Shared Services - Guidance Framework - Scottish Government

Shared Services - Guidance Framework
December 2007
~ The Scottish Government

Shared Services Framework
Contents
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• Ministerial Foreword
o Context
o Policy
• Executive Summary
• Section 1: Why?
o Background to Shared Services
o Successful Shared Services
o Benefits
o Non Financial Benefits
o Challenges and Issues
• Strategy, Process, People and Technology
• Shared Services Consultation Feedback
• Section 2: What?
o What can be shared?
o Definition of Terms for Service Provision
• Section 3: HoW?
o Shared Services Models
• Operational Structures
• Operating Models
• Section 4: Where?
o Sourcing and Location models
• Section 5: Conclusion and Next Steps
• Section 6: Information and Acknowledgements
• Appendix A: Detailed Case Studies
• Appendix B: Summary Case Studies
• Glossary
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Shared Services Framework
Ministerial Foreword
We have set a challenging new agenda for our term of administration and we will
need to work together with our public sector partners to meet our commitment to
smaller, simpler government. This guidance is in response to the feedback you gave
during the Shared Services consultation and aims to provide all public sector
agencies and their partners with the information to consider where they are on the
Shared Services journey. I want to see delivery of shared services opportunities
within organisation, across their sector, and across the public sector in Scotland, to
ensure we can create a public service infrastructure that is efficient and effective and
improves the customer experience.
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 I common services. I 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 mucn 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
Sharing procurement approaches and services will achieve significant gains. For the
first time we have detailed management information and analysis showing there are
significant benefits to be gained from working together on procurement. However,
this is just one area where we can share. There are many examples of good
practice in Scotland, the UK and the rest of the world, and I am committed to
ensuring that we can maximise the potential that Shared Services can deliver across
the public sector, and build on those good practice examples that will provide us with
Scotland wide solutions to transform the way that public services are delivered
I expect the public sector in Scotland to utilise this'guidance framework and consider
options for shared services and therefore invite you to work with me in accelerating
the pace of the Shared Services agenda.
John Swinney MSP
Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth
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Shared Services Framework
Context
The Scottish Government purpose is to: "Focus public services on creating a
more successful country, with the opportunities for all of Scotland to
flourish, through increasing sustainable economic growth ".
Our 5 key objectives to ensure that we can collectively work towards this are set out
below, with our statement on how Shared Services can contribute to the objectives:
• Strategic objective - Wealthier and fairer - Enable businesses and people to
increase their wealth and more people to share fairly in that wealth.
Role of Shared Services - To support the development of Shared Services in
Scotland that deliver high quality multi channel services, valued by citizens, and
as cost effectively as possible to ensure that citizens and businesses contribute
less of their wealth to support the State.
• Strategic objective- Healthier -to work with others to deliver better and faster
access to integrated primary and community care in Scotland and to shift the
balance towards independence and choice so that everyone has sustained and
improved health and well being, especially in disadvantaged communities.
Role of Shared Services - To support multi channel access giving choice to all
aspects of the community. To support the development of efficient, responsive
high quality health services delivered on a cross-agency basis to return citizens
to a state of health as quickly and simply as possible
• Strategic objective - Safer and Stronger - Help local communities to flourish,
becoming stronger, safer places to live, offering improved opportunities and a
better quality of life.
Role of Shared Services - To enable Shared Services opportunities which will
deliver efficiency gains that in turn, allows public sector organisations to reinvest
in local communities and frontline services.
• Strategic objective - Smarter - Expand opportunities for Scots to succeed from
nurture through to life long learning ensuring higher and more widely shared
achievements.
Role of Shared Services - To enable Shared Services opportunities which will
deliver efficiency gains that in turn allows reinvestment in early development,
education and lifelong learning and support multi channel access giving choice to
all members of the community.
• Strategic objective - Greener - Improve Scotland's natural and built environment
and the sustainable use and enjoyment of it.
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Role of Shared Services - To develop Shared Services opportunities which
reduce the need to make contact with a range of dispersed agencies, and
develop common business processes to support multi-channel access, and
virtual delivery mechanisms. This gives choice of access, and options for flexible
and remote working, which could in turn, allow for a reduction in individuals
carbon footprint.

Shared Services Framework
Policy
In setting our policy aim we need to ensure that we can have a clear understanding
of how we can support the implementation of Shared Services and in turn test policy
against the implementation. Our policy aim is therefore:
To support Shared Services opportunities that will provide Scotland
wide solutions, for smaller simpler Government, which improves the
service to the customers.
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Shared Services Framework
Executive Summary
The Guidance Framework for Shared Services aims to provide information,
education, guidance and case study examples to those considering Shared Services
and to those already on a Shared Services journey. It is acknowledged that there are
many public sector organisations in Scotland that are already implementing Shared
Services and embarking on Shared Services initiatives.
Others are seeking more evidence in the shape of case studies and further direction
of the potential benefits that Shared Services can bring to their organisations. The
framework provided should not be seen as a single source of guidance as there are
many other comprehensive research documents available; some of these are
referred to within this framework document.
Transition to Shared Services is a journey that needs careful planning and execution.
It requires a comprehensive understanding of the delivery process including
customer requirements and the delivery objective(s). The real challenge is in
developing a strategy and vision, identifying the most effective business models, and
selecting the right people and partners, whilst securing political and organisational
agreement to be able to turn the strategy into reality and completing the journey as
planned.
The Guidance is set out into 6 sections as follows:
Section 1: Why Shared Services? - This section sets out the background to Shared
Services and confirms the opportunities and benefits for Shared Services as well as
exploring the challenges and issues that need to be tackled.
Section 2: What are Shared Services? - This section sets out the definition for
transformational Shared Services and what can be shared.
Section 3: How have Shared Services been delivered? - This section describes the
operating structures and models of how Shared Services may be deployed.
Section 4: Where have Shared Services been delivered? - This section describes
the sourcing and location models and identifies how the utilisation of ICT supports
flexible choices in these areas.
Section 5: Conclusion and Next Steps - This section provides a summary of the main
themes in the document and how to keep this framework current
Section 6: Further Information and Acknowledgements - This section provides
additional references for further reading and acknowledgements to source material
that is utilised in this framework document.
Appendices A and B : Includes some detailed case studies of successful Shared
Services and also provides summary information on other examples of good practice
both in Shared Services and other forms of sharing that modernise the public
service.
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Shared Services Framework
Background to Shared Services
SECTION 1: WHY?
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.
Shared Services is revolutionary and can be truly transformational if it represents a
fundamental change in an organisation's structure. In a transformational Shared
Services environment, service providers are service-oriented, business-based,
contributor-valued, and partner-integrated.
• SeNice-oriented: individual customers and their requirements are known,
performance is measured, and problems promptly resolved. Providers know
what their customers expect for each service and are capable and motivated
in meeting these expectations.
• Business-based: services to be performed are agreed upon with customers
and priced based on services consumed;
• Contributor-valued: accountability and responsibility is clearly delineated, and
compensation is linked to satisfactory delivery of service;
• Partner-integrated: providers and customers co-define their respective roles
and agree upon how work is performed across organisational boundaries to
meet service requirements and expectations. Providers anticipate new
service needs. Users see service providers as direct contributors to
profitability.
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Shared Services Framework
Additionally in a Shared Services environment energy and interaction is re-focussed
between the service provider and their customer. Customers and providers work
together on clarifying service requirements, performance improvements, and
priorities and share responsibility for successful service delivery.
Successful Shared Services
The move to Shared Services has gained momentum in both the public and private
sector and there are many successful Shared Services operating today, some of
which we have profiled in Appendices A and B. Some organisations have been
disappointed in the results from adopting Shared Services whilst others have
achieved benefits far beyond their expectations. An in-depth analysis of best and
worst practice clearly indicates that most of these initiatives fail due to a lack of clear
understanding of Shared Services and how to manage the change it involves.
Successful Shared Services models not only achieve significant cost savings; they
release substantial resources for front-line services and core policy activity. They
can bring direct and indirect benefits to citizens by significantly improving standards
of service delivery, and multi channel access. Shared Services is an integral part of
wider service transformation and public sector reform.
Summarised below are the most common statements taken from Shared Services
organisations that indicate what is required to make Shared Services successful.
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• Secure strong leadership that is cascaded down through the organisation
• Align Shared Services with the business strategy and organisation model, IT
and processes
• Agree a shared vision for the future state of Shared Services
• Important to recognise how Shared Services will operate in organisational
environment in terms of governance
• Involve stakeholders in building and realising the business case to delver
significant benefits
• Build a compelling case for change and communicate it to employees at all
levels to assist with culture change, buy-in and participation
• Put in place strong governance, programme and change management from
the outset
• Simplify with no compromises and maximise automation
• Allocate adequate resources - quality and quantity, staff, money etc
• Select the right location for the service/business
• Performance measures, benchmarking, measuring success
• Create a high performance service culture in the Shared Services
organisation and select leadership based on competencies required
• Measure performance using an established baseline and track progress
against benefits to inform decision making

