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Documentation Standards Development and Function-based Analysis at Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency

Phase I: Summary Report

• Background: The Recordkeeping Regime
• Project Background and Objectives
• Project Approach
• Findings
• Benefits of this Approach
• Critical Success Factors
• Next Steps
• Conclusion

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Background: The Recordkeeping Regime

Recent concerted efforts on the part of the Librarian and Archivist of Canada have led to a formal recognition of recordkeeping as a horizontal issue for the Government of Canada (GC) - an issue requiring resolution and priority action - and culminated in a mandate from the Clerk of the Privy Council to hold Deputy Minister roundtables discussions on Recordkeeping (RK) and Information Management. These discussions took place in the fall of 2006.

To achieve a state of recordkeeping within government that provides for accountability and establishes recordkeeping business value, the DM Roundtable discussions resulted in the creation of Assistant Deputy Minister sponsored Working Groups that would focus on a number of critical requirements, beginning with the development and elaboration of a GC Recordkeeping Regime. As it is being conceptually proposed and practically designed, this Recordkeeping (RK) Regime represents an administrative paradigm shift that requires broad cultural change and new ways of approaching recordkeeping at multiple levels: from policy and infrastructure to capacity and tools.

Based on this position, the Treasury Board Portfolio Advisory Committee asked Library and Archives Canada (LAC) to conduct assessment projects for the purpose of more closely delineating the proposed RK regime and the outcomes that might be expected once it was introduced. The subject of this summary report, Documentation Standards and Function-based Analysis at the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA), is one such project.

Project Background and Objectives

In support of initiatives for developing the GC RK Regime, LAC has created - and is in the process of finalizing - a Guide to Developing Documentation Standards for Government Programs, Activities and Results. Documentation standards will be a key component of organizational recordkeeping within government departments and agencies. A principal aspect of every documentation standard will be the establishment of the business context for recordkeeping. This entails identifying and describing structured inventories of organizational business objectives and functional requirements, in the nature and form of business process maps.

The objective of the Documentation Standards and Function-based Analysis at ACOA project was to identify and describe information components necessary for implementing an effective recordkeeping regime at ACOA. In so doing, a Business Information Relationship Model (BIRM) for ACOA was developed. The BIRM depicts, and will help facilitate, the interrelationships amongst the business, information, applications and technology elements necessary to improve the business of government, and to provide the various information views required by central agencies (TBS, LAC, etc.), departmental/agency management, and other stakeholders (e.g., departmental/agency staff, partners and clients).

The main enabler for this objective was the work at LAC to create the Guide to Developing Documentation Standards and to establish and implement a Canadian approach to function-based analysis and classification.

Phase I of this project involved applying the LAC Business Activity Structure Classification System (BASCS) approach to function-based analysis - to identify and describe structured inventories for the ACOA program activities of 'contributions', 'policy research' and 'advocacy'. This report focuses on the contributions program activity which is associated to the Agency's 2008-2009 Report on Plans and Priorities and, more specifically, to the Agency's Strategic Outcomes No. 1: Enterprise Development - Competitive and sustainable Atlantic enterprises, with emphasis on those of small and medium size and No. 2 Community Development - Dynamic and sustainable communities for Atlantic Canada. The program activity also forms part of the Agency's Program Activity Architecture (PAA) which, within the context of its strategic outcomes, is linked to the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency Act and the resulting mandate that drives the business of the Agency.

In setting the business context for recordkeeping, this phase of the project focused on using BASCS to identify and describe the function and business processes (sub-functions and related activities) that support the Agency's Strategic Outcomes Nos. 1 & 2, and to identify and describe how these manifest themselves within the Agency's business.

In particular, Phase I encompassed work to:

1. document the Agency's business service architecture and understanding its linkages to the ACOA PAA and other ACOA reporting requirements;
2. summarize the ACOA PAA and identify its touch points with and alignment to a BASCS analysis of the Agency;
3. develop a BASCS function-based model structure for ACOA and evaluate where the related function and sub-functions manifest themselves within the Agency's business service architecture, and how they relate to ACOA case file and document content types;
4. develop an understanding of ACOA's Business Service and Information Architectures and how the Business Service Architecture (BSA) and Information Architecture (IA) can combine to result in documentation standards and a recordkeeping culture in day-to-day business operations;
5. use the LAC Guide to Developing Documentation Standards for Government Programs, Activities and Results to develop the approach and framework for designing and implementing ACOA documentation standards; and
6. construct the first draft of the Business Information Relationship Model (BIRM) for ACOA while identifying and describing its underlying components.

