SHARED SERVICE CENTER: Project teams begin 'very thoughtful' process

by Dave Jones
February 04, 2011

More than 50 employees gathered this week to immerse themselves in developing a new way of doing business for five administrative units — a more efficient way of doing business, and, as a result, a less expensive way of doing business.

These are the people who comprise the project teams for the shared service center that is being set up for these units: Administrative and Resource Management, the Offices of the Chancellor and Provost, Information and Educational Technology, Student Affairs and University Relations.

The teams came together for the first time Jan. 31 and Feb. 1 for orientation about the task that lies before them in building a shared service center to handle selected work in four functional areas: payroll, finance, human resources and information technology.

Team members acknowledged that the project has some people in the campus community on edge, in terms of how the center will affect jobs.

Mike Iadanza, the newly hired program manager, assured the project teams, and by extension, the campus community as a whole: “This is going to be a very thoughtful process.”

The project teams are from the grass roots, with each team comprising nine to 12 representatives from the participating administrative units, people who are very familiar with the kind of work that potentially could go to the shared service center.

By the end of June ...

Among the teams’ first tasks is identifying which business processes should go to the shared service center, and which should stay where they are.

Iadanza said some shared processes are easy to identify: payroll processing, salary actions, travel and entertainment reimbursements, accounts payable, computer help desk and desktop support, for example — processes that lend themselves to standardization across units. Other processes will take more analysis, such as recruitment, capital asset accounting, accounts receivable and application development.

The project teams have been asked to complete the following over the next five months:

Define the processes for the new center.
Map and streamline those processes.
Develop a staffing model.

Associate Vice Chancellor Karen Hull, who heads Human Resources, said the project teams also have been asked to identify processes that can be changed for the better immediately, to benefit the entire campus.

Hull leads the Shared Services Implementation Team, and she, in turn, works with a governance committee that includes Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor Ralph J. Hexter, other officials at the vice chancellor and vice provost rank, and the chief operating officers of the participating units.

Input and recommendations

Sonja Colbert, assistant fiscal officer with Information and Educational Technology, and co-chair of the payroll project team, said: “The executive team is allowing the SSC teams, who are closest to the work, to transform the process and achieve the campus objectives.

“We’re excited about being asked to provide input and make recommendations.”

The teams are working under tight time frames, as the campus hopes to have the payroll portion of the shared service center up and running in about six months. After that, the finance, human resources and information technology units will come on board, in phases, over the next 12 to 24 months.

For the co-chairs, this week’s project launch ran for a full two days, while the team members attended for a day and a half. By the afternoon of Day 2, with the orientation completed, the teams got down to business in the Activities and Recreation Center Ballroom.

Barbara Ashby, a manager in Human Resources, co-chairs one of the project teams, for the functional area of human resources. She said the team began its work by reflecting on process improvements that have been achieved over the past few years, in response to budget and staff reductions. The team also identified best practices that are now in use.

“The HR project team kept our scribe busy as each member shared numerous examples of collaboration, integration and streamlining deserving of acknowledgement,” Ashby said.

Similarly, the finance team recognized the significant efforts already under way — for example, service clustering and improved prepurchase processes in several departments, and implementation of the Kuali Financial System, a comprehensive suite of software that UC Davis has developed with other institutions of higher education and other organizations that have similar financial processing and reporting needs.

Process review

The four project teams reviewed the dozens of processes that are now being used at UC Davis, as identified by ScottMadden Management Consultants, hired by the campus last year to develop a business case for a shared service center.

“While reviewing the functions identified by the ScottMadden report, the finance team recognized the immense opportunity to improve them and the need for better tools,” said Radhika Prabhu, project director in the project management office at Accounting & Financial Services, and co-chair of the finance team for the shared service center.

“The team has also identified several subject matter experts to call upon for more detailed analyses.”

While the project teams go about their work, the Shared Services Implementation Team will be securing technology to support the new operation. And, where it makes sense, this technology will be deployed to support the entire campus — with the goal of making service more efficient everywhere on campus.

Prabhu said the Shared Services Implementation Team "carefully planned” the kickoff meeting, and provided the tools and guidance that the project teams need to move forward.

“It was also good to see the shared service center will include a framework for continuous process improvement,” Prabhu said. “The meeting generated very candid dialog on the opportunities and challenges with the initiative.”

Iadanza earned some kudos as well.

“When you’re done meeting with him, you get a sense that you’re in good hands,” said Loraine Covello, special assistant to the vice chancellor for University Relations and co-chair of the HR project team for the shared service center. “I think he’ll put folks at ease.”