Shared Services Centre for Client Convenience: A New Perspective in Public Service Delivery. (Evidence from One-Corner-Stock-Shop in Niger State, Nigeria)

Shared Services Centre (SSC) is one of the tenets of Digital-Era Governance (DEG) that integrates information systems for organizations to easily interact with each other sharing activities, processes, services, knowledge, technological infrastructure and best practices without necessarily affecting their autonomy. The Nigeria public sector is yet to make parallel with this basic tenets of DEG in it bureaucratic processes which have advisedly affected it level of service delivery. This paper intends to analyze empirically the motives and other management issues of establishing Niger State One-Corner-Stock-Shop (OCSS). The paper however employed a standalone qualitative case study. The findings revealed that the OCSS is still work in progress into ICT’s potentials that for now creates clients conveniences, enable sustainable ICT infrastructure and enhanced mutual interactions for participating organizations.


Introduction
Dunleavy [1], asserts that we are in a 'd igital-era governance'(DEG), characterised by using ICT to reintegrate services, design services around people's needs, and enable citizens to access services online. In spite of this, there has been persistent global outcry on the declining level of public service delivery. W ith shrinking revenues of public organizations, clients savvy as a result of globalizat ion and growing service demands, organizations are joining forces to provide enhanced services to their clients. Shared Services (SS) are agreements between organizations to combine resources and provide excellent services to their clients. The idea behind SS is to share some common (not core) elements in their organizations. One of the most critical challenges of the SS paradig m is how to integrate for instance routine administrative activit ies such as information-data systems to a SSC in such a way that different organizations can suitably interact with each other by sharing activities, processes services etc. This integration essentially create pull of economies of scale such as reducing time dedicated to bureaucratic processes by clients, increases quality of services delivery, allows sharing of knowledge, information and best practices.
OCSS is an SSC that provides the fundamental drivers for shaping public service delivery and organisational development in this dig ital era. These drivers can be su mmed up as -disintermediat ion -wh ich means the stripping out, slimming down or simp lification of intermediaries (duplication) in the process of delivering public services. Disintermed iation achieves 'join ing-up' by significantly and visibly reducing the bureaucratic complexity of the public institutions which citizens are confronted with in trying to access public services (Dunleavy, [1]). However, establishing an SSC requires considerable involvement of ICT resources that can be unsustainable in terms of cost and maintenance especially for small public organizat ions. Requisite technologies that support an SSC are fundamental to develop a general architecture that integrates all in fo rmat ion systems of each o rgan izat ion into one-singlefolder designed to facilitate unified clients service delivery.
Overall cost reduction was the initial rationale for implementing SSC, but high-performance governments in terms of service delivery now takes a mo re value-oriented precedence. In a bit to leverage the full potentials of SS as an opportunity to improve public-sector value and transform citizen-centered service delivery, adopting a true SSC operating model requires a dramat ic transformation and corporate culture change that address both administrative processes, policies, organizational structure, human resources management and technology. However, many organizations address a few of these components when trying to set up an SSC in achieving economic of scales. Unless all of these components are addressed holistically, the benefits of SSC will not be attained. Therefore, this research aims at critically examin ing how practice really matches theory on the concept of SS and SSC. Our goal is to identify the drivers; critical success factors, benefits and challenges of SSC with particular reference to the Niger State OCSS as an SSC for acquiring the New National Veh icle Plate Nu mber and Enhanced Drivers License. To ascertain if really this initiatives of OCSS can be said to be a true SSC.

Issue
Organizations that branded themselves as SSC begin with a limited scope of services essentially related to a specific department or function. These limited scope organizations sometimes do not go beyond their past bureaucratic complexity and do not also demonstrate many of the key attributes found in a successful mu lti-functional SSC operating model. This raises the question as to whether such an operation is a true "shared services model" or merely a centralized functional organizat ion. Despite the benefits of SSC, many public organizations in nations like Nigeria have been slow towards moving to a SSC infrastructure, simp ly because there is little or no much attention given to this area by the government. Again, no one-fit-all approach to having a successful SSC. These have lead to some confusion as to how to go about true SSC. There appears to be little researches or published materials on the issue of SSC arrangements in general and in the public sector in particular leading to no or little experience of this arrangement. This research examines what an SSC infrastructure is, how to consider evolving one, and best practices for launching such an initiat ive to avoid a mishmash of init iatives and achieve ma ximu m econo mies of scale within the public sector.