Shared Services Framework
Benefits
Shared Services can generate numerous benefits. Customers become more
satisfied with service delivery because they can specify and control which services
they receive and how much of those services they require. There is a significant
increase in customer interaction, and in the consistency of shared information, which
promotes a service orientation. There are also numerous benefits to an
organisation, both immediate and long-term. In addition to the direct financial
benefits other benefits can be achieved by Shared Services:
• By focusing on business processes for key support functions we can enhance
expertise and build greater organisational capacity
• Provide each part with a more robust and resilient vehicle for delivering
critical services to demanding standards
• Provides a platform for greater transparency and clearer responsibility for
service delivery, so it is very clear when and where processes are not
working
• Provide an environment for stimulating innovation and encourage greater
flexibility
• Technology now makes it easier to provide services securely via a range of
channels to multiple locations for front-line and back-office workers, allowing
for a more flexible working en.vironment.
• By sharing ICT and systems substantial economies of scale can be achieved
Non Financial Benefits
Efficiency should be interpreted in a wide sense, since experience has shown that
Shared Services organisations deliver better corporate performance, higher quality
services as well as financial savings. Indeed if organisations focus solely on cost
savings they are likely to miss the change to improve service outputs by establishing
better processes. Shared Services operations provide career opportunities,
workforce development and introduce greater professionalism into corporate and
transactions functions by establishing centres of skills.
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Shared Services Framework
Challenges and Issues
There are many challenges and issues to be faced when embarking on a Shared
Services journey and the most common ones cited by experienced Shared Services
practitioners from both public and private sector are detailed below.
• Lack of clear leadership and commitment to change
• Having an effective Governance structure
• Initiative fatigue
• Unrealistic timescales
• Politics
• Competing Resources
• Culture
• Change Management Skills
• Middle Management
• Communication
• Employee Opposition
• Long IT lead times
In addition, local democratic accountability and concerns around the impact on the
locations of the workforce are important factors for location decisions in some areas
of the public sector. However, a balanced view of this will take account of the
potential for Shared Services to support the positive movement of public sector
employment between areas of differing economic conditions (e.g. from fast growing
urban areas, to rural locations).
As well as the issues raised above there are numerous legal issues to be
considered. Below is a Top Ten List of legal issues to consider, this is not an
exhaustive list.
1 Do the partners have legal capacity / vires to do what is proposed?
2 Does the joint working fall foul of the doctrine of non-delegation/other
principles of public law.
3 The choice of partnering structure
4 Tax
5 Governance
6 Services Agreement
7 Procurement
8 State Aid and Competition
9 Information Sharing
10 Employment law issues
Strategy, Process, People and Technology
How can these challenges and issues be tackled? Strategy, Process, People and
Technology are four key streams to be addressed on the journey to Shared
Services. Each is important in its own right and addressed collectively will lead to
success. It is important that we tackle them in the right order. Shared Services
should not be seen from the outset as a technology issue. The combination of the
four should lead to standardisation, simplification and sharing successfully whilst
achieving the organisation's overall vision.
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Shared Services Framework
• Strategy
It is critical to have a vision of what good looks like for an organisation and to
develop a strategy to deliver this vision. Some key questions need to be answered
at the start of a Shared Services journey e.g. how will the organisation engage
Shared Services? will it act as a provider of services ? will it be a user of Shared
Services from an external provider? or will it enter into partnership with others? It is
important that the strategy embraces the operating structures and models and takes
account of the local cultural and political environment.
• Process
One of the most challenging and time consuming aspects of Shared Services is
reviewing existing business processes. However if done correctly it can maximise
the benefits to be realised and can make the transition to Shared Services much
simpler and smoother. Understanding the added value that each step in the process
brings to the overall outcome can be enlightening, and can ensure that the right
people are engaged in the process at the right time optimising the valuable skills
across the public sector where they are needed most.
The perception is often that business processes must be tailored to local need to
deliver local requirements. However, in order to deliver s.uccessfulShared Services
for a number of organisations standard business processes with effective
governance and change control in place will optimise the efficiency and effectiveness
of the operation. The McClelland review of public procurement recommends a move
from bespoke applications to packaged applications to take benefit of industry
standards and best practice processes.
In 2006, the previous administration conducted an ICT Infrastructure Scoping Study
across public sector organisations which also indicated that many organisations
within each sector had implemented packaged applications software from the same
supplier.
There are various methodologies and techniques that have been adopted from
industry for use in identifying opportunities and priorities for Shared Services and
others for supporting established Shared Services operations around quality and
continuous improvement of business processes. These methodologies are also used
extensively for standardisation and optimisation of business processes whether they
sit in a Shared Services environment or not, for example:
Opportunity
• Value Chain Analvsis, the value chain categorises the generic valueadding
activities of an organisation, identifying primary activities and support
activities. Costs and value drivers are identified for each value activity with
the aim to maximise value creation while minimising costs. This goes hand in
hand with the aims of increasing efficiency and effectiveness.
This customer centric, process based approach, allows an organisation to
gain a better understanding of how its resources are distributed across a
range of generic activities, highlighting those that are of most value from the
customer's perspective. When done across an organisation, or organisations,
it helps to identify significant areas of duplication and overlap, which would
lend themselves to simplification, standardisation and sharing
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Shared Services Framework
Continuous Improvement
• Value Stream MappinQ is part of lean principles and complements six
sigma methods which were born out of manufacturing, but have since been
adopted and used in logistics, supply chain, and service related industries
including Shared Services. Many world class Shared Services organisations
have adopted these methods and principles. The aim is to improve
processes and elimination of waste. It captures the whole process from end
to end and uses a team approach and performance measures to critique
activity.
• Six SiQma was originally developed by Motorola to systematically
improve processes by eliminating defects. A defect is defined as
nonconformity of a product or service to its specifications. The core of the Six
Sigma methodology is a data-driven, systematic approach to problem solving
with a focus on customer impact. Six Sigma asserts the following:
o Succeeding at achieving sustained quality improvement requires
commitment from the entire organisation, particularly from top-level
management.
o Continuous efforts to reduce variation in process outputs is key to
business success.
o Business processes can be measured, analysed, improved and
controlled.
• People
Without doubt the journey to Shared Services is a challenging one as it involves
cultural, organisation and skill changes and effects people in all aspects and levels of
an organisation as well as its customers, and when dealing with 3 m party suppliers
and partners.
Careful planning of communication, addressing change management, and change
readiness, together with relevant and tim~ly training is vital to the success of Shared
Services. They go hand in hand with strong programme management and
execution.
Our most valuable resource are the people who deliver public services at all levels.
It is therefore vital from the outset of a Shared Services journey that the change
management strategy is clearly defined to ensure that those implementing change
and those affected by change are part of the process and can buy in to the benefits
that Shared Services will bring to the organisation and individual.
Self-service, remote and mobile working have all provided increased flexibility and
can often address skill shortages and employment challenges within a geography or
community. However not all skills will be transferable and therefore it is vital that in
developing Shared Services opportunities that the impact on the workforce is
properly assessed. Undertaking an equalities impact assessment is a helpful way of
understanding how different approaches might impact on areas of the workforce, and
identifying whether any particular groups are disproportionately affected. This allows
you to consider the options for limiting the impact through redeployment or retraining
if appropriate.
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Shared Services Framework
Shared Services can be a major change for some. A change management
programme that is well planned from the outset, with effective communication,
support, training and strong leadership needs to be invested in before and during the
journey. This may be a step too far for some and therefore the human capital issues
must be managed and planned for.
There are a number of tools that can help to do this including Kotter's Eight steps to
Successful Change and William Bridges' Managing Transitions Making the Most of
Change.
As with all aspects of public service reform, strong leadership is highlighted as key to
delivering a successful outcome that is truly transformational. Strong Leadership in
turn will ensure a culture of openness and engagement is in place, to deliver buy in
and allow people at all levels to drive change forward.
• Technology
ICT provides the platform and foundation of Shared Services, advances in
technology and the reduced cost of deployment have allowed organisations to adopt
many differing operating structures and models to suit their circumstances.
Shared Services can be built by adopting integrated enterprise-wide solutions or
through best of breed business applications linked together with a Services
Orientated Architecture (SOA) providing the platform for streamlined and consistent
business processes and workflows. Additionally the reduced cost and availability of
Wide Area Networks (computer networks whose communications link across
metropolitan, regional or national boundaries) Virtualisation (combining of multiple
physical devices) of servers and disc technologies together with multiple access
channels e.g. Mobile, Desktop, Set-top (TV) Kiosks, Wireless etc. has resulted in
Shared Services being designed with maximum efficiency and effectiveness for
employees and customers alike.
Shared Services Consultation Analysis
In addition to the challenges and issues identified above, feedback from the Shared
Services consultation highlighted that VAT, Procurement and TUPE Transfer of
Undertakings (Protection of Employment) were areas of most concern to the
respondents. These are complex issues that require careful consideration and a
summary of our understanding of the latest position is covered below.
• VAT - The key VAT issue is whether public bodies are able to recover VAT
incurred on goods and services received from their suppliers. If they can,
involvement in Shared Services should not cause VAT problems. However, if a
public body has to restrict the recovery of VAT incurred on goods and services
received from its suppliers, it is likely that it will be less inclined to become involved
in Shared Services.
Section 33 of the Value Added Tax Act 1994 provides a special refund scheme
which allows local authorities to reclaim VAT incurred from its suppliers. Where
bodies listed in s33 of the VAT Act 1994 incur VAT in connection with taxable
business activities, they can recover the VAT as input tax subject to the normal rules.
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Shared Services Framework
There are 199 Scottish Public Bodies covered by delegated authority to the Scottish
Parliament. There are also 66 education bodies making exempt supplies and not
falling within the provisions of s33. Consequently, unless there is a change in VAT
legislation, VAT maybe a significant barrier to the delivery of Shared Services in
Scotland for some bodies.
The Cabinet Office has made representation to HM Treasury who are considering
the VAT treatment of Shared Services arrangements on behalf of NDPBs and the
Education sector.
• Procurement - There are a number of key questions to be addressed when
considering whether EU procurement rules require that Shared Services delivery
models or other supporting contracts must be subject to competition.
• Will the private sector be involved in supporting delivery of the service either
through new or existing contracts? If so, are those contracts framed in a
way that allows the service to be extended to the contacting authorities that
will use the service?
• Are the relationships which are to be established between public bodies
and/or any delivery vehicle contractual in nature (e.g. are they service or
service concession contracts as defined in the Regulations)?
• If they are contractual, are there any exemptions which would nonetheless
allow the contracts to be awarded and performed without competition?
• Will the private sector be engaged as an equity stakeholder in the proposed
delivery vehicle?
The Scottish Procurement Directorate produced its most recent guidance in July
2007 with the Scottish Procurement Policy Note "SPPN 01 2007 Covering Note on
Shared Services". The guidance goes some way to answering some of the issues
mentioned above. The European Commission's formal position on the issue is
expected to become clearer later in 2007. In the meantime, great care should be
exercised in the establishment of Shared Services delivery models and specialist
legal advice should be sought in all cases where the EU procurement rules might
apply.
• TUPE - TUPE or Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment)
regulations are an important plank of employment law in the UK and, under different
names, in other EU countries. Introduced in 1981 they aim to ensure that an
employee whose employment transfers to another company (for example if the
department the employee works for is taken over by an outsourcing company), has
his employment rights respected. They also apply in some cases for work transferred
to contractors. This includes hours of work, pay, pension entitlement and so on.
The Chartered Institute Public Finance and Accountancy produced a reference
publication The Commissioning Joint Committee guide to Service Sharing and
Economies of Scale 2007.
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Shared Services Framework
What can be shared?
SECTION 2: What?
Although it is widely acknowledged that the industry definition of Shared Services
refers to the sharing of business processes, business functions or expertise, it is
recognised that many different aspects of an organisation can be shared, each in
themselves providing incremental benefits to a participating organisation. Sharing
may start with collaboration and adoption of best practice. The more detailed level of
sharing leads to greater levels of efficiencies, higher quality service and an increased
ability to react to market or legislative change. However these benefits come
coupled with higher risk and need for a strong change management culture.
Shared Services is a journey without a fixed end point, but has an agreed vision of
what good looks like, for an organisation and the strategy defined to deliver that
vision. It needs measurable milestones to mark achievements and the journey
involves collaboration, change management, change of culture regardless of the
level of sharing.
There are numerous areas and levels of sharing that can and do occur on a Shared
Services journey. They start with collaboration and shared practices. Many stop at
the early stage as they entail the least risk and organisational and cultural change.
Others go on in accordance with their strategy or build on their initial experiences to
achieve the full level of Shared Services.
Most Shared Services efforts begin by focusing on Centres of Scale: volume-based
services - transactional, processing and administrative, those that are delivered to
most employees or to external customers and can be maximised by aligning
economies of scale.
Glasgow City Council have implemented an internal Shared Service
for financial, HR and procurement processes
Typically, success in these areas leads organisations to search for other services
where similar operational efficiencies and cost reductions can be achieved. The
logical choices for this second stage are Centres of Expertise: knowledge-based
services - specialised expertise, consultative and integrated solutions, supported by
common business processes to provide consistent delivery.
The Advanced Procurement for Universities and Colleges
programme (APUC) is creating a centre of expertise for procurement
for further education and higher education institutions
Centres of Expertise and Scale are candidates for Shared Services because they
provide the greatest opportunities for leveraging efficiency and effectiveness.
Listed below are examples of the types of sharing and collaboration that can occur,
with different levels of benefits being achieved, depending on the nature and extent
of the sharing. They all encompass many of the attributes and skills required to
achieve Shared Services, e.g. collaboration of requirements, negotiation, change of
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Shared Services Framework
culture and process review, all of which are invaluable on the journey to Shared
Services and achieve incremental benefits as well as credibility and experience.
This is not intended to be an exhaustive list but should give an indication of the types
of sharing that can occur and further examples of sharing across the public sector in
Scotland are listed in Appendix B.
Category level of Sharing Scope Example
Common business Sharing of requirements, operating NSS Health
Business processes and model, design and ICT operational procurement
shared execution configuration. Commercial model,
Service Level Agreement, South
performance measures, Lanarkshire
Payroll Services
Common business Sharing of requirements and design Local Authority
process design (Best Practice) .CRM system
(Best Practice) procurement
Collaborative Sharing of requirements and remit e-Planning
Purchasing for tendering, producing one tender
document, lowering cost of
procurement
ICT Software and Operating Systems and application Customer
ICT Infrastructure software and standards, executing First
Standards on a shared ICT infrastructure JANET, UK High
Provides common operational Performance
standards and practices, Computing
consistency in execution and Facilities
increased service levels, affords (Edinburgh Uni)
different working cycles up to 24n OSIAF Approved
Stds; SEAS
Property
Gazetteer;
Entitlement Card
ICT Infrastructure: Sharing of ICT skills and knowledge South
data centres, at a lower cost, less risk of attrition Lanarkshire ICT
hardware, effecting business Hosting
networks, Common operational standards and
telecoms, disc practices, consistency in execution
management, and increased service levels, affords
different working cycles up to 24n
Property, co- Sharing of building and utility costs, SEARS
Assets location and sharing of services e.g. transport, Highland Service
sharing of buildings vehicle maintenance Point Network
and services
Skills Centres of Expertise, working to Excel; APUC;
standards, accreditation, providing National
expertise in subject matter e.g. Collections
Legal, IT skills, trading standards, collaboration
procurement, pension, IS, medical
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Shared Services Framework
Definition of Terms for Service Provision
Shared Services
The industry wide definition of Shared Services can be summarised as the
convergence and streamlining of an organisation or organisations functions to
ensure that they deliver the services required of them as effectively as possible.
Shared Services are more than just centralisation or consolidation of similar activities
in one location. Shared Services mean running these service activities like a
business and delivering services to customers at a cost, quality and timeliness that is
competitive with alternatives.
South Lanarkshire Council provide a Shared Service delivering
Payroll services to several organisations within their community
Centralisation
Is the process by which the activities of an organisation or organisations, become
concentrated within a particular location and/or group. There are two types of
centralisation, the first involves organising workers into groups that support business
processes for the entire organisation or across multiple organisations. The second
organises workers by specific skill set and experience to provide services for the
entire organisation or across multiple organisations. Provides economy of scale,
reducing costs and overheads whilst providing resilience and can be used as a step
in the direction of providing a full Shared Services model or an end state operational
model in itself.
SEAS (Scottish Executive Accounting Service) provide a centralised
Financial service for Scottish Executive, Agencies and NDPBs
There are many and varied types of services that are often associated with Shared
Services and sometimes confused as being Shared Services. The section below
defines some of the most common service provisions and their definitions. All of the
services listed can be used to support a Shared Services operation, and equally all
can be used to support centralised and distributed operations as well.
Outsourcing
Became part of the business lexicon during the 1980s and often refers to the
delegation of non-core operations from internal production to an external entity
specialising in the management of that operation. The decision to outsource is often
made in the interest of lowering firm costs, redirecting or conserving energy directed
at the competencies of a particular business, or to make more efficient use of
worldwide labour, capital, technology and resources. Fundamentally and historically,
outsourcing is a term relative to the organisation of labour within and between
societies.
Over the years various forms of outsourcing services have evolved and provide
services for all type of business operations, eg Shared Services, Distributed and
Centralised. Further definitions of outsourcing are as follows:
CapGemini provide ICT outsource services to customer across the
UK from the Highland Region
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Shared Services Framework
• Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) is the contracting of a specific
business process, such as payroll, to a third-party service provider. Usually, SPO is
implemented as a cost-saving measure for tasks that a company requires but does
not depend upon to maintain its position in the marketplace. SPO is often divided
into two categories: back office outsourcing, which includes internal business
functions such as billing or purchasing, and front office outsourcing, which includes
customer-related services such as marketing or technical support.
Use of a SPO as opposed to an Application Service Provider (ASP) usually also
means that a certain amount of risk is transferred to the company that is running the
process elements on behalf of the outsourcer. SPO includes the software, the
process management, and the people to operate the service, while a typical ASP
model includes only the provision of access to functionalities and features provided
or 'served up' through the use of software, usually via web browser to the customer.
The most common examples of SPO are call centres, human resources, accounting
and payroll outsourcing.
8T use Accenture and Xansa as 8PO providers for Financial
processes
• Application service provider (ASP) is a business that provides computerbased
services to customers over a network. Software offered using an ASP model
is also sometimes called On-demand software or software as a service (SaaS).
The most limited sense of this business is that of providing access to a particular
application program (such as medical billing) using a standard protocol such as
Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), a communications protocol used to transfer or
convey information on the World Wide Web.
The need for ASPs has evolved from the increasing costs of specialised software
that have far exceeded the price range of small to medium sized businesses. As
well, the growing complexities of software have led to huge costs in distributing the
software to end-users. Through ASPs, the complexities and costs of such software
can be cut down. In addition, the issues of upgrading have been eliminated from the
end-firm by placing the onus on the ASP to maintain up-to-date services, 24 x 7
technical support, physical and electronic security and in-built support for business
continuity and flexible working. Customers of ASP services include businesses,
government organisations, non-profits, and membership organisations.
The Covalent performance management system is used by a large
number of councils across Scotland and UK
• Hosted Service Provider (Xsp) is a business that delivers a combination of
traditional IT functions such as infrastructure, applications (Software as a Service),
security, monitoring, storage, Web development, website hosting and email, over the
Internet or other wide area networks (WAN). An Xsp combines the abilities of an
application service provider(ASP) and an Internet Service Provider (ISP).
This approach enables customers to consolidate and outsource much of their IT
needs for a predictable recurring fee. XSPs that integrate Web publishing give
18

