Evaluation of IT Desktop Services for CBSA End Users

Notes

1. Business case prepared during the separation from CCRA in 2003. [Return to text]
2. CRA-CBSA MOU for the Provision of Information Technology Services. [Return to text]
3. Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat: Policy on Management of Information Technology [Return to text]
4. This number includes all employees at the CBSA, including non-full time equivalents, at a point in time.[Return to text]
5. Legislation later came into effect to form the Canada Revenue Agency on December 12, 2005. [Return to text]
6. This agreement was formalized between the CBSA and the CRA through the CRA-CBSA MOU for the Provision of Information Technology Services.[Return to text]
7. Business case prepared during the separation from CCRA in 2003. [Return to text]
8. CRA-CBSA MOU for the Provision of Information Technology Services. [Return to text]
9. SLA for Regional IT Services. [Return to text]
10. The CBSA's Alternative Inspection Services Help Desk supports the pre-screening of applicants and admission of members of the Commercial Drivers Registration, NEXUS, CANPASS (boat, private air, and corporate air), and Free and Secure Trade programs. It is not considered a part of the IT Help Desk. [Return to text]
11. The response rate refers to the ratio of the number of people who answered the survey divided by the number of people in the sample. [Return to text]
12. According to the TBS, shared service refers to a service that is shared by more than one client and a common service is a service provided by a common service organization. Both shared service organizations and common service organizations deliver common services; only the governance and funding differentiates the two. Source: Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat: Information Technology Services Review [Return to text]
13. Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat: Information Technology Services Review [Return to text]
14. Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat: Policy on Management of Information Technology. [Return to text]
15. Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat: Directive on Management of Information Technology. [Return to text]
16. An analysis of cost savings as a result of the CRA's purchasing power was outside the scope of this evaluation. [Return to text]
17. TITAN is an automated risk assessment tool used to screen marine commercial shipments. [Return to text]
18. These committees are: Information Technology Strategy Committee, CBSA–CRA Z/OS Infrastructure Changes Steering Committee, Architecture Steering Committee, Technology Infrastructure Advisory Committee, Distributed Computing Environment Steering Committee, and CRA–CBSA Financial Steering Committee. The CBSA and the CRA also hold bilateral meetings and IT operational meetings. [Return to text]
19. CRA–CBSA Information Technology Services Governance Framework, 2009. [Return to text]
20. HOST refers to z/OS, a 64-bit graphical user interface based operating system for mainframe computers. [Return to text]
21. CRA–CBSA Information Technology Services Governance Framework, May 19, 2009. [Return to text]
22. This division had previously been divided into Team North and Team South. The current functional split replaced the previous geographical split and has created better stability in the services rendered to HQ clients. [Return to text]
23. Help desk personnel answer telephone inquiries and resolve problems using remote access tools while desktop personnel respond to problems and inquiries in person. [Return to text]
24. This was also noted in the HQ Operational Plan 2009-2010. [Return to text]
25. The February 2008, CBSA Internal Audit Report for the Audit of CBSA IT Infrastructure Service Delivery Agreements contained a recommendation that ISTB should complete the review of the governance structures with its service providers and establish a plan to formalize their approval and implementation. A formalized draft of the CRA–CBSA Information Technology Services Governance Framework was updated on May 19, 2009 but is not finalized. [Return to text]
26. The MOU mandated three SLAs: IT Infrastructure Services; IT Architecture and Consulting Services; and Regional IT Services. [Return to text]
27. The February 2008 CBSA Internal Audit Report for the Audit of CBSA IT Infrastructure Service Delivery Agreements contained a recommendation that ISTB should establish a timetable and implement the necessary actions to complete the current initiatives to review and approve all MOUs and SLAs etc. with its service providers. [Return to text]
28. The October 2008 CBSA Internal Audit Report for the Audit of Information Technology Infrastructure – General Controls also noted that there was no consolidated inventory of CBSA-managed and controlled IT infrastructure items that would provide a clear picture of IT asset holdings for asset replacement, planning, and budgeting. [Return to text]