Methodol ogy
A qualitative stand alone case study approach is emp loyed. Case study is preferred because the story is unique and provides context to other data (such as outcome data), offering a more co mp lete picture of what transpired in Niger state one-corner-stock-shop, Holetzky, [2]. At first, the researchers introduced the structured interview to standardize the interview as much as possible and thus as Gubriu m and Holstei [3] argued reduce the effect that the interviewer's personal approach or biases may have upon the result. The question format/structure was Open-ended; Closed-ended with ordered response choices; and closed-ended with unordered response choices and partially closed-ended. The second level of interview was embarked upon to be able to effectively situate what has been captured fro m other emp loyees in the study area, the senior personnel were approached and the style of interviewing was semi structured form. Nature of questioning was flexib le. The last stage of interviewing adopted was the unstructured interview. Here the researchers placed this as the last category and clarified some issues with the chief executive in the results obtained from the two sets of people.
Hermeneutical Analysis (Hermeneutics) was emp loyed. This method integrates the constructs of dialogue, the hermeneutic circle, and the fusion of horizons to define a process for data analysis (Ajjawi & Higgs, [4].
As far as this research is concerned however, the reliability and valid ity have been established through two main different means of Standard and Verificat ion. To be able to adequately verify the rigor, ensure methodological coherence, sampling sufficiency, developing a dynamic relationship between samp ling, data collection and analysis, Meadows & Morse, [5].

Related Literature
A review o f related literature on SS in the public sector shows that there is very little research or discussions on SS arrangements for public sector and, specifically, the practices of SS in developing countries as Nigeria. Indeed, there appears to be little experience of these arrangements. SS as a concept can take many forms and terms describing the arrangements of SSC such as: Inter-local Agreements, Shared Services, Service Transfers, Govern ment Partnerships, Contracts with Govern ment, Joining-Up and many other variants. This accounts for the existence of numerous partnership arrangements between and among public entities. These partnerships platforms have been previously treated (Ghash et al, [6]; NAO, [7]; Audit Co mmission, [8]). The most popular term is "Shared Services," and that is the term adopted throughout this research work.

Evol uti on of Shared Services
Since the 1980s, when the concept of SS first began to emerge, a number of trends have converged to give it added mo mentu m. Successive waves of advance approaches like Business Process Reengineering and Six Sig ma fixed attention on getting more out of processes, Spoeher, et al [9]. Initially, SS was an organizational and management tool first utilized by the private sector and later adopted by the public sector. In the business sector, SSC work as distinct units within individual o rganizat ions which then unite to provide services to a group of organizat ions (Spoeher et al, [9]).
By the mid-1990's, SS was introduced to the public sector as well. Public sector SS can be thought of as an extension of the Reinventing Govern ment Movement, as it emphasis on less wastefulness and an entrepreneurial approach to public management. SS in the public sector occurs when two or more government entities join together to provide a service for all the clients within their jurisdiction, Vazquez -Cortes, [10]. Within the context of the public sector, there are usually t wo types of services. One is corporate services known as back-office services which are generally administrative and transactional services and core services which are fundamental to each o rganizat ion (Spoeher et al, [9]). An SSC normally, treats back-office services which are routine ad min istrative schedules. While transactional services are left to the parents organizations to handle.

Rational
As Lipsky [11] argue, resources in public sector will perpetually be inadequate because even when services and resources are constantly expanded, the demand for services will always exceed the supply. Even if the number of people demanding for services d id not increase (most of the time it does), the demand for quality of service will still increase. Public institutions must make important choices in determining how proper services will be prov ided not only according to the funds available but in line with current cost saving trends. In today's digital world, we cannot afford to consume resources in doing things wastefully, less effectively or less cheaply in the public sector than it is possible to do analogous tasks in both the private sector and the civil society. Therefore, it fo llows fro m this argument that the practice of SS is increasingly becoming popular in the public sector, and it's a trend that's expected to continue to offer a logical solution. SSC reduces redundant effort within an organizat ion. If the same operations are occurring in several divisions within an organizat ion, it 's mo re efficient to designate one source as the provider of that same work across all d ivisions. By sharing the services provided by that one source, the organization benefits from econo mies of scale, imp roved efficiency, lower costs, better quality and this translate into client benefits. Most often, it's administrative/routine type of work that's shared especially data capturing and processing.

