Frequently Asked Questions
Find here all Frequently Asked Questions about Shared Services,
divided into main topic areas:
Shared Services:
- Do Shared Services deliver the wished results ?
Whether Shared Services deliver the wished results in benefits, depends on a number of prerequisits. The expertise of the project team, efficiency of the SSC organization and the migration pace must be planned in detail and executed. Additionally, an efficient Change Management in place is necessary for the whole project. Thus the planning phase is significant for the further development of the SSC project. Errors in this stage of the program can produce a significant amount of extra costs or time delays later on.
The project organization should be staffed with experienced employees, such as financial managers, process specialists of the respective countries, and senior project managers. External consultants and experienced HR managers can also support the team temporarily. Members of the project team must have the right mix of project management skills, experience in the establishment of SSCs and know-how in the planning and execution of a migration. Knowledge of company-specific processes, as well as IT and software know-how, are required for successful planning and realization.
An effective Change Management is essential and can assure a successful implementation.
Recapitulating, whether a Shared Service Center realizes the benefits or not, depends mainly on the decisions made to set-up and execute the project and SSO. One aim of realizing an SSC is beside quality, compliance and cost savings.
- Which benefits can be realized ?
The main objective of Shared Services is to be more productive. Cost savings can be generated by salary differential through moving to a low cost location (compared with original location/salaries) and business process reengineering by realizing economies of scale and IT automation (like: OCR, biller direct, biller consolidator, etc... for more details see [technical design]). For a benefits calculation types of costs and savings have to be considered:
Costs:
1. Project Costs
2. SSC set-up costs
3. SSC running costs
Savings:
1. Salary differentials
2. Efficiency increase
The standardization of processes delivers better services at comparable or lower prices. The ability to concentrate and focus resources for particular purposes in a SSC, fewer employees are generally needed to provide the same results.
- Are Shared Services improving process quality ?
As back office and transactional processes and services are handled by SSC, the internal corporate clients can concentrate on their core competencies and thus increase value generation. Simultaneously, there is a constant pressure from internal corporate clients to provide cost effective products and services. Due to the customer-oriented focus of the SSC there is a mostly increase in efficiency and service quality.
Migration:
- What are the main driving factors for a successful migration?
[Your answer] - How is country/unit specific knowledge transferred to Shared Services?
[Your answer] Processes
- Arel processes as described in this WIKI matching your companies processes?
[Your answer] - Are you familiar with described special SAP tools?
[Your answer] - Tips & tricks not mentioned in this WIKI?
[Your answer]
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