The CIO Council has released a federal shared services implementation guide that builds on the federal IT shared services strategy released last year, and aims to help agencies deal with growing mission requirements and declining resources.
The guide aims to foster a "shared-first" culture, just as earlier guidance has attempted to push a White House "cloud-first" approach to IT procurement.
According to the Council, the guide represents the start of a discussion and actions that each agency needs to take in order to determine the future design and performance of their organization.
It introduces a high level process and key considerations for defining, establishing, and implementing interagency shared services to help achieve organizational goals, improve performance, increase return on investment, and promote innovation.
The guide includes steps to consider in identifying shared services candidates, making the business case, examining potential funding models, using agency agreements, and discusses some of the key challenges that should be expected along the way.
It also addresses shared services roles and responsibilities; the creation, governance, funding and implementation of shared services through associated lines of business; and the use of a new, online, Federal Shared Services Catalog, or "Uncle Sam’s List."