Share d Service Centers
It becomes easier comprehending what an SSC is fro m the basic understanding of SS. Queensland Treasury [12], classifies SSC as involving 'mu ltip le agencies sharing common corporate services through a dedicated Shared Service Provider' that is SSC. SSC provides the platform for translating the SS tenets into reality. Through the SSC, agencies develop partnership approach to provide services with responsibilit ies, accountabilities and authority clearly understood. As such agencies can purchase services based on agreed cost and quality parameters. Moreover, participation in the SSC platform, ideally facilitates a process of continuous innovation and improvement in the quality and cost effectiveness of services. As Frost [13] maintained, SSC can make services more accessible to service-users and improve internal professional relationships and ways of working. Serv ices are integrated, centrally planned and coordinated to focus on one or more particu lar objectives. Services delivered in such a round as an OCSS can enable a better response to the client's needs, creating convenient and better value for money.

Outsourcing
We can further distinguish between "outsourcing" and SSC, the former represents services legally provided by an independent third party that is not part of the sharing units or organizations, while the latter is a proper function (SSC) within a "corporate group". Outsourcing to a third party, provides who takes full responsibility for the management and operation of services. The idea of SSC is to gain fro m the investments in the domain o f e-government by sharing common elements presented in a single ad ministration. An SSC should be managed like th ird-party vendor, tailoring their IT-services to the requirements of their customers at a cost that the customers are willing to pay, Sch midt, [14].

Prior to Sharing
Sharing is but one option to be considered when seeking for SSC's economies of scale. Sharing wo rks best when organizations operate within similar line of functions, share common processes and have align ment of organizat ional values and goals. It is important to recognize that sharing is "first and foremost a human and political challenge". The term sharing imp lies surrendering of so me power, autonomy, resources, people and control; whilst retaining responsibility and accountability. The key issues to address from the onset are the build ing of trust and a shared vision between and among shared organizations. Therefore, creat ing SSC models requires a new style of leadership skilled at building collaborative capacity both within organizations and with strategic partners.
As Bland [15] observed, the first step is for the approval of Top Management of each organization for the need to consider wh ich SS model of collaboration best suits their needs. The most essential drivers of moving to an SSC environment are to assist the consolidation of various hitherto separate applications operated by different organizations into a single-line process platform. It may not be possible to switch to a single system overnight. The primary focus of SSC has been the concentration of back-office orientated services that are repetitive and are much the same for each unit. Generally, these types of services included in a SSC include financial services including accounts payable and accounts receivable; procurement; hu man resources including registry, payroll; property and facilities management; and information technology operations.

A True Shared Services Center
This highlights the important characteristics of a successful or true SSC widely recognised by Chartered Institute of Public Finance, Maclean, [16]; UN, [17] as being: • There must be a clear, well define co mmon vision, with leadership will and drive fro m the top management of the each organisation (including so metimes elected members as it relates to public organizat ions); • Co mbin ing a SS pro ject with business process efficiencies, redesigning services to streamline them prior to consolidation; • Co mmit ment to significant change and standardisation across participating organisations; • Clear understanding and benchmarking of the positions, duties and responsibilities prior to change; • A road map defining the process of transformation, including the change management needs and governance arrangements required fo r operation; • The institutionalizat ion of these basic administrative tenets accountability, transparency and effective project management control.

Others include:
Agree on a workable model -decision-making will need to be relatively easy to ensure the initiat ive gets off the ground, but it will be d ifficu lt fo r stakeholders to agree to any loss of control and accountability.
Ensure senior commit ment to Shared Serv ices -they are strategic initiatives and will need support from the very top in order to be successful.
Understand current baselines of performance -they will play an essential ro le in calculating whether the SS is mo re efficient than the previous way of working. They can also feed into objectives and relevant targets in service level agreement.
Clarify why the organization wants to implement Shared Services -this will inform which model to adopt. For example, if improving organizat ion processes is a major driver, it may be worth involv ing a private sector partner with specialist expertise in this area.
Conduct a rigorous due diligence exercise -it is essential to know exactly where each partner stands in terms of existing contracts, exit provisions and intellectual property rights in order to prevent any nasty surprises further down the line.
Agree on whether to move to a 'Greenfield Site' -it may be easier to move to a different office and make a fresh start than to continue working fro m existing locations. This can be particularly beneficial if the arrangement involves mu ltip le organizations, as none of the staff will be on "ho me territory".
Identify the organization's own capacity and appetite for change -if this is low it might be easier to p iggy-back on someone else's initiative.
Understand the cost and possible funding options -some participants could be keener to put money in than others and private sector partners might agree to help with up-front investment Agree on the amount of risk each organizat ion is prepared to carry -this will play an important role in contract negotiations and feed into the organizations case process.
Identify any potential staff opposition -then it can be dealt with at an early stage. Any solution that may result in redundancies, relocation or changes in emp loy ment terms and conditions is likely to be controversial.
Remember that other Organizations may wish to join at a later date -this will affect the governance model and technical architecture.
Remember the rules -these may mean that all legal and cooperate instruments that established organizations as legal entities that can sue and be sued must be considered. This is something that also makes the initial scoping exercise even more impo rtant.
Agree on whether the Shared Serv ice could generate Income -this will affect discussions about shared investment, risk and reward.
The above listed points will help stakeholders decide on a preferred type of shared services model.

