Canada Health Infoway (“Infoway”) is an independent, not-for-profit corporation with $2.1 billion in public funding from the Government of Canada. In partnership with the federal government and the governments of every province and territory, Infoway is working to improve the health of Canadians by transforming Canada’s health care system through digital health solutions. This mandate is one of Canada’s largest-ever information technology-based initiatives. Infoway jointly invests with its provincial and territorial partners to accelerate the development, adoption and effective use of digital health solutions across the country. These solutions are improving access, quality and productivity of care for patients and clinicians, building a foundation that will result in healthier Canadians and a more sustainable health care system. In 2013, Infoway’s Portfolio Management Office (PMO) became the first non-American, and the first publicly-funded, organization to win PMI’s “PMO of the Year” Award. This presentation will explain how Infoway’s PMO has contributed directly to the success of the organization’s business. It will describe how Infoway built a “best in class” PMO, focusing on several key differentiators. Notable among these is the Infoway PMO framework, which has ensured the accountability and transparency needed to achieve excellent success rates for truly transformative projects, and to withstand over 30 independent audits and evaluations of Infoway’s use of taxpayer funds, essential for continued federal support of the organization. The presentation will also offer advice for other organizations who aspire to win the “PMO of the Year” award one day. Jane Holden is Executive Director, Corporate Accountability at Canada Health Infoway. Jane is a financial and project management executive with over 20 years’ experience leading multi-disciplinary teams in the successful delivery of large, complex business and information technology initiatives. She specializes in the design and implementation of project, program, and portfolio management offices, for which she has won national and international awards. In her 13 years at Infoway, Jane has held a number of senior roles, including the building and leadership of a division comprised of the Portfolio Management Office (PMO), the enterprise-wide Project Portfolio Management (PPM) solution, the Metrics & Reporting group and the Investment Programs team. These business units governed, monitored and reported on an investment portfolio totalling over 400 projects with a value of $2.1 billion. Reporting to, and working closely with, Infoway’s Chief Operating Officer, Jane is also responsible for a number of strategic matters, such as independent evaluations and audits of Infoway’s performance under the terms of its funding agreements with the federal government.

1. Canada Health Infoway:
How We Won PMI’s
“PMO of the Year” Award
Jane Holden, CPA CA
Executive Director, Corporate Accountability
Canada Health Infoway /
Inforoute Santé du Canada
1

2. Agenda
What is Canada Health Infoway?
Our PMO’s Mandate
Our PMO Journey
Our Differentiators: Why We Won the 2013
“PMO of the Year” Award
The Impact of Winning the Award
Advice for Aspiring Award Winners
Q & A
2

3. What is Canada Health Infoway?
3

4. What is Canada Health Infoway?
A Unique Multi-Government Collaboration
Independent, not-for-profit corporation co-owned by
the 14 federal / provincial / territorial Ministries of
Health
Vision: “Healthier Canadians through innovative digital
health solutions”
With provincial and territorial partners, accelerates
implementation and use of digital health solutions
across Canada
“Strategic Investor” of $2.1 billion in federal public
funds (+ $300 million just announced in Budget 2017)
Focus on accountability and transparency
4

5. 12 Strategic Investment Programs
5
Innovation and Adoption
$112 million
Patient Access to Quality Care
$45 million
EMR and
Integration
$340 million
Consumer
Health Solutions
$65 million
Public Health
Surveillance
$135 million
Drug Systems
$250 million
Laboratory
Systems
$170 million
Diagnostic
Imaging
$365 million
Interoperable Electronic Health Record
$365 million
Registries
$134 million
Infostructure
$52 million
Setting the
Future
Direction
Health Care
Applications
The Electronic
Health Record
Architecture
and Standards
Telehealth
$110 million

