As governments design and measure the impact of the delivery of programs and services to citizens, there is recognition of the critical need to break down boundaries between departments, functions, ministries, and jurisdictions to reduce duplication and provide better value for taxpayer dollars.

Initiatives are currently underway in the federal government that are breaking down these traditional boundaries to produce more effective and efficient service delivery to Canadians. Examples include PWGSC’s shared services and common infrastructure direction, the development of an overall Government of Canada information management program and service framework, the corporate wide adoption of RDIMS, and the development of Services Canada.

Far-reaching change initiatives such as these involve complex linkages between organizations, and require multi-stakeholder agreement on the target business blueprint or business design.

Formal business enterprise architecture techniques and the use of standard reference model toolsets, such as the GSRM, are emerging best practices for the development of public sector business designs. These standard approaches enable the optimal design, integration and alignment of government programs, services, and processes. They can be used to capture and assess the AS-IS state of the business, to inform strategic interventions, and to design the TO-BE state of the business as part of a broader business transformation.