Shared Services at NC State: What we’ve learned so far…
Jim KlinglerActing Executive DirectorUniversity Business Operations DivisionNorth Carolina State University
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Session Etiquette
• Please turn off all cell phones.
• Please keep side conversations to a minimum.
• If you must leave during the presentation, please do so as quietly as possible.
• Thank you for your cooperation!
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Overview
• What is Shared Services?• Why Shared Services?• Who has Shared Services Operations?• Where should I start?• What does a Shared Services Organization look like?• How should we staff Shared Services?• Service is key!• NC State’s hybrid approach• Expected benefits• Concluding thoughts
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What is Shared Services?
• Can include Finance, Procurement, HR, IT, Research Administration, and Facilities.
• Neither decentralized services or centralized services
• Seeks to balance the benefits of decentralized and centralized service delivery
• High volume, repeatable, with clear rules and procedures – “transactional”
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What is Shared Services?
Redundant
Complex
Inefficient
ResponsiveCustomer-Focused
Scale Economies
Standardization
Unresponsive
Inflexible
Detached
Independent
Data-Driven
Process Expertise
Automation
Decentralized CentralizedShared Services
Source: Education Advisory Board, Making the Case for Shared Services, 2009
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Why Shared Services?
Source: NC State Finance and Resource Management Division
Budget reductions combined with preserving University core mission
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Why Shared Services?
Regulatory environment increasing
97% - Percentage of Faculty reporting that some of the time they spend managing federal grants could be conducted effectively by administrative personnel
42% - Average time PI’s spend on administrative tasks for federally funded research projects
Source: Faculty Standing Committee of the Federal Demonstration Partnership Survey (2009) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2887040/
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Why Shared Services?
Campus Strategic Planning Efforts
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Why Shared Services?
Complexity at the department level
creates risk, uncertain
performance, and inefficiencies
Source: Education Advisory Board, Making the Case for Shared Services, 2009
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Who has Shared Services Operations?
Source: Education Advisory Board, Making the Case for Shared Services, 2009
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Where should I start?
• Do you have a sponsor team?– At NC State, our Chancellor, Provost, and VC for Finance and Business signed
on as early sponsors
• Do you already have Shared Services at your campus?– NC State’s Office of Information Technology shared services– NC State’s Integrated Research Support Group– Business consolidation at your colleges (University of Washington; UNC-CH)
• Put your exploratory group together– Consider the leadership of your central business units– Research the model and campuses that have implemented – site visits– Engage campus stakeholders in preliminary conversations– Determine potential scope – Business Functions & Customers
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Where should I start?
• Consider forming a Steering Team– Cross-section of campus stakeholders – affected central business offices and who will be
initially served– Hire the Shared Services Director– Develop the Business Case for Campus– Design the Shared Services Delivery Model
• NC State – Business Operations Realignment Steering Team– Our steering team– Composed of a Dean, department head, PI, college business reps, and central office reps– Recommended a campus-wide model of customers, both academic units and non-
academic units– Multiple shared service centers with clusters of customer groups– Finance and HR functions + pushing “approval” from the central offices to the shared
services centers
Before we go further, let’s discuss the classic shared services model
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What does a Shared Services Organization look like?
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How should we staff Shared Services?
• Shared Services is a consolidation effort - budget resources will come from current operations
• Questions to ask yourself:– Do you staff exclusively with current campus
personnel?– Do you internally recruit center positions?– Do you reallocate current personnel (Lift & Shift)?
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Service is key!
• Anyone can achieve savings!– Previous centralization efforts are excellent at scaling and
cutting costs– Centralization increases compliance
• Prioritizing customer service with Shared Services– Formal Customer Service program for all employees– Contact center or service protocols – no dropped cases– Enabling technology – ERP, Case Management, Knowledge
Base– Simplify! Simplify! Simplify!