29. This is a software site license that is issued to a large company. It typically allows unlimited use of the program throughout the organization, although there may be restrictions and limitations. It often foregoes the need to register the software each time it is installed on another computer; however, there might be a master password that is required to activate each copy. Source: The Free Dictionary: Enterprise license
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30. Prices for Microsoft Project and Adobe Acrobat were quoted by the IT Help Desk. [Return to text]
31. No data are collected on the length of time this takes. [Return to text]
32. DCE Benchmark Study, Gartner, slide 12, 2008. [Return to text]
33. The generic procurement process is used to purchase standard items such as certified hardware/software and includes desktops, laptops, PCs, printers, and scanners. [Return to text]
34. For non-standard (non-generic) items, a work order is used to purchase items such as uncertified hardware/software, items over $5,000, total amount of order greater than $100,000 or hardware/software that are server-related (e.g., specialty printers, network switches, biometric devices, video conferencing equipment, etc.) [Return to text]
35. Information is provided on network incidents, their dates and times, when the systems are back online, and the duration of the incidents. [Return to text]
36. Information is provided on ongoing projects, their description, their latest accomplishments, their next steps, and their expected completion date. [Return to text]
37. Information is provided on devices (workstations, laptops, and printers) for end user replacement or other new equipment. [Return to text]
38. The case type indicates if IT was contacted for an incident, a problem, a question or a request. [Return to text]
39. The service categories are: desktop PC support, user access management, platform rollouts and upgrades, equipment moves, additions, changes, and end user request for service. [Return to text]
40. Resolution time is the time it takes to resolve a problem from the time a ticket is opened until it is closed. [Return to text]
41. As part of the conditions to stay in Canada, some immigrants must check-in with CBSA officers at regular intervals. Through voice recognition software, an immigrant can check-in and be identified by phone, eliminating the travel time it would normally take for a person to come to the Enforcement Centre and the extra time it would take for an officer to meet with them in person. [Return to text]
42. Forbidden Web sites are mainly banned because they are considered inappropriate for business use or they pose a risk to the security of the information or the IT infrastructure. Another reason for limiting Internet access is to avoid footprints (revealing the identity of the site visitors from the site owners). [Return to text]
43. Some superintendents have access control for password reset functions for some applications such as ICES. This avoids having to contact IT support every time an employee is locked out of the system. Nevertheless, employee security levels sometimes prevent them from completing the resets without IT support. For example, in travellers' entry processing systems, only a person with a higher security level than the person who is locked out can reset it. Another method that has been used to help address the situation is to increase the number of allowable password attempts before the system locks the end user out. [Return to text]
44. Examples include ACROSS, FOSS, and TITAN. [Return to text]
45. CRA IT support in Atlantic region identified that there were only 12 calls for after-hours IT support for IPIL problems over a period on one year. [Return to text]
46. CBSA HQ Client Satisfaction Survey and CRA's IT Support Client Satisfaction Survey V1.1 (CBSA Results) [Return to text]
47. The CRA IT Branch end users can submit a question by completing an electronic form. End users are required to provide requestor information, affected client information, workstation information, and a brief description of the request. This form can be found on CRA's intranet (InfoZone). [Return to text]
48. CRA's IT Support Client Satisfaction Survey V1.1 (CBSA Results). [Return to text]
49. CBSA HQ Client Satisfaction Survey. This question was not asked of the regional end users in the CRA-administered survey. [Return to text]
50. This service refers to an intranet page where end users can log-in to verify the status of their tickets. This feature is not available to all regions because it was not a CRA national initiative. [Return to text]
51. A - IT Desktop Services Support Salaries and O&M for HQ are taken from the Information, Science and Technology Branch – HQ IT Client Services Operational Plans for 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 while the regional figures are from the CRA statement of Information Technology Services for 2009-2010
    B - Total numbers of users for the CBSA were taken from the CRA's TIQR Q1 and Q3 reports for 2009-2010. Regional numbers were obtained by backing out totals for HQ. The total number of users at HQ for 2008-2009 of 3,615 was taken from the HQ IT Client Services Operational Plans for 2009-2010. The total number of users at HQ for 2009-2010 was provided in the HQ IT Client Services excel spreadsheet.
