Graduate Business Analyst job with DURHAM UNIVERSITY

Computing and Information Services

Grade 5: – £23,487 – £24,174 per annum

Fixed Term – Full Time

Contract Duration: 2 Years

Contracted Hours per Week: 35

Closing Date: 25-Apr-2022, 6:59:00 AM

Job Family: Business Process and People Services

OUR CHARACTERISTICS: We are welcoming, collegiate and inclusive.

OUR VALUES: We are motivated, inquisitive, challenging, rigorous and innovative.

Durham University

Durham University is one of the world’s top universities with strengths across the Arts and Humanities, Business, Sciences and Social Sciences. We are home to some of the most talented scholars and researchers from around the world who are tackling global issues and making a difference to people’s lives.

The University sits in a beautiful historic city where it shares ownership of a UNESCO World Heritage Site with Durham Cathedral, the greatest Romanesque building in Western Europe. A collegiate University, Durham recruits outstanding students from across the world and offers an unmatched wider student experience.

Durham University seeks to promote and maintain an inclusive and supportive environment for work and study that assists all members of our University community to reach their full potential. Diversity brings strength and we welcome applications from across the international, national and regional communities that we work with and serve.

It is expected that all staff within the University:

• Contribute to our learning culture by engaging in mentoring, training and coaching.
• Positively contribute to fostering a collegial environment; as well as demonstrating commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion.
• Have due regard to Health and Safety requirements appropriate to grade and role.

Family key attributes

Roles in this family provide a comprehensive service and deliver the efficient administration and governance of the University.

Overall family purpose

• Deliver direct and indirect services to stakeholders.
• Provide advice and answer queries as part of an enquiry-desk/help-desk function. 
• Respond to and manage requests for information and resources.
• Deliver services to meet regulatory requirements and procedures. 
• Plan and deliver a joined-up approach to University business and people services.
• Align business processes and services to meet operational and strategic policy objectives.  
• Deliver business processes to ensure effective management, governance and the economic viability of the University. 
• Encourage, collaborate and participate in the development of productive cross-institution relationships and working.
• Provide excellent professional services that meet strategic and operational goals and business needs.
• Carry out monitoring, analysis, development and planning to design new services and service updates for continuous improvement whilst meeting changes in regulations.
• Engage with specialist professionals, consultants, and suppliers to exchange knowledge and facilitate partnership working.
• Work collaboratively and network across the University with staff in other families to ensure a smooth, timely and high-quality delivery of services.
• Align and deliver programmes and activities to meet operational and strategic objectives to enhance the stakeholder experience.
• Engage and encourage participation with external professionals, schools, alumni and donors.

Link to key strategic plan

• An economically sustainable approach to delivering Professional Services across the University; 
• A joined-up approach to University professional services, regardless of location or line management; 
• A culture and practice of continuous improvement;  
• Design services that meet business need; 
• A stakeholder-focused orientation, offering satisfying careers to all staff; 
• Support and facilitate programmes that offer intellectual challenge, cohesiveness and a strong sense of progression; 
• Ensure that an increasingly diverse workforce is treated equally, fairly and with respect, and that all staff are demonstrably valued and actively engaged.

The Department and role purpose

The Computing and Information Services (CIS) has an annual operational budget in the order of £10m, multi-million pound programmes of change within year, and approximately 185 staff. The Senior Leadership Team report directly to the Chief Information Officer (CIO) with the following portfolios: Strategy and Change; Operations; and Information Systems. CIS provide academic, teaching and administrative services across the organisation that underpin the day-to-day activities of the whole organisation.

Recent infrastructure improvements include investment in a new network backbone, including new cable runs throughout the city to all of the Universities core buildings, network virtualisation, new scalable user facing storage, and a new hosting environment. Corresponding business led investment also continues to be made with a new web programme, training platform, