Business Analyst

Business Analyst

Job Title:                            Business Analyst

Post Number:                      68814

Job Level:                           GMG/SEG 3

Department:                     The Accountant General’s Department – A Department of the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service

Introduction:

The Accountant General’s Department (AGD) is the nation’s Treasury, charged with facilitating and reporting on the flow of funds within the public sector of Jamaica.  The Financial Administration and Audit Act (FAA) Act Section 15 establishes the Accountant General as the custodian of the Consolidated Fund, with specific responsibility for the collection, safekeeping and proper disbursement of all sums due to and payable from the Consolidated Fund. The FAA Act, the Jamaican Constitution Section 117, the Crown Properties Vesting Act, as well as other laws and enactments outline the roles and responsibilities of the Accountant General.

The AGD is the hub of Government financial activities and as business owner is responsible for the operational governance of its treasury IT systems.

The Business Analyst will support the treasury in all areas of operations in targeted initiatives through modernising fiscal processes using better methods, techniques and cutting edge information technology. The AGD is at the forefront of public financial management, and is expanding its financial management systems under its reform and modernization processes, while supporting its various customers and stakeholders.

The GOJ is committed to a series of sequenced reform efforts with a view to adopting a Fiscal Responsibility Framework (FRF) for the conduct of fiscal policy in Jamaica.  The introduction of the FRF has provided the legal basis for the necessary reform activities to strengthen existing Public Financial Management PFM systems and contribute to fiscal sustainability.

The Accountant General is the paymaster of the Government of Jamaica GOJ and all payments from the Consolidated Fund have been centralised through the Central Treasury Management System (CTMS),   and its bank account, the Treasury Single Account (TSA). The AGD has now entered in a phase where both the functionality and the coverage of the CTMS and the TSA need to be expanded.

Description

The Business Analyst will serve as the bridge between its business units and its technical information team in expanding the coverage and functionality of the CTMS and the TSA. S/he Analyst is responsible for supporting IT and business management on both applying technology to business opportunities and planning and implementing cross-functional applications and/or systems. S/he works closely with all the process owners (end to end, functional, and discrete), his/her fellow team members, and the technology team to support the development of operational and process issues, making the best use of the available, standard tools the Government Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS) and other approved standard applications and tools). S/he counsels process owners on how to effectively use business applications or systems, including advanced functions and productivity enhancements. S/he also develops and maintains complete and accurate understanding of how the business unit conducts its business, the business's current technology and infrastructure, and long-range business objectives. S/he functions as the main liaison between the business process unit and the systems applications / development and programming areas.

 Strategic Objectives

Reporting to the Accountant General, the business owner the Business Analyst will balance the Department’s information technology capabilities with its business goals. S/he will serve as a liaison among stakeholders in order to understand the structure, policies, and operations of the AGD, and to recommend solutions that enable the organization to achieve its goals. S/he will bridge the gap between the business units’ requirements and the technical delivery team and help to successfully deliver projects within a diverse and challenging space.

Key to this objective, the business analyst will establish the required business procedures through working with the business units and technical teams to support the full implementation of the CTMS across the Government, and to assist the Accountant General in deploying the policies and procedures in line with CTMS requirements.  The analyst will also establish and effect business procedures to implement other solutions required to modernise reporting function in other non-CTMS areas.

A key objective of this role is to bridge the gap between the business units’ requirements and the technical delivery team and help to successfully deliver projects within a diverse and challenging space. The Business Analyst will be required to perform tasks on the following aspects of the project lifecycle:

• Project Initiation (preparation of Project Initiation Documents);
  • Business Analysis (requirements gathering and documentation);  
  • Functional Design (preparation and documentation of Functional Specifications and Use Cases);  
  • Test planning, preparation and execution (preparation of system and integration test plans, test cases and test progress reporting);  Issue analysis and resolution

Job Purpose

Reporting to the Accountant General, the business owner, the Business Analyst works with stakeholders from all business units and related third parties to define and document business processes and software requirements for technology initiatives, upgrades and maintenance. This also includes content management systems, and business information systems.

Summary of the broad purpose of the position in relation to Government’s goals and strategies:                                                                                   

• To review the actual processes within the AGD business.
• To make or suggest a more efficient model and work flow process.