Customers remember how they feel…
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NC State’s Hybrid Approach
Timeline
April 2012 - Steering Team recommended multiple regional centers with Finance and HR services
December 2012 – University Business Operations Division switched to multiple center organized by Core Business Function
May 2013 – Onboarding Center Pilot opens
June 2013 – Onboarding well received, but deadlines were aggressive and overall model wasn’t sufficiently articulated
July 2013 – Revisited design, implementation, and Change Management
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NC State’s Hybrid Approach
• Shift away comprehensive and compulsory• Shifts willing partners and demonstrations– NC State would deliver certain campus-wide services
through a single shared services organization – University Business Operations Division (UBOD)
Ex: Onboarding
– UBOD would pilot new campus-wide services through pilot customers
Ex: Travel Services
– UBOD would pilot comprehensive shared services at the college or division-level as a proof of concept and scale
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Onboarding at NC State
Create a new hire experience that welcomes, acclimates, engages, and retains new hires in the Wolfpack community by:
• Making a positive first impression!• Equipping new hires with the tools, information and resources needed to be
productive on their first day, first week and first months of employment.• Orienting new hires to campus.• Assisting Departments and Colleges with onboarding best practices and manager
support/resources.• Providing tools and resources for campus-wide integration.• Establishing personal relationships through networking and social connections.• Increasing new hire morale and productivity.• Helping make NC State a “Best Place to Work”.
What is done during the Onboarding appointment?
• Campus One Card• Parking pass• I-9 (Part 1 on/before first day)• Tax withholding (W-4, NC-4)• W-2 consent• Direct deposit• Emergency contacts• Emergency alerts• Tax assessment reminders• Assist with any incomplete
checklist items• Secondary employment• Conflict of interest
• NEO100 registration • NEO200 benefits registration• Howl About It!• Complimentary coffee and
water for new employees
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Travel Accounting at NC State
• Self-service interface for Travel Authorizations and Reimbursements – December 2012– Partnership between the Controller’s Office,
University Business Operations, and Enterprise Applications Services
– Paperless Workflow w/ Uploading receipts– Itemized expenses w/ comments at line item
detail– Traveler Pagelet to see all open travel transactions
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Travel Accounting at NC State
• Piloting Travel Shared Services with a single college – Summer of 2014– Perform reimbursement transactions
– Provide expertise to travellers on systems, policies, and procedures
– Transfer resources from the college
– After demonstration, open up to more campus customers
• Online Booking Tool – Early 2015– Partnership with the Controller’s Office, Purchasing, University
Business Operations, and Enterprise Applications Services
– Central web-portal for making flight, hotel, and rental car purchases on a campus purchase card
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College of Agriculture Partnership
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) - Largest college at NC State
Fall 2011 - Consolidated into a college business center in 2011
Summer 2013 - College leadership sought to restructure the business office
– Classic Shared Services Model, at the college-level
August 2013 - Partnered with University Business Operations
October 2013 - Hired ScottMadden Management Consultants
January 2014 - ScottMadden delivered recommendations
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College of Agriculture Partnership
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College of Agriculture Partnership
Partnership Goals:
• Improved business services for the faculty of CALS
• Improved business performance and reduction of compliance risk for CALS
• Improved quality of life for business center staff
• Proof of concept for NC State that shared services can work in an academic setting
• A large college providing a significant foundation for scaling shared services to more customer units
• Increased potential for converting other campus units to the shared service model
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Expected Benefits
• Do not fall prey to large promises of savings– Some consultants will promote administrative cost savings of up
to 50%– Some universities are looking at savings of 10% to 30%, but over
time (~ 5 years)– NC State expects savings, but has not projected $$$
• Remember the budget reductions taken since 2007– We have communicated to campus that the administrative
savings have already been captured– Shared services may be the necessary answer to protect our
campus from increased compliance risk and increased administrative burden on faculty
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Concluding Thoughts – A Top 10
1. Hire your Shared Services Director early2. Know your model before selling your campus
on shared services – make a business case3. Stick with your model4. Shared services is not just about savings, but
compliance and great customer service5. Look around your campus, you may already
have a shared service and not know it
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Concluding Thoughts – A Top 10
6. Know your business processes and simplify them!
7. Decide on your staffing model early – Internally recruit or reallocate
8. Communicate, communicate, communicate!9. You have to spend money to save money –
investment in the implementation is key10. At best, plan on 3-5 years
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Concluding Thoughts
Bonus ThoughtChange is really hard, so get your sleep
Thank You!
Jim KlinglerNC State UniversityUniversity Business [email protected]