Shared Services Framework
customers a central repository to rapidly and efficiently distribute information and
resources among employees, customers, partners and the general public.
Hosted Service Providers benefit from economies of scale and operate on a one-tomany
business model, delivering the same software and services to many customers
at once. Customers are charged on a subscription basis.
South Lanarkshire Council provide hosted IT services for the
Customer First programme and a University
• Managed services is the practice of transferring day-to-day related
management responsibility as a strategic method for improved effective and efficient
operations. The person or organisation who owns or has direct oversight of the
organisation or system being managed is referred to as the client, or customer. The
person or organisation that accepts and provides the managed service is regarded
as the service provider. Typically, the client remains accountable for the functionality
and performance of managed service and does not relinquish the overall
management responsibility of the organisation or system.
City of Edinburgh City Council use BT to provide a Managed Service
for the majority of their ICT functions
19

Shared Services Framework
Shared Services Models
SECTION 3: How?
Operational Structures
When embarking on a Shared Services journey careful consideration must be given
to the operational structures and models and sourcing options which reflect the
organisation's business strategy and vision. One of the early Shared Services
decisions to be taken is whether the organisation will be a provider of Shared
Services, use an external provider or to form a partnership of some kind, this
decision can be complex as it considers culture, political, financial, resource,
capability factors and vision.
There are numerous operating structures (often referred to as commercial structures
or engagement models) for Shared Services which should be researched carefully
to determine the most appropriate. Different services may require different
structures and it is important to think these through service by service and not
necessarily make one structure fit all. Operating structures each have their own
benefits and risks.
Some organisations will naturally fall into one structure and others may start with one
structure and migrate through to other structures as the Shared Service matures and
this should be taken into consideration when building the business case. Equally the
size, scope and number of participants will also determine the type of operational
structures adopted.
The UK Government Cabinet Office engaged the Buy IT Best Practice network
(made up of government departments, large corporate organisations using Shared
Services and Shared Services consultants advisor members ) to develop and
communicate Shared Services best practice. As part of this work, the Buy IT forum
identified six basic structures:
20
Unitary: A single organisation consolidation and centralising a business service
Glasgow City Council, provide Finance, HR and Procurement Shared
Services for its 10 operational divisions
Lead Department: an organisation consolidating and centralising a business
service that will be shared by other organisations
Scottish Government - provides finance and HR services to some
Agencies and NDPBs
Joint Initiatives (internal) agreement between two or more
organisations/departments to set up and operate Shared Services
NDPBs managing National Collections collaborate on joint
procurement and shared business processes

