2017-2018Annual Report

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Message from the ChairAs Chair of the Board of Directors, I am pleased to present the 2017–2018 GRICS Annual Report. Several projects have advanced significantly over the course of the past year. Among these, the preparation of a structured comprehensive plan and the identification of priority sectors have enabled us to develop a clear picture of the challenges ahead.

The involvement of school boards is yielding positive results. This collaboration has allowed us to control soaring costs and contrib-uted to improving GRICS’ products and services. We need to continue along the same lines, while staying focused on meeting our shared objectives, prioritizing the implementation of new solutions and sharing our experiences.

On another note, the Board of Directors has seen a number of changes, including the arrival of a representative of the Ministère de l’Éducation et de l’Enseignement supérieur (MEES) as an observer. This presence reflects significantly closer relations with the MEES. Over the past year, we have had several opportunities to work together on projects bringing together various stake-holders. I believe that the future success of GRICS depends on greater collaboration with the MEES, and in my capacity as Chair, I am proud to contribute to developing this relationship.

I invite you to continue to make GRICS a bundled services model that puts our combined talents to work in serving the interests of students!

Jean-François LachanceChair of the Board of Directors

Message from the President and CEOFollowing a year marked by the presentation of our 2016–2021 Strategic Plan, 2017–2018 was dedicated to developing several projects connected with the directions set out in that plan. I would draw particular attention to the initiatives aimed at improving the client experience, which will be a major priority in coming years. We also took concrete steps to become more expedient as well as to consolidate the reli-ability of our products. Finally, we put tools and processes in place to improve our system security and data protection.

As is the case with many businesses and school boards, one of the main challenges GRICS will soon face is in the area of human resources and the replacement of persons that will retire. This represents an enormous challenge when it comes to planning staffing, training new employees and transferring knowledge. Now more than ever, we need to join forces with the school boards and work closely together.

Many projects and major changes are in the works. I am con-fident that together we will reach our common goals.

Lorraine MayerPresident and CEO

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2016–2021 Strategic planGRICS unveiled its 2016–2021 strategic plan in fall 2016. The

plan provides directions for continuing the technological shift initiated in the past few years, while staying focused on the trusted partnership that GRICS wishes to strengthen with the school boards. Actions stemming from the strategic plan place high importance on:

• The support and coaching GRICS intends to offer the network to help its members make optimal use of the new

solutions portfolio;• GRICS’s ability to understand and better anticipate the needs of the school boards;

and• Reducing delivery times for its new solutions portfolio.All of the main achievements realized in 2017–2018 presented in this report pertain to the directions and objectives set out in the strategic plan.

Client experienceBusiness leadership

Reliability

Velocity Other revenues

Human capital

In summer 2017, GRICS began setting up, in collaboration with the MEES, Information Security in the School Board (ISSB), a project designed to support school boards in implementing objectives and deliverables required by the Ministry with respect to informa-tion security management.

SEVERAL ACTIONS

• An Appointment Guide was produced for directors general who need to appoint an ISM (information security manager) and IMSC (incident management sector coordinator) for their organization

• The groundwork for an Information Security Policy has been laid

• A common directory for sharing documents and information was created

• A weekly webinar to support school boards was launched

• ISMs and IMSCs were appointed in eight pilot school boards

• A training approach has been adopted

• The project was launched to all school boards on February 28, 2018

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A structure geared to meet future challenges!

In June 2017, GRICS made adjustments to its organizational structure aimed at:

• Developing closer ties with clients

• Introducing an end-to-end delivery style

• Formalizing operational and security roles

• Meeting the strategic objectives of velocity and reliability

• Facilitate planning and vision in the medium et long term.

These changes include:

Creation of a new Operations and Security sector

The Operations and Security sector is mandated to develop and implement best operational practices and manage the security of data and computer sys-tems for GRICS.

