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• Division: Support Office
• Business Unit: Internal
• Minimum experience: Associate
• Company primary industry: Education Management
• Job functional area: Information Technology

Job Description

Overall Purpose of the Job:

The BPA is responsible for ensuring that the relevant teaching and learning applications within the Business Applications Team meets the needs and requirements of the users. The applications must be integrated to the other systems in use by the business. In that regard s/he is responsible for all escalated user queries, change requests, annual configuration, maintenance and upgrades including user forum processes for those applications that are applicable to the portfolio. This includes unit testing, regression testing, user acceptance testing and test automation. Implementing change management strategies to drive orginisational change.

Within a the teaching and learning application identify and develop new and alternative approaches to performing business activities that are made possible by the availability of information and communications technology. Responsible for the methodical investigation, analysis and documentation of the application in terms of the business processes and the information used. The definition of the requirements for improving any aspect of the processes and systems, and the creation of viable functional specifications in preparation for the construction of the information systems.

Education (Formal Qualification required):

Minimum:

• BABOK (Business Analysis Body of Knowledge)
• Education Qualification
• ICT Diploma

Ideal:

• Bachelor’s degree in (Information Systems, Informatics, Computer Size or Information Technology) –
  NQF 7 or Bachelor’s degree Teaching – NQF 7.
• Professional certifications are an added advantage however should a candidate have a proven track record of work within the listed key performance areas, the qualification requirement may be reduced.
• Project Management (e.g. PMP, PRINCEII, etc.)
• Lean Six Sigma – Advantageous.
• Legal (E.g. Driver’s license, blasting certificate, etc.):
• Driver’s license a must.

Experience Required:

• Minimum Experience required – type and number of years:
• Business Analysis – 3 to 5 years.
• Teacher / Lecturer – 1 to 3 years.
• Head Of Department / Grade – 1 to 3 years.
• Experience in management at a team leader or above level – 1 to 3 years.

Responsibilities:

Output 1: Business Analysis

• Scoping (with Business) the relevant “Process Incidents or Change Requests” into the Business Applications Development Team or External Development Partner.
• Scoping (with Business) the relevant “Reporting Requirements”.
• Responsible for assessing the version or upgrade release documentation and impact on related systems.
• Responsible for all internal sign offs related to Incidents, Change requests, Change Controls, Disaster Recovery etc. and appropriate document management in this regard.
• Responsible for the continuous review of relevant System documentation and SharePoint support site such as hard copy training materials, multimedia files, How to Guides, FAQS etc.
• Analyses past, present and future business environment.
• Analyses business processes to determine problems, risks and opportunities for improvement.
• Reviews processes and conducts process audits, as required.
• Designs new business processes.
• Formulates strategies and guidelines to improve the business environment.
• Documents requirements including data modeling, interface layouts, data flows, screen and report layouts, etc.
• Works closely with systems analyst, other Business analysts, project support analyst, project and work delivery manager to design and implement solutions within constraints.
• Investigates and defines requirements for business processes. Identify opportunities to improve process and reduce waste.
• Facilitates the implementation of new or enhanced processes.
• Provides support and facilitates sessions for end users, e.g. training.
• Consult and engage with business process owners, managers and relevant users on feasibility studies and establishing business and systems requirements. This needs to be done proactively. Proactively communicate and collaborate various teams to analyse information needs and functional requirements to deliver the following artefacts that are needed:
• Business/functional requirement specifications
• Wireframes
• Workflow/Process flow diagrams
• Data Models
• Building of Prototypes
• Conduct detailed analysis based on business problems that exist and/or opportunities identified.
• Recommend the appropriate action required to address business changes in conjunction with impact-aware thinking in terms of the broader ecosystem
• Consults to management (both IT and business) on business procedures and policies.
• Design and maintain regular status reports to management on status and other metrics.
• Expert level of competency in the following
• Analysis and modeling of complex business processes.
• Writing requirements specification for large sized Information Systems.
• Track record in Software Development.
• End to end experience of the project lifecycle.
• Experience interacting directly with end users.
• Contribute to continuous improvement of ADvTECH IT strategic information technology objectives and our clients’ or users’ satisfaction thereof.
• Contribute to the appropriate management with direction from the Business Appliocation Owner and Manager with external partners for example BB Global; Serosoft; Toddle; Modo Apps; Microsoft etc.
• Contribute to the appropriate management with direction from Business Appliocation Owner and Manager Brand Identity and Communication Strategy.
• Contribute to the appropriate management with direction from the Business Appliocation Owner and Manager User Forums, ExCo and Board Communication Reporting requirements.
• Contribute to the development and maintenance of appropriate standards, procedures and documentation related to your area.
• Communicate effectively with other team members, clients, vendors, and contracted providers to promote cooperation and mutual success.

