Systems Analyst II

The Systems Analyst II implements, integrates and supports complex or campus-wide vendor supplied applications. This position specifically consults with user groups to determine business needs and to identify and support the appropriate enterprise, multi-stakeholder technology solution.

The incumbent may be assigned responsibilities for specific departments and will act as an advocate to champion the needs of those departments. This will include coaching business decision makers, understanding the impact of technical changes on business processes and leveraging common approaches and resources between departments. This position also acts as a subject matter expert, and provides technical leadership, business process analysis, systems support coordination, and application lifecycle management.

The Incumbent provides both business and technical expertise to sustain a strategic application system with a focus on providing integration and application support, requirements definition, functional application design, configuration, implementation, testing, data validation, new application updates/releases, training, troubleshooting, and documentation.

Organizational Status

The Systems Analyst II reports to the Team Lead, EMMS Sustainment and liaises with technical and functional staff throughout the UBC community.

Work Performed

• Supports the ongoing sustainment of the UBC’s Enterprise Maintenance Management Solution (EMMS)

• Designs, implements and maintains departmental IT infrastructure for the Application Sustainment portfolio to facilitate efficient and effective use of systems for day-to-day operations.

• Facilitates the implementation and maintenance of departmental and enterprise applications.

• Coordinates the integration of these applications with other UBC systems and services.

• Designs, develops and programs custom software, defines detailed application specifications, standards, and diagrams and develops coding logic flowcharts.

• Resolves complex application related failures and defects independently or in consultation with other IT professionals and/or third-party vendors

• Perform in-depth troubleshooting using knowledge of network/server administration, internet protocols, database architecture and application configuration.

• Designs and maintains complex databases using a variety of platforms to support application and research environments. Provide custom reporting, data analysis and extracts.

• Participates in the assessment of client needs utilizing a structured requirements process (gathering, analyzing, documenting, and managing changes) to identify business priorities and recommend options.

• Performs formal system audits and develop written procedures, standards and practices to ensure a high level of availability, security, data integrity and hardware/software compatibility.

• Implements, configures, monitors, tests, troubleshoots and resolves issues with servers and system
  software

• Provides Tier 0, 1 and 2 operational support for production systems including troubleshooting system availability, integration issues, problem reports, resolving issues, defining operational support processes, and providing end user support. Analyze and assign priority to incidents and problems. Works with Tier 3 as necessary for problem resolution.

• Develops a high level of expertise in the functionality of vendor product(s). Acts as a liaison with the vendor technical support centre in order to resolve product issues.

• Develops and maintains relevant documentation, including that for customers, end-users, operational procedures, and application support teams. Assists with development of sound business continuity and disaster recovery plans for applications.

• Assists to identify customer requirements, design business processes, analyze and review product features, identify integration requirements, security requirements, and scalability, performance requirements, change requirements, and change approval. Recommends implementation options, discusses approach and recommendations with systems staff and customers, and provides input to technology recommendations for new and changing systems requirements.

• Administration of user profiles and access, and collaborates across the EMMS team and UBC departments to onboard of new stakeholder groups.

• Acts as the functional expert in the areas of asset management, inventory management, maintenance management, and finance & purchase management

• Acquires and maintains a working knowledge of the University's enterprise application architecture(s) including data management.

• Develops deep product knowledge of the applications used to support the relevant functional area and provides recommendations on how the applications should be configured or enhanced to meet existing or new requirements.

• Fields specialist knowledge tickets and support problem and incident resolutions.

• Reviews and prioritize releases, enhancements, and changes.

• Conducts business/functional tests, configuration validation and facilitates integrated testing.

• Gathers, analyzes, and defines reporting needs and requirements and develops reports; create, run, and provide analysis on reports

• Defines and prepares security roles/groups and work for implementation.

• Partners across the EMMS and broader UBC Community for the creation of test cases.
  
  Core Duties

• Researches and evaluates vendor supplied applications, develops recommendations, and implements accordingly.

• Analyzes and reviews existing or proposed system features and integration, security,
  scalability and performance requirements with clients, business analysts, and team
  members.

• Manages production and non-production application environments.

• Maintains core application infrastructure, including virtual servers, networks and
  firewalls.

• Plans and performs global configuration changes or module deployments for
  enterprise or complex applications.

• Integrates vendor supplied applications with existing infrastructure and applications
  through custom interfaces and components.

• Manages small to medium sized projects and related budgets.

• Provides technical expertise, training, and consultation to other staff.

