Launching the shared services web page

As part of the Service Excellence Transformation (SET) program, administrative functions will transition into the university’s new operating model developed under the U of A for Tomorrow initiative. The model will introduce a new entity known as the Shared Service Centre, a key component of the new structure that will be focused on cost effective service delivery without compromising service excellence.

Comprising three elements: the Transaction Processing Hub, Staff Service Centre, and Continuous Improvement Team, the Shared Services Centre will deliver cross-functional, high-volume, and transactional administrative processes for the university across all six workstreams. These types of activities include accounts payable/receivable, expenses and reimbursement, timesheet management, updating staff data, and more. Ultimately, the Shared Service Centre is focused on customer satisfaction, efficiency, cost effectiveness, and continuous improvement. It will consist of administrative professionals from across the university’s administrative functions who leverage technology, systems, and processes to provide better outcomes to service users.

Preliminary discovery findings and process redesign priorities from both the HR and finance functional reviews will provide key input into the establishment of the Shared Service Centre.  For more information on the shared services process redesign approach, visit our dedicated web page.

As we work to establish shared services across the university, we aim to ensure this new centre provides:

• Greater efficiencies and cost savings
• Improved services for the university community
• Transparency and accountability
• Rewarding work and career paths for staff 

Shared services web page

To keep you informed about ongoing changes and updates within the Shared Service Centre, a dedicated web page has been created to provide you with regular updates. This web page will track progress and provide updates as shared services are established within the new administrative operating model. Here you will learn more about how the Shared Service Centre will work, find information on consultation and engagement events, as well as prioritized activities, and much more. If you have feedback, comments, or suggestions, we encourage you to share your thoughts here.

Visit the Shared Service Centre web page

Consultation and engagement

Observing the SET program’s principles for administrative restructuring, shared services strives for a transparent consultation process, while encouraging open and inclusive university engagement. As such, the shared services project team has engaged in the following activities:

• Collaborated with the HR and finance administrative workstreams to complete discovery activities and identify process redesign priorities.
  • Watch the HR Discovery: Preliminary Findings and Priorities overview for more information
• Issued a call for faculty and central unit leaders to nominate staff to participate in the HR process redesign workgroups.
• Formed two HR process redesign workgroups composed of faculty/central unit representatives, central HR representatives, Human Resource Partners, and Staff Advisory Team members.

We will also be holding an Ask SET Anything event for shared services on Friday, March 12 from 2-3 p.m. This is your opportunity to ask questions and provide feedback with regard to the role of the Shared Service Centre in the new model. For more information on how to register and submit questions to the panel, visit the event page.

What’s next?

As development of the Shared Service Centre continues, our next steps include: 

• Facilitating a series of structured workshops for each of the identified HR and finance processes. Process redesign will ensure that administrative services are optimized for delivery within the Transaction Processing Hub, and that each completed process will be adopted into the standardized workflow as it’s completed.
• Kick off two HR process redesign activities: employee appointment/reappointment and job evaluation
• Issuing a call for nominations for finance process redesign workgroups and kicking off process redesign activities for the top finance priorities.