Transitioning to Government Shared Services Centres

Author(s):  
Torben Tambo ◽  
Lars Bækgaard

Services are fundamental to the provisioning of business activities. Enterprise Architecture (EA) is maintaining the relationship between strategy, business, and technology. A clear definition and agreed understanding of services is critical to realising information technology artefacts. Services, however, tend to be more complex than the mere act of interaction or working processes, and should be seen out of the cultural, organisational, and managerial factors surrounding them. This chapter uses a service model consisting of execution, context, and intention with an underlying claim that all three elements must be present to make services meaningful. EA must be seen in the light of this. This chapter addresses the issues related to combined transformation of organisations, service systems, and consequently, EA. The transformation changes loosely coupled, distributed organisations into Shared Service Centres (SSCs). A case study of a far-reaching SSC transformation from Denmark is presented where eGovernment services are moved from local government level into a national SSC structure referred to as Udbetaling Danmark (lit. PayDK). Major findings include: (1) When eGovernment reaches a certain level of maturity, it dissolves its original reason and no longer follows a progressive maturity model. Instead, it leads to a more radical reorganisation emphasising operational efficiency. (2) Development and management of complexities and uncertainties in governmental administrative services are closely associated with the development of eGovernment through ongoing refinement of EA and service frameworks. (3) The policy-driven reshaping of governmental services, originally themselves being SSCs, can lead to iterative SSC formations, each seeking to establish a professional logic of its own. (4) The systemic perception connected to EA and service science provides valuable insight into service transformation before, during, and after the transformation. This chapter aims at a deeper understanding and discussion of services in developing eGovernment policies and architectures, but findings are readily applicable in general business environments.

Author(s):  
Torben Tambo ◽  
Lars Bækgaard

Services are fundamental to the provisioning of business activities. Enterprise Architecture (EA) is maintaining the relationship between strategy, business, and technology. A clear definition and agreed understanding of services is critical to realising information technology artefacts. Services, however, tend to be more complex than the mere act of interaction or working processes, and should be seen out of the cultural, organisational, and managerial factors surrounding them. This chapter uses a service model consisting of execution, context, and intention with an underlying claim that all three elements must be present to make services meaningful. EA must be seen in the light of this. This chapter addresses the issues related to combined transformation of organisations, service systems, and consequently, EA. The transformation changes loosely coupled, distributed organisations into Shared Service Centres (SSCs). A case study of a far-reaching SSC transformation from Denmark is presented where eGovernment services are moved from local government level into a national SSC structure referred to as Udbetaling Danmark (lit. PayDK). Major findings include: (1) When eGovernment reaches a certain level of maturity, it dissolves its original reason and no longer follows a progressive maturity model. Instead, it leads to a more radical reorganisation emphasising operational efficiency. (2) Development and management of complexities and uncertainties in governmental administrative services are closely associated with the development of eGovernment through ongoing refinement of EA and service frameworks. (3) The policy-driven reshaping of governmental services, originally themselves being SSCs, can lead to iterative SSC formations, each seeking to establish a professional logic of its own. (4) The systemic perception connected to EA and service science provides valuable insight into service transformation before, during, and after the transformation. This chapter aims at a deeper understanding and discussion of services in developing eGovernment policies and architectures, but findings are readily applicable in general business environments.


2007 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 281-290
Author(s):  
Shouhong Wang ◽  
Hai Wang

Shared services have been widely spread in the government and private sectors. Unlike outsourcing, shared service is the standardization and consolidation of common functions across the multiple organizations to reduce information process duplication and increase information and knowledge sharing. Shared services should be viewed less as a phenomenon of cost saving and more as a challenge of organization redesign. Five general leading theories of organizational design are examined in the perspective of shared services. A quasi-general organizational design approach is proposed specifically for shared services projects. The proposed approach emphasizes the organizational support for the shared services strategy identification, collaborative partnership network design, optimal shared services process design, and policy and regulation system design.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 116
Author(s):  
Yohanes Hugo Maur ◽  
Andi Wahju Rahardjo Emanuel

Abstract. Information technology architecture planning for Baubau Village using TOGAF ADM. Babau Village is a village located in Kupang Regency, East Nusa Tenggara Province. Currently, Babau Village has implemented information technology as a centre for information and administrative services. To improve the quality of service to the community, existing information technology needs to be further developed because the amount of information in the system will continue to increase along with population growth. The problem faced if information technology is not developed is a system performance problem. For further development to be more focused, research on an information technology architecture design for Babau Village. The design using TOGAF ADM is a blueprint and a roadmap for the development of advanced information technology services. The aim is that the existing business processes within the Babau Village related to information and administrative services continue to develop according to the needs of the community and the organizational management of Babau Village.Keywords: enterprise architecture planning, TOGAF, ADM, Babau VillageAbstrak. Kelurahan Babau adalah sebuah kelurahan yang terletak di Kabupaten Kupang, Provinsi Nusa Tenggara Timur. Saat ini Kelurahan Babau sudah menerapkan teknologi informasi sebagai pusat pelayanan informasi dan administrasi. Demi meningkatkan kualitas pelayanan kepada masyarakat, teknologi informasi yang ada perlu dikembangkan lebih lanjut karena jumlah informasi yang ada dalam sistem akan terus meningkat seiring pertumbuhan jumlah penduduk. Masalah yang dihadapi apabila teknologi informasi tidak dikembangkan ialah masalah kinerja sistem. Agar pengembangan tahap lanjut lebih terarah, penelitian mengenai sebuah perancangan arsitektur teknologi informasi untuk Kelurahan Babau. Perancangan yang menggunakan TOGAF ADM tersebut merupakan blueprint dan juga roadmap untuk pengembangan pelayanan teknologi informasi tahap lanjut. Tujuannya ialah proses bisnis yang ada didalam Kelurahan Babau terkait pelayanan informasi dan administrasi terus berkembang sesuai dengan kebutuhan masyarakat dan pengurus organisasi Kelurahan Babau.Kata Kunci: arsitektur teknologi informasi, TOGAF, ADM, Kelurahan Babau


10.28945/3116 ◽  
2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Jones ◽  
Irit Alony

With the increasing levels of multiculturalism in today’s business and the proliferation and essentiality of information systems, development and management of IS needs to be considered in light of the cultural factors which impact upon its utility. Hofstede’s work on culture is the most widely cited in existence. His observations and analysis provide scholars and practitioners a valuable insight into the dynamics of cross-cultural relationships. However, such a groundbreaking body of work does not escape criticism. Hofstede has been dogged by academics discrediting his work in part or whole. Nonetheless, far more scholars exist who support Hofstede than those that don’t. Most quote Hofstede’s work with unabashed confidence, many including his findings as absolute assumptions. This paper takes a critical look at Hofstede’s work and applies his findings to the practical needs of information systems. The paper finds support for the dimensions promoted by Hofstede in regard to information systems, but recommends continued research to provide greater clarity and continued applicability of his espoused dimensions.


Author(s):  
Hanlin Liu ◽  
Yimin Yu

Problem definition: We study shared service whereby multiple independent service providers collaborate by pooling their resources into a shared service center (SSC). The SSC deploys an optimal priority scheduling policy for their customers collectively by accounting for their individual waiting costs and service-level requirements. We model the SSC as a multiclass [Formula: see text] queueing system subject to service-level constraints. Academic/practical relevance: Shared services are increasingly popular among firms for saving operational costs and improving service quality. One key issue in fostering collaboration is the allocation of costs among different firms. Methodology: To incentivize collaboration, we investigate cost allocation rules for the SSC by applying concepts from cooperative game theory. Results: To empower our analysis, we show that a cooperative game with polymatroid optimization can be analyzed via simple auxiliary games. By exploiting the polymatroidal structures of the multiclass queueing systems, we show when the games possess a core allocation. We explore the extent to which our results remain valid for some general cases. Managerial implications: We provide operational insights and guidelines on how to allocate costs for the SSC under the multiserver queueing context with priorities.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Philipp Richter

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the configurations of shared service center (SSC) characteristics, their performance implications and the dynamics of SSC configurations during their implementation.Design/methodology/approachThis study uses the capability-based view and configurational approach to suggest a model that explains performance outcomes of shared service configurations. Survey data are analyzed with a cluster analysis to examine shared service configurations in distinct stages of implementation. Moreover, a lifecycle framework of shared service configurations is conceptualized.FindingsThis study considers shared service configurations as operational capabilities to run corporate support activities. The purpose is to examine the configurations of those capabilities, their performance implications and their dynamics during the shared service implementation.Practical implicationsThe findings help senior executives to effectively implement and transform shared services when deciding to renew corporates' support activities.Originality/valueThis study is one of the first that conceptually and empirically explores shared service configurations, performance and configurational dynamics.


Author(s):  
Jakob Axelsson

Many industries rely heavily on embedded software and systems to maximize business value in their products. These systems are very complex, and the architecture is important to control the complexity and make development efficient. There are often also connections between the embedded system and the different lifecycle processes, and hence, to the enterprise systems supporting those processes. It is rare to start from scratch when developing new products, and instead, these companies evolve their products over time, which means that architecting needs to be evolutionary. This chapter describes what such an evolutionary architecting process can look like based on observations from industry, and how the process can be continuously improved using a maturity model. It is also presented how the embedded system relates to different elements of the enterprise architecture.


Author(s):  
Stephen R. Rodriguez

This chapter considers concepts, planning models, and related processes associated with infrastructure growth at institutions of higher learning. The author offers various definitions of infrastructure, describes an infrastructure maturity model, and discusses strategies and models for related strategic planning. In addition, the chapter provides portions of actual strategic plans related to infrastructure. The chapter closes with a description of how the author’s home institution has grown its technological infrastructure in order to provide required administrative services, communications, and instruction to a growing student body engaged in an expanding curriculum. The impact of infrastructure growth on the university community is also discussed.


2018 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 728-748 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marianne Gravesteijn ◽  
Celeste P.M. Wilderom

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to illustrate how a newly constructed organization behavioral lens for participative action research (PAR) may aid a public-sector organization in successfully digitalizing its internal shared services. In addition, the intervention is aimed at fostering a continuously improving type of learning culture on the workfloor of a new service unit. Design/methodology/approach In a large Dutch municipality, the installation of a new digitalized process of offering internal services was studied. A PAR method, the so-called Fourth Generation Evaluation, was used on seven internal actor groups. This method enables various intra-organizational actors to reflect collectively on the ongoing change progress. Their explicit views on the change were communicated to all actors and the change agents. Findings The study describes the attempt of establishing a continuously improving learning culture during an internal digitalization process: substantial participation of the non-managerial employees was enabled. The paper highlights the practical value of the internal digitalization approach used, and concludes with four change process lessons learnt for those wanting to initiate a continuously improving culture on the workfloor. Research limitations/implications Even though the findings are based on one case, they may be of interest to other public/private organizations aiming to establish a continuously improving culture within workfloor units that interact, on a daily basis, with (internal) customers. Originality/value The paper offers a theoretical framework and a matching practical approach to the process of creating an internal shared service unit that aims to evolve further into a customer-oriented, continuously improving culture.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document