Application Support Analyst - Academic Services - 103909 - Grade 6

Reporting to one of the Programme's Senior Leadership Team the StARS programme is looking to recruit a Project Manager to join the Team. The post holder will lead, develop and manage the development of a range of service releases as part of the StARS Programme. In conjunction with senior colleagues, the Project Manager will also play a role in engagement, development, and implementation of the project as a whole.

This post is an exciting opportunity for career advancement. Through the role, the successful candidate will develop a thorough understanding of the University's student administrative services and systems and contribute towards a truly transformational change programme.

We particularly welcome applications from candidates with experience of student administration within a HE context.

The primary responsibility of the Application Analyst is to provide support for the Universities business applications as part of the StARS Programme team.

Main Duties

Service Level Management

Performs defined tasks to monitor service delivery against service level agreements and maintains records of relevant information. Analyses service records against agreed service levels regularly to identify actions required to maintain or improve levels of service, and initiates or reports these actions.

Application Support

Maintains application support processes, and checks that all requests for support are dealt with according to agreed procedures. Uses application management software and tools to investigate issues, collect performance statistics and create reports.

Incident Management

Prioritises and diagnoses incidents according to agreed procedures. Investigates causes of incidents and seeks resolution. Escalates unresolved incidents. Facilitates recovery, following resolution of incidents. Documents and closes resolved incidents according to agreed procedures.

Customer Service Support

Monitors customer service and collects performance data. Assists with the specification, development, research and evaluation of services standards. Applies these standards to resolve or escalate issues and gives technical briefings to staff members.

Service Acceptance

Engages with technical design and project managers or Project Management Office, to ensure correct products are produced, in a timely fashion. Evaluates the quality of project outputs against agreed service acceptance criteria.

Relationship Management

Identifies the communications needs of each stakeholder group in conjunction with business owners and subject matter experts. Translates communications / stakeholder engagement strategies into specific tasks. Facilitates open communication and discussion between stakeholders, acting as a single point of contact by developing, maintaining and working to stakeholder engagement strategies and plans. Negotiates with stakeholders at senior levels, ensuring that organisational policy and strategies are adhered to. Provides informed feedback to assess and promote understanding.

Testing

When required under the guidance of the Test Lead, reviews requirements and specifications, and defines test conditions. Designs test cases and test scripts under own direction, mapping back to pre-determined criteria, recording and reporting outcomes. Analyses and reports test activities and results. Identifies and reports issues and risks associated with own work.

Change Management

Assesses, analyses, develops, documents and implements changes based on requests for change.

Release and Deployment

Assesses and analyses release components. Provides input to scheduling. Carries out tests in coordination with testers and component specialists maintaining and administering the tools and methods - manual or automatic - and ensuring, where possible, information exchange with configuration management. Ensures release processes and procedures are maintained.

Problem Management

Initiates and monitors actions to investigate and resolve problems in systems, processes and services. Determines problem fixes/remedies. Assists with the implementation of agreed remedies and preventative measures.

Technical Specialism

Provides leadership to promote the development and exploitation of specialist knowledge related to the services they are supporting. The Application Analyst will be expected to have or to gain expertise in one or more of the following application areas:

• Student Administration and Recruitment


• Finance


• Teaching and Learning


• Library


• Research


• HR and Payroll


• External Relations


• IT, Estates and Hospitality


The Application Analyst will be responsible for defined application configuration and enhancements to systems up to the point of custom coding solutions, managed using a Kanban framework and using some of the following tools and technologies:

• Banner XE tools


• Oracle Fusion tools


• Javascript and CSS


• Wordpress themes


• SharePoint (including limited Js coding around web parts)


• ServiceNow development


• Extensions of existing BOXI Universes


Learning Design and Development

Specifies the content and structure of learning and development materials. Takes responsibility for design, creation, packaging and maintenance and manages development to deliver agreed outcomes. Where required, designs, configures and tests learning environments, including population of simulated databases, and replication of external systems, interfaces, and assessment systems. Secures external accreditations as appropriate.

Learning Delivery

Plans and schedules the delivery of learning activities, based on learning objectives. Manages the delivery of programmes of learning. Customises formal and informal learning activities, incorporating relevant business scenarios and case studies. Designs appropriate environments, and delivers learning activities to specialist audiences. Advises/coaches others in learning delivery techniques and options.

