Discussion Paper: Shared Services
23 November 2016
Overview
This discussion paper presents an overview of the opportunities for the delivery of
professional services for Western Sydney University (the University), with key principles
and recommendations.
This project (entitled Project Essex) was initiated by the Vice-Chancellor to undertake a
review into professional services supporting the Schools, in collaboration with the Divisions
and Institutes, for the purpose of scoping options for improved service delivery.
Rationale
The higher education sector continues to undergo periods of change and reform, and there
is a clear need for institutions to review their approach to how services are provided. In
order to remain successful, the University must adapt and innovate. This includes the
imperative to look at how we do things, our culture, our organisational approach and our
systems and processes. To remain competitive and successful we need to enable a culture of
continuous improvement. The challenges of growing competition in our sector means there
is a need to create sustainable service delivery models that will take the organisation into
the future.
The University holds the student experience, teaching, learning and research at its core. As
part of the continuing objective of excellence in each of these areas, there is the need to
continue seeking opportunities to improve and develop the way we work. This will set the
organisation on a trajectory for sustainable, efficient and effective service delivery in an
increasingly volatile sector.
Purpose and Scope
The project will develop a service focused, sustainable, innovative and efficient approach to
delivering professional services to the Schools and Institutes, in collaboration with
Divisions.
The purpose of the project is to deliver the following:
 A more effective and efficient service delivery model by consolidating and
centralising professional services across Schools and Institutes and Divisions
 An improved service model to support ongoing and critical investments in
educational innovation and research
 Improved ability for Schools and Institutes to bring to bear a clearer focus on their
core value proposition, ultimately improving student focus and the academic
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
enterprise; supporting convenience, choice and flexibility for all students
Improved long term financial sustainability and facilitation of a culture of ongoing
continuous improvement.
Approach
A collaborative approach was adopted, through a project jointly sponsored by the VicePresident (People and Advancement) and Vice-President (Finance and Resources). The
Office of Human Resources and the Project Management Office have led the project with
the support and involvement of the business.
Following a formal tender process which included Dean and School Manager
representation, Deloitte were appointed as the project partner. Deloitte have extensive
experience assisting universities including University of Melbourne, Curtin University,
Monash University and other multinational organisations to evaluate their organisationwide strategies, including student and market growth strategies and various shared service
models.
The University and Deloitte have taken a project management approach, which includes
structured review, plan/design, consult and implementation phases.
Review Summary
Deloitte commenced the review with a detailed data gathering exercise and analysis phase
to investigate and understand our current operating model. As part of the review process,
Deloitte conducted a large number of interviews and workshops with Deans, Directors and
School and Institute Managers. The review focused on a range of professional services by
function.
A series of specific design workshops were held with School/Institute Managers and
relevant Divisional representatives to explore and discuss potential models for key service
delivery areas. These workshops also identified additional requirements (such as enabling
capabilities or technology) for these service models. The outcomes of the subsequent
analysis are outlined in the following sections.
Principles for the Future Design
Prior to the design workshops, School and Institute Managers came together to consider the
vision for professional services for the future and develop design principles that represented
the outcomes that the proposed future state models should aim to achieve. These principles
were used as criteria to consider the suitability of the future state model options proposed.
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Table 1: Design principles utilised to guide the proposed future state models
Design Principles
This way of working will…
Deliver recognition
Ensure staff are recognised for their performance and provided with development
opportunities and clearly defined career pathways
Focus on students and
each other
Deliver the best outcomes for our different student and stakeholder groups
Think commercially
Find the balance between cost efficiency and service effectiveness and ensure activities
are undertaken only where they can be performed effectively on a consistent basis
Standardise and
simplify operations
Deliver services consistently and seamlessly within Schools and Institutes, and establish
a standard interface with Divisions
Consolidate activity
Enable staff to focus on strategic insight and value driven work through eliminating
duplication and leveraging scale to deliver transactional activities
Drive accountability
Define, articulate and formalise roles and responsibilities across Schools, Institutes and
Divisions
Build and share
capability
Ensure we have the right expertise, at the right level, in the right place, at the right time
Be deeply connected
Strengthen connections between our people, the University and the region, enabling
professional services to deliver a positive and lasting impact
Be risk aware
Ensure there is awareness across the University of the projects running at any given
time to mitigate the risk of adverse consequences resulting from sequencing clashes and
other unnecessary disruptions
High Level Outcomes
A series of opportunities were identified and reviewed. The review observed that that these
opportunities could result in the following outcomes:
 Improved effectiveness of professional services through increased consistency and
structured approaches to key areas
 Improved efficiency through the reduction of duplication and improved proposed
consolidated processes
 Increased capacity to facilitate and drive a culture of continuous improvement
 Clearer accountability through improved business processes design and improved
function ownership through consolidation
 Support for proposed re-organisation of professional service delivery in conjunction
with the outcomes of the EVRS program.
Consolidated Service Delivery Models
The recommendations of the review phase focused primarily on professional activities
occurring in the Schools and Institutes and the opportunities to reduce duplication and
consolidate service functions.
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Considering the core value proposition of Schools and Institutes there are various activities
and functions that are similar (ie not unique), and are delivered separately within each
School and Institute. Recommendations are based on the recognition that many of these
overlapping and duplicated activities and functions would benefit from a consolidated
approach using a range of delivery models.
Consolidated service delivery models incorporate a mix of the three basic types:
1. Decentralised
2. Hub-and-Spoke
3. Centralised shared services.
Each of these models will be tailored to suit the particular function and activity.
Service Delivery Models by Function
The recommended portfolio of service functions that could be incorporated into a future
state model are proposed in Table 2. These are deemed as having high potential to benefit
from a more consolidated delivery model. These areas are also recognised as an opportunity
to realise the benefits of better service through additional strategic investment.
The recommended service functions or activities have been proposed by Deloitte (based on
the initial review) and the concepts will be further developed through additional planning,
design and collaboration.
Table 2: Proposed Future State Service Delivery Models
Activity
Current State
Casual
Employment
Devolved across
Schools and Institutes

