Report to/Rapport au:
Finance and Economic Development Committee
Comité des finances et du développement économique
November 7, 2011 / le 7 novembre 2011
Submitted by/Soumis par:
Steve Kanellakos, Deputy City Manager/Directeur municipal adjoint,
City Operations/Opérations municipales
Contact Person/Personne-ressource : Donna Gray, Director/directrice
Service Ottawa / Service Ottawa
613‑580‑2424, ext./poste 25684
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Ref N°: ACS2011-COS-SOD-0001 |
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SUBJECT:
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SERVICE EXCELLENCE PLAN- INFORMATION SUPPLEMENTAL TO THE BUDGET ESTIMATES |
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OBJET :
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PLAN D’EXCELLENCE DU SERVICE – RENSEIGNEMENTS SUPPLÉMENTAIRES AUX PRÉVISIONS BUDGÉTAIRES
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REPORT RECOMMENDATION
That the Finance and Economic Development Committee receive this report as supplemental information to the 2012 Draft Budget.
RECOMMANDATION DU RAPPORT
Que le Comité des finances et du développement économique prenne connaissance de ce rapport à titre d’information supplémentaire au budget préliminaire de 2012.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The aim of Council, in setting Service Excellence as a priority was to develop a culture of Service Excellence across all City services. The first of many steps was to realign the Organization, and then to develop a Corporate plan of activities. Once the path was defined and considering each Department’s individuality, the City had to create a common vision and understanding of Service Excellence, so that the Service Excellence journey would eventually become part of each Department’s fabric, and reflected in all ongoing and future plans. To fulfill this mandate, a number of Corporate initiatives were developed and implemented, and are outlined within this report.
In 2009 Council received a report (ACS2009-COS-ODP-0015) outlining the Service Excellence approach being taken by the City. Individual Departmental Service Excellence plans have now been developed, which are fundamentally transforming how residents receive services from the City.
BACKGROUND
In 2008, the City Manager realigned the Organization to become more client-centric, and created an executive mandate of Service Excellence that the Deputy City Manager of City Operations would be responsible, and accountable for. The Service Excellence mandate is to focus the entire Organization on improving the satisfaction of our clients with City services by engaging our employees and improving operational performance. Service Excellence is a commitment to creating a positive client experience with each and every service transaction provided by an Organization. It reflects a positive attitude that both the people delivering the service have about their work and how the client/customer feels about the service they receive.
Organizational Development and Performance (ODP) was created to engrain a culture of Service Excellence at the City of Ottawa, and to bring leadership and resources to support and sustain the City’s move toward customer-focused service delivery, and improved operational efficiency. To fulfill this mandate, a number of Corporate initiatives were developed and implemented, and are listed below.
The City focused heavily on leadership development before embarking on the broader change initiative. This included creating a strong framework and process to educate and develop the City’s Executive and Senior Management team who played the role of Service Excellence champions.
Leadership programs were tailored to meet the learning needs for each level of the management and supervisory groups:
· Executive workshops were focused on strategic decision making to lead change
· Manager workshops were focused on developing plans and leading and managing change
· Supervisor workshops were focused on motivating employees, dealing with improving employee job satisfaction in very tactical ways, and improving the frontline customer experience
In 2010, the plan further evolved to include City-wide Service Excellence training which included a series of workshops for management and supervisory staff.
Training topics included:
· Achieving Service Performance Excellence at the City of Ottawa
· Best Practices of Government Service Transformation
· Customer Service: Creating a Culture of Service Excellence
· Customer Service: Delivering Service Excellence
· Delegation Best Practices in Times of Change
· Design Thinking Concepts for Innovation
· Approach to Business Excellence
· Approach to Inspiring Creativity
· Friendly Consulting
· Get Engaged! Employee Engagement
· Leading with Trust
· Learning Clusters
· Meeting the Challenge of Leading Change
· Personal Learning Plans
· Service Excellence Field Study
· Service Improvement Model
· Successful Internal Client Relations and External Customer Service Excellence
· Tools for Effective Change
2. Staff Service Excellence Teams:
The Service Excellence Training strategy evolved to create Service Excellence Champions in every Department across the City. This was achieved through the Service Excellence (SE) Leads Program. The program’s goal was to create a group of team leaders at the staff level, who would support General Managers and Directors to drive employee engagement and client satisfaction activities. A total of 55 participants were selected and provided with the tools, techniques and processes to develop their individual Departmental Service Excellence Plans, and work with other SE Leads to build and maintain a Service Excellence culture across the City.
The 55 SE Leads also identified Service Excellence projects that were aligned with, and supported their Departmental Service Excellence Plans. The SE Leads Program has grown to approximately 80 SE Leads across the City who will continue to build capacity in the Organization to implement Service Excellence initiatives.
3. Staff Survey
The City of Ottawa conducted an employee engagement survey in 2009 to better understand what staff required in order to become more engaged and empowered to deliver excellent customer service, and to identify areas of improvement within Departments. The survey results were presented to each Department, and the SE Leads were tasked with supporting their Department to incorporate the findings into their Service Excellence Plans.
4. Development of Service Excellence Plans
After the employee engagement survey was conducted, Departments revisited their existing processes, identified issues for staff, examined where client services could be improved, and used this information to develop their Service Excellence plans. In response to a motion approved in the 2010 budget process, Departments conducted strategic reviews as part of the development of their Service Excellence plans to identify their service offerings, their service standards, as well as any business process, system or operational improvements and efficiencies. In addition, Department’s also reviewed and refined their plans to ensure that they captured priority initiatives approved by Council such as Green Bins, the Senior Summit and the Economic Stimulus Fund. Each Departmental Service Excellence plan is customized based on its individual mandate, vision, service offerings and survey results. The goal is for Departments to develop initiatives that will ultimately improve employee engagement and client satisfaction. So far, a total of 200 plus improvement activities have been accomplished to date
Documents 1-20 outline specific Service Excellence achievements by Department, as well as activities planned for 2011-2014 to further enhance the customer experience in their operations. During 2011, staff will finalize their service standards and performance measures which will support management to assess the customer experience and adjust as required.
The list below highlights a few Departmental Service Excellence Accomplishments. For a complete list, please refer directly to documents 1-20.
- Installed Voter Assist Terminals: Installed Voter Assist Terminals with ballot-marking technology that allowed voters with disabilities and other special needs to mark a ballot privately and independently when using an optical scan voting system.
- Refreshed Ottawa.ca: The top two tiers of ottawa.ca have been refreshed for citizens to more efficiently navigate to the information they require.
- Implemented a Single Point of Contact to Apply for Social Service Programs: Residents can now call a single number to apply for childcare, Ontario Works, Ontario Disability Support Program, Essential Health and Social Support, Emergency Assistance, Shelters, and Transition Homes.
- Improved Dialogue with the Business Community: Engaged in frequent dialogue with local property developers, small business owners/operators, and multi-national Corporations to discuss opportunities and impediments to business development and actions that the City can undertake to improve the conditions for economic development.
- Enhanced Emergency Community Notifications: Enhanced community notifications during emergencies/disruptions by leveraging social media and broadcasting simultaneously in both official languages.
- Rolled- out Green Bins: Roll-out of Green Bin organics program to curbside residents.
- Implemented Tax Bills in Multiple Formats: Implemented tax bills in multiple formats improving information and access for all residents.
- Implemented eRecruitment: The eRecruitment project went live on July 2011 delivering a new online job posting and application tool with a system that is flexible, easy to navigate and accessible from any computer with an Internet connection.
- Delivered in the 98th Percentile of Economic Stimulus Fund: Delivered in the 98th percentile of the Economic Stimulus Fund (ESF) Projects nationally. Maximized funding dollars, initiated construction on all 115 projects and completed or substantially completed 92 of the 115 projects.
- Implemented Apps4Ottawa: Implemented Apps4Ottawa which was one of the most successful open data contests in North America with 91 unique applications created by the public using City of Ottawa data.
- Installed Language Line: Installed an over the phone interpretation service which enables Ottawa residents to communicate to the City in up to 170 languages
- Developed an Older Adult (Seniors) Plan: Completed Phase 1 of the Older Adult (Seniors) Plan which included conducting a demographic scan of the Ottawa population and inventory of services, supporting the Mayors Summit, and initiating seniors consultation sessions.
- Increased Self-Serve Options in Libraries: Improved customer service delivery by offering an array of self-serve options including increasing the number of branches with self check-out machines, and launching e-mail pre-notification and online program registration.
- Optimized the Use of Recreation Facilities: Optimized the use of recreation facilities to enable citizens to go on to Ottawa.ca to search for rental availability at City-owned facilities on a real-time basis.
- Installed GPS systems for Salt Spreaders: Installed a GPS system on all City salt spreaders in an effort to control the amount of salt used. As a result, salt consumption has reduced by 10%.
- Created an Environmental Remediation Plan: The environmental remediation plan provides a sustainable approach to the Brownfield redevelopment and will achieve LEED credits for an effective environmental remediation approach.
- Installed the Next Stop Announcement System: Improved accessibility efforts through the launch of the Next Stop Announcement System. The system provides ‘on the bus’ audio and visual announcements of the next stop. The fully bilingual system has received high praise from customers regardless of accessibility needs.
· Created a Strategic Advertising Plan: An $800,000 reduction in advertising costs for 2011 was implemented by redirecting traditional print media to more cost efficient, strategic and targeted methods, including online, earned media, community and speciality publications.
· Created the Large Rooftop Solar Energy Program: Created the Large Rooftop Solar Energy Program which will see Energy Ottawa construct solar arrays on up to twenty (20) of the City's largest buildings. Supported the completion and submission of applications to the OPA Feed-in-Tariff program.
· Implemented a Mobile Office: Implemented a mobile office within Bylaw and Regulatory Services, Security and Emergency Management, and Ottawa Paramedic Service. The mobile office allows staff to have greater access to information resulting in better service for residents
· Improved Combined Sewer Flow Management: Installed a Real Time Control (RTC) system with 24-hour staffing to improve combined sewer flow management during wet weather.
· Leveraged Automation to Improve Client Service: Automation has provided an opportunity for Finance to improve both internal processes as well as the service delivered to clients. Implemented call recording on the Revenue phone contact queue to monitor and improve service. Also implemented an automated messaging service for accounts receivable to improve contact and follow-up with taxpayers. For employees and managers, the automation of several pay processes brought both efficiencies to the organization and improved information for managers and employees.
· Created a Technology Roadmap: Created a roadmap with strategic technology investments and building blocks that position the City of Ottawa to respond to the business needs and citizen’s expectations:
o Virtual Desktop Infrastructure
o Service Oriented Architecture Framework
o Data Storage Strategy and Modernization
o Server Virtualization
o Telecommunication System Modernization (VOIP)
o Security Infrastructure
o Data Centre Consolidation
o Print Device Consolidation
o Desktop Software Consolidation
o Public Cloud Services
o Enterprise Portfolio Management
o Solution Testing and Quality Assurance
o Enterprise and Business Systems Sustainment
· Created a Service Ottawa- Knowledge Base: A single source of truth is being developed which will house a broad range of knowledge elements related to information and service requests. Thousands of pages of information, policies and procedures, from multiple sources, have been reviewed, consolidated, and transformed into an accurate and up-to-date repository which will support consistent citizen-facing service delivery across the corporation.
· Froze Recreation User Fees: The freezing of recreation user fees in 2011 has enabled Ottawa families to continue to enjoy participating in their favourite activities at an affordable rate.
· Implemented Transportation, Pedestrian and Cycling Plans: Implemented a two-year pilot project for segregated bike lanes on Laurier Avenue.
5. Service Excellence: One of Eight Corporate Priorities
Council approved the new Corporate Planning Framework in the spring of 2011, and identified Service Excellence as one of eight Corporate Strategic Priorities. As such, Service Excellence planning will take place in the larger Corporate and Departmental planning process. Each Department has a focused 3 year Service Excellence plan that will be implemented as part of the broader City Strategic Plan.
CONCLUSION
Service Excellence is the City’s service delivery vision and is about creating a positive client experience, each and every time a service is provided. Service Excellence initiatives in 2011 will continue to educate employees, supervisors and management regarding their roles in a client-centric service culture. Over the next 3 years, client and employee surveys will be conducted to monitor and measure progress toward achieving a Service Excellence culture and to ensure that the City continues to focus and prioritize efforts on the right things as identified by clients, Council and staff.
RURAL IMPLICATIONS
There are no specific rural implications associated with this report.
CONSULTATION
Departmental staff were consulted in the development of this report.
LEGAL IMPLICATIONS
There are no legal impediments to receiving this report.
RISK MANAGEMENT IMPLICATIONS
There are no specific risk management implications associated with this report
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
This Information Report is supplemental to the Budget Estimates report and has no financial implications.
ACCESSIBILITY IMPACTS
Accessibility was one of the key considerations in the development of every Departmental Service Excellence plan with a number of accessibility initiatives reflected in the accomplishments and planned activities of the different plans including: tax bills in multiple formats; Transit next-stop announcements; implementation of voter assist terminals; and, Ottawa Public Library implementation of adaptive work stations.
TECHNOLOGY IMPLICATIONS
There are no Technical Implications associated with this report.
CITY STRATEGIC PLAN
Service Excellence has been identified as one of eight Corporate strategic priorities.
SUPPORTING DOCUMENTATION
Appendix I
DISPOSITION
The Service Ottawa Department will action any direction received as part of consideration of this report.
Appendix I
Departmental Service Excellence goals, plans and accomplishments
City Clerks and Solicitor 1
Corporate Communications 2
Community and Social Services 3
Community Sustainability 4
Environmental Services Department 5
Emergency and Protective Services 6
Finance Department 7
French Language Services 8
Human Resources 9
Infrastructure Services Department 10
Information Technology Services 11
Organizational Development and Performance 12
Ottawa Public Health 13
Ottawa Public Library 14
Parks, Recreation and Culture 15
Planning and Growth Management 16
Public Works 17
Real Estate Partnership Development Office 18
Rail Implementation Office 19
Transit 20
City Clerk and Solicitor
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Mandate
Providing a broad range of services, both legislated and Council-directed, in a cost effective and efficient manner that meets or exceeds requirements and expectations.
Story of Service Excellence
In 2010, the City Clerk and Solicitor Department enjoyed a successful, yet challenging year. Amongst the highlights were the Municipal Election, Governance, Councillor Orientation, negotiation of a new Strategic Standing Offer for the provision of external legal services, and a new Employee Code of Conduct. Notwithstanding these extraordinary events, the Department’s 200+ staff continued to carry out their regular work load and provided the service excellence that our clients have come to expect and value. The Service Excellence Plan for the Department was developed within this dynamic environment with a focus on:
· Enhancing employee engagement through a number of department-wide initiatives;
· Delivering services to our clients that meet or exceed expectations; and
· Continuously improving our operational performance.
A desire and commitment to improve Employee Engagement is of particular importance within our Service Excellence Plan. Investing in and engaging our staff will serve both the Department and the City today and into the future.
Improvements to Client Service
The City Clerk and Solicitor Department developed and implemented a number of initiatives with the goal of improving the services provided to the broad spectrum of clients served by the many functional areas within the Department.
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Accomplishments to date |
Also Planned for 2011-2013 |
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2010 Municipal Election
A primary focus of the 2010 Municipal Election was to provide the most effective, efficient and accessible election ever hosted by the City of Ottawa. Locations were to be accessible wherever possible and bilingual staff were present at each location. New technology was introduced to address the barriers that face approximately 17% of the population. In that respect Voter Assist Terminals were installed in every Ward across the City on both advance voting days and the actual election date to better assist voters with special needs during the Municipal Election.
The AutoMARK® Voter Assist Terminal is a breakthrough ballot-marking technology that allows voters with disabilities and other special needs to mark a ballot privately and independently when using an optical scan voting system.
The technology also provides language assistance to voters who are more comfortable speaking a different language or who need help to better understand written instructions.
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Council Approved Strategic Initiative for the 2014 Election The current system of voting and vote tabulating is in compliance with Information Technology Security best practices and governing election legislation; however, the hardware and its capabilities will soon be obsolete. New system hardware and related software will be needed to meet the needs of electors unable to attend a traditional voting station, and to be able to transmit results wirelessly and continue to meet the requirements of electors with disabilities. This upgrade will take place in time for the 2014 municipal election.
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Municipal Election Web Applications The Department also launched two new web applications to allow the public to find their voting location and learn whether they were on the 2010 Voters’ List.
Finding your voting place was as easy as entering the property address. Voting locations for all three voting days were displayed, as well as voting hours, accessible entrances, closest intersections and bus route information. An additional link showed the voting location on Google Maps.
A second resource, a voter search tool, allowed the public to determine whether they were on the 2010 Voters’ List by entering name, date of birth and property address.
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Equity and Diversity – Outreach The Department developed a new Articling Program Web page on Ottawa.ca, with a focus on attracting and welcoming potential candidates from all demographics. The result was a 100% increase in the number of applications received from potential candidates. In addition, the Department’s Articling Program was advertised on the National Articling Database and the Law Society of Upper Canada’s Website. The prominent placement of the Department’s commitment to equity and diversity resulted in applications from 31 Law Schools from North America and abroad.
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New Employee Orientation The annual introduction of Articling Law Students into the Department is being utilized as the pilot for the “Legal Services New Employee Orientation” program, which has been developed and is being further refined. |
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Provision of External Legal Services The successful negotiation of a new Strategic Standing Offer (“SSO”) for the provision of external legal services fulfills our mandate to provide timely, accurate and useful legal advice through the most cost-effective and efficient use of in-house and external legal services. |
Provision of External Legal Services The development of Legal Project Management tools is planned to optimize the benefits of the four-year Strategic Standing Offer and will ensure that the City receives the full advantage of the innovative and cost-effective provisions of the SSO. |
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Council Agenda Building Tool
A new Committee/Council Report Template Wizard was implemented, reflecting the new processes for securing mandatory comments, as well as providing “help text” to assist report authors in understanding what type of information to include in each section.
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Automation of Business Practices Identified as a Council Strategic Initiative, the development of an automated system to produce agendas and prepare minutes for Council and Committee meetings quickly and efficiently is part of our Service Excellence plan. The new system will be implemented to reduce the amount of time, effort and cost required to create, publish and distribute Council and Committee agendas, reports and minutes.
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Client Satisfaction – Automation of Claims Process
As part of the Service Ottawa Initiative, the process by which members of the public and City staff submit claims or report incidents is being automated. Phase I of the project will involve revising and automating internal forms to be submitted by staff via the City’s Ozone and/or Ottawa.ca. This initial phase is expected to be completed by Q3 2011. |
Citizen Centric Services – Automation of Claims Process
The second phase of the project will involve automating the City’s claim submission process via “How to Submit a Claim” on Ottawa.ca, allowing the public to submit claims directly via the Internet. On-line submission is expected to be completed by Q1 2012. |
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Client Satisfaction As a Centre of Expertise, Legal Services will enhance client relations through attendance at their Branch Management Meetings. Working together with clients in a proactive way will ensure that the delivery of legal services is both efficient and effective. |
The following activities are in progress to improve the delivery of services in both official languages.
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In Progress / Ongoing |
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§ Ensure orientation materials are both French and English § Ensure Service Excellence newsletter is both French and English § Review designation of bilingual positions plan and encourage second language training for all employees who desire it § Statement of Work (SOW) for election-related print products allows voters' list to be bilingual for first-time § Strategic Standing Offer to ensure external legal services available in both French and English § Information sessions on orientation training available in both languages, if requested § Every voting location will have a minimum of one bilingual worker – more in areas with a high density of French residents § All consultation documents, i.e. governance, available in both official languages |
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Improvements
to Internal Working Practices
The City Clerk and Solicitor Department is committed to the concept of “continuous improvement” and has a number of initiatives to address both Operational Performance and Employee Engagement.
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Accomplishments to date |
Also Planned for 2011-2013 |
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Employee Engagement The Employee Code of Conduct is a thought-provoking document that will help to guide employees in their day-to-day work and decisions to ensure the honesty and integrity of the services we provide to our citizens. It will promote ethical decision-making and behaviours, and is being used by other municipalities in the design of their own codes.
Departmental Managers discuss the Code of Conduct with staff as part of the annual performance review process. Compliance with the Code of Conduct is a key behaviour which is emphasized in all employee Individual Contribution Agreements. |
Employee Engagement
The Code of Conduct will appear as a regular item on all future Staff Meetings. |
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Employee Engagement The Law Society of Upper Canada requires that every lawyer participate in 12 hours of mandatory Continuing Professional Development (“CPD”). As most CPD courses are delivered in Toronto, the cost of registration and travel for the Department’s 23 lawyers is prohibitive. To ensure compliance with Law Society rules, the Department has organized participation in live and archived webcasts which will allow staff lawyers to meet the mandatory 12 hours of CPD in a cost-effective and collegial manner. |
Employee Engagement
Given the success of the organized webcast approach to specialized staff training, the model will be utilized for Law Society and other professional courses offered elsewhere within the Department, i.e. Prosecutors, Law Clerks, etc. |
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Employee Engagement A working group of staff representing the seven Branches was created and recently considered and recommended to the Joint Management Team the ideal approach to holding staff meetings and employee recognition. This group has taken on the role of “staff advisor” to the Joint Management Team.
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Employee Engagement
The City Clerk and Solicitor will be holding staff meetings and employee recognition events in accordance with the proposal from the staff working group. |
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Employee Engagement – Enhanced Communication
· A Departmental Service Excellence newsletter will be developed highlighting individual, team and Departmental achievements as well addressing corporate initiatives. · Optimizing the My Branch section of Ozone as a way of informing and communicating with staff is a priority for 2011-2012.
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Operational Performance Since amalgamation, the City of Ottawa has undertaken Governance reviews twice over each Term of Council. The first review takes place at the beginning of a Term of Council. Traditionally, this is when major changes are made to the governance structure. The Governance Review for 2010, as in each previous review, was guided by the principles that any change must ensure that:
The Governance Report was approved by Council in December 2010. |
Operational Performance
The next regularly-scheduled Governance review will take place in 2012. |
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Operational Performance A number of service enhancements were put into place in 2010-2011, as follows: · Installed First Attendance Facility Audio Recording systems; · Established a Compliance Audit Committee; · Implemented process improvements for election-related print products; · Improved the process for courthouse documentation lifecycle; · Realigned Labour Relations Unit to align staff resources with client requirements; · Improved the process for POA and Parking ticket revenue collection and reporting; · Provided RiskMaster training for client users of the Claims and Insurance Management application and database; · Implemented an Exit Interview program. |
Operational Performance
· Continue to support One-Stop Service Response; · Joint Management Team to review at each meeting Service Excellence initiatives and opportunities, with a particular emphasis on Employee Engagement; · Develop policies/procedures for the Office of Protocol; · Review courthouse documentation lifecycle; · Review Internationally Trained Lawyers’ Program. |
Corporate Communications
Mandate
To inform and engage the community with timely, relevant and accurate information about City programs and services through the most effective channels
Story
of Service Excellence
Corporate Communications worked with its management team to develop a framework for implementation of a 3-year Service Excellence plan. Service delivery and operational improvements were identified by consulting with staff in facilitated sessions and by using an online crowd-sourcing tool to generate ideas for initiatives to improve all three pillars of Service Excellence.
A departmental Service Excellence team was formed and meets regularly to implement an Employee Engagement Action Plan and SE plan.