The Major Dri vers of a Shared Ser vices Center
Model Co mponents: Technology Technology serves as prime mover of any SSC as set out in the PA report [18], supported by the MSP blueprint providing the vehicle to ensure a clear specification of any technology components required to support major change and access programmes. It becomes paramount that the technology component of an SSC must address both the underlying infrastructure and individual systems-needs components that support the entire vision and strategy of establishing the SSC. This extends across, and encompasses, those areas covered by channel strategy, face to face data capturing connectivity, web, telephone (e.g. contact centre setup) that support front and back office systems and infrastructure requirements. The technology components need to clearly relate their purpose to the organizations objectives and customer strategy, set out in the model agreements Kaila et al, [19]. This ensures the right selection of technology, which should then be configured and deployed to meet the needs of the client centric processes.
Model Co mponents: Information (Data and Analysis) The informat ion co mponent aptly suits the OCSS that basically captures data from clients as an integrated data bank where a large amount of activity in the field of client insight is integrated to form a national data base that reduces duplications, mult iple reg istrations, network services etc. The need for data and analysis of data is critical to all aspects of client contact data base. This component reflects service and storage design through channel strategy and process design, to feedback mechanism and continuous imp rovement. It ensures high quality, accurate client informat ion -both on clients themselves, and the way they interact with the organization -as essential to be adequately stored, analyzed, distributed and applied, Tho mpson, [20].
Meanwhile, Nelson et al [21] identify three types of data for effective management of client in formation -descriptive data, relationship data and contextual data. To achieve a well functional SSC it beco mes very imperat ive for the quality of data to be addressed squarely, with poor quality information identified as a significant factor to SSC failure, and poor return on investment. "Only when a foundation of good data has been built will a One-Stock-Shop find it easy for subsequent investments to generate acceptable return". Nelson & Kirkby, [22]. The purposes for which data is to be used (for strategic planning o r d irect service provision to clients) must be driven, not only by the technological products or appropriate data software available, but by other key components like the SSC strategy, client's strategy and the proposed vision and experience.

Other Key Dri vers
Besides the above two major drivers, Accenture [23] provides some other key drivers of SSC as: • Consolidating administrative functions into a stand-alone organizational entity, whose only mission is to provide administrative functions efficiently and effect ively; • Redesigning standardized end-to-end processes around best practices, utilizing enabling technology.
• Requiring a dramatic redesign or transformation of the organizational structure and workforce.
• Elevating the importance of ad ministrative tasks to the highest management levels so they take on "front office" importance.
• Bu ild ing a high-performance culture with a strong focus on service excellence (rather than solely a cost focus) and continuous improvement.
• Clearly defining responsibilit ies for both customer and service provider via service-level agreements, key performance indicators and a co mprehensive service management framework.
• Typically operating in a lo w-cost, high-skill area.

