Public Sector Shared Services Move Out of the "Back-Office"

Shared service providers typically host routine and administrative business processes as a way to standardize company practices and increase efficiency. In the public sector, however, its application to functions critical to an organization"s central mission is moving shared services out of the "back-office." This research employs and extends Bergeron"s (2003) framework to case analysis of two public safety networks within the United States, and prompts the addition of two new characteristics for public sector shared services, Public Policy and Type of Service. In this sector, we find that legislative controls, i.e. policy, manage information and communications technology (ICT) investment to meet efficiency and especially effectiveness goals, while mission criticality serves to trump cost considerations. Recommendations resulting from this research should lead to improvements in the cost and performance of public-sector shared services and their role in ICT-supported, mission-critical, shared services.

[1]  Mary Tate,et al.  An integrative literature review and empirical validation of motives for introducing shared services in government organizations , 2015, Int. J. Inf. Manag..

[2]  Mayuram S. Krishnan,et al.  Information Technology and Administrative Efficiency in U.S. State Governments: A Stochastic Frontier Approach , 2014, MIS Q..

[3]  Carlos Duarte,et al.  Design strategy for a national integrated personal health record , 2014, NordiCHI.

[4]  Jane Fedorowicz,et al.  Design observations for interagency collaboration , 2014, Gov. Inf. Q..

[5]  Min-Seok Pang,et al.  IT governance and business value in the public sector organizations - The role of elected representatives in IT governance and its impact on IT value in U.S. state governments , 2014, Decis. Support Syst..

[6]  E. Coles.  A Real Profession or Simply ‘professional’? Some Thoughts on the Status of Emergency Management in the UK , 2014 .

[7]  R. McIvor,et al.  A Framework for Creating IT Shared Services: Lessons from the Public Sector , 2014 .

[8]  A. Canhoto,et al.  Case Study Research Design , 2014 .

[9]  R. McIvor,et al.  Transforming the HR function through outsourced shared services: insights from the public sector , 2013 .

[10]  Erwin Fielt,et al.  Towards a typology of structural arrangements for shared services: evidence from the higher education sector , 2013, Electron. Mark..

[11]  Muhammad Mustafa Kamal,et al.  Shared services: lessons from private sector for public sector domain , 2012, J. Enterp. Inf. Manag..

[12]  Julie A. James,et al.  A View from the States: Evidence-Based Public Safety Legislation , 2012 .

[13]  J. Fedorowicz,et al.  Rational choice and institutional factors underpinning state‐level interagency collaboration initiatives , 2012 .

[14]  Eugene J. Schweitzer,et al.  Reconciliation of the cloud computing model with US federal electronic health record regulations , 2012, J. Am. Medical Informatics Assoc..

[15]  D. Howcroft,et al.  The back office goes global: exploring connections and contradictions in shared service centres , 2012 .

[16]  Sylwia Męcfal.  Recenzja książki. Robert K. yin, Case Study Research. Design and Methods (fourth Edition), thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 2009 , 2012 .

[17]  Frank Ulbrich,et al.  Preventing the Gradual Decline of Shared Service Centers , 2012, AMCIS.

[18]  Marie McHugh,et al.  Creating outsourced shared services arrangements: Lessons from the public sector , 2011 .

[19]  Barack Obama,et al.  Executive Order 13571: Streamlining Service Delivery and Improving Customer Service , 2011 .

[20]  Sonia Gantman.  IT Outsourcing in the Public Sector: A Literature Analysis , 2011 .

[21]  Mark Borman,et al.  Managing Dependencies in Inter-Organizational Collaboration: The Case of Shared Services for Application Hosting Collaboration in Australia , 2011, 2011 44th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences.

[22]  F. Ulbrich,et al.  Adopting shared services in a public-sector organization , 2010 .

[23]  Walter Brenner,et al.  Characteristics of shared service centers , 2010 .

[24]  A. Krause,et al.  Shared service strategies in local government – a multiple case study exploration , 2010 .

[25]  M. Janssen,et al.  Public‐private partnerships, outsourcing or shared service centres? , 2010 .

[26]  Mutaz M. Al-Debei,et al.  Developing a unified framework of the business model concept , 2010, Eur. J. Inf. Syst..

[27]  Sarah Hudson Scholle,et al.  Easing the adoption and use of electronic health records in small practices. , 2010, Health affairs.

[28]  Erwin Fielt,et al.  Understanding Shared Services: An Exploration of the IS Literature , 2009, Int. J. E Serv. Mob. Appl..

[29]  Gavin Finnie,et al.  Strategic ICT alignment in emergency management , 2010, ISCRAM.

[30]  Jerry N. Luftman,et al.  Key Issues for IT Executives 2010: Judicious IT Investments Continue Post-Recession , 2010, MIS Q. Executive.

[31]  Mark Borman,et al.  The Formation of Shared Services Partnerships in Local Government to Manage Resource Dependencies , 2010, AMCIS.

[32]  Soon Ae Chun,et al.  Building the next generation of digital government infrastructures , 2009, Gov. Inf. Q..

[33]  Jane Fedorowicz,et al.  The formation of inter-organizational information sharing networks in public safety: Cartographic insights on rational choice and institutional explanations , 2009, Inf. Polity.

