From: "John Reynolds" To: "Lolworth Parish Council" ; "Irish Nick-Dry Drayton" ; "Girton Website" ; "Girton Parish News" ; "Girton Parish Council" ; "Dry Drayton Website" ; "Binnie Harvey-Boxworth" ; "Bar Hill website" ; "Bar Hill Parish Council" ; "Bar Hill News" ; "Dry Drayton News" Subject: Shared Services project Date: 09 March 2008 10:09 SIGN OF THE TIMES AS COUNCILS DECIDE TO SHARE SERVICES Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire County Councils have entered a groundbreaking partnership with Fujitsu Services to create a unique project that will enable the two Councils' to share the delivery of back office transactional services. The trio have signed an innovative tripartite contract which means that both authorities with technological support from Fujitsu, will be operating from a single Oracle e-Business suite, using common processes across a range of key functions including finance, HR, on-line procurement and payment facilities. This shared service platform has the capacity to support other local authorities, further enhancing the performance of these functions, reducing costs and creating greater economies of scale. It is believed to be the first time two County Councils have collaborated on such a large scale on strategic shared services planning. Building upon the success of these arrangements the Councils are now preparing to undertake a 'soft market test' of their vision to create a local government shared service centre, potentially involving the private sector, which, if successful, would be used to achieve further savings or revenue generation that can be applied to the delivery of front line services. Cambridgeshire County Council Cabinet Member for Corporate Services, Councillor John Reynolds, said: "It makes good business sense and fits in with national requirements for the modernisation of loca government, that we develop ways to improve the performance and further reduce the cost of our back office processes by sharing appropriate services with like minded organisations". "The income and savings we ultimately expect to be generated by shared services will be re-invested in front line services such as caring for older people, the disabled and families, or providing improved schools, public transport and community facilities such as Libraries." The first steps, agreed by the contract signing, commit Cambridgeshire County Council and Northamptonshire County Council to working in partnership and with Fujitsu to start work on creating a shared business centre and the work undertaken on the creation and operation of the eBusiness Suite which would underpin the work. "By working in partnership with Cambridgeshire County Council and together with Fujitsu, we have already begun to take advantage of the opportunities for increased operational efficiencies and cost savings created through a sharedservice platform. "Through this partnership, we will be transforming the way we operate our systems for back office services such as finance, HR, or procurement, offering better value for money and ensuring these support services run as efficiently as possible. This in turn should enable us to improve the services we offer to local residents, with the aim of passing the savings we will be making directly on to frontline services." John Reynolds