Improvements
to Client Service
Corporate Communications serves several client groups including Ottawa residents, employees, City departments and the news media. Client Service activities were identified to improve service delivery to those groups.
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Accomplishments to date |
Also Planned for 2011-2013 |
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Ottawa.ca The top two tiers of ottawa.ca have been refreshed with 7 new portals for citizens to more efficiently navigate to the information they require.
The website search engine was also improved, by implementing the Google search appliance. The new search engine offers more relevant search results and a more user-friendly interface.
A Google Translate tool was implemented to allow ottawa.ca to be available in 51 languages besides English and French to reach more diverse audiences. |
Ottawa.ca As part of the Service Ottawa ottawa.ca project, Corporate Communications is reduce the total number of pages on ottawa.ca from 20,000 to approximately 10, 000 in order to improve user experience and remove redundant and outdated content. A new website design will be launched at the end of 2011, to continually make the website more user-friendly and allow residents to more easily access the information they seek the most often. Improvements to ottawa.ca will continue in 2012-2013 with the launch of a mobile-friendly website. |
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Social Media Based on best practices in corporate and government social media usage as well as extensive consultation with internal stakeholders, a draft Social Media Use Policy was developed.
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Social Media The Social Media Enablement will continue to enable the increased and strategic use of social media with City residents and stakeholder through the development of a social media strategy, social media learning, increased monitoring and a dedicated resource. |
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Citizen Engagement Corporate Communications supported internal clients in several public consultations while researching emerging technologies and approaches in citizen engagement.
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Citizen Engagement The Citizen Engagement Framework will identify standards and best practices in client engagement and public consultation throughout the corporation. New consultation tools will be rolled out as part of this initiative.
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Ozone Improvements Communications launched the Clty’s first interactive newsletter – In the Loop – as a means of keeping employees abreast with developments and news. It is a vital source of information and is THE way that projects and programs at the City communicate out to their audiences. The interactive newsletter/blog format was also used to support Service Excellence and Service Ottawa in rolling out large internal communications initatives. |
Ozone Improvements Improvements to Ozone are planned to adopt a more mature and robust intranet which better communicates to employees across the organization and integrate Service Ottawa’s mobility program to reach out to field workers. |
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Communications Support Corporate Communications communicated City programs and services to the community by provided communications services to 19 client deparments and in 2010: - Developed more than 3000 communications products - Triaged more than 8,000 media calls and facilitated more than 2,500 interviews, and corrected dozens of inaccurate media stories - Made several strategic upgrades and more than 6500 updates to ottawa.ca to continuously drive traffic of 24.5 million visits - Purchased advertising that has made more than 53 million impressions in print, cinema and online ads alone - Organized more than 100 media events - Provided media training to more than 75 staff - Photographed more than 300 events and photo sessions |
Communications Support Align with Corporate priorities by providing communications leadership and advice and by developing a measurable integrated 5-year communications strategy. |
The following activities are in progress to improve the delivery of services in both official languages.
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In Progress / Ongoing |
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§ Provide FL training to those who need/want it, increasing current proportion of bilingual staff to 50% by 2012 § Actively recruit bilingual staff § Review bilingual designation of positions with French Language Services Branch § Encourage training opportunities in both English and French § Policies and practices to consider and reflect the community we serve § Working with clients to better plan for French Language Services needs/translation § Getting our information out to new audiences in languages of people’s choice § All Public and Media Events will adhere to the Bilingualism Policy and adequately represent the bilingual nature of our community. |
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Improvements
to Internal Working Practices
Corporate Communications had a number of initiatives to address our Operational Performance and Employee Engagement.
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Accomplishments to date |
Also Planned for 2011-2013 |
Shared Services Corporate Communications is a Shared Service to other City departments. It has identified Business Partners to the other departments and Client Relationship Managers to handle client needs. The department formalized its Service Offerings and Shared Service Agreements with clients in 2010. The annual shared service agreements will help quantify demand and help plan for resources needs. |
Shared Services A project closeout feedback process will be implemented to continually improve service to internal clients. The Intake Process and tools will be reviewed to better manage and track requests from internal clients, and to make it easier for departments to access the various services of the department. |
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Internal Communications An Internal Communications Working Group was created to identify synergies and reduce confusion of messages to City employees. |
Internal Communications A baseline Internal Communications Assessment will gauge the effectiveness of internal communications efforts and establish best practices throughout the organization for communicating to employees. From that assessment, Corporate Communications will develop tools and templates to roll-out for internal clients to use through the Internal Communications Departmental Toolkit. |
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Web Governance Researched best practices in Web governance and web publishing guidelines/policies which helped identified a requirement for an appropriate framework and publishing standards. |
Web Governance A Web Governance Framework will be developed and implemented to guide decision-making, strategic evolution planning and operational management of the City’s web presence. The Web Content Management system for ottawa.ca will be replaced by year-end 2011 in order to streamline web publishing processes, save staff time and allow for real-time updates of the website. A Web publishing package is being developed to document guidelines and standards for online publishing to address best practices in web usability, web design, and web accessibility. These three initiatives will be delivered as part of the Service Ottawa ottawa.ca project. |
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Graphic Design The Graphic Design Technology Renewal enabled the department’s graphic designers to stay current with industry tools and technologies.
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Graphic Design The City’s branding and Visual Identity will be refreshed while outlining parameters for appropriate sub-brand development. |
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Media The selection of a new corporate media monitoring service allowed the department to find significant financial savings while continuing to monitor media coverage in an effective and analytical way. |
Media Creating a Media Relations Protocol will streamline media relations processes throughout the organization to ensure that they are effective and efficient. |
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Advertising An $800,000 reduction in advertising costs for 2011 was implemented, by redirecting traditional print media to more cost efficient, strategic and targeted methods, including online, earned media, community and speciality publications.
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Advertising In coordination with Legal Services, the department will conduct a review of current advertising strategies and statutory legislation, which could result in further cost savings. |
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Employee Engagement Staff were consulted extensively on improvements to their work environment using an online crowdsourcing tool. Those ideas were synchronized to develop an Employee Engagement Action Plan. The departmental Service Excellence team developed a Terms of Reference to determine how they work and strive towards Service Excellence in the department. |
Employee Engagement The departmental Service Excellence team will roll out the Employee Engagement Action plan which includes: - Developing a skills inventory for the department’s staff to help resource and recognize staff experience - Launch a departmental knowledge sharing space (blog) to better communicate, share ideas and best practices - Plan Lunch and Learn sessions to learn from each other and industry leaders on a variety of PR and marketing topics.
The Learning and Development Strategy will ensure that employees are growing as leaders and staying current on industry best practices and trends. The Departmental People Plan will leverage the Corporate plan to address HR issues related to turnover, retention and succession planning.
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Performance Measures/Balanced Scorecard Corporate Communications staff were trained in Balanced Scorecard methodology as part of the corporate rollout. |
Performance Measures/Balanced Scorecard The department will implement performance measures to determine the effectiveness of communications efforts. The implementation of the Balanced Scorecard will ensure that the department and Corporations strategic priorities will be benchmarked and measured. |
Community and Social Services
Mandate
We deliver services and facilitate partnerships to create an integrated continuum of care and support to promote self-reliance and enhance the quality of life for City residents in need.
Story
of Service Excellence
Service Excellence has supported our commitment to have happier staff, better services, and more satisfied customers. We demonstrate Service Excellence by sharing information for clients to consider their options, and surveying clients and adopting their recommendations to improve service. Service Excellence is as much a way of thinking as acting for the benefit of clients and staff.
Service Excellence Leads in each branch meet with staff regularly to brainstorm, identify initiatives, prioritize, develop, implement and celebrate ideas that help clients meet their goals.
Improvements
to Client Service
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Accomplishments to date |
Also Planned for 2011-2013 |
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Youth University
CSSD partnered with University of Ottawa and the United Way to advance Youth University to enable 50 youth the necessary support, mentorship and opportunity to attend University and become active contributors to Ottawa’s economy and future. |
Youth University
Goal is to recruit 75 Youth Futures participants in 2011 and 100 in 2012. Efforts will be made to engage all local post-secondary institutions in Ottawa in supporting the educational component of Youth Futures.
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Advancing the Housing Strategy
This year, CSSD has increased safe affordable housing and supports for the most vulnerable families, allowing them to meet their other basic needs and pursue employment and education. |
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Repair and Maintenance of the Social Housing Stock
A $4million investment has been made toward the repair and maintenance of the social housing stock. Improving the condition of social housing homes will have a positive impact on residents living in social housing. |
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Single Point of Contact to Serve Citizens
Citizens can call a single number to apply for childcare, Ontario Works, Ontario Disability Support Program, Essential Health and Social Support, Emergency Assistance, Shelters, and Transition Homes. This Applications Screening Unit provides a single point of contact to service citizens. |
Single Point of Contact to Serve Citizens
Over 900 individuals completed online applications for social assistance. Processes and practices will continue to be developed to ensure convenience to clients and maintain standards. |
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Long Term Care Homes
The care and safety of residents in our four long term care homes is paramount. CSSD has been hard at work implementing project initiatives such as the replacement and upgrade to the nurse call bell system, enhanced security systems, and the installation of a card reader system in elevators. |
Long Term Care Homes
Continue to advance the “Residents First” Service Excellence program for staff of our long term care homes. Will implement Lean Management training and philosophy to support quality improvement activities in support of improving operational performance. |
The following activities are in progress to improve the delivery of services in both official languages.
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In Progress / Ongoing |
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§ Determine best practices of improving communication and the level of understanding between staff and management on hiring and bilingualism policies and fostering an environment that encourages employee growth and development (e.g. through opportunities for training) § Evaluate tools and establish departmental consistency/best practices to determine; o Consistent proficiency level requirements for similar positions o Level of bilingual staff required to ensure appropriate bilingual services § Year 1 – Housing branch to complete 2 pilot projects § Year 2 – Roll out to other branches and other services § Review publications to ensure they are in both languages, user friendly and easy to understand § Survey clients to gauge their satisfaction with services provided in the language of their choice |
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Improvements
to Internal Working Practices
CSSD had a number of initiatives to address our Operational Performance and Employee Engagement.
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Accomplishments to date |
Also Planned for 2011-2013 |
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An advisory committee composed of representatives from each of the six branches that compose our department meet to advance departmental sharing and integration of knowledge, best practices and solutions within the context of Service Excellence. We have increased self-serve options for clients through an online application for Ontario Works and child care subsidies.
Common human resource concerns were created and a Service Excellence plan was created to address them.
Conducted an agency satisfaction survey whereby 90% indicated a positive response to the level of service provided
Conducted a resident satisfaction survey at each of the City’s long term care homes whereby 98% would recommend homes to family/friends.
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Our social service centres are increasing our networking efforts with local community agencies in order to provide convenient and expanded service options to our mutual clients via “community hubs.” The job shadow program will be expanded across the department, making it more appealing and accessible. Continuous Model will incorporate: In the spirit of Service Excellence we will continue to embrace a culture of continuous improvement by: -Reviewing service standards and management practices to ensure they are aligned with service excellence priorities - Evaluating performance measurement processes and tools, share best practices and adopt departmental best practices - Supporting service excellence teams at the site level, branch and departmental level to identify and implement innovative solutions Committed to increasing client satisfaction we will: -Develop a directory of existing client and stakeholder satisfaction tools - Review client satisfaction feedback and identify gaps in measuring client satisfaction -Implement client satisfaction tools (interviews; surveys; focus groups) -Integrate client satisfaction results in branch operational plans |
Community Sustainability
The Department of Community Sustainability is dedicated to the full realization of Ottawa’s potential as a model, sustainable, capital city by providing leadership, expertise and support for integrated long –term planning and decision-making across the four dimensions of sustainability – economic, cultural, social and environmental.
We create value through the integration of data, information, and research; through innovation; and through meaningful collaboration and engagement leading to positive, long lasting results: Quality of place. Quality of life. Today and for the future.
Story
of Service Excellence
Our contribution to Service Excellence is achieved by working collaboratively to embed sustainability principles, plans and practices that lead to internal improvements (a sustainable City Hall) and by supporting community efforts that are focused on building vibrant, complete, liveable neighbourhoods (a sustainable community).
Just as businesses are embracing practices to make them more sustainable, it is becoming more and more necessary for municipalities to seize upon the long-term competitive advantage that embedding sustainability into operations affords. Residents trust that we are meeting both their current service delivery needs as well as looking after their long-term interests –to use an analogy, our residents are expecting that we keep our eye on both the forest and the trees. As part of our contribution to service excellence we work to ensure that the quality of Ottawa’s future is not an afterthought, and instead, ensure the decisions we make today are recipes for success tomorrow.
With demographic, technological, natural resource and economic challenges before us, the question we have been asking is: How will we creatively and collectively build a sustainable, liveable and resilient city? Within the department we have provided opportunities for staff input, regular and interactive departmental meetings, and organized open conversations with the Director. Beyond the engagement of our department, there have been many efforts to connect with both internal and external stakeholders in the development and advancement of our “north star”, the City’s long term sustainability management framework - Choosing our Future. Stakeholder engagement has also been central to the launch of the Corporate Sustainability Program, the approval of the Economic Development strategy that saw an additional $2M investment to support our local economy, and the development of the Environmental Strategy – all of which will lead to improved operational effectiveness for Ottawa as a whole regarding the social, cultural, economic and environmental dimensions of sustainability.
Improvements
to Client Service
The Community Sustainability Department has improved client service through the development of leading edge strategies that will result in pragmatic concrete actions for both internal and external stakeholders. For the remaining term of Council, our goal is to have staff and residents recognize and applaud the City for making sustainable choices and to encourage residents to make sustainable choices which benefit both themselves and their city.
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Accomplishments to date |
Also Planned for 2011-2013 |
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Community Environmental Project Grant Program · Awarded 15 Community Environmental Project Grants such as an Ottawa West Bike Share Program, Spring tree plant along the Jock River, Building and Promoting a Walk able Village and more |
Continue to offer programs that build capacity and support the community’s involvement in building a ‘greener, more ecologically robust city’ |
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Green Building Promotions Program Organized two-day LEED Associate course for 22 staff from planning, infrastructure, and building services thereby improving staff expertise and ability to encourage ‘green building’ in the City
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· Organize a breakfast event at City Hall on November 10, 2011 with the Canada Green Building Council to raise awareness of green buildings. This event, aimed at the local real estate and development industry, will feature prominent guest speakers in the green building industry and information displays profiling some of the City's buildings as well as local green buildings undertaken by the private sector.
· Working collaboratively, recommend and begin to implement enhancements to the Green Building Program that will reduce the overall impact of the built environment on human health and the natural environment. |
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2011-2015 Environmental Strategy · Drafted the 2011-2015 Environmental Strategy through extensive internal consultations and collaboration which will provide a 5-year roadmap of priority environmental projects in the City
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Once approved by Council, implement the actions of the approved Environmental Strategy that will contribute to a greener, more ecologically robust city, a connected and more actively mobile city and a city with a lighter environmental footprint . |
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Choosing our Future · Hosted a Sustainability Summit in June 2010 which brought together over 200 stakeholders within our community - service organizations, businesses, advocacy groups, academics, municipal and federal staff, and others to discuss the future of our Region. · Created the “Have A Say!” on-line engagement campaign which generated almost 6,500 ideas, comments and votes from residents on what the Region and City could do to be sustainable and what sustainable contributions they, as residents could make in their day to day lives · Created a video entitled, “Choosing our Future” to educate and provide awareness of sustainability and what the City and its partners are doing to ensure a strong, healthy and resilient future |
Complete the Choosing our Future initiative, the results of which will support the development and implementation of sustainability strategies and projects across the City through the delivery and implementation of three plans:
· Leverage the City Corporate Sustainability program to ensure the plans guide and inform departmental strategies and actions (see Corporate Sustainability program below)
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Economic Development · Approved the 5-year economic strategy (Partnership for Prosperity) by Council in July 2010. · Improved dialogue with Business Community: Frequent dialogue with local property developers, small business owners/operators, and multi-national corporations to discuss opportunities and impediments to business development and actions that the City can undertake to improve the conditions for economic development · Consultations with entrepreneurs regarding their needs and assistance that the City could provide to encourage development of the city’s entrepreneurial culture. · Economic Development supported successful bids to host several major events: o Awarded the 2015 World Women’s Hockey Championships o Awarded 2012 NHL All Star Weekend o Awarded 2017 FCM Annual Conference · Employment Lands Strategy approved · Ottawa awarded Top 7 Intelligent Community award. · Through funding support to OGFT, secured $22M in film and television production · Branch along with partners, Ottawa Tourism, the Ottawa Chamber, The Ottawa Airport Authority and BIAs, developed and launched “Discover Ottawa,” “Découvrir Ottawa” a Smartphone application designed to assist Ottawa citizens and visitors to find attractions, stores, services and accommodations in Ottawa. · BIA Support: Significant inroads made in support of BIAs: o Carp Road Corridor and Bells Corners Business Improvement Areas designated; Carp Village BIA re-constituted o Held a BIA- City of Ottawa Summit which provided a forum to share best practices with BIAs and obtain their feedback on plans going forward. · College for teaching ConstructionTrades : Opened La Cité collégiale Centre of Innovation (Centre des métiers) campus in Orléans · Lead to Win: Worked with Carleton University to launch the highly successful Lead-to-Win program to assist start-ups in Ottawa. To date, more than a 100 new companies have been formed. · Attracted Film Production: The CBC Primetime Series "Michael: Tuesdays & Thursdays", filmed part of a series of episodes at City Hall this year. The twelve episode program will begin to air starting September 2011. |
· Continued execution of the Economic Development Strategy Implementation Plan: o Create "Invest Ottawa," an organization that will be focused on attracting investment and expanding and retaining businesses in Ottawa in key industry sectors including green energy, aerospace and defence, photonics, life sciences, digital media, and film and television; o Continue to grow local business talent with an investment of $1.4 million to enhance entrepreneurship programming, which includes the creation of a business incubation space. o Develop a joint Major Events Attraction Office in partnership with Ottawa Tourism to attract and support large-scale cultural and sports events that have significant positive benefits for the local economy; o Increase support to Business Improvement Areas (BIAs) as local economic development agents. o Use Invest Ottawa to increase support for film and television production in the city, an underdeveloped component of our creative economy.
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Rural Clean Water Program Collaborated with the three Conservation Authorities and Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association to deliver the Rural Clean Water Program whose goal is to improve water quality in the City’s local rivers, streams and creeks. As of June 2011, reviewed and approved 22 grant applications worth $74k, and 9 additional grants worth $16k for green acres/ shoreline naturalization |
Continue to deliver the Rural Clean Water Program |
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Water Environment Strategy (WES) Continued to develop a strategy to establish a comprehensive and integrated plan in cooperation with other agencies for the management of water environment issues in Ottawa.’ |
Once approved by Council, begin implementation of the Water Environment Strategy. |
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Renewed Brownfield Development Incentive policy which encourages clean-up and re-use of a contaminated site
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Street Furniture Negotiated contract extensions for two years with street furniture proponents to ensure continued service of on-street litter and recycling bins, transit shelters, benches and bicycle parking.
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Organizational Development and Performance will create a Central Advertising and Sponsorship Office that will address advertising agreements and future Requests for Proposals (RFP) such as street furniture agreements. |
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Solar Energy o Created the Large Rooftop Solar Energy Program which will see Energy Ottawa construct solar arrays on up to twenty (20) of the City's largest buildings. Supported the completion and submission of applications to the OPA Feed-in-Tariff program. o Constructed 10 kW rooftop solar energy systems on two City buildings (City Hall and Transit Services Integrated Control Centre) as one component of the Smart Energy Initiative. o Leased lands near the Trail Road Waste Facility to Energy Ottawa for a large ground-mounted solar energy farm that, when constructed, will provide power for more than 1,500 homes
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Implement large roof solar program (pending regulatory approval) to contribute to reducing the City’s reliance on non-renewable energy and generate a new ‘green’ revenue stream for the City |
Improvements
to Internal Working Practices
Community Sustainability had a number of initiatives to address our Operational Performance and Employee Engagement.
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Accomplishments to date |
Also Planned for 2011-2013 |
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From SE Timeline document
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Champion the systematic use and integration of data and its transformation into knowledge that can be shared with internal and external stakeholders to drive integrated decision-making across the four dimensions of sustainability • Improve the departmental sharing of information and documentation using technology and training: BIMS, website, consolidation of shared folders; training workshops •Develop a Sustainability Lens that will be used by City staff to guide their work and decision making by integrating environmental, economical, cultural and social factors into City policies and operations.
Use comprehensive data to measure and monitor the progress towards sustainability both internally and externally•Develop an inventory of City tracked measures and data related to sustainability
· Report on City/community sustainability progress and performance across the four dimensions of sustainability through the development of a sustainability scorecard, economic development scorecard and environmental scorecard
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Leading the Creation and Implementation of the City’s Sustainability Agenda
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· Continue to implement the Corporate Sustainability Roadmap which seeks to embed sustainability throughout the organization
· So You Think You’re Sustainable? – An employee engagement event for staff at all levels of the organization who will present ideas to senior leaders in order to help advance the long-term sustainability goals as approved by Council.
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Being a Workplace of Choice in the City – A Focus on Adaptability, Work-Life Integration, Efficiency and Effectiveness
· A member of the Economic Development Branch was awarded the “2011 Travaillons ensemble / Working Together” Award by the Quartier Vanier BIA.
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· Continue to ensure consistent use of performance management and assessment tools that include regular reviews, development of workplans (ICA’S) and assessment of workplan achievement, linked to the departmental plan and the City’s Corporate Plan
· Participate in Mobile Workforce Office Based Pilot Project
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Fostering Meaningful Collaboration, Engagement and Commitment
· Highly successful outreach to community groups regarding economic development activities (including chambers of commerce, business improvement areas, ethnic community groups, francophone business community, immigrant service agencies, and social service agencies) – Causeway Work Centre, Social Planning Council, Lebanese Chamber of Commerce, Ottawa Chinese Community Services, Ottawa Community Immigration Services, EcoEquitable, Just Food, Ottawa Community Loan Fund, etc.
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Support citizen participation as a vital component of planning, building and realizing sustainable communities •Conduct action research (including best practices) and development efforts on citizen participation in collaborative policy and program development.
•Increase the use of social media tools and strategies that will support greater citizen participation in internal and external community sustainability initiatives, taking into account the needs and practices of both official linguistic groups and diverse communities and the availability of tools available in the market and the City.
•Develop and support the implementation of citizen engagement strategies and monitor their effectiveness · Provide information to residents that promotes sustainable choices |
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Data, Information, Knowledge, Action – A Formula for Positive Long-Lasting Results
· OCRI: Improved communications between the City and OCRI with respect to measuring and reporting activity, outcomes and expectations around economic development initiatives and activity
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In collaboration with internal stakeholders, develop and implement a best practice research agenda to support organizational progress on sustainability objectives Coordinate and support actions to meet Corporate and community GHG targets once approved by Council
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Emergency and Protective Services
Mandate
Emergency and Protective Services protects health, property and quality of life through an integrated public safety department
Story
of Service Excellence
The Emergency and Protective Services Department does not view Service Excellence as a specific initiative, but a philosophy that should underpin everything that we do when work with our teams and our clients. When approaching our service excellence planning process we were therefore deliberate in building our operational plans with service excellence at the forefront of our minds. By ensuring that our service excellence plan reflects the work within our operational plans we believe that this will ensure that the work identified will receive the appropriate profile within the operations to be successful.
