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Evaluation of Research and Development, Production and Monitoring in Support of Weather Prediction

January 2011

Report Clearance Steps

Acronyms used in this report

ADM

Assistant Deputy Minister

ASTD

Atmospheric Science and Technology Directorate

CESD

Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development

CIOB

Chief Information Officer Branch

CMC

Canadian Meteorological Centre

CMAC

Canadian Meteorological Aviation Centre

CMOS

Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society

CPOP

Comité des passes opérationnelles et parallèles

DEC

Departmental Evaluation Committee

DG

Director General

DPR

Departmental Performance Report

EC

Environment Canada

HR

Human resources

IM/IT

Information management and information technology

ISO

International Organization for Standardization

IT

Information Technology

MEPIC

Meteorological and Environmental Predictions Innovation Committee

MPSD

Major Projects and Supercomputing Directorate

MRD

Meteorological Research Division

MSC

Meteorological Service of Canada

NWP

Numerical weather prediction

OAG

Office of the Auditor General

OPG

Outcome Project Group

PAA

Program activity architecture

PWEMP

Public Weather and Environmental Management Program Committee

R&D

Research and development

RPP

Report on Plans and Priorities

QMS

Quality Management System

S&TB

Science and Technology Branch

STT

Science transfer and training

TTAC

Technology Transfer Advisory Committee

WEO

Weather and Environmental Operations Directorate

WEPS

Weather and Environmental Prediction and Services Directorate

WES

Weather and environmental services

WMO

World Meteorological Organization

Acknowledgements

The Evaluation Project Team would like to thank those individuals who contributed to this project, particularly members of the Evaluation Committee as well as all interviewees who provided insights and comments crucial to this evaluation.

The Evaluation Project Team was led by Martine Perrault, under the direction of the Environment Canada Evaluation Director, Shelley Borys, and included Michael Callahan, Lindsay Fitzpatrick, Katheryne O’Connor, Valeria Pandelieva, Susan Wharton, Dan Wright and Adrienne Yuen from the Environment Canada Evaluation Division, and Steve Montague from Performance Management Network Inc.

Prepared by the Evaluation Division, Audit and Evaluation Branch

Table of Contents

• Executive Summary
• 1.0 Introduction
• 2.0 Background
  • 2.1 Program Profile
    • 2.1.1 Organizational Structure
    • 2.1.2 Clients of Environment Canada’s Weather Prediction Services
    • 2.1.3 Context
  • 2.2 Resource Allocation
  • 2.3 Previous Assessments
• 3.0 Evaluation Design
  • 3.1 Purpose and Scope
  • 3.2 Evaluation Methodology
  • 3.3 Methodological Limitations
• 4.0 Findings
  • 4.1 Relevance
    • 4.1.1 Continued Need for Program
    • 4.1.2 Alignment with Federal Government Priorities and Departmental Strategic Outcomes
    • 4.1.3 Alignment with Federal Roles and Responsibilities
  • 4.2 Performance - Achievement of Expected Outcomes
  • 4.3 Performance - Demonstration of Efficiency and Economy
• 5.0 Conclusions
• 6.0 Recommendations
• 7.0 Management Response
• Annex 1 Evaluation Matrix
• Annex 2 Key Documents Reviewed
• Annex 3 Summary of Findings