Performance Reporting — Continued

Goal 1: Taxpayers get value from the way government runs its internal operations

The province's taxpayers expect that government programs and services will be delivered cost-effectively. Implementation of the shared services organization will provide good value by reducing duplication as well as streamlining and standardizing policies and workflow processes, introducing technology improvements and establishing a cycle of continuous improvement.

Objectives:

• Delivery of support services is responsive, competitive and accountable.

Core Business Areas:

• Procurement and Supply Services
• Common Information Technology Services

Strategies:

• Identify Shared Services opportunities by service area
• Develop benchmarking, performance and evaluation criteria
• Design and implement Shared Services initiatives to reduce costs
• Expand Shared Services to the broader public sector

Planning for benchmarking exercises for Finance and Administration, Common IT Services and Procurement and Supply Services began in 2002/03. Benchmarking exercises will be conducted by the end of fiscal 2003/04 and the results will be reported.

Prior to entering the planning phase for the creation of a shared services organization, the Ministry of Management Services received approval from Treasury Board to proceed with "early implementer" projects, including: Application Servers; Workplace Support; Shared File and Print Servers; Payroll Services; and Travel Voucher Processing (iExpense).

These projects were designed to proceed to implementation stage before shared services became fully operational. The early implementer projects projected an operating loss of $1.0 million in 2002/03, moving to projected savings in 2003/04. The projected losses for the early implementer projects were less than anticipated due to deferral in implementing some components of the IT projects. As a result, the target has been adjusted to reflect the actual loss.

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The measure set out in the 2002/03 Service Plan called for baselining the satisfaction of customers. Customers are defined as those people who use a service provided by the shared services organization as opposed to clients who are in control of budgets pertaining to shared services. It was determined that for 2002/03 it would be more useful to assess the satisfaction rating of clients. The intention is to survey both customers and clients in 2003/04.

One of the hallmarks of the shared services model is the focus on the client. The success of organizations that have moved to the shared services approach hinges on their ability to be client-centric and adjust their business strategies to meet client needs. In order to be able to assess client satisfaction over the coming years, the shared services organization conducted a client satisfaction survey in 2002/03 to establish a baseline. The survey was targeted at clients (senior staff in ministries whose budgets include funding to pay for the services provided) and represents responses to questions regarding satisfaction with value for money and quality of service. Of those who responded, 52.5 per cent indicated they were satisfied or very satisfied.

Over the coming year, the shared services organization will be moving to a more client-centered approach, including establishing a Customer Relationship Management model. It should be noted that this survey was conducted as services were in the midst of transitioning from ministries to the government's new shared services organization — Solutions BC.