Case Study: Government of Canada - HR Transformation of Information Management/Information Technology

The Government of Canada is the public-sector employer for the services and products that many Canadians rely upon. One branch of the Government was the Acquisitions Technology Solutions group, which was tasked with acquiring the rights to technology that would support various other departments within the Government of Canada. However, the Acquisitions Technology Solutions group faced an important restructuring due to a change in strategic direction and needed a solution quickly.

The Challenge 

The Acquisitions Technology Solutions group in the Government of Canada transformed its organization due to a change in strategic direction. This required significant modifications to the organizational structure and creating new jobs to address the changed mandate and objectives. Ninety people, primarily IT professionals, needed to be re-assigned, job descriptions needed to be re-written and salary structures adjusted. And all this needed to be done within a short period of time to minimize disruption of business services.

The Solution

HRSG was contracted by the Government of Canada to provide their services by directing and supporting the transformation. At the direction of the Government, HRSG established a new organizational structure, including developing new work descriptions and defining salary structures. To accomplish this, HRSG utilized their software application to develop competency profiles and to conduct online competency assessment exercises for all employees. From the assessments, employees had their competency gaps identified and training recommended to better fit into their new positions.

HRSG also developed a workforce strategy to fill the positions, both those that would be filled internally and positions that needed to be filled externally. Placement strategies were developed for the extant employees to place them into the newly designed jobs, using the competency strengths and gaps as key selection criteria. For positions that were not able to be filled by existing resources, a staffing strategy was developed. Of course, staff were communicated with to ensure that they were aware of all activities, and understood why they were selected for a particular role.

The Results

Management was then easily able to deploy staff to new positions that matched their competencies and identify training requirements to close the gaps where competencies fell short. Employees found the process to be effective and efficient, as the software tool helped to alleviate some of the concerns about re-deployment, making the transition to the new positions smoother.

The client was incredibly pleased that the project was finished ahead of schedule and on-budget, with minimal disruption to service. Since then, the organization has become a model example for other groups offering similar services within the Government of Canada. As Robert Vézina, former IM/IT Issues Manager at the Acquisition Technology Solutions Branch put it:

"In helping us with a major HR transformation and the creation of a brand new organization, HRSG managed the project very well, showed in-depth knowledge of the IT and HR domain, and created an innovative solution with a no-nonsense approach. The project was on time, on budget and without problems, and the staffing process was completed in record time. There were no complaints from staff and no appeals, indeed, a remarkable accomplishment. The organization is running smoothly and has become the model for client service functions in IM/IT. It is also a model process supported by the CEO of the organization.”

Robert Vézina, former IM/IT Issues Manager

Acquisition Technology Solution Branch