Shared Services Centre Models
SSC models range fro m info rmal cooperation (casual understanding) through a series of iterat ions to full integration of services (i.e. merger The SSC models are receiv ing most attention include the followings: In De-Centralized Organizat ions: Each unit has its own support service tailored exactly to ind ividual requirements. These previously distributed support services are now consolidated while forming SSC. The aim is to avoid duplication of work and to achieve synergies, Berger, [24]. Absolutely Engaged in Support Services; these are processes that support core processes of the organization. Goold et al., [25], this further differentiate between services for transaction-oriented, complex and knowledge-based processes. Transaction-oriented processes are main ly processes that share a high degree of commonality or standardization, feature few interfaces with other processes and technologies, entail low financial/business risk, depend only to a small degree on outside clients, and show a high potential for auto mation, Shah, [26]. Typical processes are wage accounting, bookkeeping or operating a co mputer centre. Characteristic processes in the area of knowledge-based processes are, inter alia, ad ministrative analysis, staff train ing, and development o f applications or even real estate management, Quinn et al., [27].
Align ment with External Co mpetitors: these platforms of SSC align themselves with external co mpetitors (Young, [28]. To enhance competitiveness, SSC build strategic knowledge such as information about competitors in the external market, analyzing its own strengths and weaknesses, and pricing benchmarks. Through these processes SSC can confirm their competitiveness to internal clients and explain deviations (Quinn et al., [27].
Independent Organization/Part ly Autonomous: Mostly this explicit ly emphasizes the independent organizat ional form of a SSC as a unit clearly separate fro m other units, with its own responsibilities and its own management. Frequently the term "part ly autonomous" is used Bergeron, [24], wh ich is meant to signal that the SSC are managed like separate unit but still highly dependent on the parent company. Thus the SSC typically belongs 100% to the organization which at the same t ime is its main client.
A Co-Location Model: consists of a numbers of organisations that share a common premises and common resources and facilit ies such as secretarial services, photocopying, jo int insurance etc. On its own, a co -location model does not necessarily entail the adoption of SS arrangements such as book-keeping. However, this model nevertheless has the potential to facilitate these kinds of arrangements. Another variat ion of the co-location model is described by Earles et al [29] in relation to a trial of a SSC it consisted of four family services organizations that collaborated to form a SS function. In this case, the SS arrangement involved co-governance (where one member fro m each of the four co-governing agencies formed the SS Management Co mmittee) and co-location (where members fro m each organization were co-located in other organizations participating in the SS arrangement) with the primary purposes of this approach related to fostering collective identity and learn ing across the collaborating agencies. More fundamentally, this model placed importance on the development of effective relationships between the members of the different agencies.
Service-Oriented Focus on Internal Clients: An SSC aims at optimizing the internal client experience, focusing on service output-a defined functionality with contracted quality levels and an agreed price including penalties, Young, [28]. Th is approach enables the central depart ment to act clearly on behalf of internal clients, a relationship which exhibits monopoly-like behavior, Bergeron, [24]. These traditional depart ments were typically focused on improving technologies used for producing the services and less on improving the actual service output.
An amalgamat ion or merger model: whereby organizatio ns in a similar field of service amalgamate with each other to form a single larger organization and, as a result, consolidate and streamline their ad ministrative functions. Recently, this brand is more co mmon to commercial banks in Nigeria.

Which of these Models Best Fit the One-Corner-Stock-Shop?
The above mentioned models of SSC represent some (not all) of the types of SSC, it becomes critical to ask which of the above modals best fit or describes the research case study? As observed earlier on, there is no 'one size fits all' approach of SSC. Couple with the issue of identifying a "t rue SSC." The Co-Location Model partially fits to some extent the One-Corner-Stock-Shop in itiat ives with these features: Co mmon Premises Co-location provides a new hosting avenue established separately for all the part icipating units distinct fro m their parent units.
A co-location model does not necessarily entails the adoption of SS basically fro m the observed method of operat ions (by th e researchers) o f the One-Corner-Stock-Shop initiat ives, because each of the participating units is physically rep resented by an agent assigned to capture data of their clients for their parent organization. While a true SSC is an independent entity that provides agreed services to the shared organizations. The One-Corner-Stock-Shop aptly reflects the model described by Earles et al [29] the One-Corner-Stock-Shop In itiatives is with the primary purpose of fostering collective identity and learning across the collaborating agencies. More fundamentally, this model placed importance on the development of effective relationships between the members of the different agencies. And creating that One-stop convenient for the clients for which prev iously, a client have to separately deal with the four principal actors to capture his data. But for now, these separate principal actors are each presented by an agent in the new established SSC. In 2003 the state office of Meals on Wheels offered to take on all "paperwork" for its 136 local branches, thus allowing them to focus more on service delivery -that is, the state office would in effect become a shared service provider for all local branches. Previously, each hospital was using different systems and operating as a stand-alone entity. There are now a co mmon chart of accounts and a common system across the group of hospitals providing an improved set of accounts, common purchasing contracts and a consolidated capacity to negotiate with suppliers and funding bodies whereby a peak body within a particular sector or industry provides a range of services for its members in return for a membership fee or a subscription fee or a co mbination of both which b rought together a range of previously separate Uniting Church welfare services under the one umbrella organization.

