Automating the Committee's Branch in Ontario.

• Author: Freedman, Lisa

It is unlikely that terms like `computer-guru', `code-wrangler' or `programmer' would appear anywhere in a lexicon of Clerkly descriptors. However, a casual stroll through the Committees Branch of the Ontario Legislature in 1999, would have uncovered a group of Clerks gathered about a computer terminal discussing the flexibility of their new search engine, how to most effectively implement `wildcards' in their SQL queries, or how to quickly retrieve statistics on the number of written submissions tabled at hearings held five years ago. This article looks at how the Clerks of the Ontario Legislative Assembly used technology to help them do their work.

Not long ago, had you asked Ontario Clerks whether they felt a pressing need for computer gadgetry you might have been greeted with a snort of disdain. The old quill-and-paper method was quite sufficient thank you very much! But with the rest of the world racing forward at megahertz speed, increasing the demand for almost instantaneous access to information, the Clerks at the Committees Branch in Ontario began to consider the benefits of office automation.

In part, the decision to examine the role that computers could play in the operations of the Committees Branch was inspired by curiosity. It seemed the whole world was talking about computers and we were becoming rather self-conscious about our antediluvian practices. But the primary motivator was that proverbial mother of all invention: necessity. An ever-increasing number of people requesting appearances before committees, coupled with a short lead-time between bill referrals and hearings, meant that the existing scheduling system could barely keep up. On numerous occasions committees received hundreds of amendments tabled to a given bill, resulting in Minutes of Proceedings that were hundreds of pages in length. Staff changes, and the subsequent loss of corporate memory, required a more concentrated effort to organize our procedural and administrative information. It soon became apparent that, by reducing repetitive clerical tasks, or by simplifying time-consuming duties with the aid of computers, a Committee Clerk could focus his or her expertise on the primary role of providing procedural research and administrative support to the Standing and Select Committees of the Legislature.

The Committees Branch began its search for timesaving technology in the early 1990s. We approached the Assembly's computer department for help in developing a database. Our requirements were, by database standards, rather simple. We needed to store the contact information of potential witnesses, generate standardized reports, and produce agendas, lists of exhibits, confirmation letters and various statistics for use in Business Summaries.

At that time, the Assembly's computer department was experiencing problems implementing a network solution so they encouraged us to look for a branch-level solution...