Public Service Standards
When discussing any number of topics pertaining to publically-funded institutions, their mission and values are paramount. In the context of the Government of Canada; departments, agencies, and crown corporations all have a mission, mandate, and/or core values. The intent behind them is to guide the scope of their activities (including data collection) and aid in decision-making by prioritizing specific activities. Using Health Canada's mission as an example, they are largely concerned with providing quality health care services and responses to and on behalf of Canadians. Does this mean HC does not hire accountants to help with budgeting? HC does hire many, even though HC is not in the business of counting beans. It simply means those skillsets are there to help service HC's core activities - and are, therefore, open to more scrutiny (from an internal functions perspective).
To jump to a brief discussion on skillsets pertaining to data representation tools in an FPS context, click here.
In addition, there arises the notion of audience. Some data representations may only suffice for researchers and their managers to effect decisions in specific cases whereas others may be better suited for public audiences. Not only does this address exactly what narrative is told, but also the development of that narrative (from data collection, to representation to decision-makers, and on display to public audiences).
To review perceptual issues surrounding visual and/or audible data representations, click here.
In an effort to obtain compliance on the use of information across government departments, the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS) has, in point one in section 6.1.3 of its Directive on the Management of Information, stated:
Clearly, the TBS recognizes the standards of ITIL as a desired service standard for the FPS. To jump straight to Health Canada's (HC) compliance in TBS-related directives, click here.6.1.3 IT strategies
- Developing and maintaining efficient and effective departmental IT management practices and processes, as informed by ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library)...with priority on IT asset management, the IT service catalogue and IT service costing and pricing, as appropriate;
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When all is said and done in terms of data ideology for publically-funded institutions in Canada, examples such as the Feltron report serve merely an indication as to what is possible.
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For a general list of data ideology-based questions, click here.
For a general list of questions based on data representation creation and use in HC, click here.
For a general list of questions pertaining to the federal public service and data representation use therein, click here.
For specifics as to what is possible in the FPS, move on to the following page.