Introduction
Shared Services is a key element of our efficiency agenda. We must achieve good quality public services that are valued by their customers and ensure that efficiencies are applied consistently and proactively across the whole public sector, and across all corporate / common services. We expect that the majority of efficiency gains to be delivered by best business practice and business process improvement, better use of public assets, improved collaborative working and much wider application of Shared Services, ensuring that value is added in all end to end business processes. All public organisations must challenge themselves to collaborate, and engage in sharing services as integral part of their on-going continuous improvement.
Organisations throughout the world constantly face operational and strategic challenges to improve customer service at lower cost and increased effectiveness. Lean theories from manufacturing teach us that most improvement opportunities come from eliminating non-value added activities. Shared Services enables organisations to gain economies of scales and skills. Cost reduction and high quality service delivery can be achieved from economies of scale, and access to specialised skill-sets and subject matter expertise. Public sector organisations also have the fundamental objective of delivering efficient and effective customer orientated services to citizens.
Shared Services is more than just centralisation or consolidation of similar activities in one location. It is the convergence and streamlining of similar functions within an organisation, or across organisations, to ensure that they are delivered as effectively and efficiently as possible. In a Shared Services model, these service activities will be run like a business, delivering services to internal/external customers at a cost, quality and timeliness that is competitive with alternatives.
Shared Services allows an organisation, or organisations to leverage the capabilities of resources across the entire enterprise, achieving and sustaining performance excellence. The underpinning is a concentration of common management practices in a business-oriented organisation focused entirely on delivering highest-value services at the lowest cost to customers. This stimulates greater accountability than having multiple points of responsibility and varied management practices.
What we are doing?
We are looking to develop national shared service solutions that benefit community planning partners across Scotland. Our starting point for this has been with Local Government. All 32 local authorities are engaged in the development of a national approach to shared service in local government.
We are also gathering data by undertaking a baseline study of the Scottish Government, its Executive Agencies and some of the NDPBs. This data gathering will ensure that any decision on shared services across the public sector is based on sound and consistent measurements.
We have published the Shared Services Guidance Framework which provides information, guidance and case study examples to those considering Shared Services and to those already on the Shared Services journey. The Framework will be a live document so we can revise as the development of Shared Services approach matures, builds on good practice as it emerges and add to the case studies as projects are implemented.
We have launched an online Shared Services Forum, this is a Sharepoint site hosted by the Scottish Government. The Forum will host the Shared Services Guidance Framework, best practice examples of shared services and case studies. Membership of the Forum is open to both public and private sector practitioners of shared services. To become a member please contact the Shared Services Team.
Shared Services in the Public Sector Events
We held a Shared Services Public Leadership event on 24 June 2008, which the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth was in attendance to provide the keynote speech. The purpose of the event was to engage with Chief Executives and Senior Influencers in the Public Sector, to provide an update on shared services activity across Scotland, with opportunities to discuss the current state of play and where we would like to get to with shared services in the next 5 years.
Following the success of the above event, we held another event Shared Services in the Public Sector For Practitioners and Suppliers on 23 September 2008. A number of Workshops were held on the day covering the Diagnostics Toolkit, Joint Working in Orkney, Baseline Study of Corporate Services, Customer Service Qualification Programme and Change Management - Effective Stakeholder Engagement, presentations from the day can be found here. The aim of the day was to provide practitioners and suppliers with an update on Shared Services in Scotland including sharing the outcomes of Shared Services Public Sector Leaders Event and providing an opportunity to discuss challenges and opportunities across the public sector. A report on the afternoon workshops will follow shortly.
Current Shared Services Activities
There are a number of shared services projects underway across the public sector in Scotland. Summary information and where available a project summary template for these projects can be found here.