Shared Services in Higher Education: Trends, Case Studies & Best Practices

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Who We Are
Trends in Shared Services
Higher Education Case Studies
Best Practices
Agenda
Why Shared Services?

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Who We Are
Agenda

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Who We Are · Overview

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Who We Have Worked With

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Agenda
Why Shared Services?

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Achieve the Triple Benefits of Shared Services
Higher Quality
Lower Costs
Improved Control

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What Exactly is Shared Services?
•Treats its internal clients as if they were an external client. Treats them with the same
level of respect and service that external clients expect
Elevator
Speech
•Provides non-core services to the “business”, employing a specialist team, geographically
unconstrained, and focusing on the requirements of the internal client. This involves a
philosophy and approach totally unlike traditional “corporate-driven” centralization.
Definition
•Has the goal of providing high quality, non-core, but mission critical services (which can
include both repetitive common processes and more specialized professional services) to
the business at lower cost and more efficiently than the business could otherwise provide
for itself.
Goal
•Achieves cost savings and higher quality of service by leveraging organizational re-
alignment, economies of scale, technology, lower cost locations, client interaction
framework, standardized end-to-end processes, and best practices.
How-To

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Centralization/De-Centralization Cycle
 Remote from
business
 Unresponsive
and inflexible
 No Business/
Operational
control over
costs
 Viewed as
central
overhead
 Prevalence of
shadow
operations
Centralized
Challenges
 Disparate
processes
 Multiple
standards
 Duplication of
effort
 Different
control
environments
 High cost and
costs unclear
across the
business
 Not scalable
Decentralized
Challenges
 Responsive
to Business
and
Operational
needs
 Business/
Operations
control
decisions
 Customized
solutions to
meet
Business/
Operational
requirements
Benefits Shared
 Highly client
focused
 Commercially
driven
 Service
Partnership
Agreements
 Clear unit costs
 Flexible
delivery
 Clear
understanding
of drivers and
activities
 Common
systems and
support
 Consistent
standards
and controls
 Tight control
environment
 Economies of
scale
Benefits
Costs too high, poor
compliance environment
Unresponsive to needs of
business

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State Funding
and
Endowment
Decreases
Technology
Demand
Campus
Growth
Compliance/
Administrative
Requirements
Cost of
Higher
Education
FEELING THE “SQUEEZE”
Marketplace
Competition
Why Shared Services in Higher Education?

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Reduced funding and escalating cost-containment pressures are requiring
operational excellence in higher education institutions to continue to achieve
academic excellence.
Only 42% of college and university chief business officers are confident with
their financial model’s stability over the next 10 years. (Inside Higher Ed and
Gallup 2015 Survey of College and University Business Officers)
Increasing student fees alone has not been sufficient to close the budget
gaps, and is no longer sustainble at many Universities and Colleges.
Why Shared Services in Higher Education?

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Agenda
Trends in Shared Services

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General Trends in Shared Services
• Started in mid-1980’s - driven by private sector multinationals
• Successfully implemented Shared Services initiatives achieve
“20%-45% cost reductions from the current state” (The Shared
Services Roundtable, March 2015)
• 100% of Hackett’s top quartile benchmarked enterprises
leverage Shared Services (Hackett 2013)
• More prevalent today in midsized companies and businesses
• Improved services, not just cost

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General Trends in Shared Services
• “Moving up the value chain”
• New adopters are moving directly to multifunctional/Global
Business Services model as part of their implementation
strategy (Deloitte, 2015 Global Shared Services Survey,
February 2015)
• Technology options continue to grow (spend on technology is
not the problem)
• Significant focus and growth in the Public Sector globally
• Slower to adopt – so far

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Unique
Challenges
to Higher
Ed
“Politics”
Within Campus/
Across System/
State and Federal
Workforce:
Campus/Faculty/
Colleges/Depts/
Research/Health
Centers
Territorial and
Governance Issues
“Traditional Silos”
Funding
Sources/Increased
Costs
Transparency
creates critics
“Failures” jumped
on
“Culture”/Tenure/
Change
Management
Some of the Unique Challenges Facing Shared Services in Higher
Education

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Agenda
Higher Education Case Studies

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Early Adopters : Shared Services was already underway “pre-
recession” at many Universities

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Many have followed

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GOALS:
Streamline campus operations and provide more
funding for academics and University’s core missions
Implement simpler, more responsive systems and
processes that enable informed decision-making
while complying with policies and laws
Reduce bureaucracy and create a more satisfying
work environment for faculty and staff
Carolinacounts.unc.edu

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Formed in January 2010 to take repeatable
common work out of departments
Consolidation of pre-existing service units to
sustainably improve cost structure, compliance
and client service
Shared Services at Yale University
Yale Shared Services Finance
HR Shared Services
HR Transactions and
Contact Center
FRMS Pre & Post Award
All shared services are single centers located on
campus
yss.yale.edu
“Establishing and
maintaining a
relationship with our
customers was integral…
our customers wanted to
be involved in the
development,
implementation, and
ongoing operation of
Shared Services and we
very much wanted and
welcomed their
feedback.”
– Ronn Kolbash, Asst VP
of Yale Shared Services

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Administrative Services Transformation (AST) project
Finance & HR Functions – All academic (19) and administrative (13) units
ncci-cu.org

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Goal: To utilize and leverage the current technology and best practices
to provide exceptional, streamlined services in an efficient and accurate
manner in order to reduce overall administrative costs by minimizing
redundancies and improving quality across campus.
Human Resources - Increase strategic services:
• Technology - Automate processes
• Comprehensive strategy to align short and long-
term initiatives
• Clarify roles
• Redesign governance
Finance -
• Establish staffing levels
• Clarify roles
IT Transformation -
• Strengthen collaboration between
distributed and central IT teams
• Streamline the delivery of commodity
technologies
• Plan for future technology innovations