While work to set the Context for Recordkeeping, to establish a function-based structure for ACOA and to develop Documentation Standards for ACOA considered all three of the Agency's strategic outcomes, this phase of the work focused on the PAA program activities and sub-activities related to Strategic Outcomes Nos. 1 & 2.

Figure 1 identifies the focus area Provide Funds: Contributions. This business service is associated with the strategic outcomes (and their related program activities) represented below.

Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency
Mandate (derived from the Act)
To "increase opportunity for economic development in Atlantic Canada and, more particularly, to enhance the growth of earned incomes and employment opportunities in the region."

ACOA PAA

Strategic Outcome #1
Competitive and sustainable Atlantic enterprises, with emphasis on those of small and medium size

Strategic Outcome #2
Dynamic and sustainable communities for Atlantic Canada

Strategic Outcome #3
Policies and programs that strengthen the Atlantic economy

Strategic Outcome #1 and Stategic Outcome #2 lead to the following two points: Provide Funds, and Contribution, which when combined represent ACOA Services

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Project Approach

The approach to the work was based on the expected outcome for this RK Assessment Project, and on the vision and the overall outcome associated with establishing the GC Recordkeeping Regime.

The approach consisted of gathering information, developing information structures, identifying and defining relationships, and understanding the linkages to be defined between the Agency's business and the evolving Recordkeeping Regime.

Figure 2 below, outlines the objective, project approach and project activities related to Phase I work.

Project Objective

• Identify and develop some of the information components related to the implementation of an effective recordkeeping regime at ACOA.
• Develop a Business Information Relationship Model (BIRM) for ACOA, which represents and enables the interrelationships amongst the Business, Information, Applications, and Technology elements required to improve the business of government and to provide the various different information views.
• Enable these by developing the BASCS Structure for ACOA (Using LAC's Function based Classification) and implementing Documentation Standards for ACOA.

Project Approach

• conduct investigative research into ACOA's operations and business practices.
• analyzed the business service architecture of ACOA.
• develop a BASCS function-based model structure for ACOA business.
• identify and analyze the elements that compose a Business Information Relationship Model (BIRM) for ACOA.
• Analyze and document alignments between the ACOA PAA and its business service architecture.
• Establish the frame for the Phase II creation of documentation standards.

Project Outputs

• established the business context for recordkeeping.
• defined and developed the BASCS function-based classification structure for three program activities.
• summarized the ACOA PAA and identified the Touchpoints and alignment with BASCS.
• Summarized the ACOA Business Architecture and identified the Touchpoints and alignment with BASCS and identified the alignment of the BASCS structure and how it appears in ACOA's business environment.
• Identified the elements of the framework that will be established to define Recordkeeping (Documentation) Standards for the Agency.
• Developed and summarized the first phase of the Business Information Relationship Model for ACOA.

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Project Approach and Associated Results (Detail)

The activities conducted during Phase I generated the following results:

Activities	Outputs / Results
Conduct investigative research into ACOA operations and business practices.	Derived the main business function from the mandate, and explored the relationships between the ACOA PAA and the Agency's supporting Business Service Architecture.
Analyze the business service architecture of ACOA.	Documented the Context for Recordkeeping and the Business Service Architecture at ACOA. Analyzed and documented the ACOA case file structure and content type model and their related attributes. Demonstrated the highest aggregate level of the ACOA business and information architecture at which documentation standards can or need to be established and at which records can be created (Service Level 4 - Business Activity).
Develop a BASCS function-based model structure for ACOA business.	Developed a BASCS function-based model structure for ACOA, identifying the Agency's function and sub-functions (and their related generic business processes and activities), and their relationship to the ACOA PAA and Business Service Architecture. In the Business Service Architecture, sub-functions manifest themselves at Level 3 Services. Documented how the LAC definition of function and BASCS principles of analysis were applied to ACOA business operations.
Identify and analyze the elements that compose a Business Information Relationship Model (BIRM) for ACOA.	Created the first draft of an ACOA BIRM, which identifies the touch points and relationships between the management and operational components that enable the delivery of programs and services, and meet reporting and compliance obligations at both the agency and GC level. The draft BIRM identifies 10 components. Components 1 - 3 are defined in this report. Component 4 - content types - will be defined (for Provide Funds: Contribution) during Phase II. Components 5 - 10 will also be addressed - to a level to be determined. The high level BIRM for ACOA is illustrated in figure 3.
Analyze and document alignments between the ACOA PAA and its business service architecture.	Documented the Agency's Business Service Architecture's relationship to the PAA (how it supports the enablement of PAA strategic outcomes and program activities). Reviewed and documented one example of an ACOA Business Service activity (Managing a Recovery Case) enabled by ACOA's current Microsoft.Net infrastructure. Note: the Agency's technology and business architectures are being re-platformed on the Microsoft Office SharePoint Solution (MOSS), upon which document management functions will be enabled and within which case file attributes will be modified to support Documentation (Recordkeeping) Standards.
Establish the framework for the creation of documentation standards in Phase II.	Developed a draft framework to adapt the Guide to Developing Documentation Standards to the development of Documentation (Recordkeeping) Standards within the ACOA case file and document content type attribute structure. In Phase II, Documentation Standards will be developed and applied to the Provide Funds: Contribution business service, and tested to assess traceability, accountability and transparency.

Figure 3: Business Information Relationship Model

ACOA - Business Information Relationship Model:

List of equivalents based on BASCS Hierarchy model:

• Business Service Architecture = BASCS Function
• Service Level 1, 2, 3 = BASCS Sub-Functions
• Business Activity = BASCS Activity
• Tasks = BASCS task
• Records and Documents = BASCS Doc Types

The ACOA Business Architecture Enables Delivery of PAA

The PAA consists of the following:

3 Strategic Outcomes:

1.0 Enterprise Development

Competitive and sustainable Atlantic enterprises, with emphasis on those of small or medium size

Program Activities & Sub-Activities

• 1.1 Fostering the economic development of Atlantic communities with emphasis on those of small and medium size
  • 1.1.1 Innovation
  • 1.1.2 Entrepreneurship and business skills development
  • 1.1.3 Trade
  • 1.1.4 Investment
  • 1.1.5 Financing continuum
  • 1.1.6 Access to business information

2.0 Community Development

Dynamic and sustainable communities for Atlantic Canada

Program Activities & Sub-Activities

• 2.1 Fostering the economic development of Atlantic communities
  • 2.1.1 Community investment
  • 2.1.2 Community-based business development
  • 2.1.3 Community development resources
  • 2.1.4 Communities in transition
  • 2.1.5 Official languages in minority communities
  • 2.1.6 Aboriginal communities

• 2.2 Special Adjustment Measures
  • 2.2.1 Economic Adjustment
  • 2.2.2 Natural Disasters

• 2.3 Infrastructure Programming
  • 2.3.1 Green Municipal Infrastructure
  • 2.3.2 Local Transportation Infrastructure
  • 2.3.3 Other priorities

3.0 Policy Advocacy and Coordination

Policies and programs that strengthen the Atlantic economy

Program Activities and Sub-Activities:

• 3.1 Policy
  • 3.1.1 Policy analysis and advice
  • 3.1.2 Economic analysis
  • 3.1.3 Policy research
  • 3.1.4 Engagement

• 3.2 Advocacy
  • 3.2.1 Sectoral capacity building
  • 3.2.2 Horizontal issues capacity building
  • 3.2.3 Agenda management

• 3.3 Coordination
  • 3.3.1 Federal - Provincial relations
  • 3.3.2 Federal Regional Councils
  • 3.3.3 Other government departmental efforts in regional development

Function of ACOA:

to support and promote opportunity for economic development of Atlantic Canada through policy, program and project development and implementation and through advocacy of the interests of Atlantic Canada in national economic policy, program and project development and implementation.

BASCS Model for ACOA

Sub-Functions:

Develop Policy

Advocate

Manage Programs/Projects

Recommend

Operational Perspective

ACOA Business Information Model

1. ACOA PAA
2. Business Service Architecture
3. BASCS Functions
4. Content Types
5. Role
6. Position
7. Projects
8. Topics
9. Client
10. Time

Content Types *Example Only

Communication

HR

Finance

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Findings

Phase I findings will be factored into Phase II work, (i.e., documenting business service architecture Advocacy and Policy and development of Documentation Standards for ACOA). Also, it is reasonable to assume that these findings and the methods used to reach them would be applicable to most GC organizations that have already in place (or are in the process of developing) a business service/information architecture, and need to develop a regime that aligns recordkeeping to the business outcomes of their organization.

