Finance Shared Services provide key financial and business services to our customers across the HSE. We are also a key stakeholder in both the Finance & Procurement (IFMS), and HR & Payroll (NiSRP) Reform Programmes,which will standardise our system and processes,and transform our ways of working over the next 5-10 years.
Our current services include:
- Payroll Services
- Payment Services
- General Accounting
- Financial Reporting
- Business Support Services
- Income Services
- FSS Project Office
Payroll Services
Payroll Services currently manage the payment of HSE staff and pensioners either directly or through sourced support services. HSE gross to net payroll is currently processed via nine centres based on appropriately authorised input received from HR, Line Managers, Returning Officers, etc. We currently provide for the payment of 97,593 HSE staff and 42,373 pensioners. A payroll service is also provided to Tusla's 6,113 employees. Approximately 2.9m payslips are issued to payees annually.
Our service provision is a combination of direct provision and external contracting arrangements with private providers. However all payroll services are co-ordinated and managed by our payroll team who consistently deliver to the highest standard.
Revenue information for new staff
Payment Services
Payment Services provides invoice payment services to the HSE and its external customer Tusla. It is responsible for processing payments for all HSE invoices nationally (including National Capital), across legacy financial systems located in Dublin, Kilkenny, Cork, Galway, Limerick and Tullamore.
Payment Services currently:
- process payments in relation to 2.4 million invoices annually.
- manage Vendor Master Data creation and maintenance centrally for all areas.
- complete and files Statutory Tax Returns on behalf of all HSE areas.
- has a Specialists Unit dedicated to providing Invoice Capture Solution training (currently for East and North-West end users).
Income Services
Income Services provides a suite of monthly national income reports, key performance metrics and provision of centralised reporting across all 48 statutory and voluntary acute hospitals on behalf of the CFO and National Director of Acute Hospitals. The key categories of statutory income would include Private Maintenance Charges, Inpatient charges, Emergency Department and Road Traffic Accidents.
Income Services supports the generation and collection of patient income across all statutory and voluntary acute hospitals at national level by providing direct support, business intelligence, and decision support to National Finance Division, Hospital Groups, Acute Operations and DOH.
Income Services are also responsible for the management and provision of the national Private Health Insurance Claims management system “Claimsure” and associated patient admission/billing interfaces. Claimsure has been successfully implemented at all public acute hospitals and a number of community hospices. Claimsure is utilised by hospitals and Income Services to support the end to end management of the private insurance claims process, the timely submission of all relevant documentation to the appropriate Health Insurance Provider and facilitates appropriate follow up to ensure prompt payment of claims.
As part of the Finance Reform Agenda Income Services have developed a new target operating model and are in the process of undergoing significant expansion in order to deliver the end to end “Order to Cash” Income function within SAP S/4 Hana for the entire Health Sector. Future Services will include national centralised invoice management, credit and collections management, accounting, reporting and analysis.
General Accounting
General Accounting is responsible for the provision of financial support for the following key services on behalf of our HSE Customers, TUSLA (Child & Family Agency) and Children's Health Ireland.
Capital/Asset Accounting
All Capital related processes are carried out through Finance Shared Services in Dublin on behalf of Corporate Treasury & Capital Department. FSS Capital &Asset Accounting account for all transactions and are responsible for the Fixed Asset Notes within the Annual Financial Statements. The estimated budget for Capital projects is approximately €1billion per annum.
Financial Accounting
We produce first draft Annual Financial Statements and relevant notes to the Accounts for HSE statutory customers across 6 SAP Company Codes ensuring adherence to Department of Health and Corporate reporting requirements and deadlines.
Completion and submission of Finance Shared Services AFS to the Corporate Finance Specialist team for national consolidation.
Review and reconciliation of 80 balance sheet accounts and 10 intercompany accounts of behalf of 6 SAP company codes.
Receipting information and the reconciliation of 40 receipting locations with an approximate value of €1.5bn annually and the preparation of associated debtor reconciliations, journal processing, and the preparation of 23 bank reconciliations. We also manage approximately 330 payroll interfaces annually between SAP HR and SAP Financials systems.
Financial Reporting
Financial Reporting is responsible for the delivery of a range of Management Accounting support to our HSE Customers & TUSLA (Child & Family Agency). The services provided include reporting and transaction processing services for accruals, prepayments and budget uploads.
Our team is also responsible for all operating activities on the National Consolidated Financial Intelligence Solution (CFI). CFI is the main financial reporting tool for the HSE within the National Finance Division, which captures the financial monthly data of the legacy systems from all Statutory and Voluntary Agencies of HSE into one repository. It produces consistent data through a common suite of reports built on a single chart of accounts and enterprise structure across the Health Service including Corporate, Community Healthcare Organisations and Hospital Groups.
Business Support Services
Business Support Services (BSS) provides local and national Business Intelligence reporting, process improvement, data automation, Robotic Process Automation and Project Management Services to FSS and the wider Finance community (NFD).
Our services are provided by 3 teams as outlined below;
BSS Technical
BSS Technical Team design and implement Business Intelligence Reporting and Process Automation Solutions on the Corporate Information Facility (CIF) for Finance Shared Services (FSS) and the broader NFD community. Our team of Business Analysts work with the business to define the requirements before our team of in-house Developers create the solution, which usually involves automatically extracting data from numerous sources such as; excel files, SAP or other legacy systems. This data is normally stored in a SQL Server database and then presented in user friendly Dashboards and Reports to the end users. Solutions are developed using a range of technologies including the Microsoft BI stack (SSIS, SSAS, SSRS), ASP.net Core, RPA, Excel, VBA and Access.
BSS Project Management
The Project Management team has established a structured approach to project management, assessment and tracking, for medium and longer term projects and provides these services to other FSS functions. Current projects include Rollout of Mandatory Online Payslips, Payroll Strategy Development and Review of System User access.
BSS Operational Support
The Operational Support Team provides operational support and management services to FSS functions. The team also includes the National Travel and Subsistence Team (NTS), which reviews Employee Self Service (ESS) Travel, and Subsistence, initially in the East, including Policy Adherence, Claim Audit, Reporting and Support.
Finance Shared Services Project Office
Finance Shared Services Project Office role in conjunction with the IFMS Systems Integrator is to support the design, build and implementation of a best practice Finance Shared Services model for the Health Sector and Tusla. The adoption of a Shared Service Model is a Government Led initiative to organise and deliver internal support services more efficiently and effectively whilst freeing up organisational capacity to concentrate on core frontline and other Health & Social Care functions. The key overarching design principles of IFMS as outlined in the Financial Management Framework Document include the following:
- A best practice Shared Service Model including standardised business processes and controls is integral to the successful delivery of IFMS.
- System is managed and delivered from the centre with the responsibility for the correct recording of transactions remaining with the service organisations.
The Finance Shared Services Model will support the more efficient utilisation of administrative resources and implementation of standardised processes. The Design Phase of Finance Shared Services Target Operating Model was approved by IFMS Governance in August 2021. The range of services under IFMS to be migrated to Finance Shared Services falls under 3 broad service categories:
- Record to Report (Core Finance & FP&A)
- Payment Services
- Income Services