We held an initial management meeting to lay the ground work, to develop and implement a strategy to support ongoing integration and operational efficiency focusing on improved citizen and client service delivery. Following this, the management team initiated its annual planning process.
From here a planning day was held to engage the larger management team to build an identity, share operational plans and look at common themes.
Improvements
to Client Service
EPS department is a public safety portfolio that ensures the protection of health, public safety, and well-being of residents and visitors alike, through the provision of efficient and effective emergency response, preparedness and proactive education / prevention services by focusing on the impact/benefit, experience and interaction citizens and staffs has with EPS programs and services.
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Accomplishments to date |
Also Planned for 2011-2013 |
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Paramedic Service- New Staff and Ambulances
A total of 24 new staff has been added to the paramedic service, and two new fully supported ambulances are now on the road 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. These new positions and vehicles demonstrate the City’s continuous dedication to improving the quality of life to our residents.
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Ottawa Fire Services- New Firestations
In order to ensure the safety of residents within the growing areas of our City, the Ottawa Fire Services has opened two new fire stations, Station 46 in Stittsville and Station 47 in Barrhaven, providing local residents with high quality fire services. These facilities will not just protect our residents’ safety, but also promote environmental sustainability. Both stations have been designed to be LEEDS silver certified facilities, meaning they are environmentally sustainable, and utilize less energy, thereby contributing to both community safety and sustainability. |
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New Animal Shelter
As part of a unique, progressive and cost effective partnership, the City and the Ottawa Humane Society deliver municipal animal shelter services to the residents of Ottawa. This year, a major accomplishment was the construction of a much-needed new animal shelter to provide improved and accessible service to the public as well as improved standards of care for sheltered animals. |
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Mobile Office
Active participation with the corporate project to ensure better service, and staff have greater access to information to provide service. Fully implemented within Bylaw and regulatory Services, Security and Emergency Management and Ottawa Paramedic Service |
Continued implementation of Mobile Office
Ottawa Fire Services to be implemented by end of year |
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EPS Branding
Educate clients (internal, external, Elected Official) to better understand the work of Emergency and Protective Services Awareness campaigns, · EPS Day at the Cumberland Heritage Museum · Accessibility Day · Emergency Preparedness Week · Emergency Medical Service Week (EMS) · Fire Prevention week
Ottawa Fire Service has worked to increase the numbers of candidates applying from designated groups they were presented with a unique opportunity to give young women a real-life glimpse into the working life of a firefighter by reaching out to female youths through Camp FITT (Female Firefighters in Training). |
EPS branding Continue to increase public awareness campaigns to educate internal and external clients on the services that are available to them and to increase preparedness and proactive education
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Social Media EPS plan to enhance community notification during emergencies/disruptions by leveraging Social Media in both official languages.
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The Paramedic Services’ Quality of Service Model
Quality Service - the target - is supported by five pillars: Excellence in Care, Patient and Community Satisfaction, Public Safety, Public Accountability, and Service Reliability. Surrounding and strengthening those pillars are five drivers, which in turn are affected by the four framework areas. All are essential to achieving and maintaining success in delivering a consistent, top-quality paramedic service. |
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Corporate Radio System and Radio Shop
One stop shop (maintenance) for radio clients across the corporation to streamline access to service for clients (need more details) |
The following activities are in progress to improve the delivery of services in both official languages.
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In Progress / Ongoing |
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§ Continue to provide departmental communications in both official languages § Continue to provide bilingual signage for all new capital projects § Enhancing community notifications during emergencies/disruptions by leveraging social media and broadcasting simultaneously in both official languages |
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Improvements
to Internal Working Practices
EPS had a number of initiatives to address our Operational Performance and Employee Engagement.
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Accomplishments to date |
Also Planned for 2011-2013 |
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EPS has provided opportunities to engage staff through a variety of channels including the following:
· EPS Forum for non uniform staff (opportunity to build a sense of team, understand their impact, and look at strategies to enhance employee engagement · Release of Employee Engagement Results to all staff · EPS Leadership Symposium · Development and Implementation of Employee Engagement Governance Structure (ongoing) · Established EPS Service excellence teams |
EPS will continue to develop and implement an Employee Engagement Governance Structure:
· Staff development to include support, knowledge, tools and skill set to ensure that every client experience is positive both internal and external. · Develop branch specific strategies to address employee engagement results · Celebrating our successes by communicating to all staff and utilizing the employee recognition program as a conduit. · Implementation of a Leadership calendar –focussing on staff development and succession planning |
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Departmental Planning
· EPS Planning Days with wider management team · Developing Departmental and Branch Strategic Plans |
Departmental Planning
EPS will continue to develop departmental and branch strategic plans in consultation with all levels of staff and shared service partners
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Developed EPS Annual Planning Cycle
Development and implementation of a yearly planning cycle-to include review of mandate/vision, priorities, work plans, and performance measurements. Importance of having a planning cycle ensured that our objectives and operational plans were all connected. It also gives the EPS dept a mechanism to continually review the work of the department and adapt it to respond to the needs of residents and staff |
Annual EPS planning cycle
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EPS Balanced Scorecard
· Establish priorities/objectives to achieve mandate · Developed metrics, collected data and rolled out draft to Management Team
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EPS Balanced Scorecard
· Review and refine scorecard · Develop a quarterly activity report |
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Development of Departmental and Branch Communications Strategies (ongoing)
· Launched EPS Ozone page, which links all Branches and provides a feedback mechanism (epsfeedback@ottawa.ca). · Ottawa Fire services o Launched first Ottawa Fire Services Newsletter for OFS staff o Rolled out internal survey · Bylaw and Regulatory Services o East/West and Licensing teams established meet regularly o Service Excellence teams · Security and Emergency Management o Town halls o Monthly messages (highlights) · Ottawa Paramedic Service weekly updates that focus on o Spotlight on excellence o Career opportunities o Operational updates |
Departmental and Branch Communications Strategy
· Continue to increase departmental identity by communicating to all staff through various communication channels and support regular updates · Revamping of EPS Ozone · Continue with Branch specific communications |
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EPS IT Strategy
· Developed a 5 year roadmap for required technology investments with linkages to Service Ottawa
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EPS IT Strategy
· Determine the EPS IT Priorities for the next 3 years aligned to corporate priorities and funding envelopes in partnership with IT |
Environmental Services
Mandate
To protect public health and the physical environment in the provision of Solid Waste, Drinking Water, Wastewater, Stormwater and Drainage Services and the protection of the natural water systems for the City of Ottawa community.
Story of Service Excellence
Following a corporate realignment in early 2009, Environmental Services engaged the support of its staff to improve their service delivery model. A core group of subject matter experts pulled together the Service Excellence plan for the department to improve engagement, augment operational processes and further improve client satisfaction.
To inform staff about the Strategic Alignment initiatives and the employee engagement results, a series of town-halls were held. About 15% of the employee population participated in the meetings, which yielded more than 200 recommendations for management.
The General Manager used this engagement approach again to announce the new strategic direction for the department, which included a focused approach to surface water management, asset management and business services.
Improvements to Client Service
The main focus of the Service Excellence initiatives was the realignment to improve the delivery of ESD’s services.
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ACCOMPLISHMENTS 2009-Q2 2011 |
PLANS FOR 2011-2013 |
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· Roll-out of Green Bin organics program to curbside residents. · Pilot of green bins in schools. · Pilot of battery collection depots. · Pilot of special event waste collection. · Departmental Strategic Alignment Initiative (SAI) that examined opportunities to improve service delivery, including: o Creation of Surface Water Management group to enhance focus on the Ottawa’s water systems. o Creation of Customer Outreach group to improve communications. · Approval of Ottawa River Action Plan comprised of 17 projects to address surface water issues; plan endorsed by Ontario’s Environmental Commissioner. · Real Time Control (RTC) system installed with 24-hour staffing to improve combined sewer flow management during wet weather. · Solid waste service level review resulted in approval of bi-weekly waste collect commencing 2012 (start of next collection contract.) · Procurement of automated meter reading relay system and commenced roll-out. |
· Reducing significant vacancy rate (>120 as of January 1, 2011) through focused JD, JE, and hiring effort in order to meet service delivery commitments. · Developing a Municipal Waste Master Plan to guide waste management over the next 30 years. · Rolling-out the automated meter initiative (AMI) across the water service area to increase proportion of “actual” meter reads versus “estimates.” This will eliminate the need for customers to call-in “final” reads and allow for early identification of leaks on private and public property. · Tendering collection contracts for curbside and high-density waste collection to implement new bi-weekly garbage collection service levels. · Developing and implementing a departmental communication plan to connect with the public on key service delivery and related environmental issues. · Reducing opportunities for drinking water contamination through implementation of cross control program. · Providing support to property owners with storm and sanitary cross connections to reduce contamination of surface water systems.
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The following activities are in progress to improve the delivery of services in both official languages.
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In Progress / Ongoing |
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§ Bilingual designation of key positions § Consider effective communication activities to include our French speaking staff § Translation Services - Communication Plans |
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Improvements to Internal Working Practices
The main focus of the improvements to internal working practices, was to reorganize resources to create a strategic direction and to improve operational performance.
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ACCOMPLISHMENTS 2009-Q2 2011 |
PLANS FOR 2011-2013 |
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· Developed and implemented a Drinking Water Quality Management System (DWQMS.) · Departmental Strategic Alignment Initiative (SAI) examined opportunities to improve work processes, including: o Consolidation of Customer Contact groups to improve service request and work order data management. o Focus on asset management in creation of Environmental Engineering group. · Approval of a 10-year Financial Plan for the City’s drinking water systems. · Developed a50-year capital program for the city’s drinking water, sanitary, and storm systems and treatment facilities. · Procurement of a replacement to the city’s asset management system ITX. · Responded to Woodroffe watermain break; installed and operated a temporary system; and, managed mitigating measures during ban on outdoor water use.
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· Developing a Wastewater Environmental Quality Management System (EQMS.) · Replacing the current ITX asset management tool with Maximo, and seizing opportunity to integrate system with Service Ottawa initiatives: CSM, Ottawa.ca, UCCM, and Mobility. · Reviewing data management processes, streamlining data input, and enhancing data quality management. · Reviewing stormwater cost recovery and rate options. · Updating the Water & Sewer Rate Long Range Financial Plan (LRFP.) · Developing an asset management strategy to meet obligations of the Safe Drinking Water Act, the Water Opportunities and Conservation Act, and the department’s management systems. · Conducting a review of all Supervisory positions to institute consistent expectations and allow for fair rating of positions. · Reviewing current Maintenance Management work practices and identifying opportunities to better coordinate and enhance asset management. · Reviewing departmental accommodation needs to address growth of infrastructure and in the numbers needed to operate and maintain it.
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Finance
Mandate
The Finance Department serves the Citizens of Ottawa by fulfilling the statutory duties of the City Treasurer and providing financial leadership and services to Council, employee, and City Departments in the delivery of public service.
Story of Service Excellence
Service Excellence has resulted in a number of changes in Finance, with positive impact on our staff, our internal clients and the public. A primary role of the Finance Department is to provide financial stewardship to the corporation. We began in 2010 by defining a vision for the department that balances this role of financial steward with Service Excellence to our clients resulting in the following Vision statement: Trusted Advisor, Respected Partner, Excellent Service.
From here, we embarked on a planning process that integrated the 3 pillars of Service Excellence with key strategies we identified to advance our vision. The process involved management at all levels. The result of this process was an integrated plan that advanced our stewardship responsibility to the corporation while delivering excellent service internally and externally. Many of our initiatives are in support of our key corporate oversight role, leveraging automation opportunities to improve service and productivity with an emphasis on improving Employee Engagement.
Improvements to Client Service
The clients of the Financed Department are both internal and external, the citizens of Ottawa, employees, management and Council. Improvements to Client Service encompass those areas where residents interact directly with Finance as well as the services we provide to employees, city administration and Council.
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Accomplishments to date |
Also Planned for 2011-2013 |
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Improving information and reporting
Ensuring staff, Council and public have access to the financial information required to make decisions and manage city services and resources is a key part of the service we provide. We have successfully implemented expanded standardized SAP reports for Finance staff to better provide information to clients. We automated reports for Council. For the public, we implemented tax bills in multiple formats improving information and access for all residents. |
Over the next 2-3 years, our plans include an increase use of SAP reports and tools for budgeting. In conjunction with Service Ottawa projects we will review Otawa.ca information and resources to provide improved information to residents and clients.
We will develop a Finance Datamart (Business Intelligence) to allow creation of Finance reports across SAP modules. This provides for better and more efficient access to information required to manage city resources |
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Improving support to Council Key to Finance’s roles as financial steward for the organization, we implemented changes to the budget process to create a smoother process and improved information for Council, supporting both decision making and consultation with residents Finance contributed to new Council orientation and completed Councillor education on financial reporting, budgeting, taxation and purchasing. We completed a 4 year operating budget forecast with envelopes in support of the Council’s Term of Council Priorities and term of council budget directions. Produced a Long Term Financial Plan for Transit Services setting the stage for capital investment in the OLRT. |
Complete and recommended to Council a tax supported capital and rate supported Long Range Financial Plan.
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Leveraging automation to improve client service
Automation has provided an opportunity for Finance to improve both internal processes as well as the service delivered to clients. For our public facing services, we implemented call recording on the Revenue phone contact queue to monitor and improve service. We also implemented an automated messaging service for accounts receivable to improve contact and follow-up with taxpayers. For employees and managers, the automation of several pay processes brought both efficiencies to the organization and improved information for managers and employees. We partnered with Environmental Services Department on a project to automate water meter reading.
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Consolidate and automate referrals for collections Replace cash registers to improve point of sale service to the public Complete implementation of the Accounts Payable Automation System Expand PCard program to improve efficiencies on small item purchases Support expanded use of work scheduling tools by client groups. |
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Strategic Service Improvements
The department implemented a new Strategic Sourcing group to improve the way the City procures goods and services.
Access to information for vendors and our competitiveness was improved by posting offers under 50K on-line.
By leveraging a new opportunity for Municipalities under the Municipal Act, we were able to implemented Tax Rolling of defaulted fines to improve collection rates.
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Over the next two years a number of initiatives will be undertaken to further the strategic sourcing objectives. These initiatives will improve our service to our internal clients and vendors. · Increase use of innovative procurement strategies · Improve management of vendor performance · Streamline contract approval process · Increase reliance on strategic partnerships for procurement · Enhance vendor outreach · Implement eProcurement solution |
The following activities are in progress to improve the delivery of services in both official languages.
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In Progress / Ongoing |
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§ Undertake gap analysis for designation of bilingual positions § Actively offer services in both official languages to external clients § Ensure material developed for Ozone and Ottawa.ca are in both official languages where feasible § Include clause on Bilingualism Policy in service provider contracts § Implement regular and standard communication across the departments, branches, and units in both official languages § Recruitment of bilingual staff as required § Automated messaging service for accounts receivable in both official languages |
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Improvements to Internal Working Practices
The main focus of the improvements to internal working practices was to increase the emphasis on employee engagement and internal communication, ensuring we continue to maintain legislative and regulatory compliance and to seek out opportunities to replace and improve technology and tools for staff.
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Accomplishments to date |
Also Planned for 2011-2013 |
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Engaging our Staff
One of the key components of service excellence and a foundation for improved service is employee engagement In 2010, we developed an employee engagement strategy based on review and input of employees across the department One of our first initiatives was to deliver intact team training to support performance development for managers, supervisors and employees. We launched a departmental Employee Recognition Committee to share best practices and increase visibility and supports for recognizing employees.
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Continue work to advance the Performance Development Program to support employee development Develop a departmental training plan to target resources and support development and leadership needs within the department. This will link to plans to develop career maps for roles within the department, leadership development and succession plans. Develop and present a SAP training strategy for Finance staff as well as provide education and training for employees on Finance policies. |
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Improved employee communication In order to improve employee communication and access to information and tools we launched of a branch intranet site including a consolidated collection of departmental policies and procedures. We implemented regular communication from Senior management to employees to improve information sharing and visibility within the department. |
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Ensuring legislative compliance Finance is responsible to ensure the corporation meets several statutory and legislative requirements. This has included large initiatives to support HST implementation, Tangible Capital Asset integration and Payment Card Industry compliance. |
We will continue to complete Payment Card Industry standards implementation and training We will develop a methodology to ensure Commodity tax compliance |
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Leveraging automation to improve productivity
Finance leverages several systems and technologies to manage information and improve service. These systems require regular review and renewal to ensure we continue to have access to up to date tools and processes for the services we deliver. We have completed replacement of the Treasury System, the Overpayment of Ontario Works (ORA) system and P-card software.. |
Finance will complete lifecycle replacements of key systems and tools including Acquasis system and Datasym.
Implement new PILT (Payment in Lieu of Taxes) database management system.
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French Language Services
Mandate
In its pursuit of service excellence and in accordance with the Bilingualism Policy, French Language Services (FLS) ensures that all City departments actively offer a range of municipal services that are available, accessible and of comparable quality in French and English.
Story
of Service Excellence
FLS offers guidance to City staff on the implementation of the Bilingualism Policy and assists departments in developing, implementing and evaluating programs and services offered in French.
In 2010, FLS supported the City’s 19 departments in developing their strategic plans for service excellence. Each of these plans recognized the importance of language of service in ensuring a positive experience for employees and clients and proposed ways of improving the delivery of services in French. This is the first time that language of service has been systematically integrated into a planning exercise of this size.
Improvements
to Client Service
FLS clients are both internal: City staff and departments, and external: residents, visitors and enterprises of Ottawa. The main focus of the Service Excellence initiatives has been to improve client service through raising the awareness of the service needs of the Francophone community and providing relevant education and advice to City departments, committees and staff as to how to satisfy those needs.
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Accomplishments to date |
Also Planned for 2011-2013 |
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Improvements to services for Francophone residents
Academic and Entrepreneurial Services In a joint effort with OCRI, FLS participated in plans to enhance the range of services that the Francophone community college, La Cité collégiale, offers to its students by implementing a referral and training service for students planning to go into business post graduation. The Business Referral Centre will be located at the Centre des métiers Minto (Alphonse-Desjardins campus), a locale set aside for use by the City, according to an agreement entered into between the City and La Cité collégiale upon the purchase of the land. Services provided at this centre would ultimately be available to all of Ottawa’s Francophone community. In addition to preparing the upcoming generation of entrepreneurs, the initiative: · Promotes the economic development of the Francophone community in general · Forges links between the academic and business communities · Spurs economic growth in the capital by building on the vitality of the Francophone community Social Housing In cooperation with the Housing Services Branch (Community and Social Services), a study was conducted to better understand the availability of services in French to clients. Results of this study will be presented in 2012 with the outcome being an analysis of how the services can be improved.
Residents Feedback Process Enhancements in respect to French services FLS has been instrumental in numerous improvements to facilitate the way that residents and visitors communicate with the City in respect to French services including: · Having a visible presence on the City’s website email contact list for issues related to the delivery of services in French and the City’s Bilingualism Policy · Creating an online Complaint Resolution form on Ottawa.ca that is more accessible and easier to use · Improving accessibility to French Language Services and ease of finding information on Ottawa.ca
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Improvements to services for Francophone residents Academic and Entrepreneurial Services Services to students have rolled out in the summer of 2011 with extended services to the Francophone Community anticipated for fall 2011 and future enhancements scheduled in 2012
Residents Feedback Process Enhancements in respect to French services Tools implemented under the Service Ottawa initiative will provide additional opportunities to make improvements based on data collected.
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Making official language communities sustainable
Tourism Through funding received from Heritage Canada, FLS is supporting the Economic Development Branch in its promotional tour of both Canadian and international Francophone and bilingual cities, undertaken to highlight the bilingual nature of the City of Ottawa, promote investment and encourage tourism and academic exchanges.
Francophone Community Engagement FLS provided funding support and advice in the consultation of francophone stakeholders for the Choosing our Future report: Exercice de consultation auprès de groups francophones de la ville d’Ottawa sur le concept des collectivités viable, juillet 2010 |
Making official language communities sustainable
Tourism FLS will participate in the development of an action plan for this initiative in 2011-2012
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Promoting Bilingualism
Networking FLS participated and contributed to various special events that promote Francophones including: · Rendez-vous francophone du Maire (March 2010) · Gala des anniversaires - Festival Franco-ontarien (June 2010) · La journée officielle des Franco-ontariens et la célébration du drapeau Franco-ontarien (Sept 2010) Departmental Support · FLS provided the French audio and voice over for the recording of Choosing our Future · Recorded 880 sentences of language testing and training for the Learning Centre · Created audio recordings for the Bayview/Carling Light Rail Community Design Plan Visibility – One City, Two Languages · Increased the use of the One City, Two Languages promotional material including: kiosk and backdrop at public events, calendars and lanyards · Worked in collaboration with HR’s Language Training Branch to create One City, Two Languages congratulatory cards for students progressing to a new training level |
Promoting Bilingualism
Networking Continued participation in events that recognize and celebrate Francophones and French culture such as États généraux de la francophonie à Ottawa where FLS is on the organization committee providing funding and student resources. |
Improvements
to Internal Working Practices
FLS had a number of initiatives to address our Operational Performance and Employee Engagement.
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Accomplishments to date |
Also Planned for 2011-2013 |
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Employee Engagement FrancoForum The first FrancoForum, a social community of practice for Francophones and those learning to speak the French language was successfully launched with future lunch and learns scheduled quarterly.
Tool Development and Language Training FLS has developed tools to support City employees in delivering quality services in both French and English including: Designation of bilingual positions: a Checklist for Managers; Actively Offering Services in English and French Checklist and Vous Voiement guides for client-facing services.
FLS has also assisted managers with the hiring process of designated bilingual positions.
Translation services Managers and Supervisors Training Forums on Service Excellence Provided translation services for all presentations and take-away material including the translation of an Employee Engagement workbook enabling all participants to view presentation content in their language of choice. Team Achievement Award FLS received an award for providing outstanding service to internal partner, Crime Prevention Canada. The award recognized the consistent professional and resourceful approach undertaken by FLS to ensure translation requests are met within extraordinary tight timelines, client needs are respected and measures are taken toward accuracy and optimum outcome. |
Employee Engagement
Tool Development and Language Training FLS is assessing City staff’s language training needs and in collaboration with the Canada School of Public Service exploring importing some of their online training modules determined by a gap analysis. A pilot is planned for 2012.
An online training module is planned for employees to provide awareness and understanding of Active Offer of Services in both official languages as is the revision of the French Language Services Procedural Manual.
FLS is also supporting Service Ottawa initiatives by providing translation services for new training material. |
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Operational Performance Complaint Resolution Mechanism FLS has revised the Complaint Resolution Mechanism related to French Language services that will deliver improved tracking and increased accountability by departments. It will allow the City to have a central point for tracking and analyzing issues identified by residents and employees. The process is at the socialization phase and is expected to be implemented by the end of 2011. Bilingualism Policy Awareness FLS continues to assist city departments in their delivery of services in French by attending District Management Team meetings to raise awareness of the policy and to offer expertise. Francophone Community Statistics Portrait statistique de la communauté francophone d’Ottawa was developed to promote information and statistics to assist with building awareness and understanding of this group. Quality Assurance · Worked with Planning department to resolve discrepancies with French street names · Provided OC Transpo with spelling and enunciation advice to the OC Transpo Next Stop system · Installed Multitrans translation memory software that enables the taxonomy of common phrases for consistency and uniformity of language |
Operational Performance Complaint Resolution Mechanism Provide additional information on the resolution of identified issues through the implementation of the new process to city departments and the French Language Advisory Committee and open possibilities to give feedback to Council.
