Program and Service Review

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In 2016 City Council directed Administration to conduct a review of all City of Edmonton services. The objective of the Program and Service Review is to help City Council achieve its goals and determine how the organization can improve the services that matter most to Edmontonians, both now and into the future.

What is the Program and Service Review?

Using the Canadian Municipal Reference Model, we identified 73 distinct services. This inventory list defines the City’s services, who they are delivered to and the outcomes of service delivery.

While direct cost savings have been identified, the Program and Service Review does much more. The review strengthens the City's continuous improvement culture by evaluating programs and services and recommending changes and enhancements.

Ultimately, the Program and Service Review provides recommendations to improve the services that matter most to Edmontonians, in ways that maximize tax dollars.

Review Progress

Completed Reviews

Below is a list of reviews completed to-date, listed in chronological order. As they become available, full reports and report summaries will be uploaded.

Service Area	Date Completed	Reports
Mail	Q4 2016
Fire Investigation Service Fire Prevention Inspection and Enforcement Service Fire Safety Education	Q4 2016
Environmental Strategy and Policy Development Service	Q4 2017: November
Warehousing and Inventory Management Service	Q4 2017: December
Recreation and Cultural Programming Service Recreational and Sport Facility Access Service	Q1 2018: February
Census Service	Q2 2018: April	Summary Report
Business Solution Services	Q2 2018: April	Summary Report
Park and Open Space Access Service Road Service	Q3 2018: August
Animal Welfare Service Pet Licensing Service Wildlife Management Service	Q3 2018: August	Summary Report
Waste Collection Service Sustainable Waste Management Service	Q4 2018: October
Bylaw and Provincial Act Enforcement	Q4 2018: October	Summary Report
Property Assessment Service Tax Collection Service	Q1 2019: February	Summary Report Full Report
Geographic Information Systems & Spatial Analytics Service	Q1 2019: February	Summary Report Full Report
Safety Codes Permission and Inspection Services	Q2 2019: June	Summary Report

Process

Three questions drive the Program and Review process:

Relevance: Why we are doing things?
Effectiveness: Are we doing the right things?
Efficiency: Are we doing things well?

How Reviews are Conducted

The Program and Services Review team provides recommendations on relevance, effectiveness and efficiency after analyzing a combination of the following:

Relevant policies and legislation
Current effectiveness and efficiency measures
Key processes and potential bottlenecks of service delivery
Benchmarking (jurisdictional scans, leading practice research, future trends)
Past studies
Other organizations or areas that offer a similar service
Feedback from employees, citizens, stakeholders and customers

If required, further in-depth analysis, potentially through the use of an independent third-party consultant, may support the completion of service reviews.

Input Recommendations

Input on Program and Service Review recommendations is provided by a Challenge Panel, labour unions and management association with the final recommendations being approved by City Leadership.

Challenge Panel

A Challenge Panel proves input on proposed recommendations. The Challenge Panel is comprised of individuals representing community, academia, industry and peer subject matter experts. The Challenge Panel provides an objective evaluation of the draft recommendations and expresses support, non-support or conditional support.

The Challenge Panels provide input based on experience and challenge recommendations. In addition, the Challenge Panels review the analysis and recommendations to ensure they are:

Comprehensive
Logical
Objective
Credible
Reasonable

Role of City of Edmonton Unions

The City’s labour unions and management association are given the opportunity to provide feedback on draft recommendations. Administration is appreciative of this valuable feedback.

Partnerships

To successfully conduct service area reviews, the Program and Service Review works in conjunction with internal and external partners. These include our colleagues within the City of Edmonton who represent the service areas under review, the City of Edmonton Unions and the Management Association, private sector and the non-profit sector. These inputs help to align services with the expectations of citizens, businesses and City Council.