[34]  Marijn Janssen,et al.  Simulation and animation for adopting shared services: Evaluating and comparing alternative arrangements , 2009, Gov. Inf. Q..

[35]  Martin Höst,et al.  Dependability of IT systems in municipal emergency management , 2009 .

[36]  Joseph W. Rottman,et al.  Global outsourcing of back office services: lessons, trends, and enduring challenges , 2008 .

[37]  Prakash J. Singh,et al.  Shared services: towards a more holistic conceptual definition , 2008, Int. J. Bus. Inf. Syst..

[38]  Mary Lacity,et al.  Creating Global Shared Services: Lessons from Reuters , 2008, MIS Q. Executive.

[39]  Mark Borman,et al.  The Design and Success of Shared Services Centres , 2008, ECIS.

[40]  Jane Fedorowicz,et al.  A collaborative network for first responders: Lessons from the CapWIN case , 2007, Gov. Inf. Q..

[41]  Gerald Grant,et al.  Designing governance for shared services organizations in the public service , 2007, Gov. Inf. Q..

[42]  K. Provan,et al.  Modes of Network Governance: Structure, Management, and Effectiveness , 2007 .

[43]  Mark Goh,et al.  Resource-based approach to IT shared services in a manufacturing firm , 2007, Ind. Manag. Data Syst..

[44]  M. Turoff,et al.  Session details: Emergency response information systems: emerging trends and technologies , 2007 .

[45]  Thomas A. Horan,et al.  Time-critical information services , 2007, Commun. ACM.

[46]  Shouhong Wang,et al.  Shared services beyond sourcing the back offices: Organizational design , 2007 .

[47]  René W. Wagenaar,et al.  Governance of shared service centers in public administration: dilemmas and trade-offs , 2006, ICEC '06.

[48]  Marijn Janssen,et al.  Motives for establishing shared service centers in public administrations , 2006, Int. J. Inf. Manag..

[49]  Frank Ulbrich,et al.  Improving shared service implementation: adopting lessons from the BPR movement , 2006, Bus. Process. Manag. J..

[50]  Hüseyin Tanriverdi,et al.  Performance Effects of Information Technology Synergies in Multibusiness Firms , 2006, MIS Q..

[51]  Timothy Morris,et al.  Translating Management Ideas , 2006 .

[52]  Barbara L. Marcolin,et al.  Complexities in IS sourcing: equifinality and relationship management , 2005, DATB.

[53]  A. George,et al.  Case Studies and Theory Development in the Social Sciences , 2005 .

[54]  Thomas A. Horan,et al.  Performance Information Systems for Emergency Response: Field Examination and Simulation of End-To-End Rural Response Systems , 2005 .

[55]  Peter Weill,et al.  A matrixed approach to designind it governance , 2005 .

[56]  Bandula Jayatilaka,et al.  Information systems outsourcing: a survey and analysis of the literature , 2004, DATB.

[57]  W. Staples.  Policing Contingencies , 2004 .

[58]  Marijn Janssen,et al.  An analysis of a shared services centre in e-government , 2004, 37th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, 2004. Proceedings of the.

[59]  Anthony M. Cresswell,et al.  Making Smart IT Choices Understanding Value and Risk in Government IT Investments , 2004 .

[60]  Doris S. Greiner.  Working Across Boundaries: Making Collaboration Work In Government And Nonprofit Organizations , 2003 .

[61]  Ray Bert.  Book Review: \IMovable Bridge Engineering\N by Terry L. Koglin. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2003 , 2003 .

[62]  Jeanne W. Ross,et al.  Creating a Strategic IT Architecture Competency: Learning in Stages , 2003, MIS Q. Executive.

[63]  Matthew Liotine.  Mission-Critical Network Planning , 2003 .

[64]  Dorothy E. Leidner,et al.  How CIOs Manage IT During Economic Decline: Surviving and Thriving Amid Uncertainty , 2003, MIS Q. Executive.

[65]  Bryan P. Bergeron,et al.  Essentials of Shared Services , 2002 .

[66]  Vallabh Sambamurthy,et al.  Principles and Models for Organizing the IT Function , 2002, MIS Q. Executive.

[67]  R. Denhardt,et al.  The New Public Service: Serving Rather than Steering , 2000 .

[68]  Yolande E. Chan.  IT Value: The Great Divide Between Qualitative and Quantitative and Individual and Organizational Measures , 2000, J. Manag. Inf. Syst..

[69]  Michael D. Myers,et al.  A Set of Principles for Conducting and Evaluating Interpretive Field Studies in Information Systems , 1999, MIS Q..

[70]  Don Schulman,et al.  Shared services : adding value to the business units , 1999 .

[71]  Laurence E. Lynn,et al.  The New Public Management: How to Transform a Theme into a Legacy , 1998 .

[72]  E. Davidson,et al.  Examining project history narratives: an analytic approach , 1997 .

[73]  Dave Ulrich,et al.  Shared Services: From Vogue to Value , 1995 .

[74]  J. Barney.  Firm Resources and Sustained Competitive Advantage , 1991 .