1. WD should introduce one or two specific indicators to capture CFs' role in pursuing collaborative relationships with other organizations (i.e. informal arrangements, memorandums of understanding, etc.) and acting as a gateway to services for their clients (e.g. number of referrals).

Agreed

WD presently collects data on the number of partnerships created by CFs and will continue to do so.

WD will review, together with the CFs and other members of the WCBSN, the performance indicators presently collected through the performance reporting system (see recommendation #4) and determine how best to appropriately and consistently measure their gateway function.

Executive Director, Policy, Planning & Performance Measurement)

March 31, 2009

2. WD Program Managers need to review the recent shift in WD priorities to determine how the CF Program should respond in the future.

Agreed

WD regions will continue to work with the CFs in their regions to better communicate WD priorities and will engage with the CF Associations and CFs to negotiate an appropriate response for each organization.

Departmental priorities and the role of the CF program in addressing them will be considered as part of the renewal process for the CF Program.

Regional ADMs

Executive Director, Policy, Planning & Performance Measurement

Ongoing

March 2010

3. WD should take the necessary steps to further enhance the management of investment fund.

• WD should determine acceptable performance measures such as loss rates, number of loans, and levels of cash on hand, taking into account local, regional, and provincial economic conditions. This decision should be clearly and consistently communicated to all CFs.

• WD should clarify the CF terms and conditions surrounding when the $150K loan limit can be surpassed. The decision should be clearly communicated to all CFs.

Agreed

For past few years, WD has taken steps to address this issue.   Last year, WD established and communicated to the CFs, minimum standards on a few key variables, including number and dollar value of loans. The first 6 months this fy show improvement compared to last fy:
-          # of loans have increased 17%
-          Dollar value of loans have increased 38%
-        % of investment funds being held as cash on hand (COH)  has decreased by 9%
WD will continue to monitor the actions taken to date and make adjustments as required.

WD will also examine specific initiatives such as the pilot project proposed by the BC CF Assoc. to reduce the COH and monitor the joint WD/ AB CF Associations initiative to reduce the COH held by individual CFs to 12%.

WD will continue to support the CF Association's training initiatives to strengthen the CF board's capacity to fulfill their fiduciary responsibility to manage the investment funds effectively . 

Agreed - A policy is under development on this issue.

Executive Director, Policy, Planning & Performance Measurement

Regional ADMs

Executive Director, Policy, Planning & Performance Measurement

June 30, 2009

Ongoing

March 31, 2009

4. WD should take the necessary steps to enhance the reliability and use of performance data.

• WD should devise a strategy to resolve performance- reporting issues related to system inconsistencies and data definitions. 

   

   

   

   

• WD should review the continued relevance of elements currently collected through the TEA system.

   

   

   

   

   

• In order to ensure the integrity of data, WD should implement and lead quality assurance practices (i.e. sample audits, etc.).

Agreed

WD has already undertaken a number of steps to address this issue including supporting training in interpretation of definitions and new hardware to address systems issues and will continue to. 

WD will explore the feasibility and cost effectiveness of adopting an updated version of the performance management system that would alleviate some of the systems inconsistencies.

These elements were originally designed in partnership with CFs and CF Associations to meet not only WD's reporting needs but also those of the CFs for information they wished to capture to report to their communities.

WD will participate jointly with the CF's and CF Associations on proposed TEA committee.  Functions of this committee will include reviewing the data elements on an ongoing basis for clarity and relevancy and recommending changes to ensure that both CF and WD data collection and research needs are met.

WD will develop guidelines and examples in order to facilitate a more robust QA process on the part of CFs.

Executive Director, Policy, Planning & Performance Measurement

Regional ADMs

March 31, 2009

5. WD needs to further define the indicators associated with the long-term outcomes of the program and ensure that data is being tracked against the established indicators.

WD will continue to track data against established indicators and perform analysis to measure the long-term outcomes of the program.

Impact studies will be used to validate self-reported CF performance.

Executive Director, Policy, Planning & Performance Measurement

Ongoing

6. Subject to WD preparing a plan to implement the other recommendations in this report, WD should continue its support and long term commitment to the three services provided by the CF program.

Agreed.

With the approval of this Management Action Plan, WD will continue work with the other Regional Development Agencies to renew support for the Community Futures Progmra

Executive Director, Policy, Planning & Performance Measurement

March 31, 2010

7. WD should continue to monitor the trends in level of activity relative to cost to ensure that the measures put in place are having the desired affect and reversing these trends.

Agreed

Initial indications are that the efforts taken are achieving the intended results but this will continue to be monitored on an ongoing basis and adjustments made if necessary.

Regional ADMs

Ongoing