Shared Services Framework
Strategic Partnership (External): Contractual arrangement with 3 rd party
provided for range of seNices
Forth Valley GIS Limited, provides GIS services and skills to a range
of public sector and its partners
Joint Venture (JV) Joint Venture legal entity and between 'Authority' and 3 rd
party provider
Somerset County Council and Taunton Deane Borough Council
created joint venture company 'Southwest One' to deliver finance,
ICT, HR, customer services, property services, facilities
management, design, print and postal services and procurement.
Outsourcing: 3 rd party provider takes full responsibility for managing and
operating seNice. The 3 rd party can be another public sector organisation.
South Lanark Council provide hosted services for Customer First
and a University
The range of Shared SeNices opportunities, actual working examples and the types
of governance and operating structures that exist are very broad. The seNices
provided, and different relationships that exist between public sector organisations
allow a wide range of seNice offerings and organisational structures. The Shared
SeNices Consultation feedback was for strong support for sector led approach.
Equally a national or cross sector approach could be viable options depending on
the outcome of any business case or feasibility study. These range from the purely
informal and collaborative types, such as knowledge sharing through to formal
partnerships, joint ventures of fully outsourced contractual structures.
Operating Model
The operating model (often referred to as the delivery model) of a Shared SeNices
encompasses the seNice framework and the seNices provided, within the Shared
SeNices. Each seNice having a functional operating model of how the seNice is
delivered identifying the use of seIf-seNice , centres of excellence, seNice centres
and processing centres and the use of multi-channel access. The model will also
identify transactional, advisory and managerial roles and their organisational
structure, seNice level agreements and key performance measure.
For example, a Procurement business process may have an operating model
designed that consists of the majority of transations being handled by a Shared
SeNices Centre of Scale, and some of the transactions being undertaken by
suppliers and procurement officers in a self-seNice mode. A Human Resources (HR)
process operating model on the other hand may have a large number of transactions
handled on a self-seNice basis by the employees and a Shared SeNices Centre of
Skills being available to provide specialist HR skills and advice to employees and
managers. Both of these models having different operating models supported by
different ICT structures and procedural processes, workflow and seNice level
agreements.
Shared SeNices Centres of Scale and Skill can operate separately or together, and
processes can be outsourced or maintained in-house.
~
21

Shared Services Framework
Sourcing and Location
SECTION 4: Where?
The Scottish Government are committed to ensuring that we maXlmlse the
opportunities to deliver services efficiently and therefore location is a key
consideration. Where possible the opportunity to co-locate and maximise the use of
public sector assets where they are most cost effective is a priority.
As a starting point, a short, sharp review of the anomalies, weaknesses and
opportunities in the management of the Scottish Government's estate, has just
commenced. The Review is looking closely at all parts of the Scottish Governmentaround
80 recipients - comprising 'core' property centres, NDPBs, Agencies and
non-ministerial departments. The survey will ask key questions about the size legal,
financial and management arrangements and suitability of their estate.
This Review may provide us with a range of options in terms of how we might
maximise the location opportunities available to the public sector to ensure we get
value for money, from our buildings and land. While the first phase of the review is
the central government estate - that is those held and managed by the Scottish
Government, this will inform our efforts to improve asset management across the
whole of the public sector - including local authorities and the Thi"rdsector.
Options
The physical location of a Shared Services should be related to sourcing and not to
the operating structure. There are three basic location variations for a Shared
Services, i.e. where the work will physically be carried out, all three are used
extensively within the Private Sector with a move to off-shore locations being
preferred due to skills, resources and labour costs. However in the Public Sector the
common choice for location is on-shore local to the organisations.
• On-shore - Work is carried out in the same country but at a different location
• Near-shore - Work is carried out in a close location (e.g. continental Europe
relative to the UK)
• Off-shore - Work is carried out anywhere in the world that is not on-shore or
near-shore. This is not just to take advantage of wage arbitrage but to appreciate
the talents of particular economies in delivering specific service offerings.
The location variations can be applied to any of the operating structures and are not
linked to outsourcing. Current policy has no presumption in favour of outsourcing but
nor should the option be dismissed out of hand. Each case should be subject to an
option appraisal to determine the most cost effective delivery mechanism
commensurate with the business and user needs.
Technology innovation and cost reductions have greatly assisted in extending
sourcing and location options for Shared Services, e.g. the reduction in cost and
increased resilience for networks together with multi-channel access has afforded
Shared Services organisations with many different options for operating and
delivering services to their customers.
22

Shared Services Framework
Conclusion
SECTION 5: Conclusion & Next Steps
The Minister in the Foreword highlighted the importance of Shared Services in the
efficiency agenda. Shared Services will be a key component in delivery of
efficiencies in order to improve the public service infrastructure for the benefit of the
customers (across all corporate I common functions); to improve service delivery
through understanding the best business processes; ensuring that the roles and
responsibilities that support the delivery of the business processes end to end add
value. Public organisations that do not collaborate will need to be able to justify this
on objective business grounds.
I hope the guidance and the references has been helpful in supporting decisions on
how to promote, develop and crucially implement a shared services approach which
can improve the customer experience.
There is a lot of good work happening already in this area and we must build on that
to maximise the opportunities for efficiency gains to deliver the results for the people
of Scotland.
Next Steps
The examples contained in the document are an indication of the activity in Shared
Services at the time of writing. There are a number of projects at various stages of
the Shared Services journey. In order to keep this document current we would like
to invite you to submit examples of Shared Services than we can develop into further
case studies and amendments to the framework as Shared Services develop.
Similarly the Shared Services Team will be happy to engage in discussion around
projects that have a business case to deliver significant continuous improvement and
fit with the overall agenda.
23

Shared Services Framework
SECTION 6:
Information and Acknowledgements
There are a number of organisations that can assist with further material and advice
on Shared Services. Within the public sector, examples are:
Shared Services Team
The Scottish Government
Area 3H
Victoria Quay
Edinburgh
EH6 6QQ
Cabinet Office
http://www. cio. gov. uk/shared _services/i ntrod uction/
Improvement Service for Local Government in Scotland
http://www.improvementservice.org.uk/
9 Regional Centres of Excellence in England ( South West web address below) lists
a number of useful addresses to obtain further information
http://www.swce.!:Iov.uk/usefulnational.htm
Public Audit Forum - Corporate Services
http://www.public-audit-forum.!:Iov.uk/publicat.htm
Acknowledgements
This document has been compiled using many valuable sources of information and
case studies from a variety of public and private sector publications, information
bulletins as well as practitioner knowledge, these are acknowledged below
Scottish Executive:- document dated July 2007, entitled, Scottish Procurement
Directorate - Scottish Procurement Policy Note SPPN 1/2007
, Shared Services in the Public Sector: Impact of the EU Public Procurement Rules'
http://www.scotland.!:Iov.ukIT opics/GovernmentlProcu rementlPublicProcurementlpoli
cv-notes/sppnO 12007 covernote 1
Scottish Executive:- document dated April 2006, entitled 'a shared approach to
building a better Scotland, A consultation paper on a national strategy for Shared
Services. '
http://www.scotland.!:Iov.uk/Publications/2006/05/111 02023/0
Scottish Executive:- document dated October 2006 entitled 'Public display responses
to consultation document "A shared approach to building a better Scotland: a
consultation paper on a national strategy for Shared Services"
http://www.scotland.!:Iov.uk/Publications/2006/10/09105406/0
24

Shared Services Framework
Scottish Executive:- document dated March 2007, entitled Analysis of consultation
responses to A shared approach to building a better Scotland - a consultation paper
on a national strategy for Shared Services
http://www.scotland.Qov.uklPublications/2007/03/27145351/0
Shared Services Advisory Group BuylT:- document dated January 2006, entitled
'Shared Services in the UK Public Sector - A Compendium of Best Practice
http://www .buvitnet. orQ/Best Practice Guidelines/SharedServicesPubSectlindex. sht
ml
Scottish Executive - document dated March 2006, entitled Review of Public
procurement in Scotland - Report and Recommendations
http://www.scotland.Qov.uklPublications/2006/03/141 05448/0
IPF and CIPFA Improvement Through Technology Network document dated April
2006, entitled 'Shared Services: The opportunities and issues for public sector
organisations. '
http://www.ipf.com/fileupload/upload/Shared services187200611542.pdf
CIPA, Capita and Oracle:- document dated 2007 entitled' Local Authority Financial
Administration Services, Emerging trends in the context of Shared Services.'
http://secu reocipfa. orQ.uk1CQ i-bin/C IPFA.storefrontlE N/prod uctlIT007
Socitm Insight:- document dated November 2006, entitled 'Modern public services:
Shared Services. Bigger, cheaper, better?'
http://www.socitm.Qov. uklsocitm/Librarv/Modern+public+services+shared+services. h
tm
Kable:- document dated 2006, entitled 'Shared Services in the UK public sector' and
2007 update, dated May 2007
http://www.kable.co.uklkabledirectlindex. php?option=com content&mCCountrvOrQ I
0=410&task=view&id=1180409
The Chartered Institute Public Finance and Accountancy produced a reference
publication The Commissioning Joint Committee guide to Service Sharing and
Economies of Scale 2007.
http://www.businesslink.Qov. uklbdotQ/action/laver?r. s=sl&topicld= 1074459745
Useful Links
I&OEA - Workforce issues in Shared Services, document dated September 2007
http://www.idea.Qov.uklidklcore/paQe.do?paQeld=6328944
The Heart of Change, Eight Steps to Successful Change, John Kotter
http://www.theheartofchanQe.com/home.htm I
Managing Transitions Making the Most of Change, William Bridge
http://www.pfdf.ora/knowledaecenter/thouahtleaders/bridaes/manaaina-transitions.htm I
25

Shared Services Framework
APPENDIX A: CASE STUDIES
Profiles I case studies
We have collected a number of Shared Service case studies that cover a range of
Shared Services profiles. There are nine detailed case studies in Appendix A that
cover private and public sector examples of Shared Services in operation.
We have also summarised examples of operational Shared Services together with
examples of sharing and collaboration within the Public Sector in Scotland. Further
examples of Shared Services operations out with Scotland across the Public Sector
and from the Private and Voluntary sectors are included in Appendix B.
We would welcome any further contributions if you are aware of them in your
organisation. We will add them to our database. Further details on any of the
projects, including who to contact can be obtained from the Shared Services Team
at the Scottish Government.
26