Key achievements of the sector since it was created include:

• Procuring an unconditional compliance notice for the integrated management software Mozaïk-AX under CSAE 3416 (Canadian Standard on Assurance Engagements), a standard used to demonstrate the integrity and security of internal financial control processes of the business

• Establishing a hosting service for legacy software

• Implementing a system to measure the availability of Mozaïk-Administrative Management and Mozaïk-Student Information System services

• Improving the monitoring of computer systems

Modifications to the role of the Strategies, Innovation and Product Portfolio sector in response to concerns set out in the strategic plan

The mission of the Strategies, Innovation and Product Portfolio sector is to:

• Conduct strategic monitoring in order to stay on top of market trends and client needs; and

• Develop strategies focused on innovation and better vision of the product portfolio.

Over the course of the past year, a Strate-gic Monitoring and Innovation team and a Data Management team have been set up. In addition, several product position studies and opportunity analyses have been produced aimed at, among other things, replacing Service Request Man-agement (GRDS) and reorganizing the Educational Video Collection (EVC).

Data Management With a mandate to develop and imple-ment a business intelligence strategy, the Data Management team is working to offer all of our clients innovative and user-friendly tools to analyze their data for decision-making purposes, as well as to identify new products inspired by the data.

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Product portfolio

Mozaïk-Portal

Completing the first version of the Mozaïk-Portal for teachers and students was a priority in 2017–2018. The initial func-tions went online in June 2017. In January of this year, improvements were made to enable personalized seating plans, resource management and emails to parents.

Furthermore, Mozaïk-Registration was improved to include school preferences in the registration process, and the Mozaïk-Parent Portal now provides access to tax forms for daycare services. The teams are working on integrating the Active Mon-itoring and Bullying Management modules, both of which will be available in trial ver-sions in May 2018. Finally, the Communica-tion function of Mozaïk-Portal can now be used to send emails to an institution’s entire cohort of parents with just a few clicks.

Mozaïk-Parent Portal

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77

Mozaïk-Registration

1,401

SCHOOL BOARDS

53 SCHOOL BOARDS

16 SCHOOL BOARDS

SCHOOLS

DAYCARE CENTRES

in

in

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Product portfolio

Mozaïk-AX

A comprehensive plan to develop and implement Mozaïk-AX, in 72 school boards was developed in 2017–2018. This plan identified the progress achieved and work remaining to deliver a replacement solution for the DOFIN, ACHAT, PAIE and GRH legacy products.

More specifically, over the course of the year we:

• Continued developing the Finance and Procurement modules;

• Completed implementation of the Fixed Assets and Accounts Receivable functions for all school boards on schedule, in December 2017;

• Continued implementing the Accounts Payable, Order Management and Data Warehouse functions;

• Identified the external systems used

by school boards in order to plan ways to facilitate implementation and prioritize development work on the HR module;

• Collaborated with 20 school boards in mapping and validating certain HR processes in order to better understand how they function;

• Advanced development of the first key functions of Mozaïk-AX HR and payroll: Staff Planning, Priorities and Assignment Sessions.

MOZAÏK-AX ACCELERATION PLAN

A plan has been prepared to accelerate development and implementation of Mozaïk-AX in the 72 school boards. Putting this plan into effect will advance completion of the project by several years. It requires invest-ment from an external partner and commitment from the school boards. The acceleration plan was submitted to the Board of Directors in January 2018 and is in the process of being pre-sented to and validated by the various stakeholders.

In spring 2016, GRICS signed an agreement with Constellio to replace its document management and archiving solution, Keystone. To date, more than half of school boards have implemented the new application. GRICS, Constellio and a Constellio-SB-GRICS subcommittee are working closely together to continue with implementations and the devel-opment plan.

As of February 28, 2018

IMPLEMENTATION PROGRESS as of February 28, 2018

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70

Mozaïk-AX Procurement

Mozaïk-AX Fixed Assets

Mozaîk-AX Finance/ Accounts Payable

Mozaïk-AX Finance/ Accounts Receivable

Mozaïk-AX HR and Payroll

SCHOOL BOARDS IN MIGRATION

235 SCHOOL BOARDS IN PRODUCTION

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Product portfolio

Carrefour éducation

Under a mandate from the Ministère de l’Éducation et de l’Enseignement supérieur (MEES), the Carrefour éducation team is working closely with network stakeholders to provide teachers in the Youth sector with quick, effective and free access to relevant validated resources that facilitate and enrich skill development by students.

