Study of the Regulatory Excellence Program
Duration: November 2022 – March 2023
Client: Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, Regulatory Affairs Sector
Problem: The federal government's Regulatory Affairs Sector faced challenges in ensuring that the objectives of its regulatory policy were aligned with a future IT system, built in phases as a business solution. At that time, the Regulatory Oversight database was crucial for meeting the requirements of the Red Tape Reduction Act, providing an evidence base for annual reports, conducting research, responding to regulatory system inquiries, and supporting the challenge function to track the history of a regulatory proposal. However, this database needed to be updated to accommodate the sector's growing mandates and digitization initiatives, leading to the need for a scoping exercise to enhance the legislative and regulatory lifecycle with new intelligent regulation tools.
Ergo’s Solution: The Ergo Group was tasked with managing the scoping exercise to determine how existing initiatives and data could be linked to create a mapping of the regulatory process, including collaboration with partners throughout the process. The team conducted introductory meetings, established shared policy-oriented goals, inventoried and analyzed current regulatory systems and IT processes, developed high-level process maps, and drafted preliminary and final reports. The proposed approach focused on correctly identifying the main objectives of the regulatory accountability program, understanding the program's operating environment from legal, organizational, and technical perspectives, and learning from international best practices. The goal was to define a clear and flexible conceptual vision and work plan for a renewed program that would enhance implementation efficiently, effectively, and sustainably, encompassing the entire lifecycle of legislation and regulations from creation to final implementation.
Client: Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mexico
Consulates in the United States were facing increased delays, poor processes and lack of standards for customer service.
Ergo’s Solution: Implement process standards for consular documentation services in 30 Mexican consulates that resulted in improved services.
Client: Consular offices of the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs – the agency in charge of consular services such as issuing passports to Mexican nationals living abroad.
Problem: Mexican consulates around the world are facing increased delays due to poor processes and a lack of poor processes and lack of customer service standards.
Ergo’s Solution: In collaboration with CIDE, a leading educational Mexican research institution, we have worked since 2012 with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to implement process standards for consular documentation services in Mexican consulates around the world, that resulted in improved consular services.
Results: The project successfully reduced customer service and waiting times to less than an hour, and established systematic metrics monitoring practices in order to mitigate and manage changes in demand for those services. The opportunity cost savings to the Mexican community abroad from reduced waiting times is estimated at over $300,000,000 USD a year.
Project phases
Our results
Client: Ministry of the Economy, Mexico
The Ministry needed greater control over the activities of standardization and conformity assessment of the Directorate General of Standards (DGS).
Ergo’s Solution: The Group rigorously analyzed the legal framework and operations to identify inefficiencies. It redesigned current administrative processes and designed new processes.
Client: Ministry of the Economy - the federal agency responsible for competitiveness, trade and investment, standards and small business development.
Problem: The Ministry needed to bring strategic focus to the technical standards development and the compliance assessment processes managed by the General Directorate of Standards (Dirección General de Normas).
Ergo’s Solution: Our team analyzed the legal framework and the current operation of the GDS and identified inefficiencies and/or deviations from the provisions of the Federal Law on Metrology and its regulations. We redesigned current administrative processes and designed new processes. We also developed functional specifications for the development of a national integrated information system designed to automate business processes related to standards development and compliance assessment throughout government.
Results: The solution allowed the Ministry to focus its scarce resources on bringing strategic coherence to Mexico's technical standards policy, while automating processes and facilitating collaboration and information exchange among relevant actors.
Ministry of Economy, Saskatchewan
Information regarding regulatory requirements were spread across many organizations in the province of Saskatchewan, making it hard for users to identify and comply with all the requirements.
Ergo’s Solution: Develop, deploy and support a province-wide regulatory information database to serve as the single source of information regarding regulatory requirements.
Client: The Ministry of Economy of the province of Saskatchewan, Canada- a government agency charged with promoting the province’s economic growth through an integrated approach. One of its responsibilities is to oversee implementation of the province's Red Tape Reduction initiative.
Problem: Saskatchewan need an information system that could help to manage the regulatory review process implemented through the Red Tape Reduction initiative, a measure designed to modernize the regulatory landscape and increase the province's competitiveness.
Ergo’s Solution: Develop, deploy and support a province-wide regulatory information database to serve as the single source of information regarding regulatory requirements throughout the province. This database manages the entire life-cycle of provincial and municipal regulations and implements the provinces’ Red Tape reduction initiative.
Results: Ergo created a province wide system for government to collaborate in implementing regulatory reform through the provisions of the Red Tape Reduction initiative. The system drives the review of regulations by implementing a single collaborative workflow that spans all government departments involved and builds in the use of a regulatory cost model for assessing the prospective costs and benefits of regulations.