Shared Services Framework
Case Study 1: South Lanarkshire Council
Profile: Public Sector, Local Government, Lead Or anisation cross sector delive
Why: Capital and Revenue cost avoidance, enhanced customer and service levels, risk
avoidance
What Shared Service Payroll Processes for over 20,000 staff across 4 organisations.
How: Lead Council, across 4 organisations, cross sector delivery model,
Where: Within South Lanarkshire Council, (Arms Length Body)
Governance Arrangements
The Governance Arrangements for the service is by Formal Agreement inclusive of a formal
Service Level Agreement. Key Benefits include,
• Formal Account Manager supervision of Service Provision
• Formal review points and escalation methods
• Service Uptime guarantees to participating organisations
Key Statistics
• Serves 4 cross sector organisations
• Provides standard payroll processing Shared Service model for over 20,000
employees across 4 organisations
Achievements
The Shared Service Model ha.s achieved significant (cost avoidance) savings for the
participating organisations.
In addition the model allows the Lead Authority to enhance its Service levels, not only to
itself, but to the participating organisations.
The inherent reputation, business and technical risks associated with setting up a discreet
payroll service, has been avoided by the participating organisations.
The formal governance arrangements have enhanced confidence in the service both from
the Lead Authority and participating organisations.
Other Services
In addition to providing a Shared Services for payroll, South Lanarkshire also provide hosting
services for the infrastructure supporting the National Infrastructure in support of Citizen's
Accounts and the National Land and Property Gazetteer.
Key Contacts
Kay Brown
Head of IT Services
South Lanarkshire Council
Council Offices
Almada Street
Hamilton
ML30M
kav. brown@southlanarkshire.Qov.uk
27

Shared Services Framework
Case Study 2: Customer First
Customer First is a Scottish Government sponsored programme developed in partnership
with Scottish Local Authorities and managed with the support of Scottish Government,
COSLA and SOLACE, under the direction of the Improvement Service.
The Improvement Service is focused on delivering the efficiency, quality and accountability
of public services in Scotland through learning, sharing knowledge and delivering
improvement solutions. It provides advice and support in the following areas: Best Value,
efficient government and performance management, elected members' development,
knowledge management, capacity building and management development, partnership and
joint working, Shared Services and the Customer First programme. The National
Entitlement Card Scheme is one of four Customer First sub-programmes.
Profile: National Entitlement Card Scheme, Local Government, Lead
Department/Organisation
Why: Improve choice and convenience efficiently and effectively
What: multi application smart card
How: Lead Authority with scheme shared across all 32 councils
Where: Improvement Service & Dundee City Council
Engagement and Operating Model - National Entitlement Card is a multi application smart
card to replace the various and numerous card schemes currently run by 32 local authorities.
Governance Model - managed under a lead authority - Dundee City Council. Project
Board reporting into the Improvement Service Board.
Key Statistics
Over 1.2 million cards in use, since April 2006 elderly & disabled citizens have been able to
use the card to access free bus travel. January 2007 working with Young Scot partners 11- ,
26 year olds have been able to apply for card which offers discounts at restaurants and high
street outlets.
Procurement saving of £800,000
Objectives
• Deliver more convenient and responsive public services
• Encourage the take up of online (self service) access to services
• Ensure that at least 75% of core service requests can be dealt with at first point of
contact
Benefits
• A single Entitlement Card (smartcard), which can replace the many and incompatible
schemes that currently exist
• Through the application process, citizens' consent for data sharing. Citizens will only
have to provide change information once and change will take place across all
systems
• Once council transfer other services onto the card, for example leisure or library
membership, customers will only be required to carry one card.
Key Contacts
Jim Kinney, Improvement Service,
Jim.kinnev~improvementservice.or". uk
Sid Bulloch, NEC Manager,
Sid. bulloch~dundeecitv ."ov. uk
28

Shared Services Framework
Case Study 3 Forth Valley GIS Ltd
Profile: Public Sector, Local Government, Joint initiative initially then moved to
Strategic Partnership
Why: Maximising the potential of geographic information to innovate and support the cost
effective delivery of public sector services
What: Innovative, high quality GIS Services and Solutions to the public sector and its
partners
How: Forth Valley GIS Limited is a Local Authority Company founded from a partnership
that existed between Clackmannanshire, Falkirk and Stirling Councils for over 10
years. As well as providing GIS services to the original 3 Councils, the company
delivers GIS consulting services to a wide range of public sector customers.
Where: Forth Valley GIS Limited is based in Viewforth, Stirling
Engagement and Operating Model
Originally set-up as a joint unit providing leading edge corporate GIS services and solutions
to the neighbouring local authorities of Clackmannanshire, Falkirk and Stirling councils. In
July of this year and as a result of the continuing success and growth in services provided by
Forth Valley GIS, a new local authority company was created, Forth Valley GIS Limited, to
take forward the business. This change builds on the highly successful partnership between
Clackmannanshire, Falkirk and Stirling Councils over the last 11 years and marks a
significant episode in the ongoing development of shared GIS services. The new company,
limited by shares, is controlled under a shareholding agreement that will support other local
authorities or public sector organisations joining the company in the future.
Forth Valley GIS Limited will continue to offer the same high quality, market leading GIS
services to public sector customers across Scotland while extending the benefits of a new
business model.
Timing - 1996 to present
Key Statistics
A twenty + strong team of geographic information experts provide consulting services that
cover the whole GIS lifecycle ....
• Strategy Development
• Project Management
• Technical Consultancy
• Business Analysis
• Systems Design
• System Development
• Data Management
• Spatial Analysis
• Support and
• Training
FVGIS Limited has an extensive knowledge of the public sector and is continually building
strong and effective working relationships with a wide range of local and central government
organisations and partner agencies - promoting the benefits of shared GIS service delivery
to an increasing network of customers.
Key lessons
Geography is a unique thread that ties together information, processes and people -
because everything happens somewhere. Location, address and map data are commonly
29

Shared Services Framework
used throughout the public sector yet the real power of this geographic information to
provide strategic and wide-ranging business benefits is often unrecognised.
FVGIS Limited take an inclusive view of how geographic information and GIS can improve
service delivery - linking technology, processes, data and people to provide successful and
sustainable GIS solutions that provide real benefits.
Objectives
The overall goal for Forth Valley GIS is 'to maximise the potential of geographic information
to innovate and support the cost effective delivery of public sector services' providing
• Extensive knowledge and experience of local government business drivers,
requirements and opportunities for GIS
• Effective joint working with equal shares in costs/benefits
• Best value with economies of scale for specialist services
• Development and sharing of best practice
• Strong emphasis on knowledge sharing and skills transfer across the partnership and
with external customers
Achievements and Benefits
Forth Valley GIS has over ten years experience implementing public sector GIS solutions
with specialist skills in many areas including:
• web solutions
• spatial database administration
• gazetteer management
• systems integration
• information management
The unique partnership approach to corporate GIS service delivery has realised significant
benefits for the partner Councils and their customers since the partnership was formed and
the range of geographic information services has continually developed to ensure alignment
with changing business requirements.
• Continuous improvement of quality and range of services
• Not for profit external income stream supports resource dividend for partner Councils
• Enhanced reputation of the partner Councils
• ICT cost savings and efficiencies by consolidation of 3 locations into one
• Single source. of geographic data and quality management framework to support
effective data dissemination and use
• Increased user confidence in the source, currency and accuracy of geographic data
• Simplified process for data distribution and significant reduction in the time to
respond to customer requests
• Opportunities to share regional geographic data with other agencies through an open
and interoperable infrastructure.
Service level management process
Forth Valley GIS Limited have established a three-year SLA with the original partner
Councils and bespoke SLAs with other public sector organisations. Key performance
indicators are developed in conjunction with the customer and reported on a quarterly basis.
In addition, project based work is governed by a tailored Prince 2 approach with regular
review meetings, risk and issue logs and an exception process.
Key contacts
Alan Moore - Head of Forth Valley GIS.
30

Shared Services Framework
Case Study 4: South lanarkshire Council and University of West of Scotland
Profile: Public Sector, local Government, lead Or anisation cross sector delive
Why: Capital and Revenue cost avoidance, enhanced customer and service levels, risk
avoidance
What: Hosted infrastructure for the newly created University of West of Scotland(Paisley
University, Bell College, Ayr and Dumfries Campus) )
How: Lead Council providing Sate of the Art Data Centre facilities for the University, cross
sector delivery model,
Where: Within South Lanarkshire Council, (Arms Length Body)
Governance Arrangements
The Governance Arrangements for the service is by Formal Agreement inclusive of a formal
Service Level Agreement. Key Benefits include,
• Formal Account Manager Supervision of Service Provision
• Formal review points and escalation methods
• Service Uptime guarantees to participating organisations
Key Statistics
• Serves a tertiary education organisation
• Provides modern, secure data centre to host technology in support of organisation's
operation
Achievements
The Shared Service Model will achieve significant savings for the participating organisation.
They have avoided the costs of building a proper fit for purpose data centre at a cost of
possibly £2m with the associated asset costs whilst the hosting authority reduces the unit
cost of the data centre.
The inherent reputation, business and technical risks associated with setting up a discreet
data centre service, has been avoided by the participating organisations.
The formal governance arrangements have enhanced confidence in the service both from
the Lead Authority and the participating organisation.
Other Services
In addition to providing Hosted Services for the Tertiary sector, South Lanarkshire also
provide a Shared Services for payroll and hosting services for the infrastructure supporting
the National Infrastructure in support of Citizen's Accounts and the National Land and
Property Gazetteer.
Key Contacts
Kay Brown
Head of IT Services
South Lanarkshire Council
Council Offices
Almada Street
Hamilton
ML30AA
kav. brown@southlanarkshire.Qov.uk
31