2017-2018Educational resources 98,000Facebook followers 5,340Twitter followers 11,200Newsletter subscriptions 8,070Website visits 920,000Pages visited 5,000,000

Educational Video Collection (EVC)

Every year, with the support of the Ministère de l’Éducation et de l’Enseignement supérieur (MEES), the EVC team integrates more than 2,000 videos and supporting documents for the use of our educational clients.

2017-2018Videos 12,800Supporting documents 3,200Facebook followers 5,341Website visits 265,000Number of views 207,000

BIM

Designed to support Québec school boards in developing evaluation tools, BIM had provided French and English school boards with more than 200 general learning exams for young people, adults and professional training students as of June 30, 2017. BIM collaborated with more than 450 teachers and academic advisors in various school boards in preparing those examinations.

Production as of June 30, 2017GYL GAL PT Total

Exams 67 39 96 202Collaborators 313 62 90 +465

Since last August, 211 new exams in these sectors have been sent to school boards, and more will be produced between now and the end of June.

REPÈRES

REPÈRES provides access to comprehensive information about career choices and job placement, including professions, insti-tutions, training, organizations, assistance programs, loans and scholarships, etc.

In March 2017, the REPÈRES team launched a monthly newsletter. Ten issues have been produced to date and the publication now has 2,362 subscribers. REPÈRES is also very popular on social media: it has 2,580 followers on Facebook and 746 on Twitter.

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Client communication

The Vision Client 360° project is designed to help GRICS optimize practices in order to improve team efficiency by implementing processes across sectors related to managing requests, incidents, problems, interac-tions and knowledge.

Key achievements as of February 28, 2018

• Workshops held with clients and creation of a client experience map

• Audit report on current ITIL processes, design of best processes, ITIL training given to key contributors and all GRICS managers

• Change-management approach, impact analysis, communication and training plans

• Implementation of the ITSM tool.Next steps

• Starting in May 2018, GRICS teams will be using a new tool to manage interactions, incidents, problems and requests

• The Client Portal will be launched in fall 2018

Access to a self-service portal will provide users greater independence, facilitate knowledge bank searches, simplify communications and fol-low-up to requests for support, and provide users access to a community of practice.

The 38th edition of the National Meeting took place on November 15 and 16, 2017, at Hôtel Mortagne in Boucherville. Of the 275 participants, 81% would recommend our event to their colleagues. The keynote talks were especially appreciated. This year, in addition to the regular program, the par-ticipation of renowned specialists provided an opportunity to delve into topics of cur-rent interest, including artificial intelligence, the new role of IT, programming in schools, and cybersecurity. The evening fundraiser brought in $3,400 for Club des petits déjeuners (Breakfast Club).

The Groupe des gestionnaires des tech-nologies (GGT) held two meetings in 2017–2018, each bringing together more than a hundred network participants in per-son or online. These meetings serve to take stock of the progress of our software solu-tions and projects, while enabling expertise and know-how to be shared across the network and organization.

SOME OF OUR COMMUNICATION TOOLSMarch 1, 2017 – February 28, 2018

Webinars

26 webinars

1,522 participants

3,392 post-webinar views

Newsletter

2,462 subscribers

31,993 sent

grics.ca

180,966 page views

Customer Zone

343,289 page views

3,885 accounts

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Communication with clients

Support, services and training

Seminars and Conferences

This was a busy year in terms of seminars and con-ferences. GRICS was actively involved in about fifty formal education-related events, reaching a large pool of decision makers and users. In addition to attending trade fairs, our specialists hosted 43 workshops show-casing our services and software solutions.