Francophone Community Statistics Continued support in the form of information about Francophone Community contribution and culture to the French Language Advisory Committee in their established priorities: social housing, parks and recreation, and, economic development |
Human Resources
Mandate
The HR Department creates and implements human resources strategies and programs that are aligned and integrated with business strategies to facilitate the attraction, development, deployment and retention of a diverse, knowledgeable and engaged workforce.
Story
of Service Excellence
The HR Department supports a total workforce of approximately 17,000 employees across 19 departments, including full-time, part-time, casual, temporary, and students. The City is served by 135 dedicated HR professionals that develop strategy, programs and processes related to Recruitment and Staffing, Compensation & Benefits, Client & Business Solutions, Occupational Health & Safety, Talent Management, Diversity & Employment Equity. HR programs, policies and processes continue to be reviewed and updated to best position the Department to enable our clients to deliver efficient and cost-effective City services.
The 2009 Employee Engagement Survey departmental results recorded an 86% response rate by full time HR employees. Following the rollout of the Survey results in early 2010, HR created a departmental Employee Engagement Team with representatives from each Branch. The Employee Engagement Team focused on the two key priorities identified in the Survey, career growth and reasonable workload. HR made this a priority by dedicating time at the April and May 2010 HR all staff meetings to poll employees on how these two priorities could be improved. A number of training development opportunities, job shadowing and mentoring, technology and process improvements, priority setting, and clear roles were identified. All HR staff participated in training designed to understand and implement a collaborative “account management” approach to service delivery.
HR, in conjunction with ODP, piloted an Ascentum online generation initiative to further define how improvements could be achieved.
Overall, the environment fosters a better sharing of ideas and information among HR staff, a better awareness that HRMT is listening, and better work tools to get the job done.
Improvements to Client Service
Investment in automation has been undertaken with the objective of leveraging SAP HR technology, streamlining processes, increasing managers’ access to hr related information and administrative processes to enable operational performance. Several automation and process improvement initiatives are noted below.
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Accomplishments to date |
Also Planned for 2011-2013 |
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HR Strategy and Programs
HR Transformation, launched in 2009, is integral to Service Excellence and how HR enables the City to better serve its citizens. In addition to a new service delivery model designed to improve client access to services, HR led the development of a corporate strategy and plan to: ensure the City’s ability to attract and retain talent; to create a diverse and inclusive workforce reflective of the community we serve; to manage and align employee performance with corporate goals; and to implement succession and knowledge transfer plans to sustain the delivery of City services by experienced and knowledgeable staff. |
HR Strategy and Programs
Service delivery is enabled by technology and several automation projects are underway as noted below to further enhance HR services and programs. |
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Service Ottawa Program Under the Service Ottawa Program, a number of improvements are being made to HR processes and service delivery.
First is Phase 1 of the eRecruitment project. SAP eRecruitment went live on July 11, 2011 and delivered a new online job posting and application tool, improving the experience of both the hiring manager and the candidate with a system that is flexible, easy to navigate and accessible from any computer with an Internet connection. This is a significant improvement for the City’s non-networked employees. Improved accessibility means employees also benefit from an enhanced ability to find career opportunities that fit their development goals. As well, significant improvements were gained within HR by the use of workflow from SAP in automatic creation of the job posting, thus eliminating several steps in a previously manual process. Other benefits include:
- One integrated system for all City Recruiting
- More fully maximizing investment in SAP
- Recruitment data stored in house (vs. Workopolis), reducing contract fee & improving accessibility/reporting
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Service Ottawa Program Phase 2 of the eRecruitment project will be complete in December 2011. Phase 2 will provide several additional improvements including: -the opportunity to collect diversity data related to applicants which will help to develop strategies to increase diversity at the City -provide reporting capability - workflow for Posting Requisitions, approvals and managing competitions - ability to move the successful candidate from eRecruiting through to SAP HR - a Manager iView to competitions The Learning Administration Automation project, which will be implemented in December 2011, will see the automation of training requests, approvals, registrations and course completion records for all courses offered through the City’s Learning Centre. As well, we will provide managers and employees with instant online self-serve access to training records for themselves and their employees.
The creation of an HR Business Intelligence Data Mart will enhance the capability to provide Managers in the City with information needed to make information-based decisions related to their employees. This will be accomplished through the design and implementation of an HR Data Mart using the Cognos 10 tool. Consistent with the principles of a mobile workforce, HR will continue to develop Manager Self Service (MSS) and Employee Self Service (ESS) capabilities to include remaining routine HR transactions. HR will conduct a Usability Review of the Manager Info and Employee Info on Ozone. Recommendations for changes shall be based on cost/benefit analysis. HR will identify and provide additional iViews that will be beneficial to Managers. Lastly, HR will investigate options for providing ESS access to employees who currently do not have access to the Corporate network. Opportunities for synergies with the mobile workforce initiative will be explored, as well as low-cost but secure options for home access to ESS, since a high percentage of the City’s workforce does not have access to the network today. |
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HR Service Centre Initial design and implementation of a centralized HR Service Centre is complete, with the mandate to streamline routine HR transactions and requests through one central area. It also a primary service access point for employees and managers. With the Employee Automated Transactions project noted below, the employee movement transactions were the first HR transaction to be centralized under this model. The processing of employee movement transactions has been consolidated from different areas of HR and Payroll into one role within the Centre. As the HR Service Centre has been evolving, the centralized entry point into HR has been changing. Tools and processes are being implemented to effectively channel transactions and requests from managers and employees via a centralized group and either actioned or routed to the appropriate HR area. |
HR Service Centre Continued evolution of the HR Service Centre to include additional transactions from other areas of HR. Through the expansion we will review our current business processes and explore process changes and technology improvements to ensure maximum efficiency in the processes being reviewed. A Client Relationship Management tool, in partnership with the corporate review, will be implemented to ensure effective case management and issue resolution to improve service to our clients. |
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Employee Automated Transactions In 2010 and 2011, the processes to perform employee actions (e.g. movement throughout the corporation, terminations, extended leaves) have been improved through leveraging the SAP HR technology. Through Manager Self-Serve (MSS), managers can easily request and approve these types of transactions on their desktop. Through automated workflow technology, requests are routed for the appropriate approval and then routed through to HR and Payroll for processing. New process and technology reduced touch-points, improved approvals and processing times, accuracy of data and provides Managers access to view/monitor their transactions personally through MSS. This technology and process change was pivotal as the stepping stone in the creation of the HR Service Centre. |
Employee Automated Transactions Two types of transactions that were out of scope for this initial project, New Hire and Multi-employee Impacted transactions, will be brought into this technology through the Service Ottawa Project in 2012. |
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Pension & Benefits Unit The Unit delivered pension T4 and year end reconciliation results significantly ahead of the deadline resulting in employees receiving their annual OMERS statement in February versus the end of June. Of the ~ 900 monthly employee calls and emails, 95% are responded to within the 48 hour service level. |
Pension & Benefits Unit In October 2011 Pension and Benefit roles will be merged for better service by providing employees with one point of contact. Routine pension and benefits transactions will be moved to the HR Service Centre to respond to the employee more directly in line with the HR Service Centre model and evolution. The pension year end process will continue to be refined to achieve further efficiencies and earlier statement releases. |
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HR Systems and Reporting (HRS&R) The Talent Scorecard is produced and issued on a quarterly basis to all departments providing important metrics around headcount, diversity, attrition, upcoming retirements, etc. HRS&R continues to provide the FTE Analysis Report and support the budget planning process, the automated OPM process and all Service Ottawa initiatives. |
HRS&R Implementation of the HR BI Data Mart referred to above. |
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New Job Evaluation Process
The Job Evaluation (JE) Process was modified in 2010 for job reclassification requests and new job reviews as part of the overall Human Resources Service Excellence Plan. The new JE process has been streamlined and simplified for internal clients groups, while allowing for early collaboration between HR and the client. The new JE process targets a reduction in processing time of: · new job reviews by 42% · job classifications by 44%
Job Evaluation Plan Development Development and implementation of the CUPE 5500, 503 I/0, and CIPP Job Evaluation Plans to: · Satisfy Pay Equity Legislation, · Ensure job documents are current, and · Ensure JE Plans are adaptable, and responsive to internal business needs.
The JE Plan for CUPE 5500 has been developed and implemented, and new rates of pay have been negotiated.
The JE Plans for CUPE 503 I/O and CIPP have been developed and tested. Job documentation gathering is in progress for both plans.
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New Job Evaluation Process
The improved JE process has been implemented (2010) and is serving as a process template for the collection of job information for the CIPP & CUPE Local 503 I/O Workers Job Evaluation Plans (2011 – 2014). The focus for the Organizational Design and JE Unit will be on the JE Plan Development for CIPP and CUPE 503 I/O into 2013-2014 and providing organization design support to Service Ottawa program.
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The following activities are in progress to improve the delivery of services in both official languages.
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In Progress / Ongoing |
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§ Increase FLS capacity in HR Service Centre, Learning & Development, Safety, Occupational Health, Diversity & Employment Equity, and Staffing.
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Improvements
to Internal Working Practices
HR had a number of initiatives to address our Operational Performance and Employee Engagement.
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Accomplishments to date |
Also Planned for 2011-2013 |
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HR as a Shared Service A Shared Service Model was simultaneously developed by the City intended to “build a culture that is focused on customer service, responsive to client needs, and accountable to clients”. HR created roles (Business Partners and Client Relationship Managers) and contracts (Shared Service Agreements) with its clients to better understand their requirements. Quarterly meetings with HR Business Partners are being held to create opportunities for information sharing and discussion. As in any partnership, we work closely with clients and Business Partners to deliver services so that clients can meet their business outcomes. Through regular meetings with clients and HR Business Partners we discuss and review service agreements and have open dialogue regarding the services we provide and obtain client feedback. Overall client are satisfied with HR Services. Feedback is communicated to HRMT and identification of areas for improvement are being discussed. |
HR as a Shared Service
Human Resources Consultants are the primary consultative and advisory service access point to our clients and the primary link between our clients and HR collaborative partners. With service improvements being made to HR Services delivery and the creation of the HR Service Centre, Human Resources Consultants will be able to focus on providing strategic advice to our clients with focus on HR Corporate strategic initiatives and our clients’ human resources objectives. The HR Service Centre is the primary point of contact for employees and managers for tier 1 support. Information provided to clients is consistent and timely. We will continue to review HR processes and assess how we can improve how we delivery our service using automation. The HR Collaborative Partners/Experts will be able to focus on strategic planning and providing expert advice. We will work toward improving our service agreements so that deliverables are clearly set out and we will focus on improved monitoring and performance.
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Diversity – Equity and Inclusion Lens (E&I Lens)
In 2009, HR, in partnership with the City for All Women Initiative (CAWI) and working in close partnership with nearly 150 community members developed an E & I Lens and 11 diversity snapshots. The snapshots include the designated groups who are women, visible minorities, Aboriginal Peoples, persons with disabilities as well as other groups such as immigrants, Francophones, seniors, youth, low-income people, those living in rural areas and the gay, lesbian, bi-sexual and trans-gendered. The E&I Lens is a tool to support staff and management in their service delivery and employee engagement as well as to attract, promote and retain a talented workforce skilled at working in an inclusive and respectful manner with one another and the community. The E&I lens was implemented in 2010. |
E&I Lens
An E&I Staff Network has been developed to facilitate the ongoing implementation of the Lens and its adoption. |
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Service Excellence Learning and Development Strategy
HR and ODP in partnership, created a 3 year Service Excellence Learning and Development Strategy to provide training with enhanced customer service expertise to all City employees. In 2010, Management/Supervisors and SE Leads were training. |
Service Excellence Learning and Development Strategy
Ongoing training to Management/Supervisors and SE Leads. Development of Customer Service Training for all customer facing staff. |
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Employee Engagement of HR employees Surveyed HR employees on Career Growth and Workload and piloted the use of an idea generating exercise Ascentum on-line tool to collect staff ideas and as a result: · Encouraged managers to have career development discussions with staff, explore the Learning Centre opportunities and considering external specialized educational events that will directly contribute to their work. · Developed guidelines for, and piloted, Job Shadowing and held Lunch ‘n Learn Session to address employee engagement, cross-functional team development and career development concerns and ideas · Optimized the performance of existing or upgraded PCs and laptops · Increased communication with the publication of Director Update email on a regular basis and HR Director and Managers share their top 5 initiatives by branch at HR All Staff Meetings.
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Infrastructure Services
Mandate
To deliver effective and efficient survey, mapping, utility coordination, design, construction, and asset management services ensuring safe, accessible and sustainable municipal infrastructure.
Story
of Service Excellence
The Infrastructure Services Department is responsible for maintaining approximately $30 Billion of municipal infrastructure including roads, sidewalks, sewers and watermain systems, bridges, culverts, the transitway, buildings and parks. In 2010, ISD delivered the most aggressive capital program in the City’s history which included the delivery of the base program and the Economic Stimulus Fund Program (ESF). This past year has been both challenging and rewarding and has highlighted the pride and commitment of our staff.
In its commitment to Service Excellence, the department created a Service Excellence (SE) Committee to review all projects and initiatives in support of the plan. The best ideas come from the people who do the work. Our Share Your Ideas initiative, in support of an employee engagement action plan, was achieved through using a survey tool, focusing on 3 drivers of employee engagement; Leadership, Reasonable Workload, and Career Growth and Development.
Since the tool was launched at a busy time for the Department, it was supported by a robust communication plan to encourage participation from the entire department. The SE Committee has created an action plan to address the various ideas identified by the employees in the survey. The Service Excellence Committee also created a video which highlights some of our 2010 accomplishments and people behind the scenes in support of these achievements.
For 2011, the Department will be launching a newsletter entitled ISD Spotlight. The key to ISD’s success will be its ability to strive to meet both internal and public expectations, within the city’s current fiscal policy
Improvements
to Client Service
The main focus for ISD is to enhance service delivery, increase client satisfaction and build a sustainable community.
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Accomplishments to date |
Also Planned for 2011-2013 |
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· Delivered 95% of Capital Program in 2010. Some highlights: · Heron Road Bridge · Tenth Line Widening (Orléans) · LEED Silver candidate Huron Early Learning centre · Municipal Archives and Library · Early completion of the Resurfacing Program · ROPEC/Lemieux Island Upgrades · Retrofitted 19 Parks eg. splashpads, lighting |
· Deliver 2011-2013 Capital Programs · Improved public input/participation in how capital programs and corporate initiatives are implemented.
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· Business Process Improvements: · Finalized the Rogers Municipal Access Agreement (MAA) · Created an ISD Health and Safety Manual · Developed a soil remediation strategy for Baseline Station · Developed draft maintenance agreements for Somerset, Cyrville and the Ministry for coordinated works |
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· Delivered in the 98 percentile of the Economic Stimulus Fund (ESF) Projects nationally. Maximized funding dollars, initiated construction on all 115 projects and completed or substantially completed 92 of the 115 projects. · Terry Fox Drive extension (Flamborough Way to Kanata Ave) · Sussex Drive rehabilitation · 8th line / Lloyd Graham Avenue (Metcalfe Village) · Southwest Transitway extension · Centrepointe Theatre Expansion · Hunt Club Road Expansion (Hawthorne to Russell) · St. Joseph Roundabout · Baseline Transit Station, Future Transit Tunnel and Pedestrian Overpass to Algonquin College · Churchill Avenue (Westboro) · Joint partnership with Somerset Business Improvement Area (BIA) to manage completion of the Chinatown gateway · Hazeldean Road Widening · 1 new Public Library (Greely) 4 Public Library Retrofits and Renovations (Sunnyside, Vanier, Alta Vista and Cumberland) |
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Delivered all utility, mapping and property requirements for proposed route (and realignment) and coordinated all infrastructure needs and the capital program of the Downtown Ottawa Transit Tunnel (DOTT) |
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Investments for flooding and sewer backup programs · Delivered West End Flooding Action Plan Phase I and II which included the main causes of basement flooding and potential solutions to reduce the risk of future flooding occurrences. · Initiated implementation of flood improvements including sewer cover replacements and installation of inlet control devices. |
· Phase III of West End flooding action plan – identification of solutions to reduce the risk of future flooding occurrences · Finalize action plan for Council approval · Implement flood improvement
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Assist in delivery of Ottawa River Action Plan (ORAP) · Completion of combined sewer overflow (CSO) reduction regulators and installation of Real Time Control to reduce overflows into the Ottawa River. |
Continue to implement Ottawa River Action Plan (ORAP) Projects · Continue the planning and implementation of works for this long term sustainable project · Review and Implement the Sewer interconnection program · Sewer Separation outside the Ultimate Combined Sewer Area (UCSA) · Development and Implementation of a Wet Weather Infrastructure Management Plan
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Asset Management – Principles, Accountability & Responsibility Matrix for Asset Management Functions (satisfaction of internal and external stakeholders on input).
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· Deliver first State of the Asset Report (SOAR) · Seek approval from Council on an Asset Management Policy and Strategy.
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Coordinate our business requirements with various public agencies (e.g. National Capital Heavy Construction Association (NCHCA), Utilities Coordinating Committee (UCC), etc.)
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• Enhance the coordination with the various public agencies. • Increase public input/participation in how capital programs and corporate initiatives are implemented. • City parks are protected from private encroachments, and boundaries are well-defined. • Improved access to departmental information.
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Negotiated and agreed to 15 Service Understanding Agreements with client departments |
• Negotiate Service Understanding Agreement with the Ottawa Police. |
The following activities are in progress to improve the delivery of services in both official languages.
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In Progress / Ongoing |
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§ Offer language training to provide employee development opportunities § Continue to provide communications in both official languages |
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Improvements
to Internal Working Practices
Infrastructure Services had a number of initiatives to address our Operational Performance and Employee Engagement.
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Accomplishments to date |
Also Planned for 2011-2013 |
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· Finalized departmental organizational design · Update and enhance the Project Manager's Procedures Manual, and provide training (Phase I completed, Phase 2 to be completed by Q3 of 2012) · Enhanced a standardized terms of reference for consultants in support of contract administration · Developed project intake process for clients · Engaged internal stakeholders and industry clients to improve a new business process to issue road-cut permits · Created a Departmental Service Excellence Committee · Communicated the Employee Engagement Survey results and rolled-out the Ascentum Tool to further engage staff · Communicated the Employee Engagement Survey results with ISD staff, and sought input in prioritizing the 6 key drivers and focused on 3 of these key drivers. · Created and communicated the strategy and implemented the top 3 priorities.
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· Evaluate departmental organizational design by seeking input from management, staff and stakeholders. · Develop an integrated asset management framework by engaging client departments in the decision-making process. · Engage stakeholders to update SOAR framework to ensure alignment with community sustainability principles; and develop asset values, condition and performance assessments, and future trends. · Develop action plan that focuses on the last 3 key drivers of the employee engagement. · Update and refresh the competitive service delivery review · Update and enhance the Project Manager's Procedures Manual, and provide training. · Develop a standardized Terms of reference for Consultants to include Contract Administration in the design assignments · Seek input from various stakeholders and maximize current systems for efficient reporting delivery · Create a project charter and business case for piloting and finding a solution for electronic management of Right-of-way (ROW) activity · Develop and implement new Structural Inventory Management System (SIMS), as part of the Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) replacement. · Engage various stakeholders to seek priorities, and manage and coordinate all capital project and corporate initiatives to maximize funding envelopes.
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Information Technology Services
Mandate
To provide innovative and cost effective technology solutions to support the business operations for the City of Ottawa
Story
of Service Excellence
As a shared service provider across the corporation ITS will be seen as a valued partner with client departments in delivering municipal services to the residents of Ottawa.
ITS has created a departmental Service Excellence team as well as Branch Service Excellence teams to support and maintain the momentum of Service Excellence in ITS. These teams are responsible for delivering on the following identified key Service Excellence objectives:
Employee Engagement
· A positive work environment that fosters teamwork and collaboration across the ITS branches
· Succession planning with established career paths and training to meet the IT needs of the future
· Flexible working arrangements and manageable workloads
· A positive perception of IT senior management through improved relationships and communications
Operational Performance
· Enhanced ITS service delivery model that streamlines and automates processes for business efficiencies and service improvements
· Prioritized IT investments across the corporation based on alignment with corporate strategy and plans.
· Create capacity to address changing and increasing demands on ITS services
· Infrastructure and application life cycling and modernisation to improve service delivery
Client Satisfaction
· Improved alignment and partnership with clients through improved delivery on their priorities, SE improvement initiatives and overall business needs
· Flexible Service Offerings that respond to client requirements
· Effective, client centric solutions that assist business areas to transform the delivery of services by increasing efficiency and lowering costs
Improvements
to Client Service
The main focus of the Service Excellence client facing initiatives will be the Service Ottawa implementation and the adoption of new tools, procedures and practices into the Client Service Centre and 311 Call Centres. The clients of ITS are both internal (other departments) and external (citizens).
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Accomplishments to date |
Also Planned for 2011-2013 |
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Activities under our Departmental SE Plan:
· Initiated various departmental Service Excellence strategies including:
· 5 Year ITS Technology Roadmap
· Innovative facilitation of ITS All Staff and ITS Leadership Forum to increase interaction
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§ Tour of Duty § Employee Led Recognition § ITS Collaboration Strategy § ITS Mobile Work Opportunities § Performance Metrics § Acting Assignments § Employee Feedback – HR Q&A
· Conduction employee and Manager’s focus group to evolve meeting agendas, focus and structure of these meeting.
· Creating awareness within the department on the FLS Policy and opportunities. |
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Operational Activities and Service Improvements:
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· Working with Service Ottawa Team in building a City’s Enterprise Architecture.
· Formalizing the Business Intake Process and Report to Council by Q3 2011
· Completion of the In-Flight Review and communication the results to both clients and ITS Stakeholders
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Employee Engagement 1. Development of Employee Engagement Strategy with a focus on: • Enhanced manager/employee relationships and individual accountabilities • ITS Career Paths & Retention and Training Plan
2. ITS Communications and Collaboration Strategy with a focus on: • connecting people with people and information • understanding of how workload is being managed (list will always be long) • understanding and exercising IT Dept. sphere of influence
Operational Performance 1. IT Service Management – continue the roll out of the Change Management Process throughout the ITS Department 2. Technology Roadmap - Strategic technology investments and building blocks that position the City of Ottawa to respond to the business needs and citizen’s expectations: § Virtual Desktop Infrastructure § Service Oriented Architecture Framework § Data Storage Strategy and Modernization § Server Virtualization § Telecommunication System Modernization (VOIP) § Security Infrastructure § Data Centre Consolidation § Print Device Consolidation § Desktop Software Consolidation § Public Cloud Services § Enterprise Portfolio Management § Solution Testing and Quality Assurance § Enterprise and Business Systems Sustainment
3. Client Departmental Service Excellence Plans § Assisting client departments with their technology strategic planning and building business cases for each initiatives to be presented to Council or Committee for approval
Client Satisfaction 1. ITS Service Delivery Model Renewal · Perform and service delivery model review with a view to challenge the current processes and services; with a view to gain efficiencies and ensuring that we are providing the proper services.
