2011-2012 Appendix: Action Plan Related to CRC Branch Audit

Recommendation 1 :

Guidance in defining the level of detail that should be included in "documented events" should be provided to investigators to help ensure the depth of information included in the file is consistent. This guidance will help improve the effectiveness of quality control during management review.

1. Develop guidelines for completing documented events, consult staff on draft, finalize and provide training. Add guidelines to InTrac (case management system).
 

Director, Complaints Resolution Team (CRT)

September 6, 2011

2. Raise awareness of importance of thorough documentation of discussions and activities logged in this format.

CRC Management

Ongoing

3. Chiefs will monitor content of documented events on files, making recommendations to investigators when deficiencies are identified.

Team Chiefs

Ongoing

Recommendation 2 :

Case file structure should be consistent, with a consistent use of tabbing and ordering of documents to allow reviewers or others who may have to consult the file to do so in the most efficient manner.

New practice put in place in June 2010 following consultation with investigators and management to improve the organization of investigation files. Employees informed that the package of records received from institutions would no longer be dismantled but the required documents would continue to be tabbed.

Intake staff trained on tabbing files and a written procedure prepared as a tool for current and new intake officers (part of Intake Procedures Manual, July 2010).

1. Send email to CRC employees to remind them of the file organization process in place and that older (pre-June 2010) complaint files were organized under a different process.

Director, IERU

August 2, 2011

2. Managers and Directors will monitor and verify that file organization is consistent with the process in place.

Manager, Intake and CRC management

Ongoing

Recommendation 3 :

An Investigation Plan should be consistently used for refusal files, but not necessarily for standard administrative cases. Case complexity is highly variable, but investigators should include relevant case background, investigative issues and a chronology in the Investigation Report. These details should be drafted at the beginning of an investigation. These practices would serve to document important issues in the refusal cases at the front end and potentially improve case structure inconsistencies. There is a benefit to having a plan for all cases, while allowing for varying levels of detail. Doing so will allow timelines for completion to be established, and required resourcing can be anticipated more clearly.

Benchmarking priority cases at six months-with an adjustment option in between to account for especially complicated cases-would improve attention to timeliness and performance measurement.

Separate Investigation Plan used for complex cases.

Investigation Report is amended as new elements are identified. Separate Investigation Report templates in place for administrative and refusal cases.

1. Revise and consolidate Investigation Plan and Investigation Report templates to include target completion date, background, chronology, issues to investigate, strategy, evidence sources and required resources for both administrative and refusal cases. Details in Report to be drafted at the start of each investigation.

CRT and IERU Directors

September 6, 2011

2. Review Investigation Plan template for complex cases where more details are required. Complete Plan at beginning of investigation.

CRT and IERU Directors

September 6, 2011

3. Consult staff on draft templates, finalize, add to InTrac, and provide training to investigators.

CRT and IERU Directors

September 6, 2011

4. Conduct pilot project to determine feasibility of completing priority cases within six months.

CRC Management

Assignment of priority cases

Ongoing

Preliminary assessment of pilot project

March 31, 2012

Recommendation 4 :

Periodic environmental scanning should be undertaken in conjunction with the key word search capabilities of the new InTrac case management system in order to identify cases that may change in priority due to changing environmental factors that did not exist at the time of intake.

Communications and Parliamentary Affairs Division produces monthly highlights of relevant news coverage, weekly summaries of news and parliamentary highlights, as well as daily coverage and reporting of parliamentary matters. Since July 2011, weekly meetings are held with CRC Directors, Parliamentary Liaison and Legal Services representative to review media and parliamentary coverage, identify shifts in focus of subject matter of access requests, and identify key search words for press clippings relevant to investigative cases.

In consultation with Communications, undertake project to do key word searches in InTrac with link to media clippings.

Communications Director

Media review and analysis

Ongoing

CRC/IT Directors

InTrac environmental scanning capability

June 30, 2012