Canadian Government Executive - Volume 22

February 2016 //

Canadian Government Executive /

The “Destination 2020” process cultivated

new ideas and forty per cent of staff cast

thousands of votes for various grass-roots

ideas. The results were distilled into nine

priorities and re-circulated to employees

in a second round of outreach. The first

of many “Innovation Dens” was held in

late 2014. To connect the innovators with

the decision makers, volunteers from

eight offices in two regions were invited

to bring their proposals forward. Over a

two-day video conference, 41 participants

pitched their ideas to a Den Panel. The

atmosphere was kept light as panelists

posed questions to the proponents. Ulti-

mately fifteen suggestions were accepted

for implementation.

While this was going on, the CRA’s In-

novation Lab was born. Its mandate was

to create safe spaces to experiment with

ideas and introduce new approaches to

solving existing problems. It is constant-

ly on the lookout for emerging products

which can be added to the Agency’s inves-

tigative tool kit. Partnering with program

branches, it can kick the tires; trying out

new things without putting the program

at risk.

This new attitude frees the Lab to ex-

periment with statistical analysis soft-

ware which permits the interpretation of

the vast data storehouses at the Agency’s

disposal. The results can shed light on

matters ranging from tax evasion to sub-

tle economic behaviours. Using this in-

sight it can identify trends which can then

forecast the impact of proposed changes

to tax laws or service delivery methods.

The Lab is sensitive to the importance of

translating results into understandable

and usable advice for program managers.

The Lab does not work alone. The na-

ture of its partnerships with programs

within the CRA varies. It can provide a

sounding board or peer review ideas. It

can invite people from different areas to

the same table to discuss common prob-

lems and bridge silos. For complex mat-

ters, the Lab teams up with program col-

leagues to conduct full-on experiments.

The Lab can add extra capacity, sharper

focus and statistical expertise to shed

light on answers that elude program

managers who are coping with the every-

day challenges of ongoing operations. So

far, the lab has dedicated between one to

three employees per project. Its working

model to this point is to analyze data in

100-day chunks.

Projects can originate in a variety of

ways. Managers might call the Lab with a

question, senior management can direct

that a certain subject area be examined,

or the Lab self-identifies topics for which

it believes their capabilities are well suit-

ed and will yield positive results. Typical-

ly there will be director-level agreement

on a project charter. The goal is to keep

the administrative process light.

The first major project undertaken by

the Lab is called Channel Shift. In this

case, the Lab is starting with a successful

program, and working to make it better.

Last year, 80 per cent of tax filers used the

Agency’s electronic filing services: 21.5

million individual returns compared to

11 million a decade ago. Canadians were

incentivized: while paper returns took

weeks to process, e-filing and direct de-

posit can combine to produce a refund in

eight days. Despite the obvious benefits,

five million taxpayers have still not made

this “channel shift.”

Enter the Lab, which asks “Who still

Design

files on paper, pays by check, and why?”

It has harnessed quantitative analysis to

provide a better understanding of per-

sonal income tax filers’ choices about

filing and payment methods. The small

team is conducting a 100-day “deep dive”-

into data sets on filing and payments.

This comprises millions of tax records,

supplemented by commercially sourced

socio-economic data. The findings to date

are promising and potential approaches

to e-service enhancements are being

uncovered. These enhancements should

make it easier for tax filers to shift their

delivery channels and use on-line sys-

tems.

The Lab is only getting started. The

staff is still very small (less than a dozen),

but the Lab is generating a demand for

employees with specialized technical ex-

pertise as well as the soft skills of inno-

vation leadership. Team members must

be resilient, adaptable and risk-tolerant.

They should be strategic thinkers and be

curious and creative. To this end, the Lab

has partnered with universities to help

identify candidates with the suitable

training and background. “Our innova-

tion journey over the next decade hinges

upon IT-enabled service delivery and big

data analytics,” says CRA Commissioner

Andrew Treusch. “These will be the keys

to unlocking better, faster and more indi-

vidualized service at a reduced cost.” The

Commissioner’s vision for the Agency is

that it will be a world leader in e-service

delivery by the end of the decade.

indover

is an author, teacher

and consultant specializing in the

public sector role surrounding major

events.

www.rodwindover.ca

To break through the inertia, a new approach was required, one

that would reassure decision makers that risk had been minimized

to levels where innovation could be safely introduced.