Predicting the long-term success of your shared services organization can be somewhat difficult in the initial stages of your planning efforts. Starting small, building relationships, allowing for pause and reflection, and identifying opportunities for timely expansion have been key to the success of the shared services program at Princeton University.

In this past presentation, Brandon Gaines, Shared Services Director at Princeton University, discusses how, in the span of eight years, one person supported seven academic departments which turned into five people supporting 30 academic and administrative departments. He also discusses the importance of:

• Selecting the pilot group of departments
• Knowing the financial services you can offer and when to expand those services
• Establishing service-level agreements that are scalable and processes that are standardized
• Leveraging data to influence buy-in and articulate overall value