Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have a set of questions here that I'd like to ask the Minister of Infrastructure today.
My first question is in regards to the DIMS system that the GNWT uses to house all of its documents. And I'm wondering why is DIMS housed within the Department of Infrastructure and not within the Department of Finance where the Office of the Chief Information Officer sits? Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Kam Lake. Minister responsible for Infrastructure.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the enterprise information management division is responsible for the record management, and DIMS is the platform that is used. There is a specialized required for the records management hence that's why it's sitting in Infrastructure. The EIM has strong working relationship related to the governance with the chief information officer and the Department of Finance. So the CIO has delegated responsibility for information management from the Financial Admin Act to the enterprise information management. So EIM develops policies and provides advice and assistance due to the expertise around records management.
Mr. Speaker, this is a governmentwide program which is focused on managing information, assets, and government DIMS. Manages both the electronic and the physical records as well that the GNWT centre holds. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, when I, once upon a time, used to work at the Department of Finance, I had the privilege of using DIMS. I adored DIMS. It makes it easier to finds documents and store them and share them with your colleagues. So, Mr. Speaker, I'm wondering what departments still need to be loaded on to the DIMS system in order to access it as part of their regular workspace? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, you'll be happy to know that as of January 2022, the Education, Culture and Employment has begun the rollout, and we're working with Health and Social Services to be able to assist them in implementing the DIMS program. So Health and Social Services are looking at migrating two of their divisions as a starting point. So, I mean, this is great. We're starting to move all of our different departments into one integrated system. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there's another reason why DIMS is really important, and it's for access to information and privacy protection as well. And the ATIPP Act is also rolled into kind of being able to use that system as well. And so especially given that, you know, digital technology changes so quickly and the need for us to keep up is so relevant in today's day and age. I'm wondering what is the actual timeline for all departments to be absolutely on DIMS, integrated into it, given that I believe it's coming up four or five years since I had the privilege of sitting as a public servant in the Department of Finance? Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, like I mentioned, Education, Culture and Employment is planning deployment in 2023 for four more divisions. So we'll work with them to see what additional supports we can provide through Infrastructure to help the other divisions as well. And I mentioned Health and Social Services has indicated two more divisions that could go forward. But we'll need to see how else we can support them to get to the other units that we need to combine as a whole. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, is it reasonable to expect for this to be done before the end of the 19th Assembly? Thank you.
No, but I want to say that the department can sometimes be challenged with being able to dedicate some time, our resource to implement DIMS. You know, as the Member knows, the two biggest departments Department of Health and Education, Culture and Employment are two big departments that we need to implement into the whole of a DIMS program. So ECE has begun staging the deployment since January, and it's based on some of the readiness and the approval of their operational classification systems. Health and Social Services, as I mentioned, we're getting closer. I just no, I don't think we're going to get there by the end of this session. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. To get this done right, that's what it takes. Thanks.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