Attendance at Regional Tables

In 2017–2018, we increased our attendance at regional tables, which have enabled us to meet a significant number of our clients and users of our products. These meetings, like the collaborator groups, are aimed at better understanding client needs, to answer ques-tions, to better follow up and, ultimately, fine-tuning our products.

THANKS TO OUR COLLABORATORS!

The involvement of school boards is a key component in helping us improve the speed and quality of our products. Every year, some thirty school boards are actively involved in developments and improvements to products and features. Others also make a valu-able contribution by participating in various events, meetings, webi-nars and opinion surveys. We would like to express our gratitude to all our partner school boards and encourage them to continue their involvement!

In 2017–2018, support staff took part in 45,000 interactions, about 2,000 more than in the previous year. The increase was mainly due to new implementations of Mozaïk-AX Finance, which is creating a greater need for support as clients begin to familiarize themselves with the application. About 92% of interactions are related to requests for functional or technical support in the proper use of systems. We receive about 70% of requests by email, a rate that continues to increase from year to year. Support for legacy systems did not diminish, as these are still used widely. We expect that the number of requests will continue to increase with implementations of the new Mozaïk-AX and Mozaïk-Portal modules in coming years. Given our commitment to responding effectively to the needs of users, human and material investments in Vision Client 360° will help us to improve the user experience when the project is rolled out in 2018.

In addition, we delivered 544 training sessions, with the number of participants up 13% from the previous year. 93% of participants report being very satisfied or satisfied with the training, including a significant 7% increase in the number of very satisfied partic-ipants. Training sessions are complemented by a personalized support service in the form of consultation hours. The number of training sessions increased, reducing the need for consultation, which was down to 8,000 hours this year.

Training2017-2018

Different courses offered 198Training sessions 544Participants 4,748Hours of consultation 8,074

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Company profile

Created in 1985 by school boards to meet their information technology needs, GRICS is a non-profit organization whose Board of Directors is made up of school board representatives from various regions of Québec, as well as one representative each of the Fédération des commissions scolaires du Québec and the Quebec English School Boards Association. GRICS offers a complete portfolio of technological solutions and a wide range of services used by school boards and training institutions in Québec that compare favourably with North American lead-ers in the development of specialized software for the educa-tional market.

The GRICS team comprises 325 employees, most of whom are professionals and specialized developers. Like many companies, GRICS is faced in 2018 with the challenge of replacing retiring employees, with the concomitant challenges of planning new staffing, training and knowledge transfer.

Board of directors Lorraine MayerPresident and Chief Executive Officer

Sébastien Gougeon, Esq.Secretary General and legal counsel

Antonio AlbeshelaniPrincipal Director, Operations and Security

France BigrasVice-President, Software Solutions Realization

Josée BouchardVice-President, Strategies, Innovation and Product Portfolio

Line GirardPrincipal Director, Financial, Human and Administrative Resources

Bruno-Paul LatortueDirector, Sales, Marketing and Communications

Emmanuel VigneVice-President, Services, Implementation and Content Development

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Activity Report for the Board of Directors

For the fiscal year beginning on March 1, 2017, and ending on February 28, 2018, the Board of Directors held six regu-lar sessions and one special session. The Governance, Ethics and Human Resources Subcommittee of the Board of Directors held four regular sessions, while the Audit Subcommittee held three regular sessions. In addition, the directors attended a strategic planning session in September 2017 with the members of the Executive Committee. The Board of Directors also set up ad hoc committees to advise the directors on various matters.

