On 24 November 2006, Assistant General Secretary Neville Kitchin, Acting Chief Industrial Officer Gayle Peak and Acting Assistant Chief Industrial Officer Ian Peak and Industrial Officer Steve Acton met at the PSA with Rick Persse, Executive Director, Shared Services Reform Office, Justin Sara, Manager Stakeholder Relations and Scott Boehm, Principal Human Resource Consultant Manager, all from Department of Treasury and Finance.

The meeting was held as part of the consultative process for the transfer of parts of DAIS to Department of Treasury and Finance, and to discuss the development of Shared Services across the Public Sector.

Mr Persse emphasized that consultation with the PSA is in advance of consultation with most other groups. This was the third meeting with the PSA. A presentation which had been previously presented to the Senior Management Committee (SMC) of all Chief Executives on Wednesday 22 November 2006 was provided at this meeting.

The presentation mainly concentrated on process. This is because as Mr Persse explained, Government does not yet know what final Shared Service model will be developed. The Shared Services Reform agenda is a “whole of government initiative to consolidate corporate and business service functions into an organisation whose mission is to provide customer focused services as efficiently and effectively as possible” with one of the objectives being to “consolidate and standardise common across government corporate service functions and processes”. There is a considerable amount of research being undertaken to determine the best Shared Services model for the South Australian Public Sector. The presentation showed the “scope” of the Shared Services exercise:

• Common, transactional corporate functions in finance, HR, procurement, ICT and administration, e.g:

  - Processing of payroll and leave entitlements

  - HR reporting, employee records management

  - Desktop management, server consolidation, infrastructure support

  - E-procurement, catalogue management

• Some tactical business services – e.g. HR and procurement consultancy services, injury management, tax advice

  Agencies will retain:

  - strategic corporate services that require specialist expertise

  - operational accountability and responsibility for financial risk, HR management etc

  - control of the volume of services they purchase, for those functions transferred to a shared services centre

Mr Persse said that his office will be doing a “road show” to many areas, including the country seeking the views of employees. From this consultation, a paper for the Steering Committee will be developed.

There are a number of consultative forums.

The PSA has requested membership of the Workforce Consultative Group.

The Minister responsible for the “Shared Services Reform” agenda is the Hon. Michael Wright.

The Chief Executives Shared Services Steering Committee (CESSSC) which reports to the Minister is comprised of the following Chief Executives; Jim Wright, Jim Hallion, Sue Vardon, Jerome Maguire and Tony Sherbon. Rick Persse is also a member of this Committee. The Committee is chaired by Jim Wright.

The saving of $60 million per annum to be achieved by 2009-10, from “Shared Services reform and future ICT” implies that there will be reductions in positions.

The PSA stressed that it was vital that there be a transparent consultation process that involved members at all levels.  To assist in this and ensure it is implemented in all agencies involved in the shared service project, the PSA will draft a memorandum of understanding covering consultation and the human resources principles.  The human resource principles will guide the process for moving employees from their existing agency into the shared service arrangement.

The Shared Services Reform Office internet site is http://www.treasury.sa.gov.au/ssro/index.html

Acting Assistant Chief Industrial Officer Ian D Peak on ian@cpsu.asn.au

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28 November 2006