Contract Management

Sources and collects contract performance data (such as pricing and supply chain costs), and monitors performance against KPIs. Identifies and reports under-performance and develops opportunities for improvement. Monitors compliance with Terms and Conditions and take appropriate steps to address non-compliance. Pro-actively manages risk and reward mechanisms in the contract. Monitors progress against business objectives. Identifies where change is required, and plans for variations. In consultation with stakeholders, ensures that change management protocols are implemented.

Availability & Continuity Management

Contributes to the availability management process and its operation and performs defined availability management tasks. Analyses service and component availability, reliability, maintainability and serviceability. Ensures that services and components meet and continue to meet all of their agreed performance targets and service levels. Implements arrangements for disaster recovery and documents recovery procedures. Conducts testing of recovery procedures. Provides input to the service continuity planning process and implements resulting plans.

Has proven specialist knowledge of application management and support as detailed below, including methods and procedures gained through either proven experience and/or formal qualifications. Ability to diagnose/ resolve problems and suggest solutions in own area, whilst having regard to the local and wider interests of the University.

• Application Configuration


• Relevant Business Applications


• Incident Management


• Application Support


• Service Level Management


• Service Acceptance


• Relationship Management


• Customer Service Support


• Change Management


• Release and Deployment


• Contract Management


• Testing


• Learning Design and Development


• Learning Delivery


• Availability Management


• Continuity Management


Communication

Excellent communication skills. Needs to understand customer requirements and ensure solutions are developed to meet their needs. Provides specific support and advice, often challenging and reinterpreting requests. Ability to analyse problems and summarise key points to others, including non-specialist staff.

Dealing with problems

Strong problem solving skills. Proactively anticipates and identifies problems/ weaknesses within own area based on own experience. Foresees wider problems and makes appropriate suggestions to solve these within own work or project area. Able to develop and implement improvement programmes within the services they are responsible for and within Application Operations.

Organisational Skills

Must be able to manage own time effectively and prioritise their workload.

The University of Birmingham is proud to have been a part of the City of Birmingham and the wider region for over 100 years, and we are equally proud to be recognised as a leading global university. We want to attract talented people from across the city and beyond, support them to succeed, and celebrate their success.

We are committed to helping the people who work here to develop through our sector-leading Birmingham Professional programme which provides all professional services staff with development opportunities and the encouragement to reach their full potential. With almost 5,000 professional services jobs in a wide-range of functions in Edgbaston and in our campus in Dubai, there are plenty of opportunities for you to be able to develop your career at the University.

We believe there is no such thing as a typical member of staff and that diversity is a source of strength that underpins the exchange of ideas, innovation, and debate. We warmly welcome people from all backgrounds and are committed to fostering an inclusive environment where diversity is at the heart of who and what we are, and how we work.

Supporting our people to achieve a healthy work/life balance is important both to our employees and to the success of the University and, depending on the role, we offer a variety of flexible working arrangements. We therefore welcome discussions on all forms of flexible working. In addition, you will receive a generous package of benefits including 40 days paid holiday a year, one paid day a year for volunteering, occupational sick pay, and a pension scheme. We also have three high quality subsidised day nurseries.

The University is situated in leafy Edgbaston and there are excellent transport links to our beautiful campus, including main bus routes and a train station on site. On campus we have a state-of-the-art sports centre with pool, shops, places to eat and drink, our own art gallery, museum and botanical gardens.

Find out more about the benefits of working for the University of Birmingham, We believe there is no such thing as a 'typical' member of University of Birmingham staff and that diversity in its many forms is a strength that underpins the exchange of ideas, innovation and debate at the heart of University life. We are committed to proactively addressing the barriers experienced by some groups in our community and are proud to hold Athena SWAN, Race Equality Charter and Disability Confident accreditations. We have an Equality Diversity and Inclusion Centre that focuses on continuously improving the University as a fair and inclusive place to work where everyone has the opportunity to succeed. We are also committed to sustainability, which is a key part of our strategy . You can find out more about our work to create a fairer university for everyone on our website .