2. Yearly Communication and Marketing Plan § Developing yearly communication and marketing plan to ensure timely communication is done with internal staff and clients
3. Integrated Client Technology Business Planning § Working with clients department in developing 3-5 year Technology Roadmap for their business |
• Conducting employee and client consultations and survey.
• Implementation of Change Management Process with Technical Infrastructure Branch in Q3 2011.
• Ongoing implementation of the listed activities on the Technology Roadmap.
• Negotiation of the Service Level Agreements by year end. • Working with client to complete business cases for technology requirements by Q3
• Staff Consultations • Development of Service Level Understandings including funding models Value Management & Project Intake Renewal
• Perform client and staff consultations and surveys. • Perform analysis of data • Completion and delivery of the ITS Communication & Marketing Strategy and the yearly Communication Plan by year end.
• Initiating discussion with client departmental Business Partners to assist with their 3 year technology roadmap. |
Organizational Development and Performance
Mandate
ODP supports the Corporation to serve internal and external clients using specialized expertise, methodologies, processes and tools to achieve Council and Executive mandates.
Story
of Service Excellence
As a corporate enabler, ODP has assisted each of the other 19 departments in creating their Service Excellence vision and plans (in addition to creating their own). ODP began by delivering corporate surveys to provide invaluable feedback to the organization and to assist departments in identifying the areas of where they need to improve. ODP also developed and then piloted an online idea-generation initiative, for employees to collaborate to develop each other’s ideas for improvements into realistic actions and plans. This initiative was then shared with other departments.
ODP created a Service Excellence team, with representation from each of its branches, to develop and deliver some of the key improvement initiatives.
Improvements
to Client Service
The main focus of the Service Excellence client facing initiatives will be the Service Ottawa implementation and the adoption of new tools, procedures and practices into the Client Service Centre and 311 Call Centres. The clients of ODP are both internal (other departments) and external (citizens).
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Accomplishments to date |
Also Planned for 2011-2013 |
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Feedback and analysis into the Client Service Centres (CSCs) identified the need for improvements. All computers in CSCs/311 were upgraded to corporate standard, all old monitors in the CSCs have been replaced with flat screens and new paint and artwork helped to spruce up the Contact Centre (chosen by staff through a contest).
The Language Line over the phone interpretation service has been installed which enables Ottawa residents to communicate to the City in up to 170 languages.
Quality Assurance Review for the Client Service Branch has been completed and recommendations approved. Some aspects built into Service Ottawa plans.
Completed a review of the Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system – these recommendations have been provided to the Service Ottawa team to begin implementing as part of 1st release in Oct. |
New CSC cash registers are coming (budget approved in April 2011) The Service Ottawa program will improve the consistency, responsiveness and visibility of citizen interactions with the City. Including- · New Knowledge Base system to provide better access to information for agents and citizens alike
· New Telephony system and integration with Knowledge Base for improved call tracking and handling
· The development of Ottawa.ca into a service channel as well as an information source
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The development of the Older Adult (Seniors) Plan (Phase 1) has seen ODP undertake a demographic scan of the Ottawa population and conduct an inventory of services. The findings were pulled into a research report and data has been analysed to prepare for Phase 2. |
Phase 2 of the Older Adult (Seniors) Plan will begin with the Mayors Summit and extend to Public Consultation to develop a plan to ultimately assist council and staff to improve service delivery to Seniors. |
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Develop and implement a 3-year Corporate Planning Framework and priority setting process for the new term of Council including: • Environmental Scanning • New City Strategic Plan • New Performance Indicators & Measures • Balanced Scorecard • Business Intelligence Technology • Corporate Risk Profile
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Complete the corporate planning cycle using the Corporate Planning Framework and then roll out to departments. Create tools, training and resource capacity to assist Departments in creating performance measures Implementation of the Business Intelligence initiative under Service Ottawa and the creation of the BI Expert Community. |
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The Community Development Framework (CDF) is a strategic effort to align services and resources where they are needed most. It has rolled out in four priority neighbourhoods (Carlington, Bayshore, Overbrook-McArthur and West Centretown) where a variety of improvements to facilities, resources and programs are benefitting the communities. |
Continue to support neighbourhood activities and look to extend to additional priority neighbourhoods. Implement a collaborative online community with full interactivity "IGLOO" (phase 1 by Q3 2010; Phase 2 in Q1 2011; Phase 3 in Q3 2011; Preliminary evaluation Q4 2011) |
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Creation of a Client Engagement Strategy. ODP conducted an external scan of current practices in municipal client engagement both at the City of Ottawa and in other cities. It also outlined the strategic considerations that the Client Service Strategies Branch of ODP is identifying in its planning towards a client engagement strategy for the corporation. |
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Ongoing development of the Aboriginal Working Committee (AWC). The mandate is to identify, prioritize and develop solutions that address emerging issues that impact Aboriginal people in Ottawa, and to maximize the effectiveness of City services provided to the Aboriginal community. Successful Aboriginal Day celebrations were held in 2010 and 2011. |
The AWC is currently in the process of examining new activities in key priority areas for 2011-2012 that include: · Health and Recreation: with emphasis on City of Ottawa working with Aboriginal partners to undertake joint Aboriginal health promotion and prevention campaigns · Education and Aboriginal Cultural Awareness: with emphasis on creating opportunities for City staff to learn about the Aboriginal culture and its practical application to the workplace · Employment and Economic Development: that involves working with various departments to address recruitment and retention strategies required to inform the City hiring practices · Safety and Security: will look at strategies to inform the Aboriginal service providers and community regarding emergency services delivered by the City and how to engage with them · Conduct an evaluation of the municipal-Aboriginal partnership model (AWC) to link accomplishments to impact and increase promotion of this way of working
The management of similar events to promote Aboriginal Day 2011-2013.
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The organization and hosting of Ottawa’s 7th annual AccessAbility Day 2010 in recognition of International Day of Persons with Disabilities. The theme was safety and security. The day included a multi-sensory art gallery tour, celebration and workshops on personal, home and travel safety. |
The management of similar events to promote AccessAbility Day 2011-2013. |
The following activities are in progress to improve the delivery of services in both official languages.
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In Progress / Ongoing |
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§ Continue to deliver official staff communications bilingually § Create a common customer service greeting in both official languages § Create a policy for internal communication and training to staff regarding language § Designate positions as bilingual to enable ODP to offer services in both official languages § Continue to ensure that ‘translation’ is built into all communication and project planning phases § Ensure all policy and process information are available in both English and French |
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Improvements
to Internal Working Practices
ODP had a number of initiatives to address our Operational Performance and Employee Engagement.
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Accomplishments to date |
Also Planned for 2011-2013 |
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SE Learning and Development Strategy – Phase 1 – Awareness and Understanding The learning and development strategy was created to offer customized Corporate learning and cultural change initiatives to support Service Excellence. Over the course of the past year, specific audiences including GMs and Directors, Managers and Program Managers, SE Team Leads, Supervisors and Employees were targeted- each with a distinct learning stream. Accomplishments included delivery of a Managers Symposium (74% of attendees rated the event as exceeding objective), Supervisors Symposium (72% ), Employee Engagement Workshop (78%) and the implementation of the SE Team Leads Program (77%). This strategy has supported and motivated staff at all levels to understand and recognize their role and influence in creating a Service Excellence culture. |
SE Learning and Development Strategy – Phase 2 – Tools and Training In 2011, the learning and development strategy will: ·
Focus
on targeted training and the development of audience specific tools by: · Deliver a Managers Learning Forum and a Managers’ Service Excellence training course · Deliver a Supervisors Training Symposium and a revised Supervisors’ Service Excellence course · Create an internal web space for Supervisors and SE Team Leads that house tools specific for each role Deliver an Employees’ Service Excellence training video and accompanying facilitator’s guide for peer-to-peer support |
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The Equity and Inclusion Lens is a tool to support staff and management in their service delivery and employee engagement. The Equity and Inclusion Lens user-guide provides information to better understand diversity, the importance of inclusion in our everyday work and the dynamic characteristics of our diverse community. A E&I Staff Network has been developed to facilitate the ongoing development of the Lens and its adoption. |
Human Resources are utilizing the tool in their workforce engagement and improvement initiatives. |
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Roll out Employee Engagement Survey results and develop tools, processes and supports to departments to solicit ideas and solutions from employees and implement these ideas through the Service Excellence Team and support from the OD Consultants. |
Conduct the next round of Employee Engagement Survey to compare against the existing benchmark. |
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Development and implementation of the Corporate Shared Service Model and Service Agreement Framework · The development of Business Partner and Client Relationship Manager roles to organize communication between Shared Service departments and their clients · The Introduction of Service Standards · Governance
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Refinement of the Service Agreement Framework |
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Development of the ODP Employee Engagement program. The Focus in 2010-2011 is on increased communications and improving the relationship between management and staff. ODP has developed an employee communication plan and launched the ODP website. ODP has also improved their ICA process, to ensure staff are getting regular accurate feedback, and have the opportunity to discuss personal growth and development opportunities. |
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Ascentum “Idea Crowd-Sourcing” ODP called upon the services of Ascentum who specialize in an online approach to employee engagement. Ascentum applies the concept of idea crowd-sourcing, and allows employees to submit ideas and/or vote on other people’s ideas. The ideas with the most votes are identified, empowering the “crowd”. ODP conducted an online survey based using this approach where staff submitted their ideas to address priority issues such as reasonable workload, relationship with Supervisor, and career growth & development. Approximately 50 ideas were submitted, and the ODP Service Excellence team and management team has put action plans in place for up to 20 of the ideas so far. |
Continued Development and Implementation of Action Plans for Ideas Identified The ODP Service Excellence team will continue to develop action plans for other ideas that were generated from this online survey. The team will also look into the possibility of conducting a second survey in 2011. |
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ODP WOW Awards This year, in addition to ODP’s employee recognition initiatives, the ODP Service Excellence Team created the “WOW” awards. All ODP employees were eligible to be nominated for this award, and any staff member could nominate a colleague. To be eligible, ODP employees will have made an exceptional contribution to the department by improving client satisfaction, operational performance, or employee engagement. The first rounds of awards were given out this June as part of employee recognition month. Awards will be presented twice a year, and an article describing the achievements of employees will appear in “In the Loop” and the monthly ODP newsletter. |
Fall Nominations The ODP Service Excellence team will gather feedback from staff about this new award, apply lessons learned and will open up the nomination process for a second time this coming fall. |
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IGLOO Software The City selected the Igloo Collaborate Software to compliment the Community Development Framework (CDF) communications strategy. The platform combines social networking, collaboration and content management features into a secure and cost-effective online community suite. Document sharing, a calendar of events, discussion board, an interactive newsletter and a contact list are all part of the first limited launch to involve the Bayshore neighbourhood, the Municipal Services Table and the Community Reference Group. |
Enhancing the use of the IGLOO Platform As the project moves forward, CDF tables, residents engaged in CDF, and CDF partners will begin to use the IGLOO platform as a way of collaborating online. The CDF Web Community will be managed and maintained by staff within ODP throughout 2011 in collaboration with Information Technology Services and Corporate Communications. Collaboration with the neighbourhood partners and community stakeholders will take place through a community reference group formed from the CDF Community Table. |
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Service Excellence Team Leads Program In order to lead Service Excellence initiatives and to build engagement at a departmental level, SE teams were formed and departmental SE Team Leads were identified. This year, the program included 5 workshops and a group learning module. The SE Team leads also assisted in the development of their respective Departmental Service Excellence Plans. The ratings for each of the workshops were very high. A lessons-learned exercise towards the end of the first year identified the success of the network and their collective experience. |
New Stream of SE Team Leads The same lessons-learned exercise conducted at the end of the first year also identified that an additional stream of SE Leads would be required to support the culture change in the organization. The successful elements of year 1 (now known as stream 1) were introduced to stream II in 2011. Both groups will continue to support each other and lead change at a local level. |
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Departmental Planning Process and Work Management System The Project Management Office refined the departmental planning process by developing a new status report template containing all major legislative and Corporate deliverables for the year. The template contains key initiatives taking place within each branch, the current status, risks and accomplishments to date. This status report is reviewed by the Director and DMT at a bi-weekly strategic meeting that promotes an open dialogue and information sharing. This new system has streamlined Corporate and legislative work within the Department. |
Streamlining the System The PMO will apply lessons learned from the current process by requesting feedback from the DMT and continue to streamline the process. |
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Mobile Work Environment for OD Consultants This year, ODP implemented a mobile work environment for the OD consultants. The department equipped this group of employees with mobile technology which has improved work planning, scheduling and overall productivity with their respective client departments. |
Mobile Workforce Solutions for ODP The ODP Service Excellence Team is currently reviewing other eligible candidates within the department to become part of the mobile technology solution which will lead to increased productivity and further efficiencies. |
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Service Ottawa- Knowledge Base A single source of truth is being developed which will house a broad range of knowledge elements related to information and service requests. Thousands of pages of information, policies and procedures, from multiple sources, have been reviewed, consolidated, and transformed into an accurate and up-to-date repository which will support consistent citizen-facing service delivery across the corporation. |
Service Ottawa- Knowledge Base Work will continue to make this information accessible through a simple Question and Answer format and eventually made available electronically on Ottawa.ca to facilitate citizen self-service |
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Agent Contribution Report Process As part of Quality Assurance Improvements, ODP developed
the Agent Contribution Report (ACR) to clarify expectations related to
providing service to the public and measure agent performance against those
expectations. This has resulted in improved Communication between Agents and
Supervisors and has contributed to an overall increase in agent performance. |
Agent Contribution Report Process We will continue to review the ACR as part of our overall Quality Assurance Program. |
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Frontline Service Transformation Along with implementing new technology, 311 and Client Service Centre staff have reviewed over 800 existing call handling and in-person transaction procedures and to ensure efficiencies were incorporated into the implementation process. Extensive training material has been developed and agents trained on new processes in anticipation of the first release of the new technology. |
Frontline Service Transformation All call handling and in-person procedural and educational information is being reviewed as part of the Service Ottawa implementation. |
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New Vital Stats System This system was developed to replace aging technology,
which was no longer supported. Further enhancements were Incorporated to
automate the issuance of marriage licenses which were previously completed
manually on an otherwise obsolete typewriter. ODP also implemented inventory
and document control security features. |
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Operational Reviews and Stakeholder Engagement Meetings took place over the course of the year with
several departments and branches to discuss service delivery strategies and
options, validate procedures and arrange "guest speaker" training
engagements with a number of Members of Council. Furthermore, ODP piloted the
sharing of the CS Forum information database with several branches and
Elected Representatives to document benefits and improvements to be
incorporated into the development of the new knowledge base. |
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Maximized use of Resources Using existing FTEs, the Client Services Branch modified the staffing plan to incorporate casual employees, in addition to Full Time and Part Time staff. This has provided a greater ability to handle unplanned absences and afforded training opportunities to front-line staff who must otherwise remain at their post to ensure service is maintained. |
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Ottawa Public Health
Mandate
In partnership with the people and communities of Ottawa, Ottawa Public Health improves and advocates for health and well-being through prevention, promotion and protection.
Story
of Service Excellence
In step with all departments of the City of Ottawa, OPH managers and supervisors engaged their employees’ in laying the foundation of their Service Excellence plan. Staff generated ideas for strengthening the three drivers of service excellence: operational performance, employee engagement and client satisfaction. The main themes arising out of more than 500 valuable suggestions from all branches of OPH led to the development of a framework of key business initiatives. OPH’s extended management team further refined the key business initiatives that now form the core of the department’s service excellence plan.
One year later, OPH is managing Service Excellence projects with an active Service Excellence team that has already delivered on several of its Service Excellence commitments.
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Improvements
to Client Service
Improving access to programs and services, particularly for vulnerable populations, has been a focus of Ottawa Public Health’s Service Excellence client activities. OPH has enabled outreach and information through its use of social media and improvement of the OPH website. In addition, OPH has focused on enhancing point-of-contact services, from integration of phone lines to better serve clients to greater promotion of bilingual services.
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Accomplishments to date |
Also planned for 2011-2013 |
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Social Media
On the heels of a successful launch of Twitter during the H1N1 vaccination campaign, Ottawa Public Health implemented Twitter for health announcements, in the process attracting 5,000 followers and becoming the most active public health unit on Twitter in the country
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Social Media
Continue Twitter feeds and public blog complementing OPH public events and health messaging
Populate a photobank on Flicker to enable sharing of current OPH photos and support all communication and promotion activities
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Get Tested, Why Not?
Launched Get Tested, Why Not? – an interactive web site for youth on sexually transmitted infections, with an initial screening tool and a downloadable requisition form for testing of Chlamydia and gonorrhoea, thus educating the public and reducing the burden on primary care providers
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Get Tested, Why Not?
Implement Phase II of program, i.e., launching a communication strategy to increase youth and student participation in testing for sexually transmitted infections
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Point-of-Contact Experience
Streamlined telephone service for clients by co-locating the AIDS Information Line and the Duty Desk (which answers calls about bed bugs, hogweed, dog bites, etc.) with the Ottawa Public Health Information Line
Developed a “point-of-contact” policy outlining service standards for phone, e-mail and calendars and building in an “active offer” policy to promote the availability of our English and French services
Oriented staff to the City of Ottawa’s bilingualism policy and earned a nomination for the City Manager’s Award for Excellence in the category Making People a Priority for providing a wide array of bilingual programs and services to Ottawa’s francophone residents, as well as consulting with key stakeholders and examining the needs of racial and ethnocultural minorities
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Point-of-Contact Experience
Continue integrating intake lines
Promote “point-of-contact” and “active offer” policy to all OPH staff to further enhance client experience |
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Web Renewal
Developed web personas matched to typical web clients to increase access to web information and enhance ease of search and navigation
Did a page-by-page review of web content to keep only essential, up-to-date information
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Web Renewal
Revise and reorganize all OPH content on ottawa.ca to increase client access to OPH services and health information (in tandem with corporate web restructuring)
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Online Prenatal Courses
Did a client survey to explore interest
Researched best practices for reaching out to expecting parents who are too busy or otherwise unable to attend live courses |
Online Prenatal Courses
Pilot-test online registration and evaluation tool (2011 Q3-Q4)
Fully launch program (2012 Q1) and enhance services for vulnerable populations
Explore feasibility of expanding web-based networking among participants of online prenatal courses (2013)
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Increase staff capacity to be in the community by implementing a mobile office
Did a feasibility study of using mobile office to enhance service delivery within OPH programs
Piloted mobile office with Food Safety public health inspectors |
Increase staff capacity to be in the community by implementing a mobile office
Implement technology requirements (e.g., encryption for portable devices)
Manage change through appropriate policies and communication
Increase support for field workers (e.g., e-records, Internet access) and telecommuters (e.g., VPN)
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The following activities are in progress to improve the delivery of services in both official languages.
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In Progress / Ongoing |
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§ Improve consistent bilingual communications to staff § Orient all new staff to corporate Bilingualism Policy and processes § Ensure key business processes are available in both French and English § Leverage the internal expertise and knowledge of our Comité des services de santé en français in program planning and development § Align communication strategies with Corporate French guidelines and focus on identifying communication improvement opportunities, such as plain language, appropriate literacy level, cultural adaptation and parallel development of resources, for our Francophone population, including multicultural Francophone populations § Actively offer services available in French, through bilingual signage, personal interactions & other means § Continue to actively recruit qualified bilingual staff with cultural understanding of Francophone populations |
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Improvements
to Internal Working Practices
OPH’s framework of key business initiatives had a number of initiatives to address Operational Performance and Employee Engagement. Specifically internal and external communications and the use of technology to communicate was a prominent focus. In addition, OPH continued to build on their business foundations like improving upon OPH’s evaluation of their impact through their performance measurement framework, and the streamlining of business processes.
Employee Engagement Activities – Creating a Supportive Work Environment
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Accomplishments to date |
Also planned for 2011-2013 |
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Staff development
Conducted staff development survey and developed two-year development strategy
Launched quarterly Grand Rounds sessions, each time attracting more than 100 employees who are keen to learn what their co-workers in other areas are engaged in. Topics covered included bed bugs, hoarding, bullying, sexually transmitted infections and the new Ottawa Board of Health.
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Staff development
Implement Staff Development strategy
Continue organizing quarterly Grand Rounds
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Recognition
Facilitated peer-to-peer recognition during Employee Recognition Month in 2010 and 2011, when staff enthusiastically filled thank you cards in praise of their colleagues’ work
Created employee engagement committee to advise management on creating a supportive work environment
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Recognition
Maximize individual contribution agreement process – partner with HR Services to implement ICA generic templates for Public Health Nurse and Public Health Inspector
Offer training for extended management team on effective feedback and recognition
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Internal communication
Held “Innovation Cafés” in summer 2010 to engage about 200 employees in generating ideas about “wicked public health issues” such as mental health, healthy weights and our aging population. Staff told us that they felt valued and heard, found the cafés informative, brainstormed solutions and innovations, and enjoyed connecting with staff across branches.
Did a literature review of best practices in internal communication
Developed a framework for improving communications top-down, bottom-up and across the organization
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Internal communication
Host a second Innovation Café in summer 2011 to engage OPH employees in generating ideas about initiatives to help achieve OPH’s strategic priorities and objectives – to inform operational and strategic planning
Promote tools and resources that enhance communication top down, bottom up and across the department – by strengthening face-to-face and electronic forms of communication
Strengthen knowledge management infrastructure (Ozone)
Pilot online collaborative technology (e.g., SharePoint)
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Improving Operational Performance – Improving Business Processes and Maximizing Service Delivery
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Accomplishments to date |
Also planned for 2011-2013 |
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Performance measurement
Released first Balanced Scorecard to communicate departmental results and inform decision making
Launched quarterly performance dashboard that covers all OPH programs and integrates financial, human resource and operational performance information
Developed program activity architecture – a structured way to describe OPH programs and services and account for expenditures and operational results – to align board of health outcomes with Ontario Public Health Standards
Established a client satisfaction working group within OPH
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Performance measurement
Release next OPH Balanced Scorecard
Refine quarterly performance dashboard
Align performance measures with OPH’s strategic priorities
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Access to local population health information
Enhanced access to local population health information, putting forward a comprehensive overview of health status in Ottawa and developing a strategy for a series of reports on locally relevant health topics
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Access to local population health information
Publish a series of topic-specific reports covering all programs areas in the Ontario Public Health Standards (2011: injuries, enteric disease, street youth health, tuberculosis, sexually transmitted infections)
Create Health Status Wiki on Ozone to increase staff access to and use of data
Implement a health statistics query system – for internal and external audiences
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Efficiency technologies
Conducted a hardware/software review, including acquisition of survey system
City acquired WinMagic security software to be implemented on laptops, mobile devices and security sticks |
Efficiency technologies
Pilot online collaborative technology such as SharePoint
Develop GIS/MAP solutions as IT Service capacity permits
CRM, data tracking, project management, scheduling
Launch new ministry-sponsored Panorama Immunization Management and Report system in partnership with IT Services (2012)
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Business process improvements
Ensured alignment of OPH organizational framework with service excellence
Contributed to corporate Strategic Outlook
Engaged staff in planning · Engaged extended management team to review the departmental results on employee engagement and client satisfaction · Extended management team engaged staff to identify ways to improve service excellence · Developed key business initiatives (KBIs) to address priorities, identified leads for each KBI and recruited staff for working groups · Set objectives, scoped and developed project charters for 15 KBIs
Held strategic planning sessions with new Board of Health to address community health needs, with input from more than 60 partner consultations and two all-staff exercises (the 2010 service excellence consultation and 2010 Innovation Café) |
Business process improvements
Complete mapping exercise of different business processes, including staff involvement in planning, evaluation, etc.