6. Transforming Canada’s Health Care System
6

7. Our PMO’s Mandate
7

8. Our PMO’s Mandate
Developing, maintaining and ensuring compliance
with the Project Phase Lifecycle processes
Development and maintenance of a Risk
Management Framework used by all 10 provinces
and 3 territories
Maximizing Infoway's investment in the enterprise
Project Portfolio Management (PPM) system
(Changepoint)
Project portfolio reporting and analysis for senior
executives and the Board of Directors
8

9. Our PMO’s Mandate (continued)
Organizing and documenting outcomes from
monthly senior management meetings where
projects and change requests are approved
Liaision with auditors
Executing quality reviews of documents and/or
requests submitted by project managers
Offering in-house project management training as
a PMI Registered Education Provider (REP)
9

10. Our PMO Journey
10

11. 11

12. Start Up: A new beginning
12
2001-2003
Management recognized
need for a PMO
A couple of false starts
Negative compliance audit
increased urgency

13. Developed: Laying the foundation
13
2004-2005
Developed Infoway Project
Phase Lifecycle processes
and templates
Established reporting cycles
and enforced compliance
through senior management
Implemented centralized
document and template
repository

14. Established: Change for the better
14
2006-2007
Implemented formal risk
management and quality
assurance processes
Introduced custom tools
(Excel, SQL, VB) to increase
efficiency and accuracy
Became Certified PMI
Registered Education
Provider (REP)

15. Mature: Rooted in the culture
15
2008-2010
Senior management approved
investment in an enterprise-wide
PPM solution
Automated project lifecycle
processes, increasing efficiency
and compliance
PPM solution became “single
source of truth,” reducing
duplicate sources of project
information

16. Best in Class:
The journey continues
16
2011 & beyond
Adapted to rapid increase in
business volume
Continuous review of
processes to ensure value
for effort
Recognized internally and
externally as thought
leaders

17. Our Differentiators:
Why We Won the 2013 “PMO of the Year” Award
17

18. Investment criteria and industry best practices for project sizing/estimating
Co-invests with jurisdictions, typically at 75:25 of eligible project costs
Infoway’s Investment Model
Project
Sizing &
Estimation
Twelve
Investment
Programs
Common
Architectural
Blueprint
Program
Eligible
Costs
Program
Criteria
1. Registries
2. Diagnostic Imaging
3. Laboratory Info. Systems
4. Drug Info. Systems
5. Public Health Surveillance
6. Telehealth
7. Interoperable EHR
8. Innovation & Adoption
9. Infostructure
10. Patient Access to Quality
Care
11. EMR & Integration
12. Consumer Health Solutions
Approved
Projects for
investment
Approved Project
Contract Signed
(20%)
Implementation
Gates (30%)
Adoption Gates
(50%)
Completed Project

19. Infoway’s Collaborative Risk Management Model

20. Sophisticated Use of Technology
Project Manager View
Project
Code 1
Project
Code 2
Project
Code 3
Project
Name
1
Project
Name
2
Project
Name
3
Jurisdicti
on
Jurisdicti
on
Jurisdicti
on
Progra
m
Progra
m
Progra
m
Request Description
Request Description
Request Description
Audit Trail
PMO Director View
Executive Dashboard
Executiv
e 1
Executiv
e 2
Executiv
e 3
Executiv
e 4
Executiv
e 5
Executiv
e 6
Changepoint:
A “single
source of
truth” for all
investment
projects

21. 21
2005 2008 2013
# of projects and $ value
of the portfolio (active
and closed)
150 projects
$302.7M
Portfolio
443 projects
$1,491.6M
Portfolio
628 projects
$2,004.5M
Portfolio
# of PMO employees 3 6 5
Average number of
projects/PM
3.5 4.2 6.6
# of PMO negative audit
findings
>5 0 0
Average turnaround time
for Portfolio Reporting
15 business days 9 business days 3 business days
The PMO’s Measurable Impact on the Business
Over Time

22. Results: Out-Performed Industry Standards
Success compared to industry standards due to:
 Board-approved investment program strategies
 Rigorous due diligence before project approval
 Gated funding process
 Binding legal agreements with defined deliverables and
capped payments