Shared Services Framework
Case Study 5 COMPAS Authority Group
A joining of representatives from the Health Boards of Shetland, Ayrshire & Arran, Greater
Glasgow & Clyde, Forth Valley, Highland, the National Golden Jubilee Hospital and the NSS
with the aim of directing the future direction of the computerised Patient Administration
System (COMPAS) used throughout the hospitals in these health boards.
Profile: Public Sector, NHS Scotland, Joint Initiative
Why: Improve efficiency, ensure that future PAS needs are supported, ensure compliance
with NHS and Scottish Government reporting requirements, and reduce costs.
What: Governance of the future direction of the PAS used by these 6 Health Boards (and
the National Golden Jubilee Hospital).
How: Partnership model consisting of 6 Health Boards working with a skill centre of
supplier staff.
Where: Geographically dispersed governance group.
Governance Model
A committed development pool of resources that develop and maintain the application are
managed by an "Authority Group" that consists of representatives from all interested parties
who direct development direction in line with their changing priorities.
There is an Executive Group that monitors progress on a monthly basis to ensure
compliance with plan.
There is an agreed cost sharing protocol among all users of this system (managed centrally
via the CMT)
Key Statistics
• Serves 6 Health Boards and the National Golden Jubilee Hospital
• Programme has benefited from Scottish Government funding
• Programme has a formal governance structure with Board representatives from
partner Health Boards and the NSS.
Key lessons
• Build on the investments made to date
• Exploit the knowledge base of the supplier
• Take local responsibility for implementation and deployment
Objectives
• Improve service efficiency
• Meet reporting requirements
• Provide effective and meaningful Management Information
• Seeking to develop the functionality and "join-up" the patient experience
Achievements and Benefits
• Improve hospital efficiency - bed capacity management, compliance with Waiting List
statistics requirements
Key Contacts
Gordon Sommerville, Head of Contract Management Team,
National Services Scotland
Gordon. Sommervi IleCCi>isd. csa. scot. nhs. uk
32

Shared Services Framework
Case Study 6: NSS e-Financials Service
This is an NSS procured and centrally hosted e-Financials system that can be made
available to all NHS users across Scotland.
Profile: Public Sector, NHS Scotland, Strategic Partnership
Why: Improve efficiency; reduce costs by encouraging convergence of common
technologies that address common functions across NHS Scotland
What: Provision of a nationally available e-financials software package (Cedar) with a
declining per-user charge as usage increases.
How: System is available now subject to Health Boards being able to adopt the version of
the software package delivered centrally.
Where: System is currently used by NSS staff but could be available across
NHS Scotland
Governance Model
Currently managed directly by the NSS as part of the overall contract with the ADA.
Key Statistics
• Used by NSS currently
• Could be used by any NHS Scotland area if required
• Decreasing price per user as usage increases
o 1-300 concurrent users - £1060 per user
o 301-600 concurrent users - £810 per user
o 601-900 concurrent users - £729 per user
o 901-1200 concurrent users - £672 per user
o 1201-1500 concurrent users - £641 per user
o 1501-1800 concurrent users - £628 per user
o 1801-2100 concurrent users - £597 per user
o 2101-2400 concurrent users - £595 per user
Key lessons
• Build on the investments made to date
• Exploit the knowledge base of the supplier
• Need to encourage local take-up to ensure reduced per-user charges
Objectives
• Improve service efficiency
• Meet functional requirements
Service Level management process
• Performance management reviewed by NSS Contract Management Team
Key Contacts
Gordon Sommerville, Head of Contract Management Team,
National Services Scotland
Gordon. Sommerville@isd.csa.scot. nhs. uk
33

Shared Services Framework
Case Study 7: Glasgow City Council
Profile: Public Sector, Local Government Scotland, Unitary
Why: Improve efficiency, increase customer focus, reduce costs
What: 5 internal service departments, 4 arms length operating companies & 3 external
companies
How: Shared Service Centre & SAP Enterprise solutions for - Finance, Sales,
Procurement, HR and Business Intelligence
Where: Glasgow
Timing - Established 2004 -
Key Statistics
Glasgow City Council
• Largest Scottish Authority, population of 600,000, wider city region of up to 2 million
Shared Service Centre
• 130 staff, (+16 dedicated technical staff); Directly supports over 2,500 SAP & Pecos
system users
• Current scope of SSC back office processes:
o Record to Report (Finance) - £2.3bn revenue and £05bn capital
o Order to Cash (Sales) - 3280m sundry sales
o Procure to Pay (Procurement) - £750m (projected annual)
o Positions to Pay (HR) - £650m for some 40,000 employees
o Processes underpinned by business intelligence capability
Key Lessons
• Ensure continued senior executive commitment and sponsorship
• Make significant investment in resources
• Invest in a robust change management programme
• Upfront design of key characteristics for SSC operations
• Define, own and manage through documented processes I procedures
Objectives
• Evolve from am non-integrated 'silo' business, to a lean enterprise driven by
standardised processes with fewer links in the chain
• Embrace 'Business Excellence' and 'Lean' models
• Enhance customer focus, including self service for managers and budget holders
• Develop a Shared Service Centre model at the heart of back office services
• Achieve 'Efficient Government' cost reduction on processing (£5m pa) rising to £1 OM
pa with better procurement
Achievements and Benefits
34
• Core SAP technology supporting key processes with further planned rollouts
• Regular and systematic review of balanced scorecard measures
• Delivered significant process improvements and ability to measure performance
across the full e2e business processes e.g. 80% customer invoices paid in 30 days
(over 100% improvement), 91% supplier invoices paid within agreed time with 83% of
supplier invoices processed electronically with no human intervention
• Embracing new behaviours, leadership and culture to deliver ways of working

Shared Services Framework
• Annual cash benefits delivered of c£2.5m in process efficiencies with further c£2.5m
realisable on completion of rollout programme and c£6m in better buying delivered to
date
• Shared Services capability now central to change and reform programme
Service level management process
• Clear and specific service level agreements for all services
o E.g. recruitment applications processed from within 24hrs of closing date
• Managing performance framework linked to business plan
Key Contacts
Glasgow City Council
Implementation partner - Serco
35

Shared Services Framework
Case Study 8: Scottish Government, Scots Connect
Profile: Public Sector, ICT Services, Lead Department
Why: Provisions of secure, flexible and cost efficient ICT infrastructure and services and
skills
What: ICT Managed Services and Skills to over 9000 public servants throughout Scotland
How: Lead Department, delivering to public sector organisations in Scotland
Where: From Edinburgh based Information Services and Information Systems business
area (ISIS) and their partners
Key Statistics
• Over 9000 users from 25 organisations within Public Sector Scotland
• Variety of services and skills provided from internal staff and external partner
organisations
• 14,000 items of IT equipment maintained
Objectives
Scots Connect offers financial and technical economies of scale, provides access to
common contracts, facilitates the sharing of knowledge and information across the public
sector, and delivers high quality value for money services.
Services available include:
• Infrastructure Services
• Telephone Services
• ICT Training Services
• Consultancy Services
• Business Solutions Services
• Information Management Services
• Departmental Security Services
Achievements and Benefits
• Secure, flexible and cost efficient ICT infrastructure and services
• Experienced and qualified professional staff
• Utilising and sharing existing procurement contracts
• Deployment of industry standards and practices
Key Contacts
Maxine Reid
Business Manager
Telephone 0131 244 5276
Email: Maxine.reid2{(:Uscotland.asLaov.uk
36

Shared Services Framework
Case Study 9: Transport for London
Profile: Public Sector Trans ortation, Local Government, Unita
Why: Improve Efficiency, increase customer focus, reduce costs
What: 19 internal businesses across Transport for London
How: Internal Shared Services for 19 businesses for HR processes
Where: Separate location in London
Engagement and Operating Model - Centralised internal Shared Service for 19
businesses across Transport for London ( including London Underground ; London Buses ;
London Rail; Congestion Charge; Public Carriage Office ).
Governance Model - Service level targets reviewed Timing - 2003 to 2005
Key Statistics
Serves 19,000 staff, 60,000 pensioners, 19 businesses and 60,000 job applications per
annum
Efficiency gains of 30%
Improvement in HR Efficiency Ratio from 1:64 to 1:97 employees
Programme commenced in 2003 and took 18 months to complete
Key lessons
• Define the look and feel of the centre and invest as appropriate
• Define characteristics of the existing service and" to-be" service at the outset
• Invest in communication and relationships with all stakeholders
• Adopt" service-led" design based on business requirements
• Set challenging but realisable targets; realise further efficiencies after operations
start
Objectives
• Standardised systems, processes and training
• Improve efficiency and customer service as well as reducing costs
• Accommodate within one space a mix of contact centre staff, advisers and specialists
plus managers
• Act as a showcase to enable external visitors to view the centre without
compromising security or confidentiality
Achievements and Benefits
• Integrated HR service from recruitment to pensions in a single place of contact
• Transparent performance information based on consistent data collection
• Improvement in HR efficiency ratio from 1:64 to 1:97 employees
• Net annualised benefit Year 1 of £8m ; Programme cost £7.5m (increase in volumes
has seen increase in costs)
• Rent, rates, services and facilities savings of £ 20 per sq ft
• Performance against clear and specific service level targets
• Established capability for future" self-service" technology and services
Service Level management process
• Operating performance against clear and specific service level targets e.g. 80% of
queries answered at first point of call
Key contacts
• Transport for London
Implementation partners - Orion Partners and Lagan
37

Shared Services Framework
Case Study 10: LogicaCMG pic
Profile: Private Sector, Shared Service - Finance and Accounting functions, Private
Sector, Unitary su orted by onshore and offshore (India) resources
Why: Improve efficiency, increase customer focus, reduced costs
What: LogicaCMG implemented a shared-service model for its finance processes in the
U.K.
How: An internal project
Where: A blended model was adopted with the service provided by staff based in UK and
India
Business Problem - When Logica and CMG merged, both companies had their own
finance functions. The management team of the merged company wanted to eliminate this
duplication by creating a single, merged finance function while at the same time realising
cost savings. It also wanted to implement more-robust processes across the merged
organisation. In common with most organisations, the finance functions had grown by
"tradition" and did not represent current best practices. For example, accounts payable
invoices were processed at over 100 locations in the U.K. alone, making authorisation and
payment processes overly complex and prone to errors and delays. Also, the finance
functions were based in high-cost locations, and the management team knew there were
opportunities to deliver further cost savings by relocating the merged finance function.
Governance Model - LogicaCMG's governance model (Cortex) is built upon a proven
construct developed over many years from the learning acquired on several large Shared
Service, outsourcing and transformation initiatives.
Timing - July 2004 to March 2005
Key Statistics
Finance function:
• supporting 10,000 staff across 20 locations
• processing 60,000 supplier invoices per year
• issuing 35,000 invoices to customers
• recording more than 500,000 project accounting transactions
Key lessons
• The development and internal selling of a sound business case and solution design was
the most critical success factor
• The other major success factor was the communication and work shadowing programs
• A blended operating model across countries has been successful
• Retaining and motivating existing staff who would be displaced
• Use of tools for call logging and workflow management enhanced controls
• Having the displaced staff visit India to perform "reverse" work shadowing was crucial
Objectives
• Standardise and de-risk the finance and accounting processes
• Build a platform for flexible, future growth capable of absorbing new work
• Reduce operating costs by adopting a blended delivery model
• Improve service levels
• Move finance function from transaction processing to assisting business performance
38

