The Exploration Lab welcomes teams from across PSPC who come to the Lab to test, prototype and, above all, innovate. They all have a common quest – to improve the services they deliver. Here are some of the great projects we’ve collaborated on by helping teams access a wide range of software, hardware and new technologies:
- Cloud – Azure cloud environment
- Microsoft 365 – Forms & Power Apps
- Microsoft 365 – Power BI & data and information management
- Microsoft 365 – general testing
- Collaboration tools and software
- Chatbots & virtual training and staffing
Cloud – Azure cloud environment
Testing cloud software for PSPC corporate integration
Project description:
Tested Soluno and Archibus, commercial-off-the-shelf products, in Azure before deploying in PSPC’s cloud environment. (Fall 2022)
Testing area:
Azure & Soluno and Archibus software
Client:
Digital Services Branch, Spatial and Audit Systems team
Migrating GC applications to the cloud
Project description:
Tested Azure cloud solutions to migrate GC apps from a legacy data centre to a cloud environment. Experimented with building and manipulating data in the cloud. (Summer 2021)
Testing area:
Azure
Client:
Digital Services Branch,
Digital Projects Oversight and Delivery team
Replacing an on-premise data centre with Cloud services
Project description:
Tested Azure features for migrating GC applications from on-premise data centres to the Public Cloud Service. (Spring 2021)
Testing area:
Azure (Subscription, VNet, Synapse Workspace, VMs, Key Vault, SQL databases & private endpoints)
Client:
Real Property Services Branch, Business Intelligence Competency Centre Platform team
Automating translation and interpretation
Project description:
Experimented with software and automation options for translation and interpretation. (Fall 2020)
Testing area:
Azure & Microsoft 365
Client:
Translation Bureau
Creating an Azure sandbox environment
Project description:
Explored Azure to create an innovative testing environment for Information technology, project and portfolio management Accessing. (Winter 2021)
Testing area:
Azure & Microsoft 365
Client:
Digital Services Branch Information technology, project and portfolio management Accessing
Microsoft 365 – Forms & Power Apps
Leveraging Microsoft Forms to engage with stakeholders
Project description:
Tested Microsoft Forms for engaging with stakeholders and collecting data. (Fall 2022)
Testing area:
Forms – M365
Client:
Digital Services Branch, Enterprise Data Strategy team
Using Microsoft Forms for community feedback
Project description:
Tested Microsoft Forms to create a questionnaire for feedback and suggestions from members. (Fall 2022)
Testing area:
Forms – M365
Client:
Policy, Planning and Communications Branch,
Visible Minority Network
NextGen Travel Program – employee survey
Project description:
Tested Microsoft Forms for developing an employee survey. (Winter 2021)
Testing area:
Forms – M365
Client:
Digital Services Branch, NextGen Travel
Security Group – automating processes
Project description:
Explored Microsoft 365 Forms and Power Automate to automate processes. (Winter 2021)
Testing area:
Forms & Power Automate – M365
Client:
Digital Services Branch, Security team
Exploring Microsoft Power Apps for project management
Project description:
Tested Microsoft Power Apps to build a tool that automatically evaluates a project’s maturity level based on objective employee feedback. (Spring 2022)
Testing area:
Power Apps – M365
Client:
Real Property Services Branch, Enterprise Strategic Project Management Office team
Hackathon competition to create a better org chart tool
Project description:
Held a hackathon with teams of PSPC employees who used Microsoft Power Apps to develop innovative new ways to build and manage org charts. (Winter 2021)
Testing area:
Power Apps – M365
Client:
Human Resources Branch
Microsoft 365 – Power BI & data and information management
Marine – developing interactive dashboards with Power BI
Project description:
Tested Microsoft 365 and Power BI to develop interactive dashboards for communicating marine vessel data to stakeholders. (Winter 2021)
Testing area:
Power BI – M365
Client:
Defence and Marine Procurement Branch,
Marine Commodity Management Office
Marine – capturing shipbuilding contract data
Project description:
Explored Power BI capabilities to analyze shipbuilding contract data. (Fall 2022)
Testing area:
Power BI – M365
Client:
Defence and Marine Procurement Branch,
National Shipbuilding Strategy
Marine – analyzing vessel and supply chain data
Project description:
Explored Power BI capabilities to analyze vessels and supply chain data. (Fall 2020)
Testing area:
Power BI – M365
Client:
Defence and Marine Procurement Branch
Building a dashboard to track budget estimates
Project description:
Leveraged Power BI to build a software status dashboard. (Fall 2020)
Testing area:
Power BI – M365
Client:
Digital Services Branch
Exploring Microsoft Power Apps for project management
Project description:
Explored Microsoft 365 tools, including Power BI, for Receiver General’s accounting system. (Winter 2021)
