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GC Enterprise IT Portfolio FAQs (view source)
Revision as of 08:54, 22 November 2019
, 08:54, 22 November 2019no edit summary
==Software==
==Software==
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<div style="color:#00000; font-size:medium; background-color:#f9d6b8; padding:10px;">'''Question: Where should I place expenses for enterprise software such as SAP, and PeopleSoft. The guide seems to imply two different places?'''</div>
<span style="color:#bd5e01; font-size:medium;">'''Answer:'''</span> The two most likely places to track software expenditures are in ADDM (Schedule 5 & Schedule 6) or under DCE (Schedule 4). Where the software should be placed falls into two general cases:
*''''Case 1: Software which is managed and maintained by the department.''''
**In this case, there are developers who work on the software, and the software is being configured, managed, and/or developed by the department. As regards to SAP, this means that there is department-specific customization, and that the IT function has a direct responsibility for the management of the software.
**For this situation, the software should be placed under ADDM (Schedule 5 & Schedule 6) and reported against the appropriate Application Domain and Outcome Area. For SAP, that would be Application Domain --> Financial Management, and Outcome Area --> Internal Services.
*''''Case 2: Software is used by program areas, but there is minimal responsibility for the IT function to support or manage the software.''''
**In this case, the software is provided by a third party, and IT has a minimal involvement with the software. There is no customization of the software, and IT's responsibility is to ensure connectivity, to install patches, and to possibly reach out to the provider in the event of an outage. No customization or configuration is done by the IT shop. In an SAP example, the Finance group has little or no interaction with IT for management of the SAP instance, and reaches out directly to the provider for any issues or changes.
**For this situation, the software would be expensed under DCE Services (Schedule 4) under the GC Corporate / Program-Specific Applications.
This rubric is usable in a general case, to differentiate between program-based applications which are or are not supported by IT. If IT is responsible for installation, patching, vendor interaction, and little else, then these applications would be expensed under DCE Services (Schedule 4). Software which implies customization and development by the IT function would be expensed under ADDM (Schedule 5 & Schedule 6).
Another way to look at this is organizationally. If you have a application development team with ties to the software, it will most likely fall into ADDM. If the Client Services / Workstation Management team is the only group linked to the software, it will mostly fall into DCE Services.
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==Facilities==
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<div style="color:#00000; font-size:medium; background-color:#f9d6b8; padding:10px;">'''Question: Since Shared Services Canada (SSC) has assumed control of all data centres managed by my department, do I have to report anything in the Facilities section?'''</div>
<span style="color:#bd5e01; font-size:medium;">'''Answer:'''</span> Departments should only report items under Facilities if they are still considered primary operators of the facility space and are responsible for paying rental, utility, and other costs. Otherwise, if SSC is the owner/operator, SSC will report on these areas.
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<div style="color:#00000; font-size:medium; background-color:#f9d6b8; padding:10px;">'''Question: We occupy space that is owned by PSPC. What is included in the 13% mark-up of salaries for accommodations? How do we report the costs for our use of that space?'''</div>
<span style="color:#bd5e01; font-size:medium;">'''Answer:'''</span> These funds cover normal rent and operating and maintenance expenses that are encountered by PSPC in order to provide general purpose office accommodations to client departments. This includes base building fit-up. The 13% excludes tenant services and additional building services that go above norms, such as alterations or improvements to existing accommodation, or services that exceed the normal services specified in the occupancy agreement. PSPC is resourced to provide standard building services through the Space Envelope Regime. Any services beyond generic levels and normal hours of operation are not funded in the approved Space Envelopes and, therefore, fall under the financial responsibility and accountability of tenant departments. The 13% levy provides for the space occupied by people, so in reporting to the Cost Model it must be included as a component of HR cost. If departments incur additional IT-specific accommodation costs beyond those already covered in the 13%, they should be reported by departments as Facilities costs. Contact your Real Property officer for details.
The IT Expenditure Model automatically populates an amount for Office Accommodation based on 13% of salary. Additional expenditure that is to be included as a component of HR should be identified in the “Training, travel and Other HR Expenses” row.
