Don’t reinvent the wheel : How Transport Canada uses GC Notify
Across the Government of Canada (GC), teams are looking for ways they can improve their services to better support people in Canada. For example, teams at Transport Canada’s (TC) Marine Safety and Security Directorate (MSSD) are working on various digital transformation initiatives to improve Seafarers’ and Vessel Owners’ experiences accessing GC services.
We sat down with some of the members of the Seafarer Certification Unit and Marine Insurance Unit (part of the MSSD at Transport Canada) to chat about their work and how the Canadian Digital Service (CDS)’s GC Notify product is helping deliver improved services.
GC Notify is a CDS product that enables public servants to quickly create, customize, and send emails and text messages.
Can you tell us a bit about the Marine Safety and Security Directorate (MSSD) and your roles there?
Protecting the marine environment
The role of MSSD is to “maintain and enhance marine safety and work to protect life, health, property and the marine environment” [source: Marine Safety and Security]. To do this, there are units like the ones we work in: the Seafarer Certification Unit and the Marine Insurance Unit.
The Seafarer Certification Unit was assigned two Scrum teams. These teams work on two products: an internal cloud-based application called the “Seafarer Services App” and an external-facing app called the “Marine Medical Hub” (used by medical examiners only). This team is working towards a seamless digital service that TC, Seafarers, and designated Marine Medical Examiners can all use to access GC services.
The Marine Insurance Unit was assigned one Scrum team. The goal is to simplify and digitize the processing and delivery of marine insurance certificates. For example, managing service requests electronically, eliminating manual tracking, issuing electronic certificates, streamlining time tracking, and automating the service’s performance reporting.
Multidisciplinary teams for a range of skills and expertise
Our Scrum teams are made up of people with a range of skills and expertise (change management, product management, IT, user research and design, client support, etc). This includes members of MSSD’s digital transformation team – full time change managers and product owners are embedded on the Scrum teams to support the digitization of operations and services.
Learn more about the team members we interviewed:
Hugo Pellerin (Change Manager and Digital Transformation Advisor) is part of MSSD’s transformation team and has extensive experience working on various transformation initiatives. Hugo acts as senior advisor for the implementation of MSSD’s digital strategy. He is trained and certified in change management, and he also supports the Seafarer Certification Unit in the adoption of their new and improved business processes and IT solutions.
Shailen Parbhoo (Product Strategist – Seafarer Services) is a consultant with years of experience working on digital transformation initiatives in the private and public sector. Shailen also has experience in leading multiple product owners through building strategies and roadmaps to focus on delivering value and is agile certified in product management principles.
Louis Fahrendorff (Product Owner – Seafarer Services) is part of MSSD’s transformation team and has experience working with development teams and UX designers in the private and public sectors. Louis has also developed and implemented product visions for various types of services and programs, including products and services to support the directorate, businesses, and citizens.
Michael Peter Barker (Product Owner – Seafarer Services) is part of the Seafarer Certification Unit and acts as a subject matter expert to guide the team in developing products. Michael takes his experience as an engineer at sea and mariner to help the unit chart a new course of change at TC.
Katsiaryna Haisionak (UX Researcher – Seafarer Services) is a consultant who uncovers user behaviours, needs, and motivations to make products more intuitive and user-friendly. Katsiaryna has many years of experience in user research and service design in the private and public sectors, as well as experience in product design.
Cody Giroux (Product Owner – Marine insurance certification ) is part of MSSD’s transformation team and has experience working with Scrum teams and UX designers in the private and public sectors. Cody has developed and implemented product vision for various types of services and programs including products and services to support the directorates, businesses, and citizens.
Daniel Bou-Mitry (Client Support Coordinator – Marine Medical Unit) is the main contact with the designated marine medical examiners.
Isabelle Sabourin (Change Management Advisor – Marine Insurance Certification) is part of MSSD’s transformation team and has experience implementing digital operations and online services within TC. Trained and certified in change management, she supports the Marine Insurance Unit in the adoption of their new and improved business processes and IT solutions.
Timothy Blake (Tech Advisor – Marine Insurance certification ) is a consultant who provides expert knowledge and guidance in the development of IT solutions. This involves reviewing reports, research materials, or other documents for technical accuracy.
Carl Lévesque (Manager, MSS Digital Modernization Team) has extensive experience in change management and transformation teams. He’s responsible for overall management of the digital transformation and change management for the Marine Safety and Security Digital Modernization team.
Xinran Wang (Acting Team Lead/UX Designer – Cargo/Port State ) does the research and proposes interface models to improve user experience. As acting team lead, she facilitates project team meetings.
How are your teams using GC Notify in your service delivery?