Enhance awareness of existing procedures and processes
Identify gaps, e.g., approval processes
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Increase profile of OPH services
See Social Media and Web Renewal |
Increase profile of OPH services
Enhance capacity to communicate effectively (e.g., greater use of audiovisual, enhanced graphics capacity, staff rotation to maximize exposure to cutting-edge communication practices)
Proactively equip ward councillors with resources to increase OPH profile at ward events
Leverage ads profiling OPH by placing them next to monthly health articles issued by OPH to community newspapers
Convert existing print resources to electronic resources, where possible, to increase access and create efficiencies (e.g., Physicians’ Update)
Implement an incentive program to increase OPH visibility and branding
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Ottawa Public Library
Mandate
Building a strong Ottawa community by supporting literacy and life-long learning, fostering inspiration and enjoying, and connection people to each other and the world.
Story
of Service Excellence
The Ottawa Public Library delivers services supporting life-long learning, literacy, and reading for the 21st century through 33 locations, mobile, and digital services. As the largest bilingual (French-English) public library in North America, the OPL is committed to providing welcoming and responsive customer-centric service. The Ottawa Public Library is an agency of the City of Ottawa with a separate governing board.
The Ottawa Public Library’s Strategic Directions and Priorities lists several priorities directly related to the three pillars of Service Excellence:
Employee Engagement
· Be an accountable and innovative organization: develop our people
Operational Performance
· Create partnerships for accessible and efficient service
Customer Satisfaction
· Develop our places and spaces: care for what we have and build community
· Provide responsive services: be virtual and stay open for citizens
· Build a new central library
The Ottawa Public Library has many accomplishments to-date; our success in Service Excellence is based on our continued ability to provide customer-centric services while engaging employees and allocating resources for operational improvements during a time of fiscal restraint.
Improvements
to Customer Service
The main focus of the Service Excellence customer-facing initiatives has been to improve customer service and maintain and/or enhance service delivery through technology improvements and digital services.
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Accomplishments to date |
Also Planned for 2011-2013 |
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Drawing from employee input, the OPL Staff Development and Service Excellence team launched a specialized training program on Customer Service Excellence. In these sessions, employees were shown pro-active, customer-oriented strategies and proven techniques to further develop customer service strengths and increase customer satisfaction. Participants were equipped with tools and tips to confidently approach and assist customers in many situations. The Customer Service Excellence training program was based on the OPL’s Service Excellence vision and standards.
With funding received by the Southern Ontario Library Service (SOLS) grant process, we were able to produce professional training materials and handouts to improve the learning experience for employees. More than 40 training sessions were held, with 605 employees trained. Following the training, employees take part in 4 monthly exercises to help them hone their skills, and ensure the transfer of knowledge from the classroom to the work environment.
Unsolicited feedback from customers following the completion of the training program demonstrates that the training has improved the level of customer service across our organization. As one customer put it: “…the service at all the library branches have [sic] been above and beyond all normal service!” |
Measure customer satisfaction from the Customer Service Excellence perspective using the MAPHAT philosophy (Meet, Ask, Probe, Hear, Assist, Thank), including ensuring the information is valid and relevant to our employees (linking the results back to the training program). Hosting a follow-up session to the Customer Service Excellence training program for all individuals in a supervisory/managerial capacity. Monthly communication to employees with tips/tricks/reminders on the importance of Customer Service in all our internal and external transactions.
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Launched a Mobile website affording customers-on-the-go with access to our system at their convenience from any mobile device (Blackberry, Windows, Apple, and Android). Included in this launch were apps for iPhone and Android users, developed in partnership with other library systems in Canada. |
Continue to support and expand the Ottawa Public Library website through the development of a teen website strategy.
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Implemented a Single Sign-On system to allow customers one method of signing into the Ottawa Public Library system to access the wide variety of online resources. This has reduced customer frustration by eliminating the need to set-up and maintain different usernames and passwords to our various electronic tools. |
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Thanks to a generous investment of $5.425 million from the Infrastructure Stimulus Funding (ISF), the OPL was able to put into reality many renovations to our places and spaces. ISF funding saw facility improvements to the following branches: Alta Vista, Vanier, Sunnyside, Vernon, Cumberland, and Nepean Centrepointe branches as well as the building of a new library in Greely. |
Complete the final ISF funded renovation and hold the official ceremonies for Ruth E. Dickinson branch in Barrhaven. Implement the 2011 major capital and lifecycle projects including plans for: West District Library, Hazeldean improvements, and completion of the Vernon branch interior upgrades. |
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In keeping with our commitment to provide responsive services, we developed and implemented detailed service strategies for teen services, small business, entrepreneurs, and job seekers, including approving a position statement on Services to Seniors. |
Develop a plan aligned with the position statement to improve service delivery to Seniors in our city. Develop a service strategy for newcomers to Ottawa. Develop a plan for the delivery of information services in the 21st century. |
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Improved customer service delivery by offering an array of self-serve options including increasing the number of branches with self check-out machines, and launching e-mail pre-notification and online program registration. |
Implement RFID technology. The OPL seeks to maximize use of existing employees and to improve customer service by finding new efficiencies through the use of technology. RFID technology is designed to automate labour-intensive processes. RFID will facilitate OPL’s ability to accommodate growth and drive Board priorities in other key areas, all without the need for additional employees. Tangible benefits come from numerous employee and customer efficiencies gained through reduced processing times for checking out, checking in, and moving materials through the system, in addition to vastly improved management and security of library materials. Intangible benefits include increased customer and employee satisfaction. |
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Used online technology and social media to engage the public more directly, including public blogs to provide two way communication, use of Facebook and Twitter. |
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Improved customer access to support for e-reader devices and access to the library’s e-collection by providing direct connection to our e-book vendor. |
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Deployed 14 adaptive workstations throughout our branches to improve access to our services by persons with disabilities.
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Add 8 more adaptive workstations in 2011 to improve the ability of all library customers to use our computing resources. When this is complete, each of our branches will be equipped with an adaptive workstation for the community. |
Improvements
to Internal Working Practices
The OPL implemented a number of initiatives to address Operational Performance and Employee Engagement.
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Accomplishments to date |
Also Planned for 2011-2013 |
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Finalized the OPL’s management organizational design through the Strategic Organizational Review (SOR) – Wave 1. This included a dedicated lead for innovation and continuous improvement. |
Continue with Wave 2 of the SOR, designed to review the system-wide / shared services within the Ottawa Public Library, as well as team and committee structures. Continue with management review of all vacant positions prior to posting. |
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Created a Staff Development and Service Excellence team to focus on employee engagement and service excellence initiatives. This dedicated team is responsible for the implementation of the OPL’s Talent Plan, including restructured the employee training program, and developed training profiles for each position. |
Undertake a review of all training programs to ensure proper design and delivery format, including exploration of online learning modules in order to reduce compensation costs associated with training and development. |
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Rolled out Employee Engagement Survey results and solicited ideas and solutions from employees using the Idea Generation Initiative. Employees identified 35 initiatives for the organization to address including conference participation, and selection process. We developed and issued a Conference Participation framework, which garnered much praise from employees. |
Continue implementation of actions developed from the Idea Generation Initiative, including the release of an Interview and Selection Process guidebook, and a pilot project on job rotations. Conduct the next round of Employee Engagement Survey to compare against the existing benchmark. |
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Focus on the Performance Development Program – Individual Contribution Agreements by offering training to all employees in supervisory/management positions. This has ensured consistency across the organization in feedback, and provided employees with the opportunity to discuss personal growth and development opportunities. Included in this was the creation of a consistent ICA template with performance measures for the Circulation Supervisor position. |
Continue with development of consistent ICA template with performance measures for the following positions: Coordinator, Supervising Librarian, Librarian, Public Services Supervisor, Circulation Assistant, Page
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Launched Agora, an online employee blog, to provide employees with information (and access to information) in a searchable, easily accessible format. Employees participated in the launch of the site by recommending names for the online resource, and ultimately voting on the final name. Employees post content daily, both formally and informally. |
Development of the OPL Internal Communications Strategy. The Focus in 2011-2012 is on increased communications and improving the relationship between management and employees. |
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With the move to the new OPL Materials Centre on 100 Tallwood (shared facility with the City of Ottawa Archives), we implemented a new Automated Materials Handling system, designed to reduce the “touch points” associated with moving materials (books, DVDs, etc.) through the Ottawa Public Library system. The system automatically sorts materials to their next destination, improving the speed at which materials move through the system, and ultimately into the hands of our customers. In addition, we developed a Holds Label Solution business case and launched a pilot project to reduce the amount of time required to make requested items available to customers. This solution has improved efficiencies by 91%, significantly reducing the amount of clerical time to pull and process customer hold requests, essentially getting materials to customers faster than before, while at the same time reducing employee risk of injury. |
Improve service delivery to customers by reviewing the delivery routes between branches to accommodate new roadways. We plan to leverage technology, including RFID, to continue improving delivery times and availability of items to our customers. |
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Initiated the review of all corporate policies and procedures, including the launch of a new policy and procedure framework. The framework includes a new template, classification system, and outlines the three-year cycle of review. To date, more than 22 policies and procedures have been reviewed under the new format, including board position statements. The internal-facing administrative policies have been posted on Ozone and communicated to employees. |
Communicate public-facing policies (revised or otherwise) to the public via in-branch promotion and website postings. Continue with the three-year cycle of review. |
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Upgraded the OPL Integrated Library System (ILS), known as Symphony. In 2010, the OPL implemented a new ILS to manage the library materials and customer transactions. The ILS is the hub of the OPLs operation. In order to ensure both employee and customer satisfaction, upgrades were made from the initially implemented product to add new features and functionality. |
The OPLs Digital Services department continually evaluates the modules and components of the ILS to ensure we gain the most value from this system. With outward-facing web site changes planned for the end of 2011, communication with the ILS to ensure consistent performance is vital. |
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Initiated process to develop the 2012 – 2015 Board Strategic Plan. To-date, strategic planning sessions have been held with board members, aligning the OPL’s priorities with the City’s Corporate Planning Framework and Term of Council priorities. |
Continue the process with the development of a stakeholder engagement strategy (employees, public, Managers, customers, etc.), and finalizing the plan, taking into account financial realities. Refresh the OPL’s Service Delivery framework. This framework is key to how we delivery customer service, looking at both operational needs and customer / community needs, and employee engagement. |
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Implemented RedMine Ticketing software to track requests and issues with OPL technology. This internal management program has improved our ability to maintain high customer satisfaction by tracking and reporting back on customer-related technology issues. To-date, more than 440 issues have been logged, with nearly 330 cases closed. |
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Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services
Mandate
Ensuring that communities, residents and visitors have the places, programs, events and services that allow them to experience all the benefits that Parks, Recreation and Culture has to offer.
Story
of Service Excellence
Parks, Recreation and Culture Services (PRCS) quickly embraced the Service Excellence initiative, engaging their full management team to identify SE Leads from their teams to lead the efforts and establish an approach to build their plan. PRCS engaged their full department in the release of the employee engagement results early in 2010, and then ran 4 employee sessions with over 400 staff members attending, using this as an opportunity to solicit detailed feedback from staff to identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats for each of the engagement themes.
The output of this work was then analyzed to establish a starting point for the SE Lead team to build the draft plan. Key Business Initiative Project Leads and staff “action teams” were established to plan and implement the service improvement projects indentified in the Services Excellence plans.
Improvements
to Client Service
The focus was primarily on engagement initiatives to improve service delivery, fostering a strong partnership with Parks Buildings and Grounds Operations and Maintenace Branch (Public Works) to establish a model that supported “One service provider” to clients at all jointly run facilities, and customer service improvement initiatives such as client service training and enhancement of inclusion awareness to improve client satisfaction.
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Accomplishments to date |
Also Planned for 2011-2013 |
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Infrastructure Improvements · 5 new spray pads in neighborhooods across the City bringing enjoyment and refreshment to kids in the summer · Various facility expansions (Splash Wave Pool, Carlsbad Springs Community, Hintonburg Community Centre, and Bob McQuarrie Recreation Complex) · Centrepointe Theatre underwent a significant expansion which will greatly enhance cultural opportunities for residents · Expansions to community centres (Rideauview, Overbrook, Greenboro) that will add enjoyment to growing communities and lead to increased programming opportunities · Development of additional outdoor rinks in new City parks
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Infrastructure Improvements · Construction of Chapman Mills Community Building to provide space for community programming and facility use. · Open second ice surface at Goulbourn Recreation Complex to meet growing demand. · Construct two new recreation complexes in City’s west and southwest communities: o Kanata North Recreation Complex (2013) offering an indoor pool, double gymnasium, community programming space and outdoor sportsfields. o Barrhaven South Complex (2014) offering twin pad arenas, indoor pool, gymnasium, community programming space and park space. · Working to relocate two displaced skateboard parks to ensure the youth in the City continue to have access to these facilities |
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Increased program offerings in neighbourhoods in need · Increased programming to children, youth and special needs populations in Overbrook, Hintonburg and Michele Heights communities to address growth needs. Examples include summer camps, after school programs, visual arts programs and youth recreation opportunities. |
Increased program offerings in neighbourhoods in need · Invest in improving access to universal programs such as public swimming and public skating for priority populations. |
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Freezing Recreation User Fees · The freezing of recreation user fees in 2011 has enabled Ottawa families to continue to enjoy participating in their favourite activities at an affordable rate. · Piloted a Last Minute Club for March Break 2011 offering unused program spaces to low income families. |
Freezing Recreation User Fees · Freezing recreation fees for children and youth will allow families an affordable way to encourage participation in recreation activities. |
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Ottawa Hand in Hand Fee Support Program · The enhanced promotion of the Ottawa Hand in Hand Fee Support Program in 12 different languages has enabled more individuals are able to participate in recreation and culture programs. |
Ottawa Hand in Hand Fee Support Program · Increase individual contribution of Ottawa Hand in Hand from $165 to $180 annually to allow individuals to participate in low cost programming. |
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Online Promotion of Ottawa Recreational and Cultural Activities · PRCS has eliminated the distribution of its seasonal, city-wide recreation guide, and invested in online promotion of Ottawa recreational and cultural activities. The web is now the global standard for communication; harnessing its power is not only good for the environment, but ensures that residents and visitors have the most up-to-date information on City activities. |
Engage staff, public and other stakeholders in the development of the guide.
· Conduct client satisfaction surveys on a regular basis to identify issues and opportunities to continue to improve how we market our programs. · Develop centralized marketing initiatives to increase awareness. Examples include improved web space, online brochures, advertising campaign in local and community newspapers, OC Transpo buses and on digital billboards, develop DiscoverRec e-newsletter, distribute postcards (10,000-20,000) to public libraries, Client Service Centres, Community Health Centres, Front Counters in Childcare Centres, promote in social media venues and develop a visual ad for Cineplex on 67 screens at 7 locations. |
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Optimizing Use of Recreation Facilities
· This initiative will enable citizens to log on to ottawa.ca to search for rental availability at City-owned facilities on a real-time basis. |
Enhance registration, booking, event permits and funding application processes to address client feedback. · Introduce the ability to search availability, book and pay for last minute ice online, 24 hours per day. · Increase promotion of select rental facilities through virtual tours and photos online. · Improve online access to search and view facilities, check availability and request use of space online 24 hours per day. |
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I Love to Skate Program · The “I Love to Skate Program” is a partnership between the City of Ottawa, Canadian Tire Jumpstart Charities, Capital Sports and Entertainment Inc. and the Sens Foundation which provides new skates, helmets and skating lessons for children and youth who otherwise might not have an opportunity to learn to skate. |
I Love to Skate Program · The I Love to Swim program is a partnership between the City of Ottawa, Canadian Tire Jumpstart Charities. It will run three times per year. This program will allow children to participate who otherwise might not have an opportunity to learn to swim. · 1000 + children will be introduced to and start learning how to swim from 2011 to 2013. |
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Pre-Work? What was accomplished this year? |
Prepare an inventory of accessibility assets · Develop an Inclusion Guide: How PRCS helps the client participate. · Establish inclusion principles and guidelines via consultation with internal stakeholders (accessibility assets, amenities and levels of accommodation) . · Incorporate equity and inclusion, FLS activities, multiculturalism lenses. |
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Pre-Work? What was accomplished this year?
· Research and establish ‘best practices’ on how we currently engage our clients and foster client relationship. · Create Online Toolkit for community partners and establish a monitoring system and manual . · Linked to Social Recreation Strategy: Hosted a series of 25 focus groups involving 60 stakeholders (school boards, resource centres, etc.) and engaging over 500 individuals and hosted one large external consultation for input towards a social recreation strategy. |
Public Engagement · Expand opportunities and mechanisms for public engagement using various planning tools including the Community Development Framework, Arts & Heritage Plan, and Parks and Recreation Master Plan to inform decisions on service delivery and facility development. · Launch Online Tool Kit for community partners and volunteers enabling partners to access resources and documentation in a centralized location. · Host community engagement events that will provide residents with an opportunity to meet City staff and community partners, to learn about their programs as well as participate in free demos and workshops.
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The following activities are in progress to improve the delivery of services in both official languages.
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In Progress / Ongoing |
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§ Solicit feedback from employees to identify professional development needs and desires in both official languages § Evaluate the need and conduct regular point of service surveys; gather data for both linguistic groups § Measure and benchmark venue usage: i.e. facility bookings, program registrations, admissions and memberships with separate analysis and consideration of French programming and facility use by groups delivering francophone services § Establish inclusion principles and guidelines: incorporation of the equity and inclusion, FLS activities, multiculturalism as a lens; development of an Inclusion Guide: How PRCS helps the client participate. § Continue to engage the Francophone community and service agencies to ensures service needs meet or exceed the expectations of that audience |
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Improvements
to Internal Working Practices
PR&CS had a number of initiatives to address our Operational Performance and Employee Engagement. The plan’s key business initiatives were further refined through more engagement of all staff using the online idea-generation tool, focusing on 3 key engagement areas; relationship building with your supervisor, career growth and development for full time staff, and career growth and development for part time staff.
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Accomplishments to date |
Also Planned for 2011-2013 |
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Employee Engagement · Presented Employee Engagement Survey results at 4 staff forums (400+ staff) engaging 75+ staff to participate in Service Excellence initiatives · United Way Staff event: Presented Corporate Employee Recognition Program to all staff, recognized individual PRCS Branch accomplishments and invited Lynn Davies as guest speaker on Engagement. · Hosted joint PB&G/PRCS staff investment initiative including development opportunity with guest speaker Tom Asacker · Leveraged Ascentum Idea Forum to engage staff in generating input on Employee Engagement opportunities. · Hosted the second annual joint PRCS and PB&G OM Summer Sizzler event on June 17th. · Completed Service Excellence Roadshows engaging and informing staff of service excellence initiatives for PRCS. · Initiated communication plan and monitoring process for completion of ICA’s for all summer staff. · Launched PTZoneTP as an accessible tool for recruiting part time staff. · Launched online tool to provide required training for new and returning part time staff. |
Employee Engagement: Relationship Building and Recognition · Finalize the gap analysis in the areas of: Celebrating / recognizing successes, providing staff with opportunities for input, increasing access to management, addressing workload and responsibilities, and develop and implement a variety of feedback mechanisms. · Implement communication, engagement and accountability strategies required for success. Part-Time Staff recruitment and retention · Investigate access to network for part time staff to enhance engagement and communication. · Growth and Development (Succession Planning, Career Planning) · Plan and host 2011 PRCS fall conference on October 25th and 26th as growth and development opportunity and engaged PRCS to participate and contribute in the creation and development of the conference content and activities. |
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Business Line Efficiencies and Improvements · Analysed all Service Excellence initiatives with a balanced scorecard logic map to ensure that the following are considered in all initiatives: · employee learning and development · customer perspective · operational processes · financial results are aligned with desired outcome. · Mapped Service Excellence projects using the Disney model · Launched the new self-serve PIN and Barcode lookup tool for clients to retrieve information that allows online registration in recreation programs 24/7.
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Business Line Efficiencies and Improvements · Measure and benchmark venue usage: ie. Facility bookings, program registrations, admissions and memberships with separate analysis and consideration of French programming and facility use by groups delivering francophone services. · Investigate process improvements to simplify processes, increase convenience and enhance timeliness. · Establish Moodle Online to streamline operation processes and results. · Offer Last Minute Club Pilot #2 for Summer Camps · Design and launch an Online Calendar to capture events, share information, improve timeliness and reduce duplication. |
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Advancing Service Excellence Initiatives
· Hosted PRCS Management Focus Session on defining Departmental SE Goals · Formed Service Excellence Departmental Team and Steering Committee to create and implement SE plan; continuing to meet regularly to drive for results. · Developed and delivered 4 of 5 Leadership Development workshops for Service Excellence KBI Teams to establish milestones and deliverables for the next 3 years, reviewed and approved by Steering Committee. · Developed framework for Service Excellence implementation of 3 year plan, communicated Service Excellence 3 year plan and implementation framework to all PRCS Branches. · Aligned branch projects with Service Excellence model using FIT template. · Business Integration Master Planning retreat to align with Service Excellence lens and initiatives as well as other strategic initiatives such as Community Development Framework, Community Sustainability, Poverty Reduction Strategy, etc. |
Advancing Service Excellence Initiatives Improving and evaluating client satisfaction · Develop departmental training plan to address learning gaps and focus on consistent customer service delivery. · Evaluate the need and conduct regular point of service surveys - gather data for both official linguistic groups. · Document, track, and share "Wow Moments". · Design and deliver standardized Customer Service Training · Establish and implement best practices/ service standards. · Communication of feedback process (yellow cards)
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Other Accomplishments · Governance Model Enhancement: Improve Communication efficiencies through all levels of the Department. · Gap Analysis (Employee Survey, Ascentum and with staff Action Teams) · Linkages with other KBI’s (Communication Plan: Employee Recognition, Training, On-boarding, etc.)
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Communication · Establish employee teams to identify communications needs for the Department. · Develop communication strategy and work plan to include internal, external and cross-departmental audiences and, where appropriate, adapt to both official languages. · Develop a branding/ marketing strategy - adapted to both official linguistic groups.
External Communication: · Recreation Guide Review · Social Networking · Enhancement of Ottawa.ca (Web) |
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Relationship Development with PB&G · Significant relationship development activities and initiatives between PRCS and PB&G OM. · Improved communication by hosting forums with over 400 staff members participating. · Engaged Public Works, PB&GOM management to regularly attend PRCS DMT’s. · Hosted staff two forums with PB&G/PRCS supervisors to identify best practices and developing cross-departmental relationship. · Conducted staff survey to reveal best practices to ensure better communication between PB&GOM and PRCS. · Created joint PB&G/PRCS Budget and Financial Management Team to ensure consistent budget planning and increase communications on budget impacts resulting from operational changes. · Communication and utilization of corporate recognition program
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Relationship Development with PB&G · Establish joint employee team to identify service standards, gaps, inconsistencies and best practices. · Develop joint budgeting strategy to ensure consistent service delivery and reduce duplication. · Develop consistent communication plan. · Create service standard manual to assist staff in maintaining consistent service standards at similar facilities across the Department. · Engage supervisory staff in defining/setting priorities with respect to increasing client satisfaction and generating public perception of one service provider.
