This diagram illustrates the Shared Services Network infrastructure—state level entities and community level entities, including a chief decision maker forum, a steering committee, and community partners.
This infrastructure which links people, organizations, and initiatives can become a long-term, viable structure to deal with community needs through collaborative problem solving.
Flexibility is built into the concept to allow the Shared Services Network initiative to be built into existing forums or to build those forums from the ground up. Shared Services Network participants have indicated that there are some general principals and components that expedite success.
Functionality, not the name nor the structure, is what is important. Does a community have a process where chief decision makers come together to discuss and make decisions on issues that impact upon the whole community? Does a community have a process where supervisors and managers from all community agencies and organizations come together to research issues for chief decision makers and carry out decisions made by the decision makers?
