Project Sia

Project Sia is one of ROEB's Transformation initiative which started in April 2021. The project aims to integrate data from many different sources by layering them in maps or through other visualization means. Such data visualization should help inform Compliance and Enforcement decisions; whether direct or indirect. The project anticipates taking my pivots as new information is discovered.

Project Context

ROEB’s mandate is to inform and protect Canadians from health risks associated to products, substances, and their environment. To do this, each program makes business decisions to determine what C&E activities it should conduct and where efforts should be focused. This includes prioritization of inspections and compliance verifications, sampling and testing, and authorization applications (i.e., license, registration, permit, certificate) as well as allocation of resources and supporting tools. In line with the branch’s approach to C&E decision-making, such business decisions should be based on risk. But, there is an opportunity that we are currently not harnessing: data integration.

The branch owns and has access to data that can be used to make risk-based decisions. We can ask and answer simple operational questions. How many license holders in each market segment (e.g.: drugs, medical devices) are there in Canada? How many inspectors do we have? Which inspector conducted the inspection of a specific company? While some programs have already adopted a risk-based decision-making approach for C&E activities planning, others are only starting to explore how to do so leading to differences in how decisions are made. We are unable to dive deeper and use this same data to make better decisions.

For example, we cannot determine whether ROEB has enough staff in each region to inspect all regulated parties. Not pushing boundaries of our data leads to process inefficiencies, less effective resource allocation, and debilitates the organization to meet market changes and demands.

We believe that the core of the problem is due to a lack of data integration. Informed decisions lead to efficient and responsive solutions. We have access to plenty of data but fail to harness the power of data integration. This impedes our ability to deliver on our mandate. Our access to data can be used to answer complex and important questions like:

What is the relationship between all high-risk outcomes and the experience level of inspectors?
Are there any linkages between inspection decisions and geographic distribution?
Where are the regulated party segments located in comparison to our inspectors? How far must they travel? Is it optimized?
Do we have the right workforce and skill-set in the right areas?
Are there any patterns that exist with all decisions made within Canada?

We want to be able to answer these questions and so many more.

Project Sia will explore the science of data integration, validate the data and its potential, and test the methodology that integrates data for meaningful storytelling. If successful, it will be a key component to adopt within our risk-based framework to support decision making; but first we need to learn and build the skills to allow our programs to leverage and exploit multi-faceted data. ROEB will then be better positioned in assigning the appropriate resources to targeted proven areas of highest risk regulated parties, products and substances to ensure that compliance monitoring and enforcement are applied with greater precision. There is a need to increase integration and consistency to inform decisions within and between programs.

Project goals and methodology

Data integration starts with a good foundation of data and requires enabling tools to be successful. However, great data and great tools does not guarantee results that meaningfully connect its audience. Stream I will look to conduct three assessments: data (both ROEB/HC and external data, starting with GC open data), approaches and methods of storytelling and the importance of behavioral learning through visualization; and digital platforms to explore enabling technologies.

Data

The project will leverage available compliance and enforcement data in layers including but not limited to:

The regulated industry (e.g., licensing, compliance information);
Inspection and inspection pipeline data (e.g., people, fleet, equipment, and finances);
Expertise and designation of Inspectors;
Public health provincial and territorial measures; and
Physical and social environment data.

The goal will be to “overlay” datasets to create new principles of analysis using data that is traditionally not used together. Stream I will assess whether this data is appropriate, compressive, and accessible to be able to meet our goals.

Storytelling

One of the key components often overlooked with data analytics is telling a story. While it is important to have KPIs and metrics for dashboards, the context piece of the data is what puts things into perspective. ROEBs mandate is to inform and protect Canadians from health risks associated with products, substances and their environment. What is our story in achieving this goal? As part of this assessment, we will investigate different storytelling approaches, methods of learning and consuming (I.e., behavioural learning), and mediums of storytelling to explore the how, what, and why when it comes to presenting information in a meaningful way.

Digital platforms

Digital Platforms can enable synthesis, integration, and the ability to create insight. Industry leading platforms like PowerBI, Cognos, R, and Python will be part of this assessment. There is a hypothesis however that the best tool to create the environment needed will be a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) solution. The Branch has already explored all four aforementioned platforms; however, HC has little experience in GIS. We know that GIS has been successfully embedded and used as part of core operations in government departments like ECCC, NRCan, and DFO; however, the regulatory context is different for HC. We have minimal history using geospatial science to analyze our data. We want to change this by further exploring GIS with ROEB’s specific use case. Our intent is to compare these platforms with an assumption that a GIS solution will be the best approach for this experiment.

By focusing on manageable results using the minimum viable product (MVP) approach, our aim is to create a proof of concept using existing data and infrastructure applied with GIS to develop a scalable solution. Our MVP plan is comprised of the three assessments totaling 9 months that will result in a minimum of three outputs. Due to the lack of internal expertise of this technology, the project will be working with Industry partners to advance its findings by creating a cycle of learning similar to a design thinking models.

Expected outcome

A vision of the project is to give users access to a live data products and stories that presents criteria for consideration when making C&E operational decisions such as inspection planning. This will not only allow programs to highlight and discover new insights, but will also create greater comprehensiveness by having a common environment to aggregate the evidence that they need in one place, including the determination of:

Inspections based on risk;
Inspection expertise needed, and assignment of inspectors with necessary designation to conduct those inspection;
Inspection delivery (e.g. onsite or offsite);
Consolidation of onsite inspection (e.g. perform two inspections on the same trip); and
Availability of equipment for onsite inspections.

Our ultimate goal would be to create an open platform (e.g. interactive map) that informs Canadians of regulatory activities, actions, and outcomes. Every journey needs a map, and ROEB is looking to create our own map for our journey to inform Canadians of potential risks that affect their health and safety.

GIS technology has a history of success in sectors that heavily relate to the physical environment. Google Maps is a top five most used solution on any platform on any given year. Because of our connection to the physical world, data consumption, analysis, and presentation using GIS is a very natural medium. If Health Canada can leverage this technology, which is dominated by sectors like environment, natural resources, and aeronautics, we would be opening the door to many other GC businesses and departments to benefit from our learnings.

If Project Sia is successful, an interactive map of operational activities (e.g. inspection) could represent an opportunity to improve the way we communicate with Canadians and external partners.

Repository

Click here to access the Sia files.