related international evaluation practitioner guidance materials (UNEG 2014; UNICEF, 2011; UNWomen, 2015) specific discussion areas will highlight organizational leadership, organizational supports, stakeholder engagement, capacities amongst evaluation and results personnel, and evaluation experience on integrating gender-based analysis. These, and other findings lend themselves to the development of a high-level competency framework related to integrating gender-based analysis in evaluation.
Session 6 – Room 118B
Developing A Consistent Rating Tool for Knowledge Uptake + Use
Description
This session will be a summary presentation from work on this special project conducted through the 2017-18 FY year involving research on, development and refinement of a knowledge uptake and use rating tool (KUUT) for use in various public sector contexts and conditions. The session will focus on research conducted and work under the direction of Dr. Kelly Skinner and overseen by PPX champion Steve Montague. The presentation will include the following:
- The results of a literature review on the subject including consideration of various models and approaches and their relative advantages and disadvantages
- An examination of face validity through feedback from CoP members about the trial version of the KUUT
- evidence on how the KUUT has been used, and a synthesis of this information
- A synthesis of past/current use of the KUUT, along with input from CoP members, to suggests refinements
The session will include specific table questions related to pressing questions regarding the KUUT and its refinement. The session can be considered part of the ‘open commons’ approach to this research project – and participant’s part of the refinement process.
2:30 pm – 2:45 pm – Room 118C
Break in the Tradeshow Area
2:45 pm – 3:45 pm – Room 118DE
Keynote
Public Infrastructure: Best Practices in Measurement and Performance Frameworks
Kevin Page, President and CEO of the Institute of Fiscal Studies and Democracy
Kevin Page is the founding President and CEO of the Institute of Fiscal Studies and Democracy (IFSD) at the University of Ottawa. Previously, Mr. Page was Canada’s first Parliamentary Budget Officer from 2008 to 2013. For much of his 27-year career in the federal public service, he worked in central agencies responsible for budgeting including the Department of Finance, Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS) and the Privy Council Office.
The IFSD has an applied research program on infrastructure management and funding. Mr. Page’s presentation will highlight the difficulty and potential solutions for measuring the impact of infrastructure, an area of continuing interest to the PPX community
Description
The Institute of Fiscal Studies and Democracy (IFSD) has a strong applied research program on infrastructure management and funding. Mr. Page’s topic highlights the difficulty of measuring the impact of infrastructure, an area of continuing interest to the PPX community that links to an earlier PPX symposium presentation. Mr. Page is part of a research team that is looking at this issue, and plans to present some results in 2019.
3:45 pm – 4:00 pm
Closing Remarks
Katie Brown, Chair, PPX Symposium Planning Committee
4:00 pm – 6:00 pm – Room 118C
Welcome Reception
Nobel Peace Prize nominee Sheila Watt-Cloutier is in the business of transforming public opinion into public policy. Experienced in working with global decision makers for over a decade, Watt-Cloutier offers a new model for 21st century leadership. She speaks with passion and urgency on the issues of today—the environment, the economy, foreign policy, global health, and sustainability—not as separate concerns, but as a deeply interconnected whole. At a time when people are seeking solutions, direction, and a sense of hope, this global leader provides a big picture of where we are and where we’re headed.In 2007, Watt-Cloutier was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for her advocacy work in showing the impact of global climate change on human rights—especially in the Arctic, where it is felt more immediately, and more dramatically, than anywhere else in the world. Watt-Cloutier an Officer of the Order of Canada; the recipient of the Aboriginal Achievement Award; the UN Champion of the Earth Award; the Norwegian Sophie Prize; and the Right Livelihood Award, which she won in November, 2015 and is widely considered the “Nobel Alternative”.
Derek is the Director, Olympic Performance for the Canadian Olympic Committee. Since 2006, for the past nine Olympic Games, he has executed overall planning and project management for Team Canada, by working closely with National Sport Federations in conceptualizing, planning, simulating their Olympic preparation plans. Derek collaboratively leads the process to create an inspired & united team performance culture for the Canadian Olympic Team with the ultimate goal being able to arrive at the Games with the highest performance mindset possible. One of the key innovation drivers in this strategy is to explore the limits of human and team potential through the design of our annual Olympic Lab conference. He also overseas the COC’s Co-op program – an innovative open network environment for peer-based learning to foster a culture for sport system collaboration, transfer of knowledge, and more effective problem solving. Prior to joining the COC, Derek was the Director, National Programs at Athletics Canada and directed all aspects of the Canadian National Team Program, with a focus on the senior elite “A” team; himself a former nationally competitive 110m hurdles (’86-’96). His personal interests include yoga, running, tennis, and photography. Derek lives in Montreal with his wife Stephanie and two children, Lily and Jacob.
Dr. Evert Lindquist (PhD Berkeley, Public Policy) is Professor at the University of Victoria’s School of Public Administration, serving as Director since 1998. He was the first Treasury Board Secretariat Visiting Scholar during 1992-94, while teaching at the University of Toronto. During 2010-11 he held the ANZSOG-ANU Chair in Applied Public Management Research at the Australian National University. He is an Adjunct Faculty Member with ANU’s Crawford School of Economics and Government. He has published widely on topics relating to public sector reform, governance and decision-making, central agencies and initiatives, policy capability, think tanks and consultation processes, horizontal management, and recently on policy visualization, undertaken with the support of the HC Coombs Policy Forum at Australian National University and the Australia and New Zealand School of Government. He is Editor of Canadian Public Administration, the Institute of Public Administration of Canada’s flagship journal.