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<div style="color:#00000; font-size:medium; background-color:#f9d6b8; padding:10px;">'''Question: When a department has a Data Centre that is located within an Office building, currently the costs are included within Office building costs. Are such costs not covered under the 13% markup applicable to FTEs?'''</div>
<span style="color:#bd5e01; font-size:medium;">'''Answer:'''</span> PSPC provides space up to the Space Envelope limit without distinction between office and special purpose. If space for your data centre is within the Space Envelope, then the cost of your data centre space is subsumed under the 13% markup for office accommodation. In such a case, you are asked to add a note related to Facilities cost in Schedule 5 - Notes, so that TBS can understand where your data centre space is accounted for in the Cost Model. If the space for your data centre is outside the Space Envelope, then that is not covered under 13% markup applicable to FTEs. In either case, please note that PSPC's 13% accommodation levy does not cover additional building costs typically associated with data centres such as uninterruptable power systems, enhanced physical security, alterations to floor load capacity, additional utilities, etc, so these should be duly captured as Facilities costs.
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<div style="color:#00000; font-size:medium; background-color:#f9d6b8; padding:10px;">'''Question: Will PSPC provide departments the information with respect to utility costs for Data Centres in the buildings owned by PSPC but used by departments?'''</div>
<span style="color:#bd5e01; font-size:medium;">'''Answer:'''</span> PSPC is not always able to distinguish the cost of electricity between office space and data centres located in office space. Utility costs are generally captured at the overall building or complex level. PSPC Real Property Branch is developing a capability for more granular collection of data, and while it does exist in a few locations, it will be a few years before this capability is more widely available. Consequently, PSPC will not provide information on related utility data for office space and data centres. Departments in this situation are advised to include a Comment that these additional data centre utility costs cannot be included in their Facilities cost at this time.
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==Human Resources - General==
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<div style="color:#00000; font-size:medium; background-color:#f9d6b8; padding:10px;">'''Question: Can we assume that our IM Costs (mainly human resources involved who in our case are part of our Branch) are NOT included in this IT Cost Model?'''</div>
<span style="color:#bd5e01; font-size:medium;">'''Answer:'''</span> The IT costing is focused on IT and the IT Services Profile. IM has a community that is developing an IM Service Profile. The IT cost portion of IM must be ''''included''''. IM Resources in departments such as Librarians etc will not be included in this work. IT tools supporting IM e.g. Document Management Software (e.g. GCDocs) should be included.
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<div style="color:#00000; font-size:medium; background-color:#f9d6b8; padding:10px;">'''Question: Are Web publishing resources to be included in the IT Cost Model?'''</div>
<span style="color:#bd5e01; font-size:medium;">'''Answer:'''</span> Yes, these resources should be <u>'''included'''</u> if they are IT resources performing IT Services. Computer Science (CS) resources who are doing web designs and programming (included in Application Development/Maintenance Services in the IT Service Profile) as an example should be included. However, the FTEs in business areas, developing non-IT content or involved in Corporate Communications related to Web publishing, should be excluded.
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<div style="color:#00000; font-size:medium; background-color:#f9d6b8; padding:10px;">'''Question: We know that we are not including the business-side analysts (e.g. FI's that configure SAP). Please confirm that we are not including business side IT project managers and IT program managers (sometimes, but not always, these people are CS's). In this context, the business side IT project managers have overall project responsibility, but IT project managers within CIO branch lead the IT part. [Amended]'''</div>
<span style="color:#bd5e01; font-size:medium;">'''Answer:'''</span> To state simply:
#Business analysts who are not CS should only be included if they are in an IT role, or are part of the IT function.
#IT function staff should be included (CS or not), unless they are in an IM role, or in the rare cases where they are embedded Internal Service staff (HR, Finance, Legal) for which the answer for Q4 below would apply. Administrative IT function staff are counted as part of the IT Program Management category.
#IT Staff (if not CSs) should be included if they are in an IT role, even if they are not part of the IT function (meaning that they are in a business function)
#CS staff should always be included, regardless of role or where they are, unless they have temporarily or permanently changed their classification.
#Project managers (PMs) who are on the program side should be excluded.
Therefore, As you have correctly stated, Business Analysts undertaking activities related to financial configuration are excluded e.g. specifying financial coding for loading SAP tables, defining financial reports etc. Departments should not include the cost of Business Analysts working in Program areas or other Internal Service functions in the costs reported to TBS. However, IT staff operating in business functional areas who are undertaking activities related specifically to IT functions should be included e.g. technical configuration or programming of the financial systems etc. CS resources, regardless of role or where they are located in the organization, should be counted, as their classification implies links to an IT function. Only in cases where the CS has temporarily or permanently changed classification should they be ignored for purposes of IT Expenditure reporting.
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