Built on independent research and financial audits of a number of newly created Shared Service Centers (SSCs) in Poland, Local Government Shared Services Centers: Management and Organization is the first book to thoroughly examine the organization, development and effectiveness of the shared service market in the Polish public sector.

By using extensive case studies drawn from across local councils in England, Ray Tomkinson explains the implications of sharing service delivery, addresses concerns about loss of control and accountability, and demonstrates the potential advantages. He shows how to set up collaborative ventures, formal partnerships, shared service centres or special purpose vehicles, while pointing out possible pitfalls, thus enabling senior managers to follow all the necessary project steps to create an appropriate shared service.

Municipal Shared Services and Consolidation provides a comprehensive and clear review of the theories and practices of structuring and managing complex local government services. Intended for both students and practitioners, this volume in the Public Solutions Handbook Series addresses concepts and processes of shaping collaborative arrangements in public service with goals of effectiveness and efficiency in mind. The Handbook begins with a review of theories of shared services and consolidation, highlighting conceptual foundations, practical barriers, and cultural considerations related to these efforts. Specific, practical advice follows, highlighting the processes of creating, implementing, and managing shared services and consolidation agreements. Municipal Shared Services and Consolidation is exceptionally well written and is amplified by examples, cases, illustrations, and a comprehensive bibliography.

Since 2004, central government has sought to reduce the cost of administering finance, human resources and procurement services through sharing back-office functions. In previous examinations the Committee found that the Government had not yet realised the potential to save taxpayers' money. The renewed focus on improving shared services is welcomed. The Committee expects the Cabinet Office to engage constructively with their recommendations. This report considers five of the eight shared service centres. Whilst performing adequately, they had cost £1.4 billion to build and operate compared to an expected cost of £0.9 billion. These five centres were also expected to have saved £159 million by the end of 2010-11. In the event, the Ministry of Justice centre broke-even, the Department of Work and Pensions and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs centres did not track their total savings, and the Department for Transport and Research Councils UK, have reported a net cost to date of £255 million. The current strategy will only be effective if the Cabinet Office demonstrates strong leadership. So far it has been left up to individual departments and their arm's length bodies to decide whether they use shared service centres leading to low take-up. Those bodies which have become customers of shared service centres have retained their own processes resulting in over-complicated systems which also undermine the scope for efficiency. The Cabinet Office should also develop comparable data on the cost and quality of services provided by the shared services centres and should consider whether it can extend its shared services strategy to include other common functions needed by central government departments

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 11th IFIP WG 8.5 International Conference, EGOV 2012, held in Delft, The Netherlands, in September 2012. The 23 revised full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from more then 80 submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections on foundations; adoption and diffusion; open government and transformation; infrastructure and technology; evaluation; and citizen perspective, social inclusion, and social media.

Despite the pressure for local councils to follow the lead of the private sector and develop shared service and partnership arrangements, the barriers in terms of culture, differences in priorities across councils and lack of experience are formidable - yet this is the most likely source of meeting government targets for reduced overheads and improved organizational effectiveness. By using extensive case studies drawn from across local councils in England, Ray Tomkinson explains the implications of sharing service delivery, addresses concerns about loss of control and accountability, and demonstrates the potential advantages. He shows how to set up collaborative ventures, formal partnerships, shared service centres or special purpose vehicles, while pointing out possible pitfalls, thus enabling senior managers to follow all the necessary project steps to create an appropriate shared service. It seeks to examine the evidence of the cost, effectiveness and quality improvements achieved from sharings. This ground-breaking book has been written for everyone in local government; it explores the political and cultural barriers, and legislative/legal framework for joint workings, explains how to find an appropriate governance vehicle, and how to gain the commitment of partners. It deals with political and managerial concerns, risk aversion and parochial issues, and the possible impact on the reputation and performance of both sharers. Shared Services in Local Government is the only comprehensive study for the UK and it will ensure any public sector organization pursuing this route is able to approach the task of creating a shared service with a real understanding of the issues involved.

What do shared service models involve? Which business processes can and/or should be shared? This ASM volume deals with such questions relating to the increasingly popular use of Shared Service Centers in organizations. The volume intends to move beyond debating the relevance of shared services towards more systematic research action.

From the late 1970s until the present day, the New Public Management movement flourished in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia and a number of other countries over the globe. Nowadays, governments across the world are more service-oriented than previously, and administrative system innovations are encouraging new ways of improving public services. Increasingly, more and more countries are witnessing administrative innovations to provide better, quicker, and more efficient and effective service to the public. To this end, this collection of essays highlights public service theory and practices. While some chapters concentrate on innovation in administrative systems, others pay attention to more theoretic and practical issues. A few examine municipal-level public service and innovation, whereas others focus on environment, community policing, public infrastructure, partnership governance, and e-service and e-participation, as well as citizen participation. The book represents an excellent, updated resource for scholars, students and practitioners in the broad field of public administration, public policy, public affairs and public management.

This insightful book presents a comprehensive understanding of the new technologies impacting the digital era of built asset and facility management. Informative and accessible, it illustrates how the concepts, principles, strategies and applications of digital built asset management can be improved and implemented in real-life practice.

This book constitutes the revised selected papers from the 10th Global Sourcing Workshop held in Val d’Isère, France, in February 2016. The 11 papers presented in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 47 submissions. The book offers a review of the key topics in outsourcing and offshoring of information technology and business services offering practical frameworks that serve as a tool kit to students and managers. The range of topics covered is wide and diverse, but predominately focused on how to achieve success in shared services and outsourcing. More specifically, the book examines outsourcing decisions and management practices, giving specific attention to shared services that have become one of the dominant sourcing models. The topics discussed combine theoretical and practical insights regarding challenges that industry leaders, policy makers, and professionals face or should be concerned with. Case studies from various organizations, industries and countries such as UK, Italy, The Netherlands, Canada, Australia and Denmark complete the book.