In the course of this work, the Board of Directors, with the support of the two statutory subcommittees and the ad hoc committees, addressed the follow-ing issues:

• Follow-up of monthly financial reports and adoption of financial statements for the 2017–2018 fiscal year;

• Adoption of guidelines and budget estimates for the 2018–2019 fiscal year;

• Approval of comprehensive plans for the development and implementation of the Mozaïk-AX and Mozaïk-Portal solutions, as well as of the principles underlying an acceleration plan for Mozaïk-AX and progress monitoring for those plans;

• Monitoring of 2016–2021 strategic plan targets and of progress with the product portfolio and future directions;

• Monitoring of GRICS discussions with various potential market partners;

• Follow-up of Mozaïk-related implementations, as well as of client interactions pertaining to support;

• Follow-up to the awarding of an authorization to contract under the Act respecting contracting by public bodies;

• Monitoring of the public call for tenders process and awarding of a contract to implement the Vision Client 360° project and follow-up of that project;

• Approval of the public call for tenders process and awarding of a contract to implement the ISSB (Information Security in the School Boards) project and follow-up of that project;

• Approval of various contracts necessary to current operations of GRICS;

• Monitoring of the renewal of volume licencing under Microsoft’s EES program;

• Monitoring of the process under which GRICS was awarded an unconditional compliance notice for CSAE 3416 (Canadian Standard on Assurance Engagements);

• Monitoring of work pertaining to the development of a new contractual framework for GRICS’s emerging cloud-computing solutions;

• Follow-up on the reports of GRICS’s Chair of the Board of Directors and President and CEO;

Board of directors

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Board of directors

OUTGOING DIRECTORS

GRICS would like to acknowledge the collaboration and excellent work of its outgoing directors:

Representative of the Estrie regionAndré LamarcheRetired Director General C.S. de la Région-de-Shebrooke(May 26, 2011, to December 5, 2017)

Representative of the Laval–Laurentides–Lanaudière regionClaude PouliotRetired Director General C.S. des Laurentides(June 10, 2016, to May 26, 2017)

Representative of the Montreal regionPierre BoulayRetired Director General C.S. de la Pointe-de-l’Île(May 24, 2007 , to December 8, 2017)

Outgoing representative of MEESFrédéric PotokAssistant Director General, Orientations, Architecture and Funding

ACTIVE MEMBERS AS OF FEBRUARY 28, 2018

Chair of the Board of Directors Jean-François LachanceDirector General, C.S. de la Seigneurie-des-Mille-Îles

Executive Vice President Chedlia TouilInterim Director GeneralFédération des commissions scolaires du Québec (FCSQ)Since February 23, 2018 (replacing Christiane Barbe on an interim basis)

Representative of the Quebec English School Boards Association (QESBA) Joanne Simoneau-PolenzDirector of Labour Relations

Region 1-11 - Bas-Saint-Laurent–Gaspésie–Îles-de-la-MadeleineMadeleine DugasDirector General, C.S. des Phares

Region 2 - Saguenay–Lac-Saint-JeanSylvain OuelletDirector General, C.S. du Pays-des-Bleuets

Region 3-12 - Capitale-Nationale–Chaudière-AppalachesPierre LapointeDirector General, C.S de la Capitale

Region 4 - Mauricie–Centre-du-QuébecDenis LemaireDirector General, C.S de l’Énergie

Region 5 - EstrieCarl MercierAssistant Director General, C.S. de la Région-de-SherbrookeSince January 27, 2018

Region 6.1 - Laval–Laurentides–LanaudièreNancy LapointeDirector General, C.S. des SamaresSince June 1, 2017

Region 6.2 - MontérégieCaroline DupréDirector General, C.S. de Saint-Hyacinthe

Region 6.3 - MontréalRichard GuillemetteAssistant Director General, C.S. Marguerite-BourgeoysSince January 27, 2018

Region 7 - OutaouaisJulie LabergeAssistant Director General, C.S. des Draveurs

Region 8-10 - Abitibi-Témiscamingue–Nord-du-QuébecÉric LarivièreDirector General, C.S. du Lac-Témiscamingue

Region 9 - Côte-NordMarius Richard Director General, C.S. de la Moyenne-Côte-Nord

NON-VOTING MEMBERS OF THE BOARD:

GRICSLorraine MayerPresident and Chief Executive OfficerSébastien Gougeon, Esq.Secretary General

Observer from MEES Stéphane LehouxDirector General, Digital Transformation and Information ResourcesSince February 23, 2018

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Financial statementsThe financial statements for the year ended February 28, 2018, included in the GRICS annual financial report were tabled by the Principal Director, Financial, Human and Administrative Resources, who attested to their accuracy during the Board of Directors meeting held on April 26, 2018.