Testing area:
Power BI – M365
Client:
Receiver General and Pension Branch
Using Microsoft 365 tools for accounting
Project description:
Held a hackathon with teams of PSPC employees who used Microsoft Power Apps to develop innovative new ways to build and manage org charts. (Winter 2021)
Testing area:
Power BI – M365
Client:
Human Resources Branch
HR-to-Pay – data mining and analytics
Project description:
Experimented with Microsoft 365 Excel and Power BI for data mining capacity. (Winter 2022)
Testing area:
Power BI – M365
Client:
HR-to-Pay Branch
Testing tools to automate data collection
Project description:
Tested email automation tools Mailchimp and ContactMonkey to collect statistics and analytics of employee readership of e-mail bulletins and newsletters like “In the Know”. (Spring 2021)
Testing area:
Mailchimp &
ContactMonkey
Client:
Policy, Planning and Communications Branch, Corporate Communications
Testing digital asset solutions for media files
Project description:
Experimented with solutions to easily share and store PSPC‘s digital assets. (Fall 2020)
Testing area:
Storing and sharing large media files
Client:
Policy, Planning and Communications Branch
Leveraging Power BI and Azure to create online dashboard/tracker
Project description:
Explored Power BI and Azure solutions to create a web-based tracker/dashboard for information sharing. (Winter 2021)
Testing area:
Web-based tracker/dashboard
Client:
Human Resources Branch
Exploring directory service solutions
Project description:
Explored directory service solutions with .NET, Azure & Microsoft 365. (Fall 2020)
Testing area:
Directory solutions –Microsoft 365, .NET, Azure & BI
Client:
Atlantic Region Digital Services Branch, Halifax team
Microsoft 365 – general testing
Exploring Microsoft 365 to enhance governance planning
Project description:
Experimented with Microsoft 365 to enhance DSB governance planning. (Fall 2020)
Testing area:
Microsoft 365
Client:
Digital Services Branch
PSPC application developers testing Microsoft 365 suite
Project description:
Experimented with Microsoft 365 products for future development and support opportunities. (Summer 2021)
Testing area:
Microsoft 365, Power BI & Azure
Client:
Quebec Region
Leveraging Microsoft 365 for project delivery
Project description:
Explored how Microsoft 365 can complement Real Property project delivery service. (Winter 2021)
Testing area:
Microsoft 365
Client:
Real Property Services Branch
Collaboration tools and software
Double Robotics Testing
Project description:
Test the Telepresence robot in the PSPC Innovation Lab and get a feel for how it works. (Winter 2023)
Testing area:
Double Robotics
Client:
Real Property Services, Accommodation Management and Innovative Projects
Integrating an interpretation tool with Microsoft Teams
Project description:
Tested KUDO, a remote interpretation tool, that can be leveraged through Microsoft Teams. (Summer 2022)
Testing area:
KUDO & Microsoft Teams
Client:
Translation Bureau
Testing tools to enhance collaboration spaces
Project description:
Tested Microsoft Surface Hubs and microphones for use in collaborative, hybrid meeting environments before piloting them in collaboration spaces across PSPC. (Fall 2020)
Testing area:
Microsoft Surface Hubs & microphones
Client:
Digital Services Branch
Technology Services and Support
Digital Convergence – meeting rooms of the future
Project description:
Explored solutions for meeting rooms of the future – integrating technology, software and tools for collaborating. (Spring 2021)
Testing area:
Surface Hubs, Hololens2 & More
Client:
Digital Services Branch
Using Microsoft 365 to collaborate externally
Project description:
Explored how Microsoft 365 could replace existing collaboration software for collaboration. (Fall 2020)
Testing area:
Microsoft 365
Client:
Receiver General and Pension Branch, Canadian General Standards Board
Exploring Microsoft 365 mobile capabilities
Project description:
Experimented with Microsoft 365 mobile capabilities for collaboration. (Fall 2020)
Testing area:
Microsoft 365
Client:
Digital Services Branch, GCDocs team
Exploring Microsoft 365 collaboration capabilities
Project description:
Experimented with collaboration capabilities within Microsoft 365. (Fall 2020)
Testing area:
Microsoft 365
Client:
Ontario Region Toronto iLab
Chatbots & virtual training and staffing
Exploring bilingual chatbots
Project description:
Experimented with Microsoft 365 tools to integrate and validate virtual chat support. (Fall 2020)
Testing area:
Bilingual Chatbot & Microsoft 365 Integration
Client:
Human Resources Branch
Exploring virtual staffing solutions
Project description:
Tested ideas and solutions for running virtual exams and recording interviews. (Winter 2020)
Testing area:
Microsoft 365 – Teams
Client:
Human Resources Branch
Exploring virtual training solutions
Project description:
Explored Microsoft 365 capabilities to enable virtual training. (Winter 2021)
Testing area:
Microsoft 365 – Virtual training
Client:
Pay Administration Branch, HR-to-Pay Program Office