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Planning and Growth Management
Mandate
Planning and Growth Management sets the direction for the evolution of the city by inspiring, managing and implementing its growth ensuring our quality of life today and in the future.
Story
of Service Excellence
The Planning and Growth Management Department is responsible for policy development related to land use, transportation, the environment, piped services and other infrastructure, financial tools to support growth, and community and urban design. This includes broad initiatives such as the Official Plan, Master Plans (Transportation, Infrastructure and Greenspace), the Development Charges By-law and the Zoning By-law.
In addition the Department oversees the development review process and the administration of the Building Code. It provides planning and environmental assessments for all modes of transportation and infrastructure (water, wastewater, stormwater and groundwater). The Department is the City’s centre of expertise for environmental policy, population, employment, land use, development and travel demand data, and for forecasting (population, employment, housing and transportation demand).
This Department identified key management staff, who engaged their peers, in developing and approving their service delivery improvements for their Service Excellence (SE) Plan. They took existing service improvement initiatives and further built on them to confirm the contents of their plan.
The approach engaged first the extended management team and then staff, through manager staff meetings, to provide detailed feedback and solutions to address and focus engagement/SE initiatives. Staff were asked for input on the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to establish the actions needed to further their service improvement plans.
Improvements
to Client Service
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Accomplishments to date |
Also Planned for 2011-2013 |
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One Stop Shop Services • Completed accommodations plan and 18 month Review for One Stop Service. • One Stop Shop was a fundamental shift in how the Department was structured, geared to provide faster, uninterrupted reviews of development applications for our clients. • By co-locating multi-disciplinary teams of planners, infrastructure and transportation specialists, urban planners, environmental planners and parks planners, a planning application is processed from start to finish, improving the experience of the client. • The 18-month review has provided further insight into how staff work together and has identified how we can further improve our processes for handling development applications. |
One Stop Shop Service • Implement changes recommended by 18-month review of One Stop Service to improve client service |
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E-Services • Developed on-line fillable planning application forms with fee calculator in response to client requests for clarity in forms and fees. • Consolidated a listing of all terms of reference and requirements for plans and studies in one location on Ottawa.ca for the use of the development industry and community groups. The on-line directory contains a broad collection of the standards, policies and guidelines used to prepare and review the studies and plans submitted in support of development applications. • New, online Financial Securities and Inspection Process (Quantity Estimate calculation tool) in use by our clients to calculate their infrastructure costs, and amount of securities to be provided to the City. |
E-Services • Conduct review of Planning and Growth Management presence on Ottawa.ca • Lead and implement web and e-portal technical capabilities to enable Planning and Growth Management, and the Committee of Adjustment to offer comprehensive: • eServices for public and industry to access standard information on policy, processes, and programs • eServices for public and industry to create/submit documents; accessing applications, inquiry status or history • Enhanced e-service – in both official languages
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Community and Industry Outreach Throughout 2011, staff will consult residents on five different land use projects in the rural area. The projects involve a review of the rural policies of the City’s Official Plan that relate to: Ø Future village development – land use, servicing and infrastructure, environmental protection, greenspace, and community design Ø Clustering of country estate lots – evaluating what kind of development is appropriate and how much Ø Land Evaluation and Area Review (LEAR) – a process to review and confirm prime agricultural land designations Ø Mineral resource study - a review of the best management practices of the aggregate industry Ø Drive-through facilities in village core areas – whether or not to permit drive-through facilities in a village core or along a village main street
In March and April 2011, staff conducted 14 public consultations in rural villages attended by more than 500 residents to discuss future village development. The feedback, once analyzed, will be presented at 10 rural village public consultation meetings. Staff anticipate a report to Agricultural and Rural Affairs Committee and Council with recommendations for changes to village policies and the Official Plan in January 2012.
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Community and Industry Outreach • Continue outreach with community and industry stakeholders through regular meetings including the Liaison Steering Committee, Engineering Liaison Sub-Committee, Planning Sub-Committee (industry and City officials) • Explore alternative methods/opportunities to engage stakeholders through new internet-based technology mediums, such as Blogs, Discussion forums etc.
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Transportation, Pedestrian and Cycling Plans • Implementation of the two-year pilot project for segregated bike lanes on Laurier Avenue. |
Transportation, Pedestrian and Cycling Plans • Implement Pedestrian and Cycling Plans • Assess transportation issues related to cycling and pedestrian linkages affected by the Downtown Ottawa Transit Tunnel • Complete a study of how cycling and pedestrian linkages in the downtown core could be modified once Light Rail Transit service is implemented
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The following activities are in progress to improve the delivery of services in both official languages.
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In Progress / Ongoing |
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§ Continue to ensure internal and external departmental communications is provided in both official languages § Involve FLS in IT projects to expand language capabilities of IT applications i.e. recording of municipal addresses, for example § Reaching out to the Francophone community to encourage participation in rural community initiatives |
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Improvements
to Internal Working Practices
Planning and Growth Management had a number of initiatives to address our Operational Performance and Employee Engagement.
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Accomplishments to date |
Also Planned for 2011-2013 |
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Employee Engagement • Communicated the employee engagement survey results • Completed first stage of staff training program in urban design in partnership with Simon Fraser University • Provided staff training on green building in partnership with the Canada Green Building Council • Revised and expanded the reach of the departmental Employee Newsletter distributed every two weeks, in both official languages. • Redesign and re-launch of PGM’s Ozone presence • All staff involved in building Service Excellence through: • the development, review and/or update of Team Charters • information/education for staff on organizational priorities • integration of teams • promotion of culture of excellence • Invited development industry representative to meet with development review staff to detail costs/time involved in developing land |
Employee Engagement • Involve employees in building solutions by establishing working groups to develop an employment engagement strategy and action plan for implementation • Develop capacity in key priority areas i.e. urban design, green buildings, compatible intensification, accessibility, cycling and pedestrian modes of transportation through identification of learning needs, gap analysis etc. • With HR partners, develop and implement retention and recruitment strategy tied to the development of a succession plan, and develop training and development plan to promote focus on continuous improvement approach • Promote culture of 'recognition' to support continuous improvement • Enable department and branch staff located in multiple locations to function more efficiently - in both Official Languages in the office environment with sufficient and reliable technical business hardware and software tools • Implement remote technology for Development Construction Inspectors, and expand access to remote technology for Building Inspectors |
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Operational Performance • Implemented a harmonized Subdivision Agreement and Standard Terms and Conditions for both publicly and privately serviced subdivisions • Eliminated Site Plan Control for street townhomes as a business improvement process • Developed a front-ending policy for parks
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Operational Performance • Ongoing leadership, guidance, and implementation of industry leading edge hardware, software, GIS, and key enterprise/business application solutions • Develop standardized 'look and feel' of Planning and Growth Management communication material • Enhance connection with Councillors through regular briefings and updates on priority projects - in both Official languages • Develop a policy for Section 37 Planning Act agreement to provide for community benefits in return for increased height or density • Implement changes recommended by Planning Fee review • Implement a revised delegation of authority process for Site Plan Control • Review zoning on two priority Mainstreets per year • Streamlining initiatives, including: • Transportation Impact Assessment Guidelines reviewed and recommendations implemented • new Site Plan Agreement and By-law • demolition control policy implemented • review cash in lieu of parking policy • timelier review protocols with Hydro Ottawa • review development processes - Registration, Legal, Engineering
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Urban Design Peer Review • Completed the urban design peer review of ‘Les Sœurs de la Visitation’ site. The Peer Review Panel comprised of an urban designer, a landscape architect and a heritage specialist, reviewed the proposal and discussed the project’s response to the context into which it is being introduced, the site plan design, building form and articulation, the pedestrian realm, a landscape strategy, heritage preservation and sustainable design. The Panel’s comments led to the improvement of the relationship between the proposed new buildings and the heritage convent; the retention of one very tall maple tree and a mature row of tall trees that will now be incorporated as a defining feature of a publicly-accessible walk fronted by one of the new buildings; the articulation of some fundamental design parameters for the publicly accessible inner courtyards the will surround the historic convent building
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Urban Design Peer Review • A Peer review is underway of an application in the Greenbank/Baseline area to provide an opinion of the planning, urban design, architectural and landscape elements of the project and to its appropriateness as it relates to the surrounding community. |
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Intensification Working Group • The Intensification Working Group is an ongoing initiative intended to remove barriers and develop policies or tools to promote residential intensification. The group is composed of five Members of Council and senior Planning and Growth Management staff and representatives from other Departments. In 2011 the Working Group has largely focussed its efforts on the development of policies that will govern the implementation of Section 37 of the Planning Act. Section 37 agreements, negotiated through the development review process, will permits projects of increased height or density above the Zoning By-law in return for community benefits. |
Intensification Working Group • Link work of IWG to broader sustainability goals
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Development • Implemented a streamlined roadway modification process integrated with the development review process
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Development Review • Review of mandatory Pre-application consultation for Development Review as a result of client recommendations • Review of the Urban Design Panel process to ensure that it is provide a positive contribution to the development review process |
Public Works
Mandate
Putting the “Public” in Public Works
Story
of Service Excellence
Putting the “Public” in Public Works captures the essence of the Public Works Department Service Excellence journey. Why? Because this is what our 2,000 employees do every day, 365 days a year. The services we provide directly impact the residents, businesses and tourists of Ottawa and staff take great pride in providing service excellence on a daily basis.
Our Journey
The Service Excellence journey started when staff from various levels of the organization were engaged in the development of Branch and Departmental Service Excellence Plans. Through the process of developing the plans, the Public Works Department mission and vision statements were selected.
Vision: Service Excellence Mission: Achieving Service Excellence
The journey was enhanced with the identification of eight Service Excellence Objectives that were selected from the branch individualized Service Excellence Plans. The objectives are used as the basis for engaging employees, improving operational performance and customer satisfaction.
The Public Works Service Excellence Objectives are:
1. Develop, Engage and Empower our People / Building our Future Leaders
2. Effectively Communicating, Marketing and Branding our Department and Managing Stakeholder Relations
3. Customer-centric Service Excellence – Being Good Partners and Partnering with Shared Services
4. Becoming as Efficient and Effective as Possible
5. Planning, Performance Management, SAP
6. E-Services to the Community
7. Environmental Sustainability
8. Accessibility / French Language / Equity and Diversity Lens
Our Departmental Service Excellence Plan also identified the urgent need to “market” our Department and to create a public image that will allow the public to easily identify the range of services that we provide and share our good news stories. Staff felt that it is important to share information with our residents regarding the great work that Public Works staff perform on a daily basis, and the services that we offer – from tree trimming, maintenance of baseball diamonds, sports fields, playgrounds, pools, traffic signals, maintenance of roads, parking meters, etc., the list is endless.
Improvements
to Client Service
Public Works implemented many initiatives to improve client service and has several initiatives planned between 2011 and 2013 to enhance the client experience even further.
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Accomplishments to date |
Also Planned for 2011-2013 |
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Public Works Service Improvement Initiative In the Spring of 2010, as part of Service Ottawa program, the Public Works Department launched a Service Improvement Initiative. This initiative was about engaging all staff to identify and implement innovative strategies and ideas that would lead to safe, efficient and effective delivery of Public Works services.A structured framework and approach was used, which engaged employees in a process of identifying innovative management, operating and business practices to improve performance and reduce costs. The result of this project was an engaged workforce, service improvements, improved customer satisfaction and environmental benefits, all drivers of Service Excellence.As well, the ideas that Public Works staff brought forward have generated an annual steady state of savings of $1M.
This initiative is supported by CUPE 503, CIPP and senior staff. |
By the end of 2011, the Service Improvement Initiative will have morphed into a Continuous Improvement Program in Public Works. Each Branch will have developed a structured Continuous Improvement framework whereby new and innovative ideas can be brought forward and evaluated. This will lead to new ideas being implemented and an engaged workforce that continually brings forward new ideas, leading to enhanced service delivery to the residents of Ottawa. Moving forward into 2012 and 2013, staff in each Branch will work on service improvement ideas and this will be reported through the Department’s annual business planning cycle. As a result of Continuous Improvement, Public Works will continue to strengthen the trust and confidence the City’s residents have in our services. |
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Public Works Door Hanger
The Public Works Door Hanger acts as a communication vehicle allowing our front line staff to engage with residents when responding to a service call. All pertinent information is relayed to the resident on the door hanger providing an opportunity to clearly convey the what, why and how we provided service at a location. The door hanger also includes space for staff to provide a contact number should the resident have any questions about our service.
Our goal is to ensure customer service excellence and we value our residents’ feedback. The door hanger includes a “How Did We Do” section that asks residents two simple questions: “Did our service meet your expectations?” and “What service improvements would you suggest?” Residents are offered three convenient ways to provide their feedback: 3-1-1; visiting any client service centre; or emailing us directly at PublicWorks@Ottawa.ca.
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The Public Works Department will continue to use the door hanger as a way to connect with residents and the community. Thus far, the Department has received very positive feedback on the effectiveness of the door hanger as a means of sharing information. |
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Departmental and Branch Displays
The Departmental and Branch Displays were developed as part of the identified need to “market” our Department. They are yet another communication vehicle that allow our staff to share their stories with residents, and to make our services visible in a meaningful way. They capture the essence of who we are and what we do, help to enhance our public image and help to discuss with the residents and businesses of Ottawa the range of services we provide and engage the community on their ideas. These displays are used for community events, fairs and information sessions. |
The Public Works Department will continue to use the displays to engage the community. They will be used at community events including our spring and fall Cleaning the Capital launches, community tree planting events, community fairs, the annual Father’s Day Touch a Truck event and many more places in and around the community. |
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Forestry Services and Tree Planting Programs
Council has focused on the importance of trees, forests and greenspace in the City of Ottawa and through the adoption of the Official Plan and Ottawa 20/20. Within the Environmental Strategy, specific goals have been established for the urban and rural forests as well as a recommended proactive approach towards the maintenance and protection of these green assets. Initiatives for increasing forest cover include tree planting programs in both urban and rural areas, rehabilitation of urban parks with increased tree planting and greenspace, purchase of Rural and Urban Natural features to protect greenspace.
Funding to Forestry Services has increased to ensure that the Nation’s Capital continues to be scenic and beautiful for our residents and many visitors. The forestry program supports the growing a healthy forest initiative and helps deal with the threat of the emerald ash borer. Trees are critical to Ottawa’s reputation as a Green City and the Forestry Service team owns and maintains over 310,000 street trees.
The Trees, Reforestation and Environmental Enhancement (TREE) Program was a four year initiative aimed to enhance the City of Ottawa’s urban and rural forests through the planting of 100,000 trees between 2007 and 2010. The TREE Program empowered Ottawa residents, businesses, community groups and schools to participate in planting trees to enhance and maintain the city’s forest cover and combat climate change. |
Continuing to increase forest cover is being achieved through implementation of a lifecycle renewal tree planting program, Parks and Road rehabilitation projects to assist in the renewal and increase green streetscapes and parks. These steps are planting trees in areas that need additional trees, or where a replacement tree is needed as the existing one has reached the end of its life.
Enhancing existing forest cover will be accomplished through both the urban tree conservation and municipal property by law education and enforcement for the preservation of existing forest cover. A lifecycle maintenance approach for our trees in parks, on streets and in our forests ensures that the continued health of our forest cover is a priority for the City. The Emerald Ash Borer management strategy is being implemented to manage the impact this invasive insect is going to have on a large percentage of our tree cover in Ottawa and ensure that we plan ahead to continue to have a Green City.
Key priorities for Forestry going forward are planning, protecting, enhancing and maintain the forest assets the City owns.
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Service Ottawa- Smart Energy
The Smart Energy Program targets the $40M the City spends annually on energy costs and implements measures that will reduce energy costs and reduce our environmental footprint. Over the term of the Program, it will lower costs by $6M and drive out benefits of $7.9M through energy retrofits, roof top solar panels and building automation.
The following projects have been completed in our community as part of the Smart Energy Program: · Several arenas had the lighting changed from metal halide (HID) to fluorescent technology. Under this initiative, over 35 buildings have been retrofitted and the energy used to light these arenas is reduced by half. · Lighting has been upgraded at 89 small facilities and 10 large facilities. · Patrons are able to control a portion of the stand heating in arenas by providing push buttons on arena stands, which are connected to individual heaters above. Once initiated, the heaters will run for one hour. · Photovoltaic cells (solar panels) have been installed at Ottawa City Hall (110 Laurier) and the Integrated Transit Operations Control Centre (875 Belfast Road). |
By the end of July, resources will be in place to execute on the various projects identified under the Smart Energy Program between now and end of 2013. The Building Automation plan will be implemented, which includes a review of new technology tools.
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Service Ottawa- Transform Fleet Management
The Transform Fleet Management project focuses implementing fleet management strategies so that Fleet Services can "right size" the municipal fleet and implement procurement strategies and processes such that the City can move to a standardized vehicles inventory and migrate to a Green Fleet to reduce fuel costs. The project identifies 48 initiatives that will achieve the identified annual savings of $3.94M starting in 2013. This projects include: implementing processes and tools to support operational and maintenance decision making related to managing the fleet (leveraging Total Cost of Ownership); implementing preventative maintenance strategies to get the full value out of its vehicles and reduce maintenance costs; and implementing strategies to transform the stores inventory processes to ensure the right part is available at the right time. |
The Public Works Department will continue to implement the 48 initiatives identified in the Transform Fleet Management Project over the next 3 years to achieve the Project’s overall goal of $3.94M in annual savings starting in 2013. Projected savings for 2011 are $1,131,000 (includes $300,000 from 2010 and 831,000 for 2011) and will likely be exceeded while projected savings for 2012 are estimated at $2.06M. The implementation of the 48 initiatives will also result in operational efficiencies to better serve Fleet Services’ clients. For example, the move to a third party parts service provider should result in an 9% increase in maintenance productivity, which means that vehicles will be back on the road more quickly. |
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LED Pilot
The Pilot LED installation consists of retrofitting 108 metal halide pedestrian lights on Preston Street from Somerset to Carling. The fixtures feature instant on /instant off lighting and there is no warm up period as with the existing Metal Halide fixtures.
The light source has an estimated 60,000 to 70,000 hr lamp life. Presently, the Metal Halide Lamps are rated at 16,000 to 20,000 hrs. This initiative is tied to the City’s ongoing commitment to new technologies which have the potential to reduce our carbon footprint and provide cost savings; these fixtures produce an estimated 30%
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Due to the success of the pedestrian scale LED installation on Preston St we are moving to the next phase of our LED evaluation which will entail installing lighting on a residential roadway using LED fixtures and on a new pedestrian link and structure over the Airport Parkway at Cahill Dr. We are proposing to convert the existing High Pressure Sodium “Shoebox Style” Street Lights on Goldridge Drive and Stikine Drive in Kanata to LEDs. The proposed LED lighting will maintain the existing light levels and will provide the added benefit of “instant on lighting” – no warm up period is required as with the existing fixtures to achieve full lighting capacity. As for the Pedestrian Link the LED lighting will be used on the new pathway that will link Cahill Dr to the South Keys Transit Station. With regard to safety, LED’s white light source provides for improved facial recognition and colour rendering. |
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GPS for Salt Spreaders
Public Works installed a Global Positioning System on all of its salt spreaders in an effort to control the amount of salt it was using. Not only is it good for the environment by reducing salt use but it will also provide additional savings.
Using an automated vehicle location and material monitoring system, the city can monitor its winter maintenance activity as it happens and make adjustments on the fly. As a result, salt consumption has reduced by 10 percent and the GPS system has paid for itself in less than a year. |
Public Works will continue to fine tune the spreader salt delivery systems, in order to improve operations through better controlled salt delivery and reduced salt consumption. In addition, the Department will also continue the analysis/monitoring of the salt delivery and spreader routes in order to verify compliance with the chosen salt delivery rates, and the frequency of the route servicing. |
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New Pay and Display Parking Machines
Parking Operations, Maintenance & Development (POMD) implemented new Pay & Display machines in all on-street paid parking areas to provide customers with enhanced services including the ability to pay by credit card and receive a receipt for every transaction. The machines were also installed in all surface lots.
As part of the initiative, staff developed an innovative way to capture data from the machines to produce occupancy reports that present paid parking data that will be used to support effective rate setting and long-term planning.
Having these reports at our finger tips will allow us to examine parking activity in our lots and on-street paid parking spaces regarding specific issues. We can also now quickly see how our parking facilities are operating relative to the objectives of the Municipal Parking Management Strategy.
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POMD will use the staff-developed reports to monitor paid parking occupancy rates and length of duration in order to help support the management of paid parking throughout the City.
Further, the reports will also be used to assist with minor parking studies and specific areas that require detailed parking analysis.
As part of the same initiative, new parking facility payment systems are being installed in our off-street garages to increase reliability and service. Already implemented in both municipal ByWard Market parking garages (70 and 141 Clarence St), the technology will go-live in the City Hall parking garage in August 2011.
Finally, Pay by Phone technology will also be introduced and integrated with Pay & Display which will offer increased convenience to parkers. Pay by Phone will enable customers to use a cellular phone, SMS text message, internet and/or mobile application to start, extend, terminate and pay for a parking session. Pay by Phone will be launched in September 2011. |
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Rideau River Flood Control Operations
The fine work of the Rideau River Flood Control Operation team has been highlighted by a BBC Documentary which aired in Spring 2011. The Human Planet filmed the City crews who, each February and March, cut a line down the ice covering the Rideau River. These cuts, made near the Foreign Affairs building and the old Ottawa City Hall, help break up the ice when it starts to melt.
The crews then use different techniques to help the process along and keep the river moving. Ice clearing, which has been done in various ways for well over a century, allows water to flow more freely and reduces the potential for flooding.
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The Rideau River Flood Control Operation Team will continue to provide this service to alleviate possible flooding in flood-prone areas. |
The following activities are in progress to improve the delivery of services in both official languages.
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In Progress / Ongoing |
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§ Achieve 100% French language designation requirement |
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Improvements
to Internal Working Practices
Public Works had a number of initiatives to address our Operational Performance and Employee Engagement.
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Accomplishments to date |
Also Planned for 2011-2013 |
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The Public Works Department Service Excellence Newsletter
In the fall of 2009, a congratulatory e-mail was sent to staff expressing gratitude for their dedication and commitment. In the email examples of “wow” moments were shared with staff and then we thought – why stop there? Why not share on a monthly basis good news stories that showcase the great work everyone does.
The Service Excellence Newsletter has become a monthly highlight for Public Works staff. In each edition, an individual, group or branch is showcased in the Photo of the Month, and stories about the great work of our staff, coming from across the organization and community, are shared.
To date, over 200 good news stories have been shared and the number continues to rise.
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Develop Communications Strategy (internal & external) We will continue to empower our staff by sharing their good news stories through the Service Excellence Newsletter. We have also started to showcase these great stories in the Corporate Employee Recognition Edition of In the Loop. Since the beginning of 2011, over 15 stories have been shared through this channel. In addition, the Public Works Department is continuing to build and implement a communication plan that includes defining our communication goals, audience identification, key messages and messaging targets, sharing success stories and providing feedback mechanisms.
