Governing the City State - Chief Minister and Treasury Directorate ...

ameliorate such issues, this is not able to create a shared understanding of Agencypriorities and need, particularly when expertise is required.Some of this lack of clarity may stem from Shared Services’ governance structure which maynot allow appropriate expertise to be developed. Anchoring corporate services in theproblems to be solved within Directorates and shifting them from being generic and detachedback of house services to an engaged service deliverer will assist Shared Services develop abetter understanding of their clients business needs . 390A consistent theme from Officials was that Shared Services should be funded through Budgetappropriation rather than through service fees. The current funding model createsinefficiencies and implies a standard of service and application of expertise that is not evidentin the service delivery. The Review has referred the matter of the Shared Services fundingmodel to the Expenditure Review and Evaluation Committee for consideration. The Reviewdoes, however, recommend that any funding model for back of house services should bemeasured against the principles of efficiency, effectiveness, minimisation of duplication andbest value. There is a risk, however, if price signals for Directorates (e.g. for provision of ITequipment) are entirely lost in different funding models. It may be that a blended model offunding of core capabilities, supplemented by fee for service on basic equipment for example,might bring improvement and efficiencies at both ends of the transaction.Concerns were expressed by Officials about the ability of Shared Services to support agencyservice and program delivery. Officials perceive that the expertise and project managementcapabilities within Procurement Solutions are not of the order necessary to supportdepartments facilitate minor projects or deliver large scale initiatives such as thoseundertaken during the Building the Education Revolution projects.Almost universally when failed, late or over-budget public sector projects are reviewed, poorproject management is identified as a contributing factor. The recent Queensland AuditorGeneral’s Report into their Continuity Project for Payroll systems 391 emphasises the need forsignificant improvement in program and project governance, including up front and ongoingscope management, vigorous controls over budgets, and comprehensive testing andimplementation regimes.Good project outcomes need both skilled project governance and good project managers.Generally, agencies are poorly positioned to oversee the scoping, development andimplementation of ICT initiatives. In practice, they rely heavily on the expertise of InTACTto guide the development of business requirements, oversee project management (businessand technical management), provide infrastructure and support to applications. As oneofficial put it:390 Maddock, S. and Robinson, B (2010) p.21.391 Queensland Audit Office (2010), Report to Parliament No. 7 for 2010 Information systems governance and control, includingthe Queensland Health Implementation of Continuity Project . Queensland Government, Brisbane p.1Capability, Capacity and Effectiveness: 292