United Nations Public Service Awards Case Studies

Nominee comments

The BizPaL Consortium is proud to be nominated for the distinguished United Nations Public Service Award in the category of “Improving the Delivery of Services.” When we set out to develop this service in 2003, our main goal was to respond to widespread concerns expressed by the business community about the difficulties in complying with the regulatory requirements of multiple levels of government.

In initiating this project, we knew that addressing this concern would require a previously unknown level of collaboration among all levels of governments. A completely new method to deliver comprehensive, cross-jurisdictional regulatory information would also be needed in order to transform the ability of businesses to find out about, and comply with, relevant requirements. Given these challenges, we set-out to create the concept, principles, and organizational and governance structures, as well as the technical infrastructure that would deliver the level of service demanded by Canadian businesses.

The BizPaL Consortium has been able to deliver such a successful project due to the collaborative contributions of hundreds of people. The vision, dedication, and hard work of all participating municipal, regional, provincial, territorial and federal government employees, as well as information technology consultants and co-op students has been crucial to achieving and surpassing the goals and expectations in the successful development and launch of this project.

The benefits of BizPaL, in the words of the business people who have used it, speak for themselves:

Being able to research online saved me a lot of time.
This opened our eyes to the potential permits and licences needed.
I found it helpful because of its local flavour.
Being easy to search [BizPaL] allows you to be better prepared which saves you time and money.
For a two person business costs are important and BizPaL reduced those costs.
As a small business with a limited budget, BizPaL saved us from running into problems which could have jeopardized the business.
BizPaL helped a great deal with our business start-up – it’s a step by step process which allowed us to save thousands of dollars.
This new website is a godsend… Let’s hope this new service continues; it is really needed.
As the BusinessCARE Services Manager for Venture Kamloops, I would just like to say how useful I am finding BizPaL… It is useful for me to have another tool that I can encourage clients to access in order to properly plan what it is they want to do with their business.

What is the initiative about? (the solution)
Increasing Efficiency Imagine yourself being an entrepreneur wanting to open a Bed & Breakfast in Canada. Would you have any idea how to uncover the sixteen permits and licences at the federal, provincial, and local government levels that you might need to be compliant? Historically, multiple visits or phone calls to government service centres and numerous government entities would have been required, sometimes taking weeks of elapsed time for an already busy entrepreneur. The BizPaL project was created to significantly improve the experience of businesses dealing with multiple governments - and to serve as a model for similar collaborative efforts between governments in the future. Introducing a New Concept BizPaL offers entrepreneurs a dramatically improved way to access the information they need in this often confusing process. Built on a ground-breaking collaborative arrangement between federal, provincial, and local governments, BizPaL provides online access to interactive wizards that quickly guide entrepreneurs through the process of identifying the regulations that apply to them and detailed direction on how to comply. High-Quality Service Delivery BizPaL prompts users with a series of straightforward questions on the nature and location of their business. Based on the answers, BizPaL generates a customized list of the federal, provincial/territorial, and local government regulations with which they will need to comply. This list comes complete with information on any prerequisites for the permit or licence, costs, renewal period, and waiting period for each. BizPaL also informs the entrepreneur if any site inspection is required, provides links to online or downloadable application forms (where available), and offers links to additional online information and contact information. To meet the needs of busy entrepreneurs, the web-based service is available 24/7 from the entrepreneurs own home or business. Transforming Administration BizPaL not only enhances service for entrepreneurs, it is also helping to transform the administration of participating provincial and local governments by providing a common service mapping language across a wide range of governments. This common approach to classifying, storing, and providing access to information on business regulations is at the heart of BizPaL, and is what makes it possible for clients to save time, money, and frustration, while enabling participating jurisdictions to increase rates of compliance and lower service delivery costs. Already, the BizPaL service has secured collaborative arrangements with six provinces and territories, along with more than 25 different local governments across the country. The list of participating jurisdictions is growing quickly as word of the benefits of BizPaL for entrepreneurs and governments spreads. The BizPaL service has already received a number of prestigious awards for its proven ability to enhance service. It has also been highlighted as a global best practice in cross-jurisdictional service delivery by both Gartner and Accenture, and efforts are underway to share the underlying business and technical infrastructure with other governments around the world, with pilot design efforts already complete with the Governorate of Alexandria, Egypt.