For 2011-2012, eleven communications projects are underway. Each project focuses on creating a public image that will allow the public to easily identify the range of services that we provide and empowering our staff to share their good news stories. |
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Development of 5-Year HR Strategic Plan
The Public Works Department’s vision of Service Excellence is rooted in a strong belief that its employees and leaders are its greatest asset. No matter how much time and money we spend on finding ways to better service our clients, the results of those efforts will only be as good as our leadership and the engagement and commitment of our workforce.
The management team is committed to its employees, their professional growth and development and their overall well-being. Positive relationships are built on mutual respect, trust, honesty and openness. Through strong leadership, we will continue working towards fostering a culture that embraces these values in partnership with CUPE 503 and CIPP.
As such, the 5-Year HR Strategic Plan was developed in 2010, which identifies four priorities that will provide our employees with opportunity, support, recognition and advancement. These priorities include: · Building leadership capacity · Ensuring the right people are in the right jobs · Train and develop employees through effective planning; and · Creating and sustaining a healthy organization.
In support of these four priorities, the following has been accomplished to date: · Development and implementation of the Building our Future Leaders Program. · Career Progression Path Framework · Additional Casual Labour Pool Opportunities. |
The Public Works Department will continue to implement the various initiatives identified in the 5-Year HR Strategic Plan in support of the four priorities which include the development and implementation of: · Competency based recruitment and assessment. · Job rotation program. · Leadership development planning. · Career progression paths for all positions within the Department. · Departmental and Branch on-boarding and orientation program. |
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Building Our Future Leaders Program
The Public Works Department believes that our people are our greatest asset and are the key to our success in achieving Service Excellence. We value and appreciate the work of each and every employee and are committed to employee professional growth and development, including the development into leadership roles.
We recognize the importance of a well-structured program and to that end we have developed the Building Our Future Leaders Program. It provides support, training and development to enable successful candidates to assume future leadership roles. The Program consists of four components including job shadowing, coaching, training and development and stakeholder relations.
In 2010/2011, the Program was successfully implemented in the Roads and Traffic Operations and Maintenance Branch to fill two Area Manager positions in addition to a Program Manager, Engineering Services in the Traffic Unit. |
Public Works will continue to identify opportunities where the Building Our Future Leaders Program can be implemented throughout the Department to fill key leadership roles. |
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Casual Labour Pool
Public Works uses a combination of in-house resources along with contracted services to provide maintenance activities for City infrastructure such as roads, sidewalks, parks, buildings and trees in order to meet peak service demands that exceed the capacity of in-house resources.
In 2009, Public Works and CUPE 503 agreed to jointly assess opportunities where services that were normally contracted out could be delivered by City employees while attaining efficiencies and cost savings. These discussions introduced the option of using a Casual Labour Pool in lieu of contract services for winter sidewalk plowing. As a result winter sidewalk plowing was brought in-house which reduced the use of contractors, optimized equipment usage, improved services and reduced costs by $250,000.
In addition, custodial services at 1951 Cyrville Depot and 2851 St. Joseph EMS have been brought in-house on a trial basis. As a result of this pilot, the Casual Labour Pool for custodial services is currently being expanded into the Core District of the Parks, Buildings and Grounds Branch.
This partnership has resulted in improved services, reduced costs and the Union agreeing to withdraw over 300 contracting out grievances by bringing specific services in-house. |
Public Works continues to work with CUPE 503 to expand the Casual Labour Pool by further analyzing the feasibility of bringing contracted services in house for custodial work at other facilities, graffiti, pavement markings, grass cutting and roadway sweeping. |
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Public Works Ozone Page
In December 2010, Public Works began to develop a user-friendly, employee-based concept, redesigned to act as a networking hub for all Public Works employees. The Ozone page includes a message to staff from the General Manager; a rolling slideshow of our staff at work; our mission, vision and mandate; service excellence initiative; access to information and metrics about each branch; department and branch reference materials such as performance management scorecards, policies, procedures, key contacts, organizational charts, and safety bulletins; the Service Improvement Program, and the Service Excellence Newsletter.
The Ozone page is widely used across the department. After launching the new structure, visits to the Ozone page increased by 120%.
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Looking forward, the Department will continue to update and add to our Ozone page including providing links to corporate reference materials such as the new online corporate radar and the corporate Service Ottawa and Service Excellence web pages. |
Real Estate Partnership and Development Office
Mandate
To effectively and efficiently manage the acquisition, disposition, environmental remediation, leasing, appraisal, development, and overall value analysis of real property and to provide professional advice on all aspects of real estate to Council and departments.
Story
of Service Excellence
The Real Estate Partnerships and Development Office (REPDO) acts as the City’s centre of real estate expertise. REPDO strategically manages major assets for the city and establishes creative ways to optimize the value of city-owned property holdings and achieve best value for taxpayers based on balancing the social, cultural, environmental, and financial objectives for these holdings.
REPDO’s focus since we initiated Service Excellence has been on improving delivery of services in ways that enhance client experiences, enable us to connect with our clients, and improve client satisfaction with our services.
The REPDO Service Excellence plan looks at how all points of service are coordinated so that the entire client experience is positive. We involved our employees and clients to gain an understanding of our operational performance and to implement service improvement opportunities with a focus on the needs of our clients.
We have successfully completed a variety of initiatives to date including: a succession plan, a strategic planning session, an employee newsletter, an employee material/tool review, an updated employee handbook, employee website, ensuring accurate job descriptions for each position, quarterly all-team meeting with a strong emphasis on employee recognition, regular communication briefs to all staff, and an operational process review. We will continue to foster ideas and promote a culture of innovation to gather input and continuously improve.
Improvements to Client Service
REPDO is building on our foundation to improve how we work. We have implemented initiatives to further engage staff, as their insight is key to designing our services with a client focus. This improved framework engages our people, their great ideas, and commitment to their work to achieve organizational results and deliver quality services for our clients.
Consistent measurement of our progress through feedback from our client and staff outreach strategies and our performance indicators will ensure that we are fostering a sustainable balance of employee, corporate, and client needs to deliver improved services. The following are some highlights of our accomplishments to date as well as those planned for 2011 – 2013.
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Accomplishments to Date |
Also Planned for 2011-2013 |
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· Lansdowne Park Redevelopment Partnership Plan · Exposition Hall and Trade and Consumer Show Facility Issued an RFP for the construction, operation, and finance of an exposition hall and trade and consumer show facility. The City accepted the proposal from Shenkman Corporation to lease a 28-acre piece of land on Ottawa Airport property for an exhibition centre, parking, and a hotel.
· Air Rights for Residential and Office Components Issued a Request for Expressions of Interest (RFEOI) seeking a real estate developer interested in either leasing or purchasing the air rights to develop either or both of the residential and office components. The project’s budget includes using those proceeds to defray costs.
· Environmental Remediation Plan Developed a management plan that provides a sustainable approach to brownfield redevelopment and will achieve LEED credits for an effective environmental remediation approach.
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· Lansdowne Park Redevelopment Partnership Plan · Air Rights for Residential and Office Components Report to Council on the findings of the Request for Offers (RFO) process before proceeding with the release of Stage Two of the RFO to select a real estate/builder developer to either lease or purchase the air rights for residential and office space at Lansdowne Park.
· Environmental Remediation Plan Prepare a human health and ecological risk assessment to address the historic contamination issues.
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· Property acquisitions to enable economic stimulus funding infrastructure projects Successfully negotiated and completed all property acquisitions on time to enable economic stimulus funding infrastructure projects. These projects include: Hazeldean Road widening, Terry Fox Drive extension (south), Southwest Transitway extension, Churchill Avenue, and Hunt Club Road expansion.
· Acquisitions to support corporate initiatives Implemented all acquisitions required to support corporate initiatives for the citizens of Ottawa.
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· Acquisitions to support corporate initiatives Implementation of all acquisitions required to support corporate initiatives for the citizens of Ottawa including: Terry Fox Drive extension (north), Greenbank Road widening, Jockvale Road widening, Southwest Transitway extension, Hazeldean Road widening, Alta Vista Corridor – Hospital Link, OC Transpo Bus Garage, Carling Avenue and Merivale Road Reconstruction, Trim Road, Chapman Mills Park and Ride, and West Transitway extension. |
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· Client Outreach Strategy Developed a client outreach strategy. |
· Client Satisfaction Develop a client satisfaction survey and investigate opportunities for further innovation with REPDO's clients.
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· Centrepointe Town Centre Development Completed 1st Phase of Centrepointe Town Centre – a strategic real estate development of city-owned lands at Baseline Rd. and Woodroffe Ave. The development integrates city facilities, vacant parcels and transit lands to demonstrate 20/20 vision of creating a sense of place – urban focal point for business, commerce, academia, and residents, where majority of people travel by walking, cycling, and public transit. |
· Centrepointe Town Centre Development Following completion of Central Archives, Centrepointe Theatre expansion, Algonquin Centre for Construction Excellence, pedestrian overpass from fully integrated Transit Station to Algonquin College, development will move into Phase II and the associated construction with the Southwest Transitway.
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· Longfields Development Completed 1st phase of the Longfields Development – a strategic real estate development on 50-hectare parcel of City-owned land in Barrhaven. This is a smart growth demonstration community focusing on balanced return on investment, affordable housing and the environment. Secured Purchase and Sale agreements for land that totalled $17.5M.
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· Longfields Development Complete implementation of Longfields Infill subdivision and close on land sales that result in $17.5M of additional revenue for the city. |
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· Ottawa Stadium Strategy Completed short-term strategy for the Ottawa Stadium and initiated development of a long-term development strategy for the Ottawa Stadium property located at 300 Coventry Road.
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· Ottawa Stadium Strategy Completion of a long-term strategy for the Ottawa Stadium based on a review of a range of options regarding different development scenarios for the Ottawa Stadium property. |
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· Arts Court Redevelopment Completed implementation plan for the expansion of Arts Court, Ottawa’s downtown municipal arts centre, that includes improvements to the City-owned heritage building that currently houses 25 arts organizations.
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· Arts Court Redevelopment Completion of the $36M Arts Court redevelopment project.
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· Kanata Town Centre Developed implementation strategy for the Kanata Town Centre, including a new Client Service Centre (to replace currently leased space) as the civic focus of this planned Main Street.
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· Kanata Town Centre Completion of implementation of redevelopment of the Kanata Town Centre. |
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· Redevelopment of Former Surplus School Sites Developed implementation strategy for redevelopment of former surplus school sites: · 3071 Riverside Drive (former Bayview School) · 25 Esquimault Avenue · 9 Leeming Drive (former St. Thomas School)
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· Redevelopment of Former Surplus School Sites Completion of implementation strategy for redevelopment of former surplus school sites: · 3071 Riverside Drive (former Bayview School) · 25 Esquimault Avenue · 9 Leeming Drive (former St. Thomas School)
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· LRT Business Development Strategy Developed real estate and business development strategy in partnership with the Rail Implementation Office that supports the utility and vibrancy of LRT stations by actively encouraging both public and private sector development and integration of a full range of compatible land uses (residential, employment, and commercial activities) at designated sites. |
· LRT Business Development Strategy Completion of LRT Business Development Strategy in partnership with the Rail Implementation Office. |
The following activities are in progress to improve the delivery of services in both official languages.
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In Progress / Ongoing |
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§ French Language Training is encouraged and supported by REPDO Management § Include clause on Bilingualism Policy in service provider contracts |
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Improvements to Internal Working Practices
Our people are the foundation of everything we do. The REPDO Gung Ho initiative asked staff for feedback through an employee survey and strategic planning session, embraced new ideas by putting suggestions for improvement into action, listened and learned to improve services.
This initiative was conducted by our Service Excellence team. We were able to foster ideas from staff, promote a culture of innovation, address the top concerns of staff to make operations more efficient and effective, implement action plans to address them and engage all employees.
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Accomplishments to Date |
Also Planned for 2011-2013 |
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Employee Engagement · Continued with REPDO employee engagement survey · Continued with quarterly all-team meetings with strong emphasis on employee recognition · Completion of ICA’s/PDP’s for each position · Continued with regular communications briefs to all staff and introduced a new quarterly staff newsletter · Introduced “Real Tymes” – a new quarterly staff newsletter |
Employee Engagement
• Ensure accurate job descriptions exist for each position • Creation of a Training and Development Plan for each employee • Continue with Quarterly All-Team meetings with strong emphasis on employee recognition • Continue Succession Planning with HR • Continue regular Communication briefs to all staff • Investigate the opportunities earned by mobilizing the REPDO workforce • Conduct an employee material/tool review • Continue with REPDO employee engagement survey • Develop a cross-training development program • Continue with quarterly staff newsletter
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Operational Performance · Developed succession plan · Conducted a strategic planning session to build a 3-year strategic plan · Updated REPDO Handbook · Finalized job descriptions for majority of REPDO positions
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Operational Performance
• Implement Succession Plan • Successfully achieve the estimated revenue by delivering strategic projects • Maintain and enhance the inventory of City real property • Successful negotiation and acquisition of property to enable economic stimulus projects • Conduct an operational process / system review • Create a balanced scorecard for performance measurement • Conduct a workload review |
Rail Implementation Office
Mandate
The Rail Implementation Office was created in August, 2009. Our Vision is to “Construct a successful Light Rail Transit system with high quality service and provide social, economic and environmental sustainability in the City of Ottawa”.
Story
of Service Excellence
We have grown from a staff of two into a full project office that blends City staff, consultants and our preliminary engineering partners (Capital Transit Partners). In May 2010, all branches were established and staff participated in a Team Building and Visioning Exercise. Further discussion and consultation resulted in a service excellence plan that focused on stakeholder relations; communications and risk management. Our service excellence program is anchored by the three Service Excellence priorities of Employee Engagement, Operational Performance and Client Satisfaction.
Improvements
to Client Service
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Accomplishments to date |
Also Planned for 2011-2013 |
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• Acceleration of the project schedule by a full year • Development of a Stakeholder Engagement Strategy, including identification of internal and external Stakeholders • Ongoing community association outreach sessions • Development of MyBranch on Ozone and www.ottawalightrail.ca for the public • Successful consultation with the National Capital Commission (NCC) and the Aboriginal community
• Completion of Provincial Environmental Assessment & significant progress on Federal Environmental Assessment • Agreements in Principle from Federal and Provincial governments for project funding
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• Council approval of funding agreements, station designs and revised cost estimates in July 2011 • Ensure City readiness for construction commencement • Implement accelerated project schedule • Continued focus on proactive and positive stakeholder relations • Continued enhancement of the stakeholder database (RAID) and development of a stakeholder report
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The following activities are in progress to improve the delivery of services in both official languages.
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In Progress / Ongoing |
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§ Positions have been designated bilingual where required § Staff is engaged in second language training § Meet with FLS to review designation of bilingual positions § Encourage second language training and include it in PDPs for individuals in designated positions § Incorporate translation services and timelines into planning phases § Establish communication capacity to ensure information is offered in both official languages and where possible, in other languages § Ensure all public events and consultations incorporate both official languages
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Improvements
to Internal Working Practices
Rail had a number of initiatives to address our Operational Performance and Employee Engagement.
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Accomplishments to date |
Also Planned for 2011-2013 |
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• Improved internal communications, including regular updates from the RIO Director • Bi-weekly meetings of the Project Schedule Risk and Budget Team • Regular Meeting schedules at Department and Branch levels • Completed a 360 degree Manager and Administrative staff evaluation • Employee development events: biweekly Bake & Share; potluck lunches with RIO and CTP staff; an ‘Amazing Race’ Employee Recognition event; a Christmas Party and an Administration Professionals Recognition event • Tour of O-Train (Spring 2010) • Employees feel involved, appreciated and engaged in the project! |
• Maintain cohesiveness and effectiveness of staff in expanded RIO
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Transit
Mandate
OC Transpo’s mandate is to deliver safe, reliable, customer focused transit services in a financially sustainable manner.
Story
of Service Excellence
In 2008, a Strategic Branch Review of Transit Services indentified four core outcomes that are to be the focus for OC Transpo. The outcomes identified are Ease of Mobility, Economic efficiency, Accessibility and Environmental efficiency. In 2009, with the outcomes defined, OC Transpo identified 11 policy standards, which set the direction for OC Transpo’s transformation. The 11 policy standards are measured on an ongoing basis and are the foundation for the Service Excellence plan, named Ready, Set, Go! The plan outlined 31 initiatives for the department to implement over the next 3 years.
Within the Service Excellence umbrella, all the initiatives were aligned with the policy standards which are aligned with the core outcomes sought by OC Transpo. Progress and effective resource planning and prioritization has resulted in a large number of the initiatives being completed early than originally planned and some have already garnered accelerated improvements.
Implementing the principles of Service Excellence within OC Transpo will be seen on the faces of our customers and our employees and in the growing positive indicators of how OC Transpo is delivering safe, reliable customer focused transit services in a financially sustainable manner.
Improvements
to Client Service
OC-Transpo provides daily service to over 400,000 passengers, along 246 routes travelling 6,785 kilometers. With a service area of 455 square kilometers and a population of just over 800,000- OC Transpo provides enough passenger trip volume to essentially move almost half of the city’s population - every day.
Improvements to customer service have been at the heart of OC-Transpo’s history for over 100 years.
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Accomplishments to date |
Also Planned for 2011-2013 |
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Improve Accessibility efforts, through the launch of the Next Stop Announcement System. The system provides ‘on the bus’ audio and visual announcements of the next stop. The fully bilingual system has received high praise from customers regardless of accessibility needs. |
Software revisions and route adjustments are updated frequently. Ongoing feedback from customers and employees is used to improve the system. |
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Customer Satisfaction and feedback Contacted almost 2500 customers over five customer appreciation events at transit stations |
Continuing customer events increases communication opportunities and allows customer service and management staff to hear firsthand about the services. |
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Completed the development and launch of an Accessibility Policy framework By incorporating provincial initiatives and customer feedback, changes to accessibility aids such as elevators are communicated more effectively |
The inclusion of ongoing measures and feedback directly from the community on how to implement preventative maintenance processes will aid in reducing barriers to the transit system. |
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Route Optimization Plan generated more than 6000 pieces of customer feedback on through customer consultations and other sources. |
An all out awareness campaign will be launched “Checkyourroute.ca” in the late summer to inform, educate, and support riders in locating the proper stops and schedules. |
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Completed a Comprehensive 'Smart Driver' Training Program. The program aided operators in understanding industry best practices and updated technologies, that when implemented can result is smoother operations, improved fuel efficiency, and increased customer satisfaction. |
With only one third of the total operators trained on these techniques so far, ongoing training and the eventual follow-up on behaviour adoption is required to measure changes. |
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Bus availability improved over the past year, achieving a 99.48% level of availability in Q1 2011, up from the 2009 levels of 99.38%. In real service terms, the increase equates to an estimated 600 -1100 additional passenger trips each day! |
With an updated fleet, designed to meet the current capacity needs, availability has continued to improve. The new double Decker buses will continue to improve availability of seats for passengers. |
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Free Transit Period for Seniors. On Wednesdays, and on Monday and Friday afternoon |
With a growing number of seniors needing to get around, the additional service offers more choice for these customers and improved satisfaction. |
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Expand Park and Ride and transit station facilities Orleans /Barrhaven/ Kanata The Lietrim and Riverview Park and Ride sites opened to offer additional options for southern commuters |
Providing park and ride services as well as expanding existing locations are an ongoing requirement and are part of the 10 year capital plan. |
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Opening of the Industrial Garage complex has improved bus availability which leads to a more consistent level of service for customers. When opened in the fall of 2010 the plan called for the service of 359 buses. Since opening the garage has expanded the capacity to 539 units. |
The Industrial location will provide all service requirements for the new Double Decker and further improve the overall availability of seats and buses to commuters. |
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Improved technology connections for customers This included the launch of a re-designed and updated mobile application to provide live updates on Transit Service. The Travel planner service was enhanced to include STO routes. |
Ongoing efforts include the creation of a real time arrivals service, as well as electronic fares via the SmartCard and other mobile devices. |
The following activities are in progress to improve the delivery of services in both official languages.
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In Progress / Ongoing |
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§ Employee communications use plain language, accessible formats, graphics, both official languages, and accessible formats; budget is allocated for translation § Job advertisements are bilingual and written so as to attract candidates from diverse groups § Positions are advertised through agencies and media that link to specific communities that are at risk of being excluded § Enhance the recruiting process for operators with the goal of hiring bilingual candidates § A Transit Designated Positions Review is underway in cooperation with French Language Services. This will determine the language requirements for each Transit position ensuring that Transit staff has the language skills required to effectively fulfill their roles. § Facilitate access, encourage and motivate conventional & para Transit operators to take second language training. § Continue to provide communications to all our customers in both official languages (website, promotional materials, advertisements, public announcements, Info-line, and Customer Service line). |
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Improvements
to Internal Working Practices
Transit has a number of initiatives to improve our Operational Performance and Employee Engagement.
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Accomplishments to date |
Also Planned for 2011-2013 |
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Installation and training on Safety procedures. Reduction in injuries across the department through the establishment of safety policies. The implementation of mandatory PPE has resulted in a reduction of eye injuries by 50% over the same period in 2009. |
Ongoing training and facility updates, including ‘Fail arrest”, Designated Safe Areas, and Emergency Planning will result in a safer workplace |
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Employee Engagement Accomplishments include the involvement of employees in process review meetings, as well as a high level of participation and interest in the “People Moving People” communication efforts |
Implement comprehensive communications strategy Increase use of two-way communication vehicles Strengthen managers’ communications abilities through quarterly Managers Briefings |
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Implement preventive maintenance for Transit Buildings and facilities. Work with the contractor resulted in improved availability of elevators, cleanliness and customer feeling of safety while at a transit station. |
The Project and Facilities organization will take over
control and care of all transit stations and stops. |
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Maintenance has incorporated LEAN processes and 5S methods in all garages. The ongoing learning and productivity efficiencies are beginning to show up in the availability of buses on a daily basis. |
The application of industry best practices will incorporate additional approaches such as ‘vendor managed inventory’; ‘Just-in-time’ stock levels resulting in lower inventory costs. |
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With the assistance and support of well seasoned operators, the training group successfully designed an Integrated Training Program for New Bus Operators; for new bus technologies and for process improvements. |
Training and Technology Expand SmartBus technology plan and training plan to include measuring fuel savings
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Management completed a ‘peer review’ exercise and formal assessment of OC Transpo overall by the American Public Transit Association (APTA). The assessment included comparisons to other transit organizations, as well as many industry standards about service, maintenance, employee relations management, public relations management |
Implementation of the APTA recommendations to address deficiencies in both employee and management communications area, as well as best practices and measures that will assist OC Transpo in achieving it targets. |
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Communications were improved in both operational performance and employee engagement area. The inclusion of employees in the development of processes, as well as the publishing of process documentation has enabled a consistent approach to how the department operates. |
Additional process reviews and quality efforts involving
employees will aid in the development and communication of best practices and
improved engagement. |
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Employee Survey Completed in the past year the survey highlighted gaps and opportunities for managers to be more active and consistent in the communication of the department goals and the importance of employee participation. |
A comprehensive coaching program aimed at first level managers and supervisors will be rolled out in 2011. |