The Information and Information Technology Strategy
The 1998 I&IT Strategy entitled “Using Information Technology to Transform the Government for the 21st Century” was a comprehensive plan to:
- create a new organization and governance structure for all I&IT resources to eliminate duplication of effort between and within ministries
- invest in a common infrastructure to support key business needs;
- enable seamless and integrated service delivery across program lines to meet client needs; and
- increase accountability by introducing OPS-wide policies and standards for I&IT.
The strategy outlines the vision for e-Government in Ontario:
“Information and information technology will be used effectively to advance the government’s business vision and to enable and support flexible, responsive and innovative public service.”
To achieve this vision, the traditional approach to managing I&IT in the government had to be changed by:
- reorganizing the I&IT staff across all ministries into one organization. Before, each ministry developed and operated its own I&IT infrastructure. Now, there is one I&IT organization headed up by the Corporate Chief Information Officer at the Ministry of Government Services (MGS)
- emphasizing the development of common I&IT infrastructure when that made sense
- committing to limiting the development of new ministry-specific I&IT infrastructure
- organizing I&IT staff in ministries into I&IT Clusters, representing the I&IT needs of several ministries with common business or policy goals. In all, there are now eight I&IT clusters of ministries and one corporate cluster. Before, there were more than 20 ministries involved in I&IT development and operations.
That strategy has been substantially achieved. Building on the foundation provided by the 1998 strategy, the province will continue to use technology to further transform government administration and the delivery of public services to Ontarians by:
- enabling government priorities (e.g. fostering horizontal approaches to government, encouraging greater citizen participation and engagement in decision-making processes, enabling fair access to government services)
- building value from I&IT investments (e.g. leveraging existing IT investments, focusing on common standards and business applications)
- supporting horizontal leadership for transformation (e.g. facilitating horizontal business directions, developing enterprise management systems and corporate applications, building inter-jurisdictional partnerships, creating and retaining a highly skilled and flexible workforce)