Who proposed the solution, who implemented it and who were the stakeholders?
• June 2003 – obtained federal government funding to develop an enhanced business case and proof-of-concept solution. • December 2003 – delivered an enhanced business case and proof-of-concept solution with the Federal, Whitehorse, Yukon, Halifax, and Nova Scotia governments. • February 2004 – obtained approval in principle for federal funding to complete a full pilot project. • April 2004 – began Pilot Project with the Federal, Whitehorse, Yukon, Kamloops, British Columbia, Halton Region, Halton Hills, Milton, and Ontario governments. • September 2004 – issued a Request For Proposal for the development of the BizPaL technology platform. • February 2005 – contract awarded to winning firm for the development of the BizPaL technology platform. • December 2, 2005 – official launch of the BizPaL service in Yukon in conjunction with the federal government and the municipalities of Carmacks, Dawson City, Faro, Haines Junction, Mayo, Teslin, Watson Lake, and Whitehorse. • April 2006 – official launches of BizPaL in Halton Region (Ontario) and Kamloops (British Columbia). • April 2006 – BizPaL completes the pilot implementation phase and moves into sustainable program mode, including expansion to other governments across Canada. • June 2006 – official launch of the BizPaL service with the first post-pilot partners - the province of Saskatchewan with the City of Saskatoon. • June 16, 2006 - the Government of Canada’s Public Service Award of Excellence in the category of Excellence in Citizen-focused Service Delivery. • October 18, 2006 - honourable mention for the 2006 Agatha Bystram Award for Leadership in Information Management. • October 23, 2006 – a Government Technology (GTEC) 2006 Distinction Award in the Cross-Jurisdictional Partnerships, National Awards category. • November 1, 2006 - the Diamond Award of Excellence (Best of Show) and a Gold Medal (Customer Care) at the 14th annual Canadian Information and Productivity Awards. • December 2006 – province of Manitoba launches BizPaL with the Morden Stanley Thompson Winkler Planning District, and announces participation of Brandon. • April 1, 2007 – long-term governance model and sustainability-focused cost-sharing model go into effect.

Describe how and when the initiative was implemented by answering these questions
a. What were the strategies used to implement the initiative? In no more than 500 words, provide a summary of the main objectives and strategies of the initiative, how they were established and by whom.
In 1993, the Canadian government’s multi-year “Government Online” initiative started to turn its attention to what they saw as the natural evolution of these activities – the effective use of technology to transform the way that government services were delivered with a focus on co-ordinating the services provided by different departments and different levels of government. In this light, Industry Canada proposed a pilot project intended to address a key pain point for small- and medium-sized businesses across Canada – the time-consuming process of navigating the various government permissions required of businesses from numerous departments within federal, provincial/territorial, municipal, and sometimes regional levels of government. Based on an enhanced business case and a proof-of-concept developed through co-operation between the federal, Yukon, Whitehorse, Halifax, and Nova Scotia governments, a total of over $3 million was obtained from the federal government to develop the concept, technology platform, and underlying governance and business models over a two-year period to launch a pilot service by March 31, 2006. With the generous contribution of in-kind resources from participating pilot jurisdictions including Whitehorse, Yukon, Kamloops, British Columbia, Halton Region, Halton Hills, Milton, and Ontario, the consortium was successful in launching the service, initially in Yukon, in December 2005.

b. What were the key development and implementation steps and the chronology? No more than 500 words
BizPaL was built around a broader series of four priorities and purposes: 1. A new model for enhanced government service to business We set out to develop a new model for delivering information and access points for permits and licences for businesses. The use of a common service mapping language, a shared database, and shared web-based technology represented a dramatic new model for all levels of government in this country to work together. This new model not only changed the way information was managed and shared with businesses, it also transformed the work of service delivery staff who themselves could now make use of BizPaL as they interact with entrepreneurs. 2. A collaborative arrangement among multiple jurisdictions The BizPaL project was also designed to develop a new model of inter-jurisdictional partnership and collaboration in Canada. To effectively bring together the expertise and resources of all levels of government, we had to develop and establish innovative governance and cost-sharing structures for the development and the delivery of BizPaL that would involve all participating jurisdictions and avoid any conflicts based on jurisdiction and bureaucracy. 3. A solution delivering cross-jurisdictional information More than just a database, BizPaL had to be an intuitive and effective tool to deliver cross-jurisdictional information to an audience that is busy and frequently overloaded with information. We developed a web interface and a distributed web hosting and promotion model that was capable of delivering cross-jurisdictional information quickly, easily, and in a sustainable way. 4. Service transformation Finally, the BizPaL team set out to transform the way service is delivered to small businesses in this country. We adopted widely accepted standards for classifying jurisdictions, industry sectors, and business categories, and secured the agreement of multiple partners and jurisdictions to use those common standards. We capitalized on modern information technology to improve the way information on government requirements was gathered and shared. We developed a business model to sustain BizPaL in the long run and we worked to attract as many participating jurisdictions as possible (work that continues still, generating a growing list of partners).