Shared Services Framework
Benefits
Tangible:
• Annualised 35 percent cost saving, ROI payback achieved in 20 months
• Savings have mainly come from reduced staff and facility costs
• The average time to register supplier invoices reduced from seven to three days.
• The percentage of supplier invoices received and processed electronically has risen from
16 percent to more than 35 percent
• Speed of delivery of management accounts has improved by 20 percent
• Of customer invoices, 99 percent were raised and actioned within two days - a reduction
from the previous level of four days or more
• The introduction of Total Invoice Management, allows all e-invoices to be received into a
central point for delivery to accounts payable.
Intangible:
• The implementation of standardised processes has delivered better visibility and
improved governance of finance and accounting processes - for example, tighter
purchase order controls and a reduction in manual payments
• This is evidence that there was no degradation of financial controls: in fact, financial
controls have actually been strengthened
• Around one-third of the displaced staff to move into higher value-added roles
Service level Management Process
LogicaCMG instigated Service Level Agreements and Operating Level Agreements around
each process in scope. These are monitored, reported and jointly agreed on a monthly basis
There are also stringent quality checks on a regular basis to ensure adherence to internal &
international quality standards.
Key contacts & additional information
Rab. CamfJbe/@/oaicacma.com 07841-602353/
A full case study is available and also an independent assessment of the project by Gartner
39

Shared Services Framework
Case Study 11: Weiland Partnership
The Councils of East Northamptonshire, Harborough District, Melton Borough, Rutland
County and South Kesteven District make up the Weiland Partnership.
(NB South Kesteven although a member of the Weiland Partnership has opted to join with
the Lincolnshire Shared Services programme and so does not form a part of the Weiland
Shared Services agenda)
Profile: Public Sector, Local Government, Strategic Partnership
Why: Improve Efficiency, increase customer focus, reduce costs
What: Procurement for 5 councils (Oadby and Wigston has recently joined the 4 Weiland
councils in the Procurement Shared Service) and Internal Audit for 4 councils
How: Partnership model consisting of 5 councils, centre of scale and skill
Where: Weiland Procurement Unit based at Melton Borough Council
Weiland Internal Audit Consortium based at Rutland County Council
Governance Model
From 2001 an overall partnership agreement
From 2006 a more formal joint committee and a cost sharing protocol exists. The Weiland
Procurement Board reports to the Weiland Chief Executives Group and Executive Panel.
There is an administrative agreement between the four councils of Weiland Shared Services,
and authority is delegated to joint committees.
Timing - 2001 to 2007
Key Statistics
• Serves 4/5 councils across a range of services from Procurement to Internal Audit
• Programme has benefited from central government funding
• Programme commenced in 2001 and has graduated from informal arrangements to a
more formal governance structure with Board representatives from partner authorities
Key lessons
• Trust and respect your partners and provide dedicated resource and time
commitment
• Take local responsibility, this is critical to success
• Build on initial success to offer a greater range of services ; a new business area,
Business Continuity Planning extends the partnership into Leicestershire '
• Experience gained in EU procurement, costing allocations, legal advice and TUPE
agreements
Objectives
• Improve service efficiency and return on investment
• Cost and efficiency targets are being met
• Seeking to expand services outside the region
Organisation - Weiland Partnership
40

Shared Services Framework
Achievements and Benefits
• Cost and efficiency savings on target for this financial year, currently half way to five
year target, after one year in operation
• Shared Service offering has grown in size and scale since the start of the partnership
• Specialist procurement expertise has enabled all councils to make savings
Service level management process
• Performance management information reviewed by teams and at Chief Executive
meetings
• Summaries of benefits achieved monitored against business plans
Key contacts
• Tony Hall, Head of Weiland Procurement Unit, Weiland Partnership, Melton Borough
Council. thall@>.melton.aov.uk
• Richard Gaughran, Head of Weiland Internal Audit Consortium, Weiland Partnership,
Rutland County Council. raauahran@>.rutland.aov.uk
41

Shared Services Framework
Case Study 12 CapGemini
Profile: Private Sector, IT Services, Outsourcin (Public & Private sectors
Why: Increased Efficiency, flexibility, resilience and best practice delivery environment
What: Shared Services for Desktop and IT support for over 70 Private Sector and
Public Sector clients (including Swansea and Croydon Councils)
How: 3 rd Party engagement model providing Shared Centre of Skills
Where: Inverness
Timing - 2000 to date
Key Statistics
• Multi-client desks serve 60 clients and 12,600 end users.
• Multi-client 'Out-Of-Hours' desk serves 112 clients.
• Efficiency gains of 20% compared with single-client (unshared) delivery
Key lessons
• Opportunities afforded by shared multi-client delivery should be raised at earliest
opportunity (expectation management)
• Maintain proven and industry-recognised resource cost models that can be used to
demonstrate benefits
• Make maximum use of other generic tools (eg. password reset)
• Rationalise all process for maximum similarity and efficiency
• Encourage clients to standardise ego standard desktops, reporting, escalation,
notification etc. to maximise benefits
• Create skill groups within the desk to cope with generic and client-specific enquiries
efficiently
• Use a high-quality/responsive knowledge management (KM) tool to allow analysts to
be able to cope with several clients and multiple end user enquiry categories .
• Ensure knowledge databases updated frequently (invest in KM resources)
• Embed knowledge systems into contact/incident management workflow
• Base training strategy for take-on of new work on KM system
Objectives
• Large Shared Services centre; 400 seats is recognised as the optimum max size
• Shared Service approach given high priority in sales, transition and delivery
• Standardised 'best practice' systems, processes and training
• Good knowledge tools, databases and processes to continuously improve
consistency, accuracy and efficiency
• Effective and efficient problem and incident management
• Well-trained, flexible and motivated analysts
• Proactive service delivery management
Achievements and Benefits
• Consistent and efficient delivery
• Maximum quality at minimum cost & risk
• High levels of resilience and contingency
• Highly competitive offering
• Average 20% incremental saving by sharing services compared to dedicated support
Key contacts
• Government & Public Services Scotland - Steve Uphill
• Inverness Service Centre - George Munro
• Global Service Centre Consulting - Rob Torrens
42

Shared SeNices Framework
Scotland Examples - Shared Services
Sector Organi$ation Characteristic Scope
Appendix B
Number
of orgs
Volume
South
Lanarkshire Strategic Employees
Local Authority Payroll Partnership Payroll 4 21,000
Annual
NSS spend £
Health Procurement Joint Initiative Procurement 22 780 million
Glasgow City Finance; HR; Employees
Local Authority Council Unitary Procurement 10 31,000
Scotland Examples - Collaboration and Shared Practice
Sector Organisation Characteristic Scope
Shared
Local Authority eCare standards Standards 32
South
Lanarkshire Information
Information Lead Technology
Local Authority Technology Department hosting
Glasgow City Business Process
Local Authority Council Pathfinder Standardisation 1
City of
Edinburgh Business Process
Local Authority Council Pathfinder Standardisation 1
Number
of orgs
Volume
Corporate Local
Local Authority Five Councils Partnership SeNices 5 Authority 5
Scotland Shared
Local Authority Excel expertise Procurement 32
Improvement Shared Workforce
Local Authority SeNice expertise Planning 32
Clyde Valley
Local Authority Consortium Shared scale Training 8
Customer
First Shared
Local Authority Programme standards 32
Improvement Joint
Local Authority SeNice procurement Recruitment Portal 32
Improvement Joint Public Information
Local Authority SeNice procurement Notices 32
Local Authority I
Health Orkney Joint Working SharinQ services 2
Improvement Joint
Local Authority SeNice procurement Care procurement
Improvement Joint
Local Authority SeNi.ce procurement CRM procurement 4
Improvement Stirling &
Local Authority SeNice Joint Working Council seNices 2 Clacks
Joint Waste Highland &
Local Authority Highland procurement Management 2 Moray
43

Shared Services Framework
Sector Organisation Characteristic Scope
Number of
orgs
Central Govt and Scottish Lead SEAS finance
Agencies Executive Department system > 20
Central Govt and Scottish E procurement
Agencies Executive Scotland > 100
Central Govt and Scottish Shared OSIAF inter-
Agencies Executive standards operability
Central Govt and Scottish Document
Agencies Executive management
Share scale (Objective) 10
Central Govt and Scottish Share SCOTS Connect
Agencies Executive standards (ICT services ) > 15
Central Govt and Electronic
Agencies
Property
Office of Information
Government Share Management
Central Govt/
Local
Commerce expertise Service > 50
Authorities/Agenc Scottish Joint
ies/ NDPB
National Health
Executive procurement ePlanninQ >40
Service in Finance; Payroll ;
Scotland
National Health
NSS Finance Unitary Procurement 22
Service in Health Joint
Scotland Department procurement ICT Network ( N3)
Atos Origin
Alliance -
National Health Managed
Service in Health Strategic Technical
Scotland
National Health
Department Partnership Services >20
Service in Territorial Health Data Sharing
Scotland Boards Collaboration Partnerships 8
National Conservation;
NDPBs Collections COllaboration StoraQe 6
Environmental
NDPBs SNIFFER Collaboration Research 10
Scottish
NDPBs Enterprise Unitary Finance 15
Scottish
Commission for
the Regulation of Lead
NDPBs Care Department Finance 2
Rural and
environmental
services Property; Asset
NDPBs (SEARS) Collaboration manaaement; ICT 10
Scottish Police
Services
Police Authority Joint Initiatives ICT management 8
Scottish Police Joint Initiatives
Services Intelligence
Police Authority database 8
44
Volume

