This presentation by Jamie Tibbetts was made at the OECD conference on Innovating the Public Sector: From Ideas to Impact (12-13 November 2014). For more information visit the OECD Observatory of Public Sector Innovation: https://www.oecd.org/governance/observatory-public-sector-innovation/events/.

1. Raising the Bar through the Innovative Use of
Technology at Health Canada’s
Finance Branch
Jamie Tibbetts
Assistant Deputy Minister and Chief Financial Officer
Health Canada
OECD Innovation Talks
November 2014

2. 2
Purpose of Presentation
• To share recent experience regarding the ground-breaking work
of Health Canada into the domain of “Procure to Pay” (“P2P”)
 Offers a vision of what the future holds for financial operations
across the Government of Canada and how to embrace innovation
• Fits well with the theme of Innovative Use of Technology and in
particular the concept of Business Process Management (BPM)
• Achieved a 300% return on investment!

3. 3
Our Challenge
• We needed a dramatic solution to move us beyond the green
eye-shade approaches of yesteryear to the brave new work of
paperless, electronic transactional processing
• When executives try to figure out where and when to automate
business processes, there’s usually a gap between the strategic
vision, project planning and execution
 Business Process Management (BPM) bridges this gap ---it is a
systematic approach to making an organization's workflow more
effective, more efficient and more capable of adapting to an ever-
changing environment
 It shifts the focus from IT driving automation from the top down to a
more strategic perspective

4. 4
Our Solution
• BPM was the means to an end which enabled me to deliver
“Procure to Pay” (P2P)
 End-to-end transactional processing --- electronic and integrated
 Goods and services acquired and paid for via the corporate financial
system, enabling one-time data capture; standardization; email
integration; timely payments; and nationalized services
 Significant improvements in service delivery to clients as well as
gains in efficiency (a workforce reduction of 30)
 Pioneered this in the core public service of Canada
 P2P fully operational and has raised the bar in terms of how finance
is done
 Offers transferable lessons learned to organizations wishing to
emulate its results

5. 5
Issues
• How to get started
• Change management
• Risk aversion
• Organizational design
• Environmental triggers
• Stakeholder engagement
• Standardization

6. 6
Lessons Learned
• Leadership is critical: commitment from the Deputy Minister on
down was key
• Timing: Implementation crossed fiscal year-end closing periods,
so risk mitigation strategies were put in place
• Training: A training plan is required from the onset that includes
everyone who will either support or use the new system. Web-
based training is helpful.
• Transition Management: Consider all the people affected by
change; BPM dictates a change management plan to inform,
educate, prepare and enable staff to embrace change

7. 7
BPM: A Recap
• BPM gives you a process in 6 parts to change your operating
environment:
 Strategic planning
 Business case development
 Project planning
 Blueprinting and detailed design
 Execution and roll-out (go-live)
 Stabilization and enhancements (ongoing opportunities for
improvement)
• BPM worked for me. It can work for you. Your payoff will mean
greater efficiency, fewer errors, better service, and, last but not
least, a reputation for YOU as an agent of change