c. What were the main obstacles encountered? How were they overcome? No more than 500 words
1. "No wrong door strategy” BizPaL is an initiative to improve services to business by significantly reducing the time businesses spend on identifying regulatory requirements and how to obtain these government regulations. The strategy is for the various jurisdictions to work collaboratively to make BizPaL available through a number of service doors, at the federal, provincial, and local level. In this way, whichever of these doors an entrepreneur chooses, the BizPaL service will be there, ready to guide them through the process. 2. Inter-jurisdictional consortium The BizPaL consortium has built constructive relationships with other levels of government, government agencies, and business sector organizations to provide this service. Most notable is the goal of sustainable co-operation across jurisdictions to deliver coherent information and services without impacting local responsibility, accountability or content management. BizPaL has developed a governance model that includes representatives from local governments, provinces/territories, and the federal government who share the responsibility for managing the project. Each government participant in the BizPaL project has agreed to a set of common principles that will govern their collaboration, ensuring that no government is perceived as retaining full ownership. 3. Distributed maintenance, hosting, and promotion BizPaL adopted a strategy that shares responsibilities throughout the consortium, thus leveraging the resources of each participant, keeping costs down, and making the project more sustainable in the long run. Each BizPaL participant has access to the central database and is responsible for keeping information on their jurisdiction’s permits and licences up to date. This way, the responsibility for maintenance and updating rests with the people best positioned to undertake the work quickly and correctly. 4. Innovative use of technology The BizPaL service applies proven existing technologies in new ways in order to address the barriers that have always stood in the way of effective horizontal cross-jurisdictional service delivery. These innovations include the following: SOAP-based Web Services to Enhance Ownership/Visibility of the Service Instead of a traditional "government portal" approach of having partners link their clients to a centralized site, BizPaL took the approach of developing a service that could easily be deployed within each participant’s website, regardless of their level of internal technical sophistication. The result is that the service becomes an integral part of the participant’s website, thereby enhancing both the client experience and the participant’s sense of ownership and responsibility for the ongoing maintenance of the service. Shared Infrastructure, Independent Presentation BizPaL needed to design a technical solution that could be shared at relatively low costs, would allow partners full authority and control of their own data, yet allow participants to present the service as it were their own. By implementing a single shared data repository with a distributed content management model, participants are able to leverage economies of scale while still maintaining full control of their own data and presentation of that data.

d. What resources were used for the initiative and what were its key benefits? In no more than 500 words, specify what were the financial, technical and human resources’ costs associated with this initiative. Describe how resources were mobilized
A number of positive changes have come about as a direct result of the BizPaL project and consortium. These benefits have accrued to the Government of Canada, provincial, territorial, regional, and local government participants, and, of course, business owners and operators in Canada. Government Participants BizPaL is resulting in improved organizational effectiveness - both within participating governments and especially between them. Within a participant organization, BizPaL: • Facilitates enhanced client service that is co-ordinated and consistent over all service channels; • Provides a tool for training staff on permit and licence requirements; and • Facilitates service transformation through business process mapping exercises by uncovering inefficiencies and duplication between the various levels of government, as well as within a given jurisdiction. Between government organizations, BizPaL is serving as a real-world proving ground for the evolution of cross-jurisdictional service delivery and information management. In this regard, BizPaL has: • Established an innovative horizontal governance structure to support decision-making and funding; • Developed new technology and data management approaches to allow governments to present both their own data and that of other participants; and • Developed information management guidelines and aligned with emerging pan-Canadian government data standards. In addition to supporting vastly improved customer self-service over the Internet channel, BizPaL also supports enhanced and quicker service to customers over telephone and in-person channels. In many cases, staff are able to push clients to the much more cost-effective Internet channel to get far more complete and correct information. The cost savings to government of moving these kinds of inquiries to the Internet channel is conservatively estimated in the hundreds of thousands of dollars per year. Businesses The changes for our business clients are the most dramatic and beneficial. With BizPaL, they can spend far less time searching for the government requirements that apply to them and less time searching for the right department or agency to serve them. The connection to online and downloadable forms is instant. Businesses are now less likely to incur the inconvenience, costs, and legal risks of non-compliance, because they have access to the correct information at the time and place that meets their needs. One baseline study in Yukon showed that prior to BizPaL, it took a knowledgeable territorial government employee 5 hours over a span of 3 days to identify just the territorial permit and licence requirements for a single business sector. With BizPaL, any entrepreneur can find complete, customized information at all levels of government in less than 5 minutes. Similar experiences and metrics are being reported by all participating governments. It is conservatively estimated that once BizPaL is available nation-wide, time and effort savings by businesses attributable to BizPaL will reach $10 million per year, and both governments and businesses will benefit from a reduction in involuntary non-compliance with government requirements.