• Develops or modifies software code to meet specifications or facilitate integration.

• Conducts testing of new or customized application modules to ensure application
  meets specifications.

• Develops application documentation requirements for functions, modifications, backups
  and operating procedures. Provides ongoing maintenance and operational
  support for applications.

• Supports application lifecycle and applies and follows appropriate change
  management methodologies and best practices.

• Maintains appropriate professional designations and up-to-date knowledge of current
  information technology techniques and tools and provides input to strategies for
  ongoing support and upgrade of these systems.

• Builds and maintains good working relationships and collaborates with others to
  achieve client objectives.

• Performs other related duties as required.

Consequence of Error

Effective infrastructure and application lifecycle management is essential for UBC to deliver services across campus. Decisions and actions taken by the incumbent will have a direct impact on how efficiently and effectively UBC systems perform and function.
Failure to meet service level obligations for performance and availability of Applications could adversely affect the University community, including the large majority of students, faculty and staff, and could cost millions of dollars in lost productivity, funding and revenue. It will also risk damaging the reputation of University as a whole.

Supervision Received

Works with wide latitude. Work is reviewed in terms of achievement of objectives and goals.
Carries work through to completion, keeping supervisor informed of the status of work in progress and seeking guidance when required.

Supervision Given

Occasional team and/or matrix supervision of staff in regards to enterprise applications. Acts a mentor or coach to peers as required.

Minimum Qualifications

Undergraduate degree in a relevant discipline. In-depth knowledge of applications and the business requirements supporting them. Minimum of five years of related experience, or the equivalent combination of education and experience.

- Willingness to respect diverse perspectives, including perspectives in conflict with one’s own
- Demonstrates a commitment to enhancing one’s own awareness, knowledge, and skills related to equity, diversity, and inclusion

Preferred Qualifications

Undergraduate degree in a relevant discipline. Undergraduate degree in Computer Science preferred. A minimum of 5 years of experience, in-depth knowledge of applications and the business requirements supporting them or the equivalent combination of education and experience. Significant experience with in-depth support of applications and/or administering systems and infrastructure.

Experience with the following:
- data management, including data quality, alignment with data classifications, data consistency, data manipulation and data migrations
- cloud solutions, OO databases, SQL/Oracle expertise, SQLDeveloper, Informatica
- MuleSoft, Postman, Soap, SAML
- integration testing, as well as system, functional and user acceptance testing
- Agile, ServiceNow & JIRA
- relevant application development tools including; HTML, PHP and Java.
- implementing enterprise web-based solutions
- scripting languages such as PERL, Python
- Testing best practices/concepts; as well as design,
development and the implementation of specific applications.

Ability to effectively manage multiple tasks and priorities while working under pressure to meet critical,
time sensitive deadlines.
Strong organizational and planning skills.

Collaboration - Actively solicits ideas and opinions from others to efficiently and effectively accomplish specific objectives targeted at defined business outcomes. Openly encourages other team members to voice their ideas and concerns. Shows respect for differences and diversity, and disagrees without personalizing issues. Utilizes strengths of team members to achieve optimal performance.

Communication for Results - Conducts discussions with and writes memoranda to all levels of colleagues and peer groups in ways that support troubleshooting and problem solving. Seeks and shares relevant information, opinions, and judgments. Handles conflict empathetically. Explains the context of interrelated situations, asks probing questions, and solicits multiple sources of advice prior to taking action when appropriate.

Problem Solving - Applies problem-solving methodologies and tools to diagnose and solve operational and interpersonal problems. Determines the potential causes of the problem and devises testing methodologies for validation. Shows empathy and objectivity toward individuals involved in the issue. Analyzes multiple alternatives, risks, and benefits for a range of potential solutions. Recommends resource requirements and collaborates with impacted stakeholders.

Accountability - Sets objectives that meet organizational needs. Provides recommendations to individuals and teams on ways to improve performance and meet defined objectives. Monitors and provides feedback on individual and team performance against defined standards.

Business Process Knowledge - Maps full business processes and designs operational process flow. Facilitates group input and drafts proposals for process improvements. Identifies resource implications. Implements process improvement recommendations within the context of overall business processes.

Information Systems Knowledge - Resolves escalated problems of technical support. Identifies root causes. Sets up and integrates new and enhanced information systems. Identifies customer needs and determines the appropriate approach to apply and ensure resolution. Solicits the input of appropriate technical experts and managers as required.