Bruce Stacey
– Executive Director
Results Based Management
Treasury Board Secretariat, Canada

Canada’s Expenditure Management System (EMS) Renewal was geared towards ensuring management excellence and fiscal credibility
• In 2003, the first roll out of performance budgeting requirements to departments in the form of – Program Structures, financial and non-financial information
• In 2005, the MRRS Policy was formalized by Cabinet and an implementation plan was developed
• In 2007, the Expenditure Management System Renewal was formally articulated to build on the work done so far. The goals:
• Aggregate fiscal discipline (i.e. control of overall growth in spending)
• Effective allocation of all government resources to areas of highest relevance, performance and priority
•
Efficient and effective program implementation
• A new program evaluation policy will shortly be approved and will focus on evaluation from a value for money perspective
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All spending must be managed to results/outcomes that are transparent to Canadians
–
Have clear measures of success
– Be formally assessed and evaluated systematically and regularly
–
Demonstrate value for money
For new spending proposal : Up-Front Discipline to manage overall spending growth. New proposals must:
–
Include clear measures of success
– Provide solid information about how the proposal fits with existing spending and results
– i.e how do they fit into the program structure
– Provide reallocation options for funding
For existing spending: Strategic Reviews assess all existing programs and spending over a four-year cycle to ensure alignment with overall priorities, as well as relevance, effectiveness, efficiency and economy
–
Spending/programs must demonstrate measurable results in support of priorities
– Decision-making must rely on objective evidence-based information

• Represents a common approach to the collection, management, and reporting of performance information
– Provides detailed information on all government programs
– Establishes the same structure for both internal decision-making and external accountability
– Links resources to results for each program - planned and actual
– Has made program implementation excellence a much greater focus of Senior Management

Policy requirements for
Strategic Outcomes incl:
Performance Measures
Policy requirements for each program activity element include:
Program title & description
Expected results
Performance measures
Planned & actual expenditures
Target & actual results
Governance
Program Activities
Sub-Sub Activity Level **
Strategic Outcome *
*
Sub-Activity Level **
Lowest Level programs
Accountability levels to Parliament
(Estimates & Public
Accounts)
*require TB approval, incl. major & minor changes
Departmental
PAA: reflect the inventory of all the programs of a department depicted in their logical relationship to each other and to the SO(s) to which they contribute
**require TBS sign-offl

More logical and consistent basis for interaction
DEPARTMENTS
Management Tool
Reflects full mapping of programs
Better alignment of resources & priorities
More evidence based reporting
Improve program performance
Common basis for planning and reporting inside and outside
TBS
Informed decisions on investment choices based on priorities and value for money
Finance
Budget
Plan
PCO
Policy Objective:
Development of a common, government-wide approach to the collection, management, and reporting of financial and non-financial performance information - to provide an integrated and modern expenditures management framework
PARLIAMENT
Reporting Tool
Stronger accountability for spending and results
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MRRS Implementation: An incremental approach based on lessons learned since first attempt in 2003
Implementation of MRRS consists of five steps:
1. Departments develop fully articulated structures for their Program Activity
Architectures (PAA)
(2006 )
2. Departments identify/define Performance Measurement Frameworks &
Governance Structures for their entire PAAs
(2007)
2. Departments create, capture and use MRRS information systematically
(2008 and onwards)
4. TBS develops and rolls out a system to capture the standardized departmental performance information
( 2009 and onwards)
5. Embed MRRS information in all expenditure management processes
( 2009 and onwards)

• In 2003, an attempt was made to build a system but under the tight timelines available, the system was not built in a sustainable manner
• We have since developed a new integrated financial component of the
Expenditure Management Information System (EMIS)
• We are in the process of adding a results component to this
• Lessons learned are:
– Systems to deal with the entire end to end performance budgeting process are not available
– Systems to deal with hierarchical program structures are not available or simple to design
– It is important to spend a considerable amount of time upfront articulating roles and responsibilities, business processes and requirements

Responsible and Effective Spending
EMS
Renewal
Outcomes
Aggregate
Fiscal Discipline
Effective governmentwide allocations
Operational Efficiency and Effectiveness
Integrated Cabinet Budget Decision-Making
EMS Renewal
Outputs & Inputs
Annual Strategic
Periodic Reviews
Results-focused MCs and
TB Submissions
(integrated information on new and existing spending)
Strategic Advice to Cabinet to Support Decision-Making for Results
MRRS/PAA
(Program Activity Architectures and related performance measurement information)
Renewed Evaluation Function
Renewed Audit Function
Expenditure performance management, oversight and accountability
Financial management, control and oversight
Strengthened Information Base to Support Departmental Management, Decision-
Making and Reporting for Results