Output 2 – Specialistion
Specialistaion Area (Subject Matter Specialist)

• Teaching and Learning Systems
• Responsible in primary role for providing in-depth knowledge to the Schools functional applications.
• Participate in the ongoing design of the application and ensure that the software is continually maintained and configured according to business needs, through understanding business requirements and ensuring that they are catered for in the design and system configuration.
• Providing ongoing business process mapping for Change Request impact on the system.
• Ensuring that their knowledge of the business environment and relevant processes and procedures meet departments key objectives.
• Provide relevant expert advice and support to ensure successful user acceptance testing of the system.
• Participate in training programmes in such a manner that the affected stakeholders have the required knowledge to make optimal use of the Group Business system.
• Knowledge of LMS, SIS and Educational systems
• Educational environment (Tertiary or Primary / High School (K12)) processing experience
• Excellent communication skills and business acumen.
• Optimizing and implementing (new) data processes, Building blocks (Components), API’s, integrations and systems.
• Maintain LMS data tools, reporting, integrations and dashboards.
• Produce and deliver standard (monthly, quarterly, and annual) and customized LMS reports.
• Respond to LMS data requests on an ad hoc basis by gathering, analyzing, and reporting relevant data from various sources.
• Maintain data integrity by ensuring the accuracy and consistency of input data.
• Develop & maintain a data glossary,
• Ensure that the master data maintenance is done and quality assessment of master data is done to ensure good data quality.
• Partner with Academic Teams on system upgrades and analyses.
• Responsible for addressing a high volume of system-related activities in a timely fashion while maintaining a high level of quality and internal customer satisfaction.
• Experience with Microsoft SQL, Power Apps, PowerBi, DevOps and Azure is advantageous
• Blackboard Learn Help for Administrators | Blackboard Help more detail on the balckboard system administration for SaaS.

Output 3: Solution Design & Implementation & Specifications Development

• Works closely with the systems analyst, analyst programmer, project support administrator, other Business Analysts and project/work delivery managers to design and implement the best possible solution within the constraints of the tools available.
• Facilitates the implementation of new or enhanced processes. Business processes would be designed and implemented by the BPO, however the business analyst would take these requirements and understand how to flex the technology to enable the process.
• Owns systems, user acceptance testing and implementation of changes or new applications.
• Investigates and defines requirements for business processes.
• Documents requirements including data modeling, interface layouts, data flows, screen and report layouts, etc.
• Document defects.
• Document system enhancements.
• Manage change control process and quality assurance
• Leads design of reporting and dashboards. Extracts, validates, and analyzes desired data. Consults with leaders to establish data metrics needs.

