Public Administration & Management

HAL provides a full range of public management services that support the lifecycle of a program from conception through to implementation and subsequent evaluation. Clients have included all federal science-based departments and agencies, and various provincial departments from Ontario, Alberta and New Brunswick, as well as non-profit organizations.

  • Strategic Planning: The aim of strategic planning is to clarify the environmental opportunities and constraints facing the organization; to match these factors against the organization’s internal strengths and weaknesses; and to determine the appropriate future directions and initiatives – all of which is vital if an organization is to survive in a rapidly changing and complex environment. HAL has extensive experience assisting organizations with all elements of strategic planning, including direction setting, capability assessment, planning, implementation and control.
  • Governance: Governance normally embraces higher-order policy, strategy, foresight, interdependency and oversight issues, and also accountabilities linked to roles and responsibilities, the exercise of authorities, stewardship of resources, and meeting system reporting and control requirements. HAL’s advice has been instrumental in enhancing governance arrangements to provide a better focus on accountabilities for strategic direction and for linkages between program delivery and reaching relevant policy objectives.
  • Program evaluation: HAL has long-standing experience and expertise in developing evaluation plans and conducting formative and summative evaluations. HAL makes use of leading social science methodologies, multiple lines of enquiry, and expert analysis to ensure that evaluations are rigorous, informative, and balanced. HAL has advised numerous departments on evaluation, and has conducted small as well as large scale evaluations that have spanned multiple programs and departments.
  • Performance audits: Performance audits are of particular value at the interim stage of a program prior to there being impacts. At this stage, it is important that effective management processes are in place and being used to ensure maximum results for the duration of the program. HAL’s approach to performance audits can help program administrators fine-tune their programs for maximum impact.
  • Performance measurement: Organizations of all types are increasingly being asked to not only do more with less, but also to prove that they are doing it well. This means that they need to measure their performance both to manage their operations and to demonstrate to others how well they are doing. HAL has extensive experience in developing performance measures that help answer questions such as: “Are we getting what we expect at an acceptable cost?” HAL’s performance measurement helps management to assess the extent to which the organization’s initiatives have been successful, whether they can be improved, whether they should continue, and whether there are more cost-effective alternatives.

Past work includes:

  • Best Practices in the Evaluation of R&D Programs (R&D Review Panel Secretariat)
  • Summative Evaluation of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s On-Farm Food Safety Recognition Program (CFIA)
  • Evaluation of the Canada Foundation for Innovation’s Outcome Measurement Study (Canada Foundation for Innovation)
  • Evaluation of the Career Progression Management Framework for Federal Researchers (Federal Government’s Interdepartmental Assistant Deputy Minister (ADM) Science and Technology Integration Board)
  • Performance Audit and Evaluation of CIFAR (Canadian Institute for Advanced Research)
  • Framework for Tri-Council Programs (Industry Canada)

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