Pilot For Shared Corporate Services Launched

Ten years after it was first proposed in the Master Rationalisation Plan as a way of improving the operations of Government, the Administration has commenced the introduction of shared corporate services in the public sector with a pilot project.

Executive Director, Transformation Implementation Unit (TIU), Maria Thompson Walters, made the announcement on Tuesday (April 20), at the offices of Shared Corporate Services Jamaica, in Kingston, during the launch.

Entities in the pilot for HR Shared Services are eGov Jamaica Limited, Aeronautical Telecommunications Limited, Office of the Services Commissions and the Passport, Immigration and Citizenship Agency, while for the pilot Internal Audit Shared Services are the Office of the Prime Minister/Cabinet Office, the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, the Ministry of Transport and Mining, and the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service.

Mrs. Thompson Walters pointed out that the launch makes the introduction of Shared Corporate Services in the public sector a reality.

“This is a first, not just for Jamaica but for the Caribbean. This is historic in public-sector operations. In February 2021, the Transformation Implementation Unit with our consultants, EY Jamaica, commenced the Shared Corporate Services pilot with internal audit and subsequently human resource management,” she said.

She noted that the pilot will run between three and 12 months, and will be conducted from Shared Corporate Services Jamaica (SCSJ), located at 6 Saxthorpe Avenue, Kingston 8.

The pilot will enable the project team to validate the built solution and implementation approach before commencing full-scale roll-out operation

Mrs. Thompson Walters said this new human resource management will consist of the MyHR+ Shared Services and will address efficiency gaps in the public sector.

“For example, each Government entity has its own human resource unit and that unit provides services to their organisation. Some of them are fully manual, others have some automation and a few are fully automated. This means that public-sector workers do not have any consistency in service, and the quality of services staff receive is varied,” she said.

“An example, an employee requesting a job letter.  Depending on which organisation they work for, this can take between two days and three weeks, and this is something that we… researched when we were building out the Human Resource Shared services,” Mrs. Thompson Walters added.

She pointed out that with Shared Services, that request can be completed within a day, “so within 24 hours of the request, the employee will have a job letter in their hand.”