SENIOR BUSINESS SYSTEM ANALYST

Req : 238901 Department: OFFICE OF RESEARCH INFORMATION SERVICES Appointing Department Web Address: https://www.washington.edu/research/oris/ Job Location Detail: Telework/hybrid/remote work available Posting Date: 09/16/2024 Closing Info: Open Until Filled Salary: $8,500 - $9,500 per month Shift: First Shift Notes: As a UW employee, you will enjoy generous benefits and work/life programs. For a complete description of our benefits for this position, please visit our website, click here. (https://hr.uw.edu/benefits/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2018/02/benefits-professional-staff-librarians-academic-staff-20230701_a11y.pdf ) As a UW employee, you have a unique opportunity to change lives on our campuses, in our state and around the world. UW employees offer their boundless energy, creative problem-solving skills, and dedication to build stronger minds and a healthier world. UW faculty and staff also enjoy outstanding benefits, professional growth opportunities and unique resources in an environment noted for diversity, intellectual excitement, artistic pursuits, and natural beauty. The Office of Research Information Services has an outstanding opportunity for a Senior Business System Analyst to join their team. The Business System Analyst is responsible for conducting a variety of activities to support ORIS projects from requirement gathering and needs assessment through design and implementation. The successful candidate works with stakeholders and the project team to design and develop applications that create an efficient process for researchers and administrators to procure and manage research grants. This position contributes technical systems design and development expertise within a diverse team environment that includes stakeholders from a broad range of campus and administrative units. Successful candidates must interface productively with system end-users and have the flexibility to take on broader responsibilities when necessary. Technical scope requires deep knowledge of standard software development processes including use case, user story and acceptance test case development, requirements management, quality assurance processes, systems analysis and documentation, database design and data modeling. Successful design of solutions also requires knowledge about the policies, functional processes and procedures, and roles of the University. The scope of tasks to be performed spans all project phases including opportunity analysis, design, implementation, communication, training, and support. The UW is one of the worlds preeminent public universities. Our impact on individuals, our region and the world is profound whether we are launching young people into a boundless future or confronting the grand challenges of our time through undaunted research and scholarship. The responsibilities of the Senior Business Analyst have a direct impact on the UWs breakthrough research by supporting researchers and research staff in their ability to successfully procure funding and efficiently manage research projects. The person in this position must be able to ask the right questions of the right people and be capable of compiling the data concisely, detailing the requirements needed in a format that enables design, development and quality assurance by the development team. The position also requires an ability to communicate clearly with team members, business partners, and with campus end-users to ensure smooth roll out and successful adoption of new applications or enhancements. The Senior Business Analyst is also expected to contribute enterprise-level analysis and thinking to project plans, needs assessments, solution generation and integrations. DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES Business Analysis (60%) Research and analyze end-user needs using user centered design (UCD) practices, and various elicitation techniques, to include structured interviews, surveys, site visits, focus groups. Use agile methodologies to break complex feature requirements into manageable chunks of work that deliver value to the end user. Create artifacts as needed to support clear understanding of business needs, including business process diagrams, use cases, scenarios, and task and workflow analysis. Facilitate discussions with stakeholders and subject matter experts, to develop shared understanding of needs and build consensus related to priorities and requirements and develop inclusive solutions that thoughtfully balance trade-offs and benefits among process stakeholders. Develop and maintain analysis plans that track all key analysis activities necessary during the opportunity analysis/discovery phase of new projects. Critically evaluate information gathered from multiple sources, reconcile conflicts, decompose or abstract up as needed to represent true underlying needs to audiences with different needs and/or levels of understanding. Document functional requirements, user interaction requirements, non-functional requirements, specifications, and acceptance criteria to support software development, quality assurance, support and learning materials, and other downstream development support processes. Play an active role in the testing and validation of systems to ensure a quality product is delivered. Work collaboratively with ORIS staff and business partners to create effective communications on upcoming system and process changes for campus end-users and other business partners. Design and facilitate requirements workshops, user research sessions, and collaborative design sessions. Perform enterprise-level analysis, identifying business needs and capability gaps, creating business cases, and determining high-level solution approach and scope. Serve as mentor and role model to junior-level BAs.SR. BA SPECIALTY AREAS (20%)The Sr. Business Analyst is expected to have a high level of expertise in one or more of the following specialty areas.Project Management Specialist: Serve in a project management capacity over moderately complex projects, developing project plans, monitoring progress, and reporting out on project status. Lead, organize and influence positively and effectively. Maneuver through unstructured problems and create the necessary structure to drive for results. Serve software development team(s) as Scrum Master, facilitating Scrum ceremonies, removing impediments, coordinating feature development, testing, release and communications. Identify project issues and risks, escalate as appropriate to leadership, and develop mitigation strategies and options. Manage communications to stakeholders and team members around issues and risks. Manage competing stakeholder priorities to ensure the highest value is being delivered to the customerData/Systems Analysis Specialist: Provide system analysis and develop supporting artifacts such as data dictionaries, mapping documents, entity relationship and conceptual diagrams, to support systems integration, data migration, and