GC Enterprise Architecture/Board/When to come

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What do I do first?


Step 1

Self-assess your initiative against the "Criteria" in the  Directive on Service and Digital to determine if the initiative should be presenting to the GC EARB.

You can also check here who (which departments) needs to come as per policy.


For reference, please find snippets of the 'Criteria' from the Directive on Service and Digital below:

Section 4.1.1 the departmental Chief Information Officer (CIO) is responsible for:

4.1.1.2 Submitting to the Government of Canada enterprise architecture review board proposals concerned with the design, development, installation and implementation of digital initiatives:
4.1.1.2.1 Where the department is willing to invest a minimum of the following amounts to address the problem or take advantage of the opportunity:
4.1.1.2.1.1 $2.5  million dollars for departments that do not have an approved Organizational Project Management Capacity Class or that have an approved Organizational Project Management Capacity Class of 1  according to the Directive on the Management of Projects and Programmes;
4.1.1.2.1.2 $5  million dollars for departments that have an approved Organizational Project Management Capacity Class of 2;
4.1.1.2.1.3 $10  million dollars for departments that have an approved Organizational Project Management Capacity Class of 3;
4.1.1.2.1.4 $15  million dollars for the Department of National Defence;
4.1.1.2.1.5 $25  million dollars for departments that have an approved Organizational Project Management Capacity Class of 4;
4.1.1.2.2 That involve emerging technologies;
4.1.1.2.3 That require an exception under this directive or other directives under the policy;
4.1.1.2.4 That are categorized at the protected B level or below‎ using a deployment model other than public cloud for application hosting (including infrastructure), application deployment, or application development; or
4.1.1.2.5 As directed by the CIO of Canada


Step 2

a. If REQUIRED to come: Complete a draft of the GC EARB Presenter Template (English Template / French Template)

  • This replaces the previous version of the template.

OR

b. If NOT REQUIRED to come: Provide rationale in an email



then forward either the filled out template OR the rationale to:

TBS EA team (if the link doesn't work, copy and paste this email address: EA.AE@tbs-sct.gc.ca)


Step 3

Once the filled out document is received, a GC EA member will be assigned as a lead for the initiative and he/she will schedule a review with extended EA teams (various SMEs) to go through the document with the submitting department.
During the review, the GC EA lead will go through page by page and the SMEs may ask questions or suggest recommendations to update the page.
Once the review is completed, the department need to incorporate the changes to the document and resubmit it to the GC EA lead.


Step 4

Once the updated document is resubmitted, a follow-up review may be scheduled to go through the document again.
This process may be repeated until the document is ready for GC EARB.


Step 5

When the document is finally ready, the department may start the translation process of the document.
In the meantime, the GC EA lead will submit the final draft document to the attention of the GC EARB co-chairs for a review on a scheduled date.
The co-chairs may provide additional input / recommendation to the document, after which the department will be notified of the additional required changes by the GC EA lead.


Step 6

The department submit the final document of both English and French version for the GC EARB to the GC EA lead.
The committee secretariat send the GC EARB meeting invite to the department, the discussions during the meeting will be transcribed and the decision will be made at the meeting whether or not the initiative is endorsed.
The Record of Discussion will be published once it has been approved by the co-chairs.



Things to note

Ensure that all proposals submitted for review to GC EARB have first been assessed by your DARB (Departmental Architecture Review Board) where one has been established as described in the Directive on Service and Digital.

Section 4.1.1.1 The departmental Chief Information Officer (CIO) is responsible for: Chairing a departmental architecture review board that is mandated to review and approve the architecture of all departmental digital initiatives and ensure their alignment with enterprise architectures.

Ensure your departmental initiatives are evaluated against and align to the requirements set out as the Enterprise Architecture Framework


Enterprise Solution

If your solution should be considered as an Enterprise Solution, please go to the Enterprise Solution page for further information and to get the right GC EARB template specifically for Enterprise Solution.


How do you go about getting on the agenda?

  • Look at forward agenda and send a request to EA team to schedule a date
  • To know when to submit your first draft for GC EARB, please use the following Document Timeline Planner tool.
  • Complete a draft of the GC EARB Presenter Template (English Template / French Template). For items that are informational or follow-up reports on conditions or actions from previous presentations, and where there are no concerns to raise, can be considered as “consent agenda items.” The review agenda items are not allocated any presentation time at the meeting. Departments are requested to use the Condition Templates DRAFT English GC EARB Condition Template / DRAFT French GC EARB Condition Template to demonstrate compliance with conditions.
  • Email the draft GC EARB presentation to the EA team (EA.AE@tbs-sct.gc.ca)
  • GC Enterprise Architecture will contact you to review and conduct initial assessment.


Architectural Alignment

  • The TBS EA team will use the details provided in the departmental GCEARB presentation to summarize the alignment to the EA Framework.
  • A summary is prepared that summarizes the level of alignment across business, information, application, technology and security domain, areas of possible concern and finally recommendations for endorsement and any application conditions are noted.
  • This EA summary is shared with the departmental contacts, the GC EARB Co-Chairs prior to the meeting and is presented as the summary slide by the TBS EA at the GC EARB presentation.


Meeting Logistics – How It Works

Minimum 4 weeks ahead

  • You send your draft version of the GC EARB deck (can be either English or French) to TBS GC EA team
  • TBS GC EA team shares your draft with the other subject matter experts (SMEs) from TBS Cyber, CCCS, SSC EA, etc...
  • A meeting with the SMEs and department is setup for feedback and review.


NOTE: PLEASE BRING YOUR TECHNICAL RESOURCES INTO THE EXTENDED EA REVIEW MEETING, AS PREPARATION FOR THE GC EARB

2 weeks ahead of EARB .....

  • Thursday (end of day): Draft English deck for the co-chair pre-brief is due.


1 Week ahead of EARB ......

  • Thursday: Co-chair pre-brief happens and any final feedback from them will be shared with you
  • Friday (end of day): FINAL presentation materials (BOTH French and English) is due


Week of EARB ......

  • The Secretariat will extend the calendar invitations to the presenters (typically 1-2 people) and other audiences that may be required
  • Packages are prepared and distributed to GC EARB members for their review prior to the scheduled meeting.


Day of .....

Virtual
  • Attend via Join Microsoft Teams Meeting link found in the meeting invite. Link also available on the GCconnex site
In Person
  • Present yourself to the separate security TABLE and see the OCIO Secretariat Representative. (Note: It is recommended to arrive 15 minutes prior to the meeting)
  • You will be signed in and provided a temporary security pass.
  • Make your way to the identified meeting room.
  • Once in the meeting room, please RETURN the temporary pass to OCIO representatives.


Post EARB Meeting

  • A Record of Discussion (RoD) is prepared after the meeting to capture any highlights that the Board noted, as well as the decision of the Board with any conditions.
  • Invite will be sent from the OCIO Secretariat for the Monday following the meeting for the presenters to review the draft RoD and contribute any edits
  • The RoD may take several weeks to be officially published, but will be made available on the GCEARB GCconnex site.
  • A decision letter is sent from the co-chairs to confirm the conditions and endorsement if applicable
  • The RoD is brought to a future meeting to be approved by the members