Position Details

Academic Services

Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK

Full time starting salary is normally in the range £45,585 to £54,395 with potential progression once in post to £61,198

Grade: 8

Full Time, Fixed Term contract up to September 2025

Closing date: 5th April 2024

This role is also open as an internal secondment opportunity which would need to be agreed by your current line manager.

Our offer to you

People are at the heart of what we are and do.

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

Background

StARS (Student Administration Refresh and Simplification) is a University-wide programme to simplify, standardise and improve our student administration services, enabled by a replacement and upgrade of our student record system. Its vision is to deliver a better experience for students, academics and Professional Services staff; and enables a fundamental shift towards a more flexible set of capabilities and services that are fit for the future.

Role Summary

StARS (Student Administration Refresh and Simplification) is a University-wide programme to simplify, standardise and improve our student administration services, enabled by a replacement and upgrade of our student record system. Its vision is to deliver a better experience for students, academics and Professional Services staff; and enables a fundamental shift towards a more flexible set of capabilities and services that are fit for the future.

StARS programme is looking to recruit a Senior Business Analyst (SBA) to join the Programme’s Team. The primary responsibility of the Senior Business Analyst (SBA) is to provide business analysis services for the University. They will deliver business analysis services based on best practice with the overarching objective to create strategic alignment between IT Services (ITS) and the University. They will deliver a professional service often at an early point to advise the University on an effective course of action. 

The SBA will ensure that all business changes are in line with the mission, objectives and strategy of the University. They will introduce techniques that allow the business context to be the key foundation for understanding and evaluating all ideas, proposals, issues and problems put forward by the University. They will understand the University’s strategy so that they can conduct their work with a view to supporting the implementation of the strategy and the achievement of business objectives. 

Overall purpose of post: 

This role is responsible for collaborating with staff throughout the University, including senior managers, to gather requirements for new computer systems (or changes to existing ones) and to provide appropriate business case, business analysis and development documentation and support to ensure realisation of those systems and services.

Main Duties

Relationship and Stakeholder Management

As a Senior Business Analyst, you will work in conjunction with business partners, building long-term, strategic relationships with senior stakeholders both within ITS and the wider University. You will act as the single point of contact and facilitate access to colleagues and Subject Matter Experts (SMEs). You will gain and maintain a strong understanding of the Higher Education sector and the University, assisting business customers in the formation of (IT) strategies, ensuring that they are offered appropriate business analysis services such as visioning workshops to facilitate the necessary strategic thinking.

You will understand and perform stakeholder mapping through effective analysis of users and stakeholder groups and influence and maintain effective and appropriate communication to the group(s) once identified. 

You may require support on managing senior stakeholders or conflict situations.

Communication

You will possess good communication skills with the ability to communicate clearly to many levels within the organisation. You will be able to identify and support a number mediums and methods of communication in line with stakeholder expectation and needs. You will foster a positive, can do attitude and lead by example in collaborative working techniques and approaches.

You may require support on complex communication or communicating with senior levels within the organisation.

Innovation

You will seek new opportunities, methods, trends, capabilities and products to the advancement of the organisation.

You will aid the business in articulating potential benefits of change delivery and timelines for these to be realised.

You will lead by example by sharing creative ideas and learning from failures and encourage and support others to do the same. 

You may require some support with complex problem solving or strategic thinking.

Business Process Improvement

You will analyse and document As-Is business processes; identify potential alternative solutions, assesses feasibility, supporting the business in identifying appropriate approaches, typically seeking to exploit technology components. 

You will support the business in the evaluation of the financial, cultural, technological, organisational and environmental factors which must be addressed in the change programme and determine steps required to prepare the business for the change. You will establish client requirements for the implementation of significant changes in organisational mission, business functions and process, organisational roles and responsibilities, and scope or nature of service delivery.

