We are bringing together corporate services across the APS to help boost our ability to deliver public service.
Shared corporate services across the APS is a long-term priority for the Australian Government as it spends in-excess of $1 billion each year on corporate (back-office) functions like financial management and human resource services.
Shared service models help governments and organisations drive productivity increases by standardising business processes, reducing system duplication, enabling improved data collation and providing consistent user experiences.
The Department of Finance is progressing shared services on behalf of the Secretaries’ Board in consultation with APS agencies.
The journey to corporate shared services started in 2014-15 with the establishment of shared service provider hubs.
Around 100 non-corporate Commonwealth entities and over 130,000 staff are within scope of the Shared Services Program, with corporate entities able to opt-in to shared service arrangements.
In 2020-21 Finance led in consultation with APS entities the initial design of a common corporate technology platform that could be adopted by Commonwealth entities using standard business processes, known as GovERP.
The 2021-22 Budget provided funding for Services Australia to lead the ongoing design, build and operation of GovERP from 1 July 2021, with the Department of Finance shared service provider hub (the Service Delivery Office) and 14 of its clients to be the first use case.
The Shared Services Program is focussed on the build and successful transition of around 40 entities (approximately 80 per cent in-scope staff) from their current bespoke SAP based enterprise resource planning systems which reach end of mainstream support in 2027 to GovERP which is based on SAP S/4 HANA technology. Other program elements currently being addressed include standard technologies for small and medium agencies.
The Department of Finance retains the strategic policy and governance functions for the Shared Services Program, and also manages the Service Delivery Office which delivers shared corporate services to its client agencies.
The Shared Services approach of building scalable, secure and resilient data and digital capabilities through repeatable and reusable solutions aligns with the recommendation in the ‘Our Public Service, Our Future: Independent review of the Australian Public Service’ report (Thodey Review) to adopt common enabling tools and services to support efficiency, mobility, and collaboration.