Output 4: Systems Testing

• With Business also responsible for “User Acceptance Testing” in preproduction before deployment to the various environments.
• Unit Testingm, Regression Testing, System Testing, Test Automation.
• Tests systems and user acceptance and implements changes or new applications
• Ensures all testing protocols are adhered to
• Owns systems, user acceptance testing and implementation of changes or new applications.
• Ensures all testing protocols are adhered to.
• Test Automation
• Creating Release notes
• Review the test plan and test scripts to ensure quality and coverage

Output 5:  System Support, User Support, Problem Management and Training

• Provide front line support to end users responding to issues related to Problem/Incident Management, Release/Deployment, Operational Readiness, Application Monitoring, Production Governance related to issues.
• Renders support and facilitates sessions for end-users, including training
• Provides direct support and coaching to all levels of managers and supervisors as they help their direct reports through transition.
• Carryout activities related to incident and problem management.
• Conduct root cause analysis and dispatch to scrum teams for resolution. Work with vendors to achecive the same result.
• Firm understanding of ITIL processes
• Customer service review meetings with Brands
• Record business requirements and prioritise system changes with Brands.
• Provide business with a monthly review of services provided and status of planned changes and enchancements.
• Handles escalations from business and is the lead with regard to Problem Management.
• Negotiate SLAs and OLA’s with business in conjunction with line manager.
• Attends and reviews management meetings with brands monthly
• Documents and agrees processes and procedures in place

Output 6:  Project Management

• Ensures that project/department milestones/goals are met and adhering to approved budgets
• Escalating issues in a timely manner and suggesting improvements and proposing solutions.
• Tracking and recording the delivery of high quality products on time while working closely with team members and following project methodologies
• Follow up with scrum teams to resolve production issue.
• Collaborate with various teams to prioritize work based on business needs and fancial benefit.
• Communicate critical issues and potential solutions in a timely manner.

Output 7 – General

Personal Effectiveness

• Accountable for service delivery through own efforts
• Individually responsible for managing own time, tasks and output quality. Short medium and long term planning must be done as required.
• Makes increased contributions by broadening individual skills
• Collaborates effectively with others to achieve personal results
• Adhere to and conducts themselves in accordance with/to the company values
• Within scope of job, requires critical thinking skills, decisive judgement and the ability to work with minimal supervision. Must be able to work in a fast-paced environment and take appropriate action.

Direct Support Staff Management (if required)

• Define a career path for Support staff
• Conduct EDW, goal settings and conducts employee appraisals.
• Sets performance objectives for staff.
• Establish and define succession planning for your role
• Draws up action plans to address poor performance
• Ensure that staff attend regular training to ensure that they meet the requirements for their role and keep up with the maintenance thereof
• Institute monthly reporting sessions for team leaders to track progress and compliance of systems and work done
• Onboarding and transition to new ways of working for new and existing staff.

Communication Requirements:

Verbal communication and examples:

• Daily ICT scrums.
• Weekly IT ops meetings – short and medium term planning of campus operations.
• Weekly IT Project Management Meeting.
• Monthly Management Meeting.

Written communication and examples:

• Monthly Manco reports.
• Monthly Manco points and recommendations.
• Change management – communication to stakeholders on upcoming changes per application.
• E-mail communication to various business stakeholders.

Competencies:

Skills:

• Leadership.
• Interpersonal and Business communication.
• Analytical and problem solving.
• Diligence and sense of ownership.
• Highly organised.
• Project Management.

Behavioural Attributes:

• Good Judgement / Decision Making.
• Financial prowess.
• Methodical and Systematic.
• Effective Communication.
• Decisiveness.
• Problem Solving.
• Customer Service Orientated.

ADvTECH, in line with POPIA (Protection of Personal Information Act) will attempt to ensure the confidentiality of all applicants for this role. All reasonable measures will be in place to protect personal information but will be used in the recruitment, selection, and reporting process. By submitting your application for this position, you are recognising and accepting this disclaimer.

Please apply online via the ADvTECH Career Portal:
https://advtech.simplify.hr/vacancy/iirhxr
(If you do not have an existing account on the ADvTECH Career Portal, you will need to register on their website. You do not need to register on the ISASA site)

ADvTECH is an equal opportunity employer. Only successful candidates will be notified. Preference will be given to EE candidates.