The findings are:

• A Business Service Architecture facilitates the creation of a complete departmental/agency Business Architecture (BA) and its integration with a departmental/agency Information Architecture (IA)

  Departmental /agency business service architectures are hierarchical decompositions of departmental/agency service delivery activities. They are an essential component of the overall departmental/agency business architectures used to achieve business goals and accurately report on performance. An Information Architecture that reflects a department or agency's business services and business architecture, its information and technology resources, and its application is necessary to the development and implementation of Documentation (Recordkeeping) standards and the provision of various views to various stakeholders of departmental/agency information objects.

• The Agency's business service architecture is being redefined to be recordkeeping driven instead of technology driven

  The proposed MOSS environment is designed to provide ACOA users with an intuitive and non-intrusive Electronic Documents and Records Management System (EDRMS) capability, which will also respond to the LAC Guide to Developing Documentation Standards.

• ACOA Case File attributes constitute the mechanism by which Recordkeeping (Documentation) Standards for ACOA can be implemented

  Case files are associated with Level 4 Services in ACOA's Business Service Architecture. Each case file and content type is associated with a series of attributes. These attributes (or facets) carry the metadata for locating and using information required by ACOA to support integrated planning and to enable the Agency to report against its mandate, its plans and priorities, the Management Accountability Framework (MAF), and the Management, Resources and Results Structure (MRRS) Policy. The case file (and its attributes) facilitates the establishment of the business context for recordkeeping and the creation of recordkeeping (documentation) standards, and will be the point at which alignments are made between the Agency's Business Service Architecture, its PAA, its BASCS function-based structure, the Governments of Canada Strategic Reference Model (GSRM), and any other compliance requirements.

• Documentation (Recordkeeping) Standards will be developed and applied to each case file category and document content type

  For each case type or category and corresponding document content types, recordkeeping expectations will be specified and - via business rules relating to the creation or capture of related information objects (which can be imbedded in case type specific document templates) - given effect. In addition to establishing links to the various business contexts, the recordkeeping expectations applied to case types and related document content types will address business value, security status and access rights, retention, and disposition.

  Given that all ACOA business activities will correspond to one or another case type/category and that each record or document generated by those activities will correspond to one or another document content type within the case type/category, all ACOA business records can be made to intuitively, if not automatically, inherit the attributes of the case type upon their creation or capture, thereby enabling staff to easily and seamlessly fulfil recordkeeping standards requirements.

• The creation of the Business Information Relationship Model, the definition of its information and management reporting components, and the relevance of their inter-relationships is an important output of the Phase I exercise
  
  By establishing the BIRM, by intuitively integrating Information Management and Recordkeeping functions and accountability into the operational and business aspects of ACOA, and by "enabling" people (by providing greater recordkeeping capacity, staff will manage records as a natural extension of the business activities they are conducting), ACOA is now managing its Business Knowledge (the individual and aggregate components of the BIRM are managed efficiently). The BIRM and its relationships provide ACOA with the ability to transform itself from a technology-driven agency to an agency with a knowledge-based culture.

• BASCS function-based analysis of ACOA identified a single function, which corresponds to the mandated business of the Agency

  Additionally, function-based analysis identified business processes (i.e., BASCS sub-functions and activities) that manifest themselves, respectively, at levels 2 and 3 of the Agency's business service architecture. Business services and activities relate to ACOA case types and corresponding document content types, which contain the attributes upon which Recordkeeping (Documentation) Standards requirements will be defined and implemented.

• The BASCS approach to function-based analysis and classification can be applied to ACOA

  The function-based structure demonstrated for "Provide Funds: Contributions" can also be applied to the "Provide Advocacy and Promotional Encounters" and "Provide Matches and Referrals" Level 1 ACOA business service types.

• The Agency's Business Service Architecture is designed to support the strategic outcomes and program activities of the ACOA PAA

  Each element in the supply chain of business services supporting the PAA components can be linked from all levels, i.e., all business activities, tasks and records generated can be linked to any aspect of the PAA.