Is the initiative sustainable and transferable?
The business model for BizPaL was designed for maximum sustainability and transferability. Sustainability was assured by adopting a distributed model of information management, service presentation, and promotion. Each participating jurisdiction has access to their data and is responsible for ensuring it is kept complete and up to date. This distributes the costs and ensures the highest quality of data. Moreover, BizPaL information is delivered directly through the websites of participating jurisdictions. Here again, costs are distributed, logical access points in provincial and local government websites are leveraged, and the service is made more sustainable by the ever-increasing number of partners and their resources. The transferability of BizPaL stems from the common service mapping language and the widely shared standards for classifying jurisdictions, industry sectors, and business activities that are used. All of these standards are available for other cross-jurisdictional online service delivery initiatives, and their effectiveness is now proven. Perhaps more importantly, the success of the partnerships developed for BizPaL also auger well for future applications that will build on the goodwill, governance model, and success of our efforts. A pilot project demonstrated the transferability of the BizPaL approach, and how it could be used in a broader array of compliance requirements. Natural Resources Canada joined Industry Canada, the Government of British Columbia’s Natural Resource Opportunities Centre, the Government of Yukon, and the BizPaL consortium to significantly expand the scope of information provided within BizPaL to businesses in selected natural resource sectors. Additionally, the technical model used for BizPaL has enormous potential to address forward-looking issues such as pan-Canadian standards, metadata, and service registries. The BizPaL technical platform and service delivery approach could also be used to deliver customized information services for both businesses and citizens, such as sources of financing, exporting requirements, social service entitlements, and more. Based on the success of the pilot and the strong endorsement of pilot jurisdictions, the federal government allocated an additional $6 million over two years in Budget 2006 to accelerate the expansion of the BizPaL initiative.

What are the impact of your initiative and the lessons learned?
Cross-Jurisdictional Ownership, Governance, and Buy-In: Many cross-jurisdictional initiatives in Canada have failed in the past due to historical obstacles of jurisdiction, competitiveness, disparate size, and lack of human resources of participating governments, and lack of co-operation, disagreement among participants, collective political will, or low usage by clients. The BizPaL initiative consciously addressed these and other issues throughout the project with the following measures: • All participants were encouraged to focus on the needs of the collective client – Canadian businesses – and work independently and collectively to overcome their respective political or organizational barriers; • By offering a truly valuable new service to clients that could not be delivered without co-operation, competition between governments actually became an asset, rather than an obstacle, as governments see a need to join the initiative in order to stay competitive with neighbouring jurisdictions that already offer the BizPaL service; • All participating governments are collective owners of the initiative and its technology, and have a voice in the governance structure, thereby enhancing buy-in and commitment; • In contrast to many previous cross-jurisdictional initiatives in Canada, all provinces and territories – regardless of size – have an equal voice in the management of the initiative and will contribute to the ongoing shared sustainability costs of the initiative; • To familiarize participants with project, align initial goals, avoid misunderstandings, and develop a common understanding of the project, an Open Forum, extensive consultations through an initial Working Group, and teleconferences were held frequently to develop consensus and keep everyone involved and informed; • To enjoy maximum flexibility for each participating jurisdiction, a web-service model and a Proof of Concept benchmarking effort was adopted with agreement from all participants in its direction; • To ensure respect of each jurisdiction’s autonomy, promoting the feeling of ownership, the action plan and budget was developed in collaboration with all participants including ongoing monitoring, consultations, and course corrections; and • BizPaL usage was ensured by usability and focus testing, support from national associations such as the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, securing assistance of participants in promoting the service to the business community, and acquiring professional external assistance to develop a promotional plan and materials.


Institution Name:		The BizPaL Consortium
Institution Type:		Other
Contact Person:		Myriam Montrat
Title:		Director, Service Delivery and Partnerships
Telephone/ Fax:		(613) 991-4841
Institution's / Project's Website:		(613) 946-4449
E-mail:		montrat.myriam@ic.gc.ca
Address:		CD Howe Building, 235 Queen Street, ROom 432B
Postal Code:		K1A 0H5
City:		Ottawa
State/Province:		Ontario
Country:		Canada

The Problem

Solution and Key Benefits

Actors and Stakeholders

(a) Strategies

(b) Implementation

(c) Overcoming Obstacles

(d) Use of Resources

Sustainability and Transferability

Lessons Learned

Contact Information