Difference between Shared Services-Center of Excellence-HR Business Partners

05 Sep 2013, Singapore: I was reading a white paper article on assessment center (AC) ... why we should not send HR people to attend training first but instead send them to AC to evaluate their competencies and expose them to AC. A section of the article caught my interest when it explain the difference between Shared Services, Center of Excellence and HRBP ...   

Shared Services

Centralized teams of (sometimes outsourced) HR professionals tasked with handling routine requests, complaints or questions. These typically include payroll issues, employee relations, benefits questions. Note that this work used to represent the lion’s share of old school HR generalist work; now for many remaining in such roles ... it’s vanished.

Centers of Excellence

More specialized and seasoned teams of HR professionals, with deep expertise in a particular area, responsible for building enterprise-wide processes and tools to drive sustainable, scalable HR results. These areas typically include Talent Acquisition, Talent Management, Organization Development, Learning & Development, Compensation & Benefits, etc.

HR Business Partners

Strategic HR generalists assigned to senior business leaders throughout the organization to act as talent advisers  They partner with these leaders to plan and implement talent solutions to drive business results. They liaison between the Shared Services, Centers of Excellence and their business group to add relevance and value.

Source: www.designsontalent.com