reporting. Translate business requirements into reporting frameworks and technical definitions for development and ongoing enhancement of data collection and management. Use querying tools and languages such as T-SQL to analyze data to inform business decisions, validate system behavior, and aid in QA of data. Partner with team members in the development of test cases for data and reporting. Business Process Specialist: Work with customers to define current- and future-state business processes, using process modeling tools and techniques that allow for easy visualization and consumption by varied audiences invested or affected by the changes. Facilitate stakeholder groups to consensus regarding new business process designs. Assess the impact of business process changes within people, systems, operations and management, and identify linkages to business strategies. Utilize techniques for assessing root cause analysis and value stream mapping to ensure focus is on the issues that can affect positive change and add business value most directly.Communications and Relationship Development/Management (15%) Establish and foster good working relationships with business partners, stakeholder groups, and fellow team members by providing ongoing communication and check-ins throughout the design and implementation phases to ensure products are adequately meeting the business need before release. Work collaboratively with ORIS staff and business partners to create effective communications for upcoming releases. Provide trainings and presentations on new products/features, as required. Serve as advocate and advisor to business units, helping them better clarify and articulate business needs, within the context of the broader product strategy and vision.Other Duties as Assigned (5%) MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS Bachelors Degree in computer science, business administration, information science or other technical area. Minimum 5 years of experience performing progressively more complex and responsible tasks. Equivalent education/experience will substitute for all minimum qualifications except when there are legal requirements, such as a license/certification/registration. ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS Knowledge and experience with UCD practices to fully understand business needs and successfully translate business needs into appropriate documentation for system implementation. Demonstrated diagnostic and problem-solving skills. Demonstrated ability to work independently and as part of a team in a cooperative effort. Strong customer focus and management of client expectations; ability to establish and maintain a high level of user trust and confidence. Fluent knowledge of MS Visio, PowerPoint, MS Office Suite, Google G Suite. Strong working knowledge of a broad range of BA tools and techniques used for requirements elicitation, analysis, documentation and modelling, and validation. Exceptional skills in written and verbal communication, to include fostering a shared understanding of requirements, successful conflict resolution, group facilitation, and status reporting. Deep knowledge and experience developing and implementing a variety of desktop and distributed software systems involving web-based user interfaces, relational databases (transactional and data warehouses) and SQL in support of administrative applications. Demonstrated competency in BA planning and requirements management. In-depth knowledge of software development processes outside of the BA domain, such as quality assurance, data modelling, database design. Experience working on multiple project types (COTS, new product development, maintenance), and multiple business areas. High level of competency in 1 or more specialty areas: business process analysis, data and systems analysis, project management. DESIRED QUALIFICATIONS Experience working in a university and/or a consensus driven environment. Knowledge of lean/agile software development practices including Kanban and scrum. Knowledge and experience analyzing and implementing enterprise system solutions such as portal, workflow, content management, and/or data warehouse. CONDITITONS OF EMPLOYMENT This position contributes in a collaborative teamwork environment. Collaboration among the software developers, website team members, business analysts, project managers, editors, quality assurance, support and others is done in a shared space working environment through ad hoc meetings focused on problem-solving, and the use of synchronous and asynchronous communication tools. Inflexible deadlines are common and non-standard working hours can be necessary. This position will primarily be expected to work standard working hours, aligned with Pacific Time zone where the office is based, and may require off-hours work for go-lives, incidents, and other deployments. The Office of Research shares President Cauces commitment to combat inequities and racism. The values of diversity, equity and inclusion are integral to the success of our research enterprise and are embedded in the culture of who we are as an institution and employer. We will honor different and unique identities and nurture an accessible, welcoming and respectful environment for all staff, students and faculty in the Office of Research and for all members of the UW research community. We will regularly review our services and systems and adapt them to reflect the evolving environments and work styles of our employees and those we serve. We are ALL responsible for confronting bias and inequities, both individual and institutional, that persist here and throughout our society. Our call is to remove barriers and promote access, opportunity, and justice for all. We all must commit to this ongoing work. Recognizing and valuing diversity will make the Office of Research and the University stronger, and enrich the stellar research carried out at the UW. Application Process: The application process may include completion of a variety of online assessments to obtain additional information that will be used in the evaluation process. These assessments may include Work Authorization, Cover Letter and/or others. Any assessments that you need to complete will appear on your screen as soon as you select Apply to this position. Once you begin an assessment, it must be completed at that time; if you do not complete the assessment, you will be prompted to do so the next time you access your My Jobs page. If you select to take it later, it will appear on your "My Jobs" page to take when you are access ready. Please note that your application will not be reviewed, and you will not be considered for this position until all required assessments have been completed. University of Washington is an affirmative action and equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to, among other things, race, religion, color, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, sex, age, protected veteran or disabled status, or genetic information.