    C - The total number of desktops and laptops was available in the CRA's TIQR Q1 and Q3 reports for 2009-2010.
    D - The total number of sites for HQ was included in the Information, Science and Technology Branch – HQ IT Client Services Operational Plans for 2009-2010 and 2010-2011, while the total number of regional sites was provided by Technology and taken from the Site Support CBSA Locations Original v0.xls
    E - The average number of monthly service calls handled for HQ was available in the Information, Science and Technology Branch – HQ IT Client Services Operational Plans for 2009-2010 and 2010-2011. The numbers for the Regions for 2008-2009 were averages from CRA's Q3 & Q4 Service Delivery Reports for 2008-2009, while numbers for 2009-2010 were averages from CRA's Q1 & Q2 Service Delivery Reports for 2009-2010.
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52. This information was included in the Information, Science and Technology Branch – HQ IT Client Services Operational Plan for 2010-2011.[Return to text]
53. Self-service tools are a form of electronic support that allows employees to access information and perform routine tasks online, without requiring any interaction with an IT support representative. Examples are an IT Web site, an online service request form, a Frequently Asked Questions section, listings of known and current IT issues, listings of IT-related procedures, etc. [Return to text]
54. This project was initiated to support the CIC Transition Project that required the transfer of 2,200 people from the CIC network to the CBSA network, the creation of 78 new sites, and the addition of different types of new equipment. The Site Optimization Project subsequently redid the local site configurations for access to the network. This may have caused more work for IT teams but improved the end user experience substantially. [Return to text]
55. The Gartner study was contracted by the CRA in 2007-2008 to identify independent peer groups to CRA who were selected for each IT service area (e.g., client and peripherals and help desk), based on workload, complexity of the environment and other characteristics such as industry and geography. Two peer groups were selected for CRA: 1) a public peer group comprised of government entities; and 2) a private peer group comprised of companies from a variety of industries. [Return to text]
56. A - IT Desktop Service Support Salaries and O&M for the Regions is taken from the CRA statement of Information Technology Services for 2009-2010
    - Total numbers of users for the CBSA were taken from the CRA's TIQR Q1 and Q3 reports for 2009-2010. Regional numbers were obtained by backing out totals for HQ.
    - The total number of desktops and laptops for HQ was taken from CRA's TIQR Q3 & Q4 reports for 2008-2009 and Q1 and Q2 reports for 2009-2010.
    - The total number of sites of 340 for the CBSA is calculated for 2008-2009 as 321 across the Regions, plus 19 at HQ. For 2009-2010, it is calculated as 321 across the regions and 21 at HQ.
    - The average number of monthly service calls handled for the Regions was available in the CRA's Q3 & Q4 Service Delivery Reports for 2008-2009 and Q1 & Q2 Service Delivery Reports for 2009-2010.
    B - Public and private sector data were taken from the September 2008 Gartner Distributed Computing Environment Benchmark Final Results. The Gartner average costs for 2007-2008 were not indexed to inflation at 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 values because the differences would not impact results i.e., if the average inflation at 1.8% per year from the beginning of second quarter to the end of the first quarter was used for both 2008-2009 and 2009-2010, the average public-sector cost per end user for 2009-2010 would have increased from $2,684 to $2782, a difference of $98 and the average private-sector cost would have increased from $1,221 to $1,265, a difference of $44.  [Return to text]
57. The February 2008 CBSA Internal Audit Report on the Audit of CBSA IT Infrastructure Service Delivery Agreements also noted that there was insufficient detail pertaining to shared services and incremental services (which includes IT desktop services) to understand the original costs and the annual adjustments to them. [Return to text]
58. For IT desktop services, this includes hardware such as desktop PCs, laptops, printers, scanners, servers, etc. [Return to text]
59. The CBSA does not certify hardware; only the CRA performs this function. However, a large amount of the new hardware requested by CBSA end users has a software component that needs to be installed on the shared network to function. This software, in turn, has to be certified by both Agencies. [Return to text]
60. A multifunction device is a piece of equipment that can complete numerous tasks such as printing, scanning, photocopying, etc. [Return to text]
61. Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat: Policy on Management of Information Technology [Return to text]