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Completed the build phase in August 2013 and began
implementation with the intent to role out five SSCs before the
end of fiscal 2016.
ssc.ku.edu

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IT Shared Services Goals:
Build 3 New Data Centers
Transform University IT Systems
Unlock Efficiencies
Share Excess Capacity
Increase Mission Focus
Lessons Learned
University-wide buy-in on cost efficiencies requires selling
Monetizing IT savings can be difficult
Retained Staff needs to understand the future
Must plan administration of consumption pricing and billing
Virtual and Fractional Staffing Models present unique challenges

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Institute of Food and Agricultural Services (IFAS) shared service
centers developed to consolidate and streamline the
administrative functions such as Human Resources, Finance and
Accounting, and Grants Management.
IMPLEMENTATION STRUGGLES
Major challenge with primary customer: faculty
Faculty did not understand scope of service or shift in model
Confusion around detailed processes, client interaction framework
No clarity on how to measure service levels
Staffing challenges
Status quo was tight-knit with close proximity: Pushback on centralization
Lift and shift without standardization, workload optimization, space
planning or evaluating skillsets

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Case Study – City of Houston HR
Problem: City facing $50-70M Budget Deficit
Opportunities: Centralization; reduce liabilities; improve efficiency; eliminate redundancy
Plan: Implement Shared Services
Process:
Step 1: People – Redefine Roles and Responsibilities
Anyone spending over 51% of time moved to Central HR
Step 2: Process Standardization
Focus on quality of service and transparency
Step 3: Technology Adds Capability
Reduce reliance on expensive and unnecessary add-on solutions
Results
HR Staff to Employee ratio improved from 1:38 to 1:119
Improved quality of service
More efficient, better placed staff
Self-service functionality
Improved understanding of customer issues
Enhanced use of SAP Capital Management Module: $650k of annual savings

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Agenda
Best Practices

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• Having a Business Case is key
• Consider functions, processes, sub-processes, locations, regions, operating units
and entities
• It is really important to distinguish between “solutions” vs “quick fixes”
• Multifunctional now often the chosen way to proceed
• Consider how far up the value chain you want to go
• Senior level Executive sponsorship is key - executives must understand and
support the roll-out
• Remember always that the project does not end with “go-live”

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Roadmap: Key Activities & Deliverables
Financial
Business Case
Organizational
Structure
Operating
Model
Governance &
Policy
Frameworks
Change
Management &
Comms Plan
Implementation
Plan
Report &
PresentationBaseline Opportunity
Matrix
Project
Initiation
Baseline
Reports & Data
Stakeholder
Interviews
As-Is/Client
Interaction
Workshops
Activity Based
Analysis
Technology
Landscape
High-Level
Benchmarking
As-Is Leading
Practices
Diagnostics
To-Be Leading
Practices
Diagnostics
Technology
Assessment
Location
Analysis
To-Be Design
Principles
Stakeholder
Analysis

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Client
• Service orientation in place
• Structured way of dealing with customers
• Customer satisfaction levels understood
• SPAs in place
• Reality versus perception
• Account management
Process
• Processes documented
• Standardized, controlled & repeatable activity
• Recharging methodology
• Benchmarking – internal/external
• Metrics: Control Based; (ii) Efficiency &
Effectiveness
Technology
• ERP implemented
• Document Scanning Solution
• Workflow
• Automated Payments
• Elimination of Side Systems
• Self services tools
• Automated Score Cards
People
• Skilled Leadership in place – do not compromise on
competencies
• Team shape & stability – process shaped/spans of
control/staff – perm v temps
• Team members – culture, values & behavioral competencies
assessed
• Team morale, reward & retention
• Working environment conducive to team working

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Client Interaction Framework
Account
Management
•SSO to client; via reporting,
interaction, escalation &
communication
Client Contact
Management
•Client to SSO; to manage
and resolve queries and
drive learning/improvement
Service Partnership
Agreements
•SPAs are 2-way agreements
clarifying both SSO services
and client inputs
Client
Feedback
•Client satisfaction
continuously monitored
both informally and formally
Continuous
Improvement
•Mechanisms to identify the
areas for improvement and
to develop solutions
Process Control
Database
•Documents end-to-end SSO
processes; highlights activity
of both SSO & client
Performance
Measurement
•Comprehensive KPIs,
measures and metrics
framework, SSO & client
Performance
Reporting
•Process performance will be
reviewed monthly by SSO
and client
Recharging
Methodology
•Define basis for charging for
SSO services to turn
consumers into clients

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• Do not underestimate the change management required
• Consider a multi-faceted communication and advisory approach
• Generate a culture of service and continuous improvement
• Make sure your team includes both academic and administrative
resources and be prepared to travel to meet and work with users
• Assign your best resources and people to the project
• Assign end-to-end process owners

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• Separate transformation from ongoing activities
• Offer end-to-end services by provisioning as many non-core services
as possible under one organizational umbrella
• Realignment can help remove silos and foster a strong shared
service culture and team spirit
• Enable succession planning, job rotation, new opportunities and
targeted and consistent training programs
• Do things differently – that’s the whole point!

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1. Shared Services can be complex,
but it is not rocket science
2. Start with a Roadmap and
supporting business case
3. You are not alone, others have
gone before

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Contact us
enquiries@chazeypartners.com
www.chazeypartnersinc.com
enquiries@chazeypartners.com

Shared Services in Higher Education: Trends, Case Studies & Best Practices

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