Economies of Scale of Shared Services and Public Service Efficiencies
SS have been exp lored and imp lemented with mix results as notable successes, abandoned and unsuccessful projects providing evidence fro m which to learn. This interest has been reflected in the wider world, leading to a range of research that helps identify the way in which SS can be approached, given the co mplex range of issues associated. Benefits realizat ion, a report by KM Management Consulting KM CC, [30] proposed five major benefits of SS arrangements, Dollery et al., [31].
Scale economies • Reduction of costs as a main goal: The majority of authors include the goal "cost reduction" explicitly in their definit ion. Several surveys revealed that cost-cutting is a primary motivator for imp lementing SS, Ulbrich, [32]. Average savings of 25% -30% are not unusual, Quinn et al., [31], and MPC [33], ach ieving lower costs by making use of economies of scale.
• Leverag ing of technology investments to achieve cost savings and improved service delivery • Standardisation, consistency and continuous improvem ent of process to provide improved service provision • Achievement of a client service focus • Greater concentration of strategic outcomes • Consolidation of processes within the group in order to reduce redundancies All these allow to continuously imp rove the "services standard" and to reach a low level of bureaucracy connected with shared functions.

Challenges of Shared Services
The New Local Govern ment Network, a leading UK think tank on local and public governance, notes on its website (.nlgn.org.uk) that: The scale and scope of SS remains extremely limited in terms of political, managerial, geographic and pro fessional protectionism having too often impeded on the s mooth running of SSC and led to their untimely demise. GTI [34] in an overview of SSC of public organizations identified a number of inhib itors that includes: • Resistance to sharing control with another authority.
• An absence of expertise to manned a true SSC.
• The cost of the init ial investment on ICT infrastructure, human resources, etc is usually very high.
• Attitudinal and career obstacles, linked to individuals' careers as it relates to the risks of reducing headcount.
• A desire by top managers to maintain self-determination over front-line services and back-office support functions. Also the Vehicle Insurance Policy was done manually with no guaranty of policy.
This manual process was pruned to abuse as a vehicle can obtained more than one plate number.
The New E-Vehicle Registration Process The VIO starts the process with vehicle examination, if satisfied a certificate of reco mmendation is forwarded to the Vehicle License for the vehicle to be register through Policy Nu mber fo r the issuance of road worthiness at the end of the e-vehicle registration process.
All entering papers which include: Custom Papers, Purchasing receipt and etc, with one form of Nat ional Identity-such as Federal Republic of Nigeria Nat ional Identity Card, Drivers License and International Passport. The License Authority Officer examines all these papers for certification of their originality.
A temporary file is now opened for the vehicle, a form with a full data of the vehicle owner and details of the vehicle.

Allocation of vehicle plate number
The temporary file is passed to the representative of the FRSC, to confirm the genuineness of the plate number at their central data base in Abuja. This temporary file moves to the Motor license office for the issuance of all relevant papers and prove of ownership certification.
This file moves to the Motor Insurance Co mpany agent for a Third Party Insurance Policy.
At this stage the file finally goes back to the VIO for Cert ificate of Road Worthiness.
Similarly, on-line pay ment for driver's license has been introduced while the FRSC has taken init ial step to computerize about 212 duty roo ms located in its formations spread across the country, to further build a digital-enabled capacity to administer and collate data bordering on traffic offenders.
Additional modalities fo r the proposed new drivers' license, which has been endorsed by the Joint Tax Board include, the introduction of new measures for processing and production of drivers license such as, the sponsorship of fresh applicants by FRSC accred ited driving schools, practical and theory driving tests and retests to be conducted by the Veh icle Inspection Office and the FRSC, on-line payment by successful applicants which, will be fo llo wed by physical capture of applicant's biometrics and issuance of a temporary paper driving license at the one-step shop which will accommodate the FRSC, VIO and the Motor Licensing Authority valid for a month before production of the drivers' license at the central print farm at the FRSC. The issuing desk of the Motor Licensing Authority, located at the one-stop-shop will further undertake delivery of produced drivers' license to owners as part of the measures to stamp out parallel production, ensure reduction in processing time and also build a reliab le database on the drivers' license.
Details of the proposed new drivers' license indicate improved security features such as laser perforator, ghost portrait, over lapping data, altered font, variable micro script and split fountain printing.
For the number p late, imp roved security features include directional visible water marks, depressed flange border of plate, issuance tied to vehicle owner, font size change fro m 5 ½'' x 12'' to 6'' x 12'', bolder serial font, reprinting of crest on reflective sheeting in addition to the display of number plate expiry date on the top right corner.

