With the advent of ERP systems and a myriad of data warehouses and analysis tools over the past 20 years, companies often find themselves in the position of having plenty of information, but little in the way of actionable analysis and reporting as a result of implementing new technologies. Yet the truth remains that accurate and current data is required to make the best decisions for driving change in Shared Services.

A Peercast^TM in the Shared Services Leadership research area featured a large global professional services company that was focused on making dramatic improvements to its Shared Service processes.  They had a tremendous amount of data and hundreds of metrics that unfortunately weren’t driving desired changes.  Existing metrics were too complex, were primarily focused on process volumes instead of measuring defects, didn’t drive the right behaviors, and often didn’t have the right audience.

When this company considered the data available, they discovered that data was often redundant and in separate silos, with different interpretations of the same data and no single source of the truth.  Separate reports were run in each department, with little actionable results coming out of the process.

The proposed solution was to use business analytics to provide a consistent view of data and highlight insights that can drive decision-making and strategy.  The new tools provided:

• Modeling, data mining, and metadata searches
• Exception reports, error reports, control and variance reporting
• A single source of the truth
• A central data repository
• A process that was championed by senior management

As a result, key performance metrics were identified for each functional area, with goals created for each metric.  They then implemented a process to review actual performance compared to the goal that was driven by senior leadership, using a simple green, yellow, and red approach to categorizing metric results.  The new process created a single source of data for Shared Services and operations, with transparency via a standard monthly reporting package.

Lessons learned included:

• Need senior leadership support to ensure accountability and action once the results are available
• Need to ensure that raw data is accurate
• Need commitment from all functional areas of the organization
• Need to keep reports simple in their construction and distribution; otherwise more time is spent preparing the reports than analyzing them
• It is important to know your audience since too much data will be overwhelming
• Make the investment upfront to nail down key metrics, and then keep them consistent in format and distribution.

An iPolling^TM question for the Peercast^TM asked about whom within the company were the primary users of the data warehouse and analysis tools that were available in Shared Services.  For 48% of responding member companies, the primary users were “power users” within Shared Services who pulled data required to meet internal and customer needs.  For an additional 38% of member companies, Shared Services staff and customers independently pull and analyze data required to meet their needs.

The second poll question asked member companies to comment on the biggest challenge related to the data warehouse and reporting tools that are available in Shared Services.  For 45%, the reporting capabilities of reporting tools don’t meet their needs, and, with an additional 40%, the biggest challenge is the difficulty to secure the resources needed to maintain the tools.

How does your Shared Services organization use data to drive change?  What type of data tools are used and how are you measuring and reporting on your performance?

Who are your peers and how are you collaborating with them?

_____________________________________________________________________

“Peercasts^TM” are private, professionally facilitated webcasts that feature leading member company experiences on specific topics as a catalyst for broader discussion.  Access is available exclusively to Peeriosity member company employees, with consultants or vendors prohibited from attending or accessing discussion content.  Members can see who is registered to attend in advance, with discussion recordings, supporting polls, and presentation materials online and available whenever convenient for the member.  Using Peeriosity’s integrated email system, Peer Mail^TM, attendees can easily communicate at any time with other attending peers by selecting them from the list of registered attendees. 

 “iPolling^TM” is available exclusively to Peeriosity member company employees, with consultants or vendors prohibited from participating or accessing content. Members have full visibility of all respondents and their comments. Using Peeriosity’s integrated email system, Peer Mail^TM, members can easily communicate at any time with others who participated in iPolling.