The Chief Executive Officer and the Principal Director, Financial, Human and Administrative Resources, certify that management maintains internal quality control systems designed to provide reasonable assurance that the published financial statements give a true and fair view of GRICS and do not contain false information. They further attest to the effectiveness of internal controls pertaining to financial information.

It is primarily through its Audit Committee, composed of members of the Board of Directors, that the Board of Directors exercises its responsibility for the financial statements included in the financial report. The Audit Committee reviews the financial statements prepared by the Principal Director, Financial, Human and Administrative Resources, and recommends their approval to the Board of Directors.

The financial statements have been audited by the external auditing firm of Deloitte S.E.N.C.R.L./s.r.l.

We present here the condensed financial statements drawn from the financial statements audited by Deloitte. The full version of these financial statements is available upon request.

Line Girard CPA, CA, MBAPrincipal Director, Financial, Human and Administrative Resources

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Financial positionFor the year ended February 28, 2018 2018 2017

$ $

AssetsCurrent assets Cash 12,127,248 569,333 Investments 4,687,655 13,500,048 Accounts receivable 1,631,995 1,580,724 Inventory of supplies 20,925 27,062 Prepaid expenses 1,174,960 1,016,233

19,642,783 16,693,400

Long-term advance  229,167 239,167Tangible assets (property, plant and equipment) 714,871 673,902Intangible assets 3,511,186 3,834,253

24,098,007 21,440,722

LiabilitiesCurrent liabilities Accounts payable and accrued liabilities 5,681,300 5,505,838 Deferred revenue 11,216,979 9,548,446

16,898,279 15,054,284

Provision for the payment of sick leave days 121,626 133,95817,019,905 15,188,242

Commitments

Net assetsInvested in capital assets 4,226,057 4,508,155Internally restricted 1,129,000 547,000Unrestricted 1,723,045 1,197,325

7,078,102 6,252,48024,098,007 21,440,722

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Income statementFor the year ended February 28, 2018

2018 2017Budgeted

$Actual

$Budgeted

$Actual

$(unaudited) (unaudited)

RevenuesLicences, IT support and software sales 27,019,138 27,021,291 25,879,869 25,856,048Personalized services 6,428,570 6,615,548 5,722,366 5,849,029Centralized processing 10,593 17,429 18,348 18,070Resale of products 51,000 74,626 395,550 266,495Support from the information centre 554,198 553,041 533,112 548,612Conferences and other 279,226 295,879 277,800 282,362Interest 111,000 152,899 98,000 111,535Interest in the structure 336,569 336,577 329,845 329,855Telecommunications 366,840 363,983 351,360 356,737Interest in research and experiments 183,687 186,054 178,000 179,196

35,340,821 35,617,327 33,784,250 33,797,939

ExpendituresSalaries 21,024,987 20,827,409 19,548,712 19,940,645Employer contributions 4,866,418 5,296,094 4,840,942 4,929,009Services, fees and contracts 5,114,729 5,036,959 4,283,167 4,014,630Rental expenses 1,279,577 1,320,359 1,306,694 1,278,643Royalties 650,000 678,779 587,000 569,930Amortization of capital assets 1,083,766 926,709 1,913,148 1,864,961Travel expenses 483,501 471,026 405,650 374,081Products for resale — — 249,000 259,914Bad debt expense 8,000 7,688 — 466Supplies 217,792 226,682 201,550 150,606

34,728,770 34,791,705 33,335,863 33,382,885Excess of revenues over expenditures 612,051 825,622 448,387 415,054

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Credits :Production: GRICS Communications DepartmentGraphic design: Andrée-Ann CloutierPhotos: GRICS, ShutterstockPrinting: Imprimerie Philippe Lévesque

5100 Sherbrooke Street EastSuite 300, 3rd floor, Montréal, QC H1V 3R9www.grics.ca