Data Analysis and Results
The interviews were conducted at the convenient time for the respondents to make them feel relaxed in answering the questions. In fact 66 respondents of our 80 targeted respondents cooperated. Belo w in tables 1 and 2 are the summary of the key questions conveyed to the interviewees.
The table above shows that 46 respondents out of the 66 interviewed (69%) believe strongly that SSC is good for them as individuals and for the state as a whole and the remain ing 20 (31%) have a contrary opinion about that.   Agree  61  92  52  79  Disagree  5  8  14  11  Total  66  100  66  100 The table above displays sample respondents views side by side indicating the impact of SSC on service quality and their opinion on whether SSC should continue. 61 respondents out of the 66 interv iewed (92%) opened up that SSC has improved service quality and only 5 (8%) believed otherwise; fro m the perspective of continuity, 52 respondents (79%) agreed that SSC should continue and 14 (11%) believed it should be either scrapped or revised for the better.

Discussions
We present here the results of the interview. We begin with codificat ion of concepts. Using this we then look at themes of the codified concepts and apply them to interpret how SSC (one corner stock shop in Niger state) impacts service delivery, whether SSC should continue, The interpretations will be used to describe the selected case study area. We considered four questions that are very central to the research and the results of the interview on those questions discussed. Interview concepts that had been coded are Shared services center and service delivery quality was coded as SSC and SDQ respectively and continuity was coded as CNTY. We grouped the codes, across all interviews.
We found that these numeric results (in tables 1& 2) show the dominant topics in the interviews but are insufficient indicators to conclude that one corner stock shop has really impacted the public because it is still an ongoing activity in ICT.
Nu merous relat ionships between codes emerged through our Generic Relational Coding. Here are some of the codes that are the most popular.
The first relationship that was popular was the relat ionship between <<opin ions>> of the object ive behind SSC and <<Good vs. Bad>> regarding its overall assessment. Our respondents explained their ideas according to some biased definit ion of theirs. The relationship, <<opinions>> & <<Good vs. Bad >> informs that respondents were very biased about SSC, wh ich pose another challenging task of wanting to know whether it is enough to conclude through individuals' subjective evaluations on whether SSC is good or bad. Th is is perhaps evidenced in the second relationship that appears stronger than the first one.
Second dominant relationship across the interviews was <<Opinions>>& <<SSC>> and the third was <<Continuity>> & <<Agree vs. Disagree>>. Through responses gathered fro m the subjects, we understand that the reason behind some of the respondents disagreed to the continuity option is simp ly because of bureaucratic bottlenecks not because the SSC is less important. Similarly, another dominant relationship was one between <<Continuity>> and <<adjustment>. Th is relationship was important largely due to the fact that most of our respondents are civ il servants who rely heavily on their monthly salary earn ings.
The following quote by one of the respondents is a fitting example" the procedure is very lengthy and things are not in any way easier especially for us that are not business men" Through quotes such as this, we saw that adjusting the existing procedure in SSC should be given a thought.

Conclusions
Dis mal service, soaring cost and rolls of red tape continue to muddy the reputation of many Govern ment agencies. But the time is right for fresh thinking on how government support services should be organized and managed. Today, public organizations are struggling to improve services wh ile managing cost-trying to achieve better value for money. The practice of shared services is increasingly popular in the public sector, and it's a trend that's expected to continue. With escalating pressure on budgets, and governments being expected to provide services more efficiently, the shared services model offers a logical solution.
The business model known as shared services reduces redundant effort within an organization. If the same operations are occurring in several divisions within an organization, it 's more efficient to designate one source as the provider of that same work across all divisions. By sharing the services provided by that one source, the organization benefits fro m economies of scale, imp roved efficiency, lower costs and better quality. Most often, it's administrative or back-office work that's shared. But shared services can also work for e-mail, help desk, software, IT infrastructure and numerous other areas.