JISC

JISC’s new briefing paper on Shared Services in UK Further (FE) and Higher Education (HE) surveys the current landscape, discussing the benefits of and barriers to such administrative partnerships for the sector.  

The new paper is based on findings from the first three landscape study reports by consultants Duke and Jordan. Shared administrative services are defined as ‘institutions cooperating in the development and delivery of services, so sharing skills and knowledge, perhaps with commercial participation’. Within institutions, shared administrative systems will typically include services such as customer relationship management, student records, timetabling, finance, estates and human resources. Existing examples of effective collaboration include ANIC (the Association of Northern Ireland Colleges consortium), UCAS, the JANET network and Research Libraries UK’s Shared Services Centre project.

The findings indicate that institutions are considering shared services alongside other solutions such as outsourcing and ‘software as a service’ to manage institutional administrative services in a strategic way.

New online Infokit released

An Infokit clarifying the issues concerning shared services also went online today. It gives examples of the current drivers, benefits, inhibitors and enablers of using or developing shared service infrastructures, and is the ideal first step for managers or institutions considering moving in this direction.

Economic benefits that shared services can bring

Investing in shared services can help UK further and higher education achieve efficiency cost savings in a number of ways, although the landscape study suggests that many senior institutional managers have not yet properly evaluated the potential strategic benefits, such as:

Shared administrative services are defined as ‘institutions cooperating in the development and delivery of services, so sharing skills and knowledge, perhaps with commercial participation’.

• Securing cost savings and sustainable efficiencies

• Releasing staff time for more customer-serving activities
• Gaining competitive advantage
• Continuity and resilience of service
• Raising quality of, and adding value to, existing services
• Improving system scalability
• Ensuring improved and more up-to-date systems
• Ability to offer otherwise unsustainable services
• Levering transformation
• Collaborating with other institutions and improved cooperation

Though not a direct follow on from the Gershon report (which informed governmental drive for shared services), Duke and Jordan’s recommendations are clearly within the spirit of the report. They will help institutions weather the current economic climate and become more effective in their ability to form mutually advantageous partnerships.

JISC is currently planning a new programme of work to support senior managers in the decision-making process regarding the potential use of shared services. This will be through facilitated engagement with suppliers and the exploration of service-oriented systems integration approaches. Further information will be posted via JISC-Announce and on JISC’s Funding Opportunities pages in due course.

Read the JISC Shared Services briefing paper

Visit the project webpage