Business Analysis Methods and Tools 

You will promote and ensure use of appropriate business analysis techniques, methodologies and tools including:

• Strategy analysis
• Facilitation skills Information search and investigation
• Analysis of different aspects including data, environment, business and system
• Stakeholder analysis and mapping
• Business activity modelling
• Business process mapping and improvement, including lean
• Options appraisal supporting the project management, procurement and business functions
• Requirements elicitation
• Requirements management
• Requirements traceability
• Handover of requirements to development (inc. suppliers), test and implementation teams
• Organisational change and business readiness
• Benefits strategy and realisation 
• Supporting the business with development of feasibility studies where a business partner is not in place
• Championing a business analysis centre of excellence

As a SBA you will take responsibility to fully understand the business problem and from this elicit business requirements to provide scope and success criteria for the project. You will work with the business to understand priorities, Minimum Viable Product (MVP) and the definition of done. You will demonstrates understanding of the “do nothing” solution option and how this will impact the business to determine strength of the business case for change. 

You will adopt the use of modelling and analysis tools, methods, techniques and standards, giving special consideration to business perspectives. You will collaborate with stakeholders to allow comprehensive requirements artefacts to be detailed. You will challenge the business and stakeholders where necessary (and on occasion with the support of a Lead Business Analyst) and you will work collaboratively with project members and suppliers to secure, develop and implement a fit for purpose solution that fully meets business needs within timeframes agreed and budget outlined.

You will perform peer reviews of colleague’s documents and provide feedback.

You will maintain good knowledge of business analysis approaches, and provide expert advice regarding their application.

You will be a problem solver who looks for intelligent and innovative ways to streamline processes, remove duplication and hand off and increase quality or productivity.

User Experience Analysis

You will analyse qualitative data (e.g. from site visits) and will be able to present the data clearly (e.g. personas, red routes, user journey maps). You will describe the user / stakeholder objectives for the system, and identify the roles of affected stakeholder groups.

You may be able to define the required behaviour and performance of the system in terms of the total user experience (e.g. in the form of scenarios of use), spotting potential conflicts between user requirements (e.g. between accuracy and speed).

You will specify measurable criteria for the required usability of the system (non-functional requirements).

Organisational Skills

You must be able to organise your time effectively. You may be working on a number projects in parallel, and you may have a Business Analyst supporting you on one or more of your deliveries. You will manage all your business analysis work and deliver within agreed timescales and also be able to effectively balance your workload when required to do so. 

Any other duties as required by line manager and commensurate with the grade of the post.

Required Knowledge, Skills, Qualifications, Experience

Education/Training

Essential:

• University degree or equivalent.
• Evidence of Continual Professional Development.

Desirable:

• Project Management Training.
• Change Management Training.

Relevant Experience

Essential:

• Proven experience of systems development lifecycle including requirements capture, analysis, design, development, testing and user documentation.
• Proven experience of working with a wide range of business users to capture systems requirements and realise benefits.
• Solid understanding of IT project management and planning including milestones, critical paths and change management.
• Proven experience of working collaboratively with IT development staff, users and senior managers to define and deliver IT services, systems and solutions.

Desirable:

• A good awareness of the issues facing UK higher education and how they affect university support services.
• A good understanding of the learning, teaching, business and research needs of staff and students in higher education.

Relevant Skills/Aptitudes

Essential:

• A customer-orientated approach to service provision.
• Awareness of departmental and institutional relationships and an ability to work across teams and activities.
• An appropriate manner in dealing with senior managers, staff, students, visitors, clients and other contacts.
• Good communications skills, interpersonal skills, negotiating skills, organisational skills, presentation skills.
• Practical IT skills, including a good working knowledge of Windows, common computer applications, Internet and digital information services.
• Analytical and systematic approach to problem-solving.
• Ability to work calmly and systematically in a busy environment, to prioritise work and to meet agreed deadlines.

Desirable:

• Direct experience of student record systems.

Informal enquiries to Ryan Flemming, email: r.flemming@bham.ac.uk

View our staff values and behaviours here 

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.