Benefits of this Approach

For ACOA, the development and implementation of an agency recordkeeping regime that connects to the overall business architecture, and which is supported by an information architecture and technology innovations, will lead to important service improvements and enhanced operational capabilities that include:

1. From an operational perspective - ACOA will have the capability to demonstrate accountability, transparency and traceability while delivering all services related to its Program Activity Architecture;
2. From an ACOA management and GC central agency perspective - ACOA will have the capability to demonstrate accountability, transparency and traceability through all reporting channels (RPP, Integrated Planning, MAF, MRRS); and,
3. From an information creator/user perspective - ACOA users involved in the performance of business activities will have the capability to:
   • Demonstrate accountability, transparency, and, traceability and
   • Assume the delegation of recordkeeping authority, and manage records and information in an intuitive and contextual fashion without being burdened with the need to perform additional tasks to enable items 1 and 2 above.

By leveraging the current ACOA business architecture and through incorporation of Agency Documentation Standards, a related benefit will be realized insofar as that ACOA will develop a framework capable of providing a structured description of its information assets - and of their relationship to business processes, business management responsibilities, and IT systems.

Critical Success Factors

One of the critical success factors in realizing the Phase I outcomes was having access to the resources with the knowledge and engagement needed to provide the right perspective and context as it related to developing a department's recordkeeping regime. In the case of ACOA, the Director General of Service Transformation and CIO was available for consultation and input throughout the process and for each aspect of evaluation. As CIO, he was able to provide the team with relevant input from the IM, IT, Business Service architecture, and recordkeeping perspectives. As DG Service Transformation, he brought the context required to focus work on developing a business centric recordkeeping regime. It is reasonable to assume that in small to medium-size agencies, this type of input could be obtained from a relatively small number of sources (see figure 4), with the result that buy-in to the process is facilitated. In larger organizations, this may prove to be a more significant challenge as the responsibilities for the components identified are often distributed amongst multiple individuals. In such cases, change management and a communication strategy increase in importance.

LAC:
Evaluation, Documentation Standards, Recordkeeping Regime

Client: Function Analysis, Recordkeeping, Business Architecture, Information Management/Architecture, Information Technology N.B. Small, Medium Agencies may centralize access

Final level: individual contacts for each of the aforementioned sectors.

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Next Steps

The next phase of this project (Phase II) involves:

• applying and documenting the business architecture (including case attributes and associated document content types) and the BASCS function-based model structure for the program activities of Advocacy and Policy;
• defining the documentation standards framework for ACOA;
• establishing relationships amongst the ACOA case type attributes/facets for Provide Funds: Contributions (Coordination), according to the three modules of the LAC Guide to Developing Documentation Standards;
• applying the documentation standards framework and developing recordkeeping business rules for Provide Funds: Contribution: Manage a Contribution Project service chain, in relation to the related sub-function (Program/Project Management) and its activities (Initiate, Resource, Analyze/Evaluate, Recommend, Decide, Implement, Review, Close);
• demonstrating (through a production proof-of-concept of the application of standards on the Agency's MOSS platform) the resulting framework and documentation standards / recordkeeping business rules for the selected service chain.

Note: the next generation technology platform (i.e., MOSS + updated Business Architecture) planned by ACOA will support the mapping of these inter-relationships and will demonstrate the application of documentation standards within the attributes of the case type. This functionality will further enhance the Agency's ability to implement a dynamic and intuitive recordkeeping capacity that is aligned to the ACOA business environment and outcomes, and be capable of managing records in an accountable, traceable and transparent manner.

Conclusion

The Phase I outcome and outputs of this project provide LAC with information needed to develop guidelines for applying the BASCS approach to function-based analysis within any GC organization, and to identify critical success factors in implementing business centric documentation standards and activating a transformative recordkeeping regime.

From a project specific perspective, we can conclude that:

• From a central agency alignment perspective, the ACOA architecture is aligned with the Treasury Board Enterprise Information Architecture Framework;
• From a LAC and GC perspective, the Business Information Relationship Model and the Documentation Standards approach will closely integrate Recordkeeping with the Agency's business - because it takes the business service architecture into consideration during development and establishes the framework through which technology can enable the multiple views (management, operations, business, user); and
• From an archival perspective, the approach will enable Records Disposition Authority selection criteria to be embedded within the Agency's business architecture and associated technology, and thus permit the identification of records of business and archival value before - and at - the point of creation.

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