23. What the Experts Say About Infoway
The Auditor General of Canada’s Fall
2009 report to Parliament stated that
Infoway had “accomplished much in its
eight years, and that it is exercising due
regard in approving, monitoring, and
making best use of its funds for
electronic health record projects.”
23
“Infoway’s ERM Framework was considered to be within the
top 15% of all organizations. Sophisticated and disciplined
risk management processes and tools were in place to
actively manage project, program and jurisdiction risks.”
Independent expert review of Infoway’s enterprise risk
management (ERM) framework:

24. “Canada Health Infoway excels at what
public agencies need to do – be open and
transparent with how they use taxpayers’
dollars, provide collaboration and linkages
among stakeholders; and demonstrate that
efficiency.”
Winner, Canadian Government Executive
Magazine’s 2014 Leadership Award:
24
“Canada Health Infoway’s role and its business model
make it a unique organization within Canada and
possibly the world, and its PMO is a clear
demonstration of how organizations can – and should –
successfully implement their strategic initiatives.
Organizations can, and should, learn from Canada
Health Infoway’s success and mirror its best practices
to achieve their own success.”
Winner, PMI’s Global “2013 PMO of the Year” Award
What the Experts Say About Infoway
(cont’d)

25. The Impact of Winning the
“2013 PMO of the Year” Award

26. The Impact of Winning the “2013 PMO of the
Year” Award
Pride, both within PMO and across company
Greatly increased visibility of the PMO, both
internally and externally
Recognition by CEO at multiple internal
celebrations
Letter from our Board chair to key external
stakeholders
PMO invited to reception and dinner with Board
Congratulatory video from federal Minister of
Health
Award logo incorporated in e-mail signatures

27. Multiple Speaking Engagements and Requests
for Consultation

28. Multiple Media Articles and Interviews

29. PMO Featured
in Infoway’s
2013-14 Annual
Report

30. Advice to Aspiring “PMO of the
Year” Award Winners

31. Above All: Strong, Sustained, Visible
Senior Executive Support
Preferably up to the “C” level
(CEO, COO, CIO, CFO…)
Show any skeptical senior
executives how the PMO can
contribute directly to his / her
individual success
John Burns, Senior Vice-President
Canada Health Infoway, 2003-13

32. The Right Team
Technical PM skills are important but soft skills, team
chemistry and passion are MORE important

33. A Clear Mandate
What your PMO is and what it is not
Documented, communicated and executed

34. Proven, Quantifiable Success Metrics
Pick success metrics that matter to senior executives
Get current-state baselines against which to measure
future performance improvements

35. Direct Linkage to the Strategic Goals of
the Organization
Set goals annually
Relate each of the PMO’s objectives to at least one
strategic goal; if you can’t, should you keep that
objective?

36. The Right Level of Project Management
Process
Should be a propeller, not an anchor
Balanced and aligned with the major business
imperatives and risks facing the enterprise

37. The Right Technology, at the Right Time
But not as a substitute for robust processes – build
them first
Create a solid formal business case

38. Strong Stakeholder Engagement
Focus on collaboration (more than compliance) and
“what’s in it for them” – mutual success
Consider a cross-departmental advisory council

39. Proactive Continuous Improvement
Aim to increase the PMO’s value
to the organization over time
Don’t relax – review last year’s
metrics and improve them
What worked last year may no
longer be relevant
Watch the radar - anticipate
changes in business needs and
be prepared for them in advance

40. Communication, Communication,
Communication!
Marketing of your PMO’s services, its value and its
successes – don’t keep it a secret!
Remember, humans need to hear a message 6-10 times
in order to absorb it fully

41. Believe You Can Do It!
12,000+ employees22,000+ employees
26,000 project managers80,000+ employees
<200 employees
23,000+ employees

42. Merci beaucoup!
Questions?
Jane Holden, CPA, CA
jholden@infoway-inforoute.ca
416-986-2009
www.ca.linkedin.com/in/janeholden
www.infoway-inforoute.ca