Key Responsibilities and Tasks

Job Specific

• Prepares plans of individual projects; identifies the “as is” and “to be” scenarios, and conducts a gap analysis;
• Prepares requirements gathering, model multiple solutions, and defines the scope using optimum, solution;
• Obtains approval from business units and business owner;
• Prepares test case  and knowledge transfer to IT/Developers;
• Works with the Treasury IT project process covering all business aspects from requirements gathering through implementation;
• Provides support after implementation, monitoring and evaluation;
•  Facilitates the relationship with business users and delivery team;
• Takes  responsibility  for requirements gathering, business analysis, functional design, system and integration testing
• Ensures that specific project deliverables are produced on time in accordance with the project plan and makes sure that all relevant parties are informed of progress;
• Reports project progress at regular intervals to the business owner and produces key documentation for distribution;
• Maintains a quality control process and ensures that project deliverables meet the required quality standards;
•  Monitors risks and issues for a  successful outcome;
• Provides ideas to enhance/improve the delivery process of Treasury projects;
•  Identifies user needs and resolves problems;

• Liaises with system stakeholders to elicit stakeholder needs and identifies system features required to support those needs;
•  Ensures that system requirements are described and modeled using appropriate techniques, i.e. business process modeling, case modeling, user story definition, specification by example;
•  Defines / Enforces system scope and managing changes to requirements;
• Guides the business units in appreciating the cost/benefit of potential solutions and ensuring the best result;
• Understands the end to end solution from both a business and technical perspective;
• Supports the design, development and testing of the solution;
• Identifies recommendations for improvements to processes, practices and procedures and implements changes with minimal disruption;
• Meets or exceeds divisional performance targets;
• Any other duty that may be from time to time assigned by the Accountant General.

 Key Performance Indicators

The job is successfully performed when:

• The business processes in the domain of the AGD are analysed and the business processes are documented with the appropriate assessment of the business model;
• Plans are done showing as is, to be and the gap analysis, detailing an appropriate solution;
• There is effective dialogue and relationship  between business units and IT  team;
• Requirements gathering, business analysis, functional design, system and integration testing are competently completed for each project;
• Project deliverables are produced on time in accordance with the project plan and  all relevant parties are informed of progress;
• Quality control is used to  ensure that project deliverables meet the required quality standards
•  Risks and issues for a project’s successful outcome are successfully managed;
• Project progress  reports are done at  regular intervals as set,  to the business owner and  key documentation is produced for distribution;
•  Ideas are shared to enhance/improve the delivery process of Treasury projects;
• The work plan and inception report are submitted to the Accountant General
• Requirements  gathering and the relevant gap analyses, conceptual; designs and functional designs are prepared and submitted;
• User documentations at all levels are produced.
• All aspects of the project life cycle are completed to standard and acceptance
• Work plans describe what has been done and what still needs to be done to successfully complete the work at any point in time.
• The requirements and conceptual design specifications produced result in the provision of a system which has user acceptance.
• Design specifications are consistent with the input and output and functional expectations described in the requirements analysis documentation.
• Implementations are well managed and supported and issues are identified and addressed during implementation checks.
• Deliverables are produced within agreed timeframes to required standards.

Competencies for this Job: 

The underlying competencies are skills, knowledge and personal characteristics that support the effective performance of business analysis. The underlying competency areas relevant to business analysis include:

• An advanced and solid understanding of end to end process or processes in business units;
• Demonstrated technical and business documentation and small-large group facilitation skills.
• Domain expertise in business administration, finance administration or accounting  
  • administration;
  • Excellent change management skills
  • Ability to design and implement process and structure where none exists;
  • Able to meet and deliver on deadlines and able to work effectively under pressure; 
  • Strong stakeholder management - able to build trust and respect at a high level
  • Excellent communicator at all levels in the organization, both written and verbal
  • Highly organized, self-motivated, and action oriented
  • Ability to focus on both the big picture and the details;
  • Excellent workshop / meeting facilitation / presentation skills;
  • Capable of working with minimal supervision, flexible in approach and able to adapt to changing circumstances of the project;
  • Demonstrative problem solving and decision making skills;
  • Adaptive communication. Ability to communicate with various and diverse teams/stakeholders; adjust to crisis; communicate the value of IT and innovation.
  • Communication Proficiency: The job requires that the incumbent be an excellent communicator. Orally, in writing, in one on ones face to face, and possess excellent public speaking skills.
  • Ethical Conduct:  The incumbent is a senior public servant who represents the government at all times. S/he must be of good moral turpitude. As well, s/he must demonstrate sound business ethics; observe the codes of conduct for employees and codes of professional practice.
  • Leadership: must be an effective leader; 
  • Performance Management: this position set the standard for activities that ensure that goals and objectives of the Department are met in a consistent effective and efficient manner.
  • Problem Solving/Analysis: The job environment is dynamic. The incumbent must have the capacity to analyze problems quickly, chose between alternatives and effect meaningful solutions.
  • Strategic Thinking: The incumbent must be a strategist. S/he must possess the ability to derive effective plans in keeping with the Department’s objectives within a particular situation. This strategic thinker will ensure the proper review of policy issues , perform medium and long term planning, set goals, determine priorities and identify potential risks and opportunities.

• Proven ability to  develop a clearly defined and focused business vision;
• Proven  and advanced skills in project management

• Proven skills in defining  problems, generating alternatives, evaluating  and selecting  alternatives;
•  Ability to work collaboratively and effectively;
•  Be of excellent moral standing
• Excellent leadership and team-building skills;
• A team player who can demonstrate leadership as well as support for colleagues;
• Eliciting Requirements – This is a major function of the job as requirements are the basis for determining the need by the business unit to solve a business problem.
• Analytical Thinking and Problem Solving. Structured Analysis- The incumbent must have competencies in the art of modelling to identify and evaluate requirements, help identify and validate requirements, document and communicate requirements and, organize information into coherent ideas.
• Documentation – must be able to create the Business Requirements Document – providing insights on the “as is” and “to be” states of the AGD business processes.
• Testing. Must be able to test by preparing test case scenarios.
• End user support- must be competent and able to provide end-user support even after the product is delivered. This is a vital competency.
• Be highly adept in supporting the development of effective working relationships  between business units, IT and other third parties.
• Must have an excellent grasp and understanding of the business knowledge. Must be able to support the understanding of the treasury or other environment in which the business analysis is performed and knowledge of general business principles and available solutions.
• Must be an excellent communicator. The business analyst main tool is communicating to elicit requirements among stakeholders. Communication skills are necessary to address the need to listen to and understand the audience, understanding how the audience perceives the business analysis, understanding the communications objective(s), the message itself, and the most appropriate media and format for communication.
• Effective and deployable interaction skills. This skill supports the business analyst when working with large numbers of stakeholders, and involves both the ability to work as part of a larger team and to help that team reach decisions. S/he must be able to identify and describe a desired future state, and must also be able to help the AGD reach agreement that the future state in question is desired through a combination of leadership and facilitation.

Human Resource Responsibilities

• Set standards for performance targets
• Staff coaching
• On-time effective and objective staff performance management

Person Specification

Qualification and Training

A bachelor’s degree in Information Technology or Computer Technology

Essential:

• Certification as a member the International Institute of Business Analysts IIBA or any other recognized certifying body;

Desirable:

• Graduate degree in Business Administration;  Accounting or Finance
• Project management in a  Finance background

Essential Experience and  Knowledge

• Proven experience in the development of visionary plans;
• Proven experience defining best practices for process design, functional analysis, requirements definition and workflow automation;
• Proven  experience developing test criteria, test plans, and change control support functions;
• Experience of the full software delivery lifecycle, from initial requirements gathering through 

• At least seven years’ experience providing consulting advice to IT and business management teams in business systems analysis and design, preferably in the finance sector.

development, test and UAT to post-implementation support

• In-depth technical  and working  knowledge business processes;
• Knowledge of the various guiding Acts and Regulations.
• Knowledge of computer systems audit;

PHYSICAL DEMANDS The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the primary functions of this job.

WORK ENVIRONMENT The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the primary functions of this job. Normal office conditions.

Other Duties

Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities and activities may change at any time with or without notice.