Email attachments and delivery statuses
We’re using GC Notify in different ways. The marine insurance certificate team uses it to send documentation when a person purchases a marine insurance certificate. This can involve emailing anywhere from 1 to 60 attachments to the vessel owner. GC Notify has made this part of the process a lot simpler. We also use the status feature to make sure that deliveries are successful and that there are no issues.
Before we integrated GC Notify, our team would’ve had to send emails to clients and attach all the documents (up to 60) individually. We’ve now been able to automate all of these extra manual steps using the GC Notify API and put the time saved towards tasks with more business value. It also means our processes have become a lot more efficient. When we’ve finished a service request, we can email our clients using GC Notify straight away as part of the process.
Previously, validating the receipt of information sent by Medical Examiners wasn’t a streamlined process. We’re now able to do that using GC Notify, which in turn is helping our clients and minimizing any emails coming in asking for validation of receipt.
Template messages
We’ve also found the template feature to be extremely helpful. It’s very easy to use and the simplicity of the design means you can change the text quickly. The simplicity also means that, even if we go months between having to change the text in a template, we can easily log in and change it.
Access codes and automated notifications
The Seafarers Unit uses GC Notify to send access codes to Marine Medical Examiners for securely accessing the Marine Hub application. Marine Medical Examiners are designated physicians that meet set criteria and who have completed all the required seminars and training [source: Marine medical examiners]. In order for a Seafarer in Canada to receive a marine medical certificate (stating that they meet the medical and physical requirements as outlined by law), a complete physical assessment must be carried out by a designated Marine Medical Examiner. Using the secure access codes sent by GC Notify, Marine Medical Examiners can then digitally submit their reports to the Marine Hub, which is more efficient to process than mailing reports.
We’re also using it to send automated notifications when medical exam information is uploaded to the Marine Hub. The status feature allows us to troubleshoot when access codes weren’t received (i.e. full inbox, wrong email address, etc).
Data insights for service improvement
Our teams are able to use the analytics that GC Notify collects to help improve our services. We used GC Notify for data insight on the pilot program for the Marine Medical Examiners team. We could see how many logged in and how many failed to log in. The status features available through GC Notify have also allowed us to know when delivery was unsuccessful and why (up to 7 days after delivery). This has helped us follow up when people were having difficulties, or ask people why they have chosen not to use the product or what is missing, so we can make improvements.
Why did the directorate decide to use GC Notify?
Avoiding re-inventing the wheel (cost-savings)
From a digital transformation perspective, leveraging GC Notify made a lot of sense. If GC Notify didn’t exist, we’d be exploring building this type of product ourselves. By not reinventing the wheel, we’ve saved hundreds of thousands of dollars and many hours. Each time we’re integrating GC Notify with our own products, we’re increasing our savings.
Simple to set up and use
The directorate also integrated this tool because it’s simple to set up and easy to use. We were able to set it up in less than a day, and no matter how much time passed between using the tool, we are able to change templates and make updates quickly and efficiently. Simplicity is a big asset, especially when it means you don’t have to ask for help from developers when trying to use the product. Furthermore, not only is the tool simple, it’s also free. This meant there was no impact on our budget or our resources.
Improving communication with stakeholders
GC Notify also enabled teams to have clear communication with our stakeholders (i.e. Marine Medical Examiners, Seafarers in Canada, people looking for Marine Insurance certificates, etc). This means we’re able to keep our clients better informed. We can also send certifications and emails quickly and efficiently.
Do you see this product being useful to other teams in the GC?
Any team that needs to deliver information to the public, a client, or a stakeholder would benefit from using GC Notify – it creates an efficient service line between the GC and the public. We even promote this tool on road shows because we think it’d be so useful to other GC teams.
There seems to be a common perception that our teams could buy something off the shelf to solve our problems. But if we truly want to successfully transform and digitize our services, we need to take multiple products and tie them together. That is what we’ve done with GC Notify – we’ve integrated the product into our already existing processes quickly and efficiently, and others can do the same.
Explore how GC Notify can help your services
GC Notify can help teams keep the public informed/updated at every step of their service experience. Explore the tool’s features (like tracking problem email addresses and using personalized templates) and try it for free!
You can also learn more about how other teams are using GC Notify by reading their stories:
● Health Canada uses GC Notify to email the public when products have been recalled: Empower to protect: Recalls & safety alerts in Canada.
● Health Canada used GC Notify to email the public COVID-19 health notifications: Three years of data-driven comms for “Get Updates on COVID-19”.
● Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) used GC Notify to communicate effectively with clients regarding a pilot service: Improving client communications using GC Forms and GC Notify.
Are you a part of a team using GC Notify, or any other CDS product to improve service delivery?
We want to hear from you! Get in touch and share your story.