Shared Services Framework
Sector Organisation Characteristic Scope
Scottish Joint Initiatives
Police Management
Services Information
Police Authority System 8
Scottish JoInt Initiatives
Police
Services Network
Police Authority infrastructure 8
Scottish Joint Initiatives
Police National
Services command and
Police Authority control system 8
Number of
orgs
Volume
Strategic ICT network
FE/HE PartnershJp (JANET) >60
APUC Ltd.
( Advanced
Procurement
for
Universities
FE/HE and Colleges) Joint Initiative Procurement 60
Scottish
Executive I
Learning and
Teaching Strategic ICT network 800, 000
Education Scotland Partnershio (Glow) users
Citizens
Advice Business
Not for Profit Scotland Unitary processes
Scottish
Council for Procurement -
Voluntary 3rdForceBuy.ing
Not for Profit Organisations Share scale .com
SCVO and
WCVA (Wales
Council for
Voluntary Strategic Recruitment
Not for Profit Action ) Partnership web site 2
England and Wales Examples - Shared Services
Organisation Characteristic Scope
Number
of orgs
Volume
Anglia Revenues Population
Partnership Partnership Council Tax and Benefits 3 250,000
Employ.ees
Transport for London internal Human Resources 19 20,000
Electors
Barrow in Furness Partnership Council Tax and Benefits 5 1,000,000
Population
Weiland Partnership Partnership Procurement; Interna! Audit 5 350,000
Worcestershire Revs & Homes
Bens Partnership Council Tax and Benefits 6 238,000
Warwickshire Direct Customer Relation Management; Loc.aI
Partnership Lead Council Tax and Benefits 6 Authority 6
45

Shared Services Framework
Organisation Characteristic Scope
Number
of orgs
Volume
Finance; Human Resources; Local
Surrey County Council Internal Payroll 1 Authority 1
1, talking
Cambridgeshire to Local
County Council Lead Corporate Services another Authority 1
Customer Service Customer Relation Management; Population
Direct Joint Venture Council Tax and Benefits 3 680,000
Local
Council Tax and Benefits; Authority 2
Improving Services in Finance; HR; Procurement; and Police
Somerset lead Customer Service; ICT 3 Authority
Vale of White Horse,
South Oxfords hire and Accounting - Council Tax and Local
Capita Joint Venture Benefits 2 Authority 2
Connected Cumbria Public
Partnership Partnership Procurement 15 bodies 30
East Midlands Public
Lawshare Partnership Legal services 12 bodies 15
Lichfield and
Staffordshire
Moorlands District Local
Council 3rd party Information Technology services 2 Authority 2
Local
Customer Relation Management; Authority
Staffordshire Connects Partnership Council Tax and Benefits 10 10
Customers
75
Employees
Hertford I SERCO Joint Venture Payroll ; Pensions 20 100,000
Local
Blackburn with Darwen 3rd party Council Tax and Benefits 2 Authority 5
London
London eAdmission Partnership Education admissions 10 Schools
Local
Swansea Partnership Child care legal services 3 Authority 3
Local
East Riding & arvato Partnership Council Tax and Benefits 1 Authority 1
Horsham, Adur and Local
Mid Sussex Partnership Council Tax and Benefits 3 Authority 3
Northumberland and Local
Durham Partnership ICT systems 2 Authority 2
Watford, Three Rivers Finance; HR; Council Tax and Local
& Dacorum Partnership Benefits 3 Authority 3
Hampshire & Isle of Single non-emergency number Population
Wi~ht Partnership and private broadband network 15 2,000,000
Partnerships in London
Parking Partnership Parkina and procurement 6 Boroughs 6
NHS
North Wales Business Finance; Human Resources; Authorities
Support Partnership Partnership Payroll 7 6
NHS
Authorities
North East Patches Consortium Procurement 56 56
46

Shared Services Framework
Overseas Examples - Shared Services
Organisation Characteristic Scope
Number of
orgs
Volume
New Zealand Health District Health Boards
Alliance Partnership - Payroll ; Finance 2 Health Boards 2
Canada - British Mail ; printing ; ICT
Columbia Partnership SUpPort; Vehicles 2 State Government
HR; Finance; State Govt. Health
Australia - Documents and Education 60,000
Queensland Partnership Records 3 staff
Australia - New Finance , HR , IT , Smaller state
South Wales Partnership Property Aaencies
New Zealand Health
Boards Partnership Finance system 4 Health Boards 4
Central Government Shared Services
Organisation Characteristic Scope
Number of
orgs.
Volume
Universities and
Eduserv Consortium Hiaher Education 200 Colleges 200
Finance; Human
HM Prison Service Internal Resources; Payroll 130 Prisons 1.30
Employees
Ministry of Defence Internal HR 20 80,000
HM Treasury &
Logica 3rd party Payroll 40 Public Bodies 40
Driver and Vehicle Finance; Human Public Sector
Licensing Agency Partnership Resources; Payroll 8 Bodies 8
London Authorities
Mutual Ltd. Partnership Insurance 12 Local Authority 32
Anchor Trust Internal Finance 1 Not for Profit 1
internal! Finance; Training ;
NHS Derwent external Fleet Management 10 NHS Authorities 6
Medical Research Research
Council Internal Finance 34 Councils 33
Trading Finance ; NHS Authorities
NHS and Xansa company Procurement 125 125
Other UK case studies
Organisation Characteristic Scope
Number of
orgs
Volume
Council Tax , NDR I Local Authority
South East Wales Partnership Legal ; Finance 10 10
Northern Ireland Civil Employees
Service Internal HR 1 27,000
47

Shared Services Framework
Private sector case studies
Organisation Characteristic Scope
Lo ica CMG Internal Finance 27
Information Technology
Ca Gemini Commercial su rt 76
BPI Pol Ic Internal Finance 15
48
Number of
orgs
Volume
Purchase invoices
65,000
Deskto s 13,000
Em 10 ees 5,000

Shared Services Framework
Glossary
Term Definition
Application Service Provider is a business that provides computer-based
services to customers over a network. Software
offered using an ASP model is also sometimes
called On-demand software or software as a
service (SaaS). The most limited sense of this
business is that of providing access to a
particular application program (such as medical
billing) using a standard protocol such as HTTP
APUC Advanced Procurment for Universities and
Colleges - programme to stimulate, lead and
deliver advanced procurement within Scottish
Higher and Further Education through the
creation of a Centre of expertise and by the
implementation of ePS within Scotland's sixtytwo
universities and colleges.
Business Process Outsourcing the increasing trend of relocating entire
business functions to either self-owned or thirdparty
service providers, typically in low-cost
locations
CRM Customer Relationship is a broad term that covers concepts used by
Management companies to manage their relationships with
customers, including the capture, storage and
analysis of customer, vendor, partner, and
internal process information
Excel Scotland Excel - Project to set up a Centre of
Procurement Excellence for local authorities
GIS Geographic Information system for capturing, storing, analyzing and
System managing data and associated attributes which
are spatially referenced to the earth. In the
strictest sense, it is a computer system capable
of integrating, storing, editing, analyzing,
sharing, and displaying geographicallyreferenced
information
Hosted Service Provider xSP is a business that delivers a combination of
traditional IT functions such as infrastructure,
applications (Software as a Service), security,
monitoring, storage, Web development, website
hosting and email, over the Internet or other
wide area networks (WAN). An xSP combines
the abilities of an application service provider
(ASP) and an Internet service provider (ISP).
ICT Information and Communication Technology
49

Shared Services Framework
Term
JANET
NDPB
Near Shore
NSS National Services Scotland
Off Shore
On Shore
50
Definition
private British government-funded computer
network dedicated to education and research.
All further- and higher-education organisations
are connected to JANET, as are all the
Research Councils; the majority of these sites
are connected via 20 metropolitan area
networks across the UK. The network also
carries traffic between schools within the UK,
although many of the schools' networks
maintain their own general Internet connectivity.
The name was originally a contraction of Joint
Academic NETwork but it is now known as
JANET in its own right.
Non-Departmental Public Body - is a
classification applied by the Cabinet Office,
Treasury and Scottish Government to certain
types of public bodies. They are not an integral
part of a government department and carry out
their work at arm's length from Ministers,
although Ministers are ultimately responsible to
Parliament for the activities of bodies sponsored
by their department. The term includes the four
types of NDPB (executive, advisory, tribunal
and Independent Monitoring Boards), public
corporations, National Health Service (NHS)
bodies and public broadcasting authorities (BBC
and S4C).
Work is carried out in Europe. Ireland currently
has the largest market share of Global Sourcing
business
NHS National Services Scotland (NSS) is a Non
Departmental Public Body. Accountable to the
Scottish Government, working at the heart of
the health service, providing national strategic
support services and expert advice to NHS
Scotland. Also play an active and crucial role in
the delivery of effective healthcare to patients
and the public. The supporting role to NHS
Scotland means that they work closely with all
our partner organisations, especially the NHS
Boards, in the delivery of our services
Work is carried out anywhere in the world
outside of Europe. India currently has the
second largest market share of Global Sourcing
business
Work is carried out in the same country but at a
different location

Shared Services Framework
Term
On-demand software
OSIAF
SAP
SEARS
SEAS, Scottish Executive
Accounting Services
Service Point Network
Services Orientated Architecture
Definition
is a software application delivery model where a
software vendor develops an on-line software
application and hosts and operates (either
independently or through a third party) the
application for use by its customers over the
Internet. Customer do not pay for owning the
software itself but rather for using it. This term
along with Application Service Provide and
Utility computing has been replaced by Software
as a Service (SaaS) as the industry preferred
term.
OpenScotland Information Age Framework. The
OSIAF sets out standards and specifications to
be used by the Scottish public sector and it
provides a Scottish framework for developing
and approving interoperability specifications that
support the delivery of electronic public services
Software Company SAP was founded in 1972as
Systmeanalyse und Programmentwicklung
(SAP)
A multi-organisational programme which aims to
deliver more joined-up and efficient public
services across Scotland through the
Environment and Rural Affairs Department
family of public bodies. Actions should reduce
administrative burdens on customers and
partners but also be more effective, with
guidance, assistance and advice that is easier
to understand and implement, to support the
achievement of our outcomes.
A Corporate Purchasing and Accounting system
used by the Scottish Government, its Agencies
and Associated Departments, The Scottish
Parliament and The Scotland Office.
The Service Point Network consists of a number
of one stop shops that provide a whole range of
public services in remote areas of the
Highlands.
is the practice of segregating the core business
functions into independent services that don't
change frequently. Going further it also extends
this segregation to many things that can
logically and functionally be separated,
regardless of whether they're changeable or
not.
51

Shared Services Framework
Term
Software as a Service (SaaS)
Wide Area Networks (WAN)
52
Definition
is a software application delivery model where a
software vendor develops a web-native software
application and hosts and operates (either
independently or through a third-party) the
application for use by its customers over the
Internet. Customers do not pay for owning the
software itself but rather for using it. The term
Software as a Service is the indutry preffered
term for this type of delivery model, superceding
other terms as On-demand software. Utility
computing and Application Service Provider
(ASP).
is a computer network that covers a broad area
(i.e., any network whose communications links
cross metropolitan, regional, or national
boundaries). The largest and most well-known
example of a WAN is the Internet.