Consolidate casual management capability to support the
administration associated with casual staff employment
Recruitment
Distributed between
Schools/Institutes and
HR

Consolidate and centralise to increase responsibility of the
HR recruitment team and enhance the breadth of current
service provision

Consolidate events management capability to support the
delivery of University wide, as well as School/Institute
specific events
Consolidate communications capability to support
coordinated delivery of student and staff communications
Strengthen the role of the Marketing Manager to support
marketing planning for the Schools/Institutes
Build clear School and Institute support processes
Review University and School committees
Consolidate secretariat capability to support school based
committees
Deploy secretariat capability either aligned to the relevant
committees or aligned to the school for school based
committees
Marketing,
Events and
Communications
Secretariat and
Committee
Support
Distributed between
Schools/Institutes and
Marketing
Devolved across
Schools and Institutes
Recommendation






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Accreditations
Devolved across
Schools and Institutes
Student
Administration
Predominantly
centralised with
variable levels of
additional activity in
Schools


Distributed model to support accreditation processes
Increase responsibility of the Quality and Performance team
to support accreditations administration and quality
assurance

Hub and spoke model for the execution of student
administration
Further consolidate transactional student administration
activity through optimising student administration processes
via technology enablement and clear roles and responsibilities
Establish a standard connection point between the Division
and the Schools
Tiered service delivery model for the management of student
enquiries, with transactional enquiries resolved through a
single counter per campus and escalations to the relevant
team for higher complexity enquiries
Consider lessons learnt from 1PSQ
Hub and spoke model with Category Managers operating as
the interface in key spend areas and operational management
and buying to remain devolved in the Schools and Institutes
Central strategic procurement team to drive a category
management approach to managing spend (includes strategic
category management, supplier relationship management and
contract management)



Student
Enquiries
Multiple service desks
for student enquiries


Procurement
Distributed across the
predominant user of
the procured
good/service
System
Administration
Distributed across the
predominant system
users
Technical
Support
Devolved across
Schools and Institutes


Consolidate the administration of functional systems across
the University into ITDS


Hub and spoke model for the delivery of technical support
Technical Managers are aligned to Schools/ Institutes to
understand requirements
Campus support teams with the required capability would be
deployed on a per campus basis when required
Distributed model where schools remain the driver of
placement activity, with more support from the Division
Drive a more coordinated approach to managing WSU
relationships with strategic placement organisations
Consolidate system enabled transactional activities within the
Division
Hub and spoke model with blended Learning advisors act as
the interface into the Schools to understand needs and
blended Learning designers pooled and deployed to Schools
as required
Consider the need for maintenance support for blended
learning programs


Placements
Devolved across
Schools



Blended
Learning
Support
Devolved across
Schools and Institutes
Research
Administration
Distributed model
between Schools,
Institutes and REDI
Asset
Management
Devolved across
Schools and Institutes



Review support model for HDR Administration
Further review relationship between REDI, Institutes and
Centres

Prioritise optimisation of the asset management process, and
reduce asset management activity conducted by professional
staff
Investigate system enablement opportunities

Travel &
Expense
Self-service
functionality underutilised


Centralise travel and expense support into Divisions, and
ensure effective support and model is developed
Roll out training and education on the use of the concur
system
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School and Institutes Professional Staff
Consolidation of services into Divisions could result in changes to the model of service
remaining in the Schools and Institutes. It is expected that School owned professional
support would remain focused on activity requiring specific and locally contextualised
knowledge, with a focus on teaching, student engagement and research.
It is expected that Institute owned professional support would remain focused on activity
that requires Institute specific knowledge, with a focus on research, industry engagement
and HDR engagement.
Examples of these are expected to include:
 Supporting Dean/Director strategic and financial planning for the School/Institutes
 Providing course and program support and advice
 Supporting student engagement and retention
 Supporting high risk students
 Resolving escalated enquiries from consolidated services
 Supporting teaching and learning innovation
 Strategic support for School / Institute accreditation
Next Steps and Timelines
Plan/Design/Consult/Implement Stages
In general, a staged approach will be adopted. A planning and detailed design stage for each
functional or activity area is expected to incorporate a high level of engagement with key
functional representatives to ensure each of the areas is design and tested appropriately.
During this phase much of the detail and management of risk will be developed. A
consultation stage will precede implementation, followed by a finalisation stage which will
be required to ensure new operating models are support effectively. This final stage will also
allow ongoing adjustments and continuous improvement to further realise benefits.
Timing and Sequencing
A sequenced approach is proposed to further design and execute the above proposals, the
majority of which will take place during the first quarter of 2017. Some items will require
more extensive mapping and design than others. For example, it is proposed that items
such as casual employment consolidation and recruitment consolidation could be achieved
in time for the commencement of Autumn session.
The sequencing will include the following considerations:
 Areas significantly impacted by EVRS will be prioritised. This will include
supporting alignment of both short term staff solutions, as well as designing a
sustainable model for delivering these services in the long term.
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

A number of recommendations are for functions and activities that have a relatively
lower level of complexity. These initiatives are proposed to be executed between
December 2016 and March 2017.
Areas of the organisation that have high levels of interdependencies with the areas
outlined above are also proposed to be prioritised.
There are areas of the current Divisions that are not necessarily structured for the delivery
of an organisation-wide consolidated service model. As a result, there may be a need to
review key areas in the Divisions to consider any changes required to support and enable a
consolidated shared service model. Review and design is proposed between January 2017
and March 2017.
It is acknowledged that areas of increased risk and complexity will require additional
business engagement, planning and design, and as such these areas will be implemented in
subsequent sequences.
Change Process
The University acknowledges the provisions of the Staff Agreements in relation to change
management. These provisions will be adhered to at all times as we progress through
organisational change proposals and consultation sessions. The Vice-President (Finance
and Resources) and Vice-President (People and Advancement) will ensure that relevant
staff are aware of proposed changes, have the opportunity to provide comment and are
made aware of the timelines envisaged for consultation and implementation.
It is anticipated that the Change Proposals outlining any proposed changes in relation to the
above recommendations will be progressed during the first quarter of 2017.
Change processes that are considered separate to Project Essex will operate as usual in
accordance with the University’s obligations outlined in the relevant Staff Agreement.
Feedback
We are actively seeking feedback in relation to this paper and the aspirational desire to
improve service delivery and efficiencies across the University. Staff are invited to submit
feedback via email: [email protected].
The closing date for submissions is 5 December 2016.
Angelo Kourtis
Vice-President (People and Advancement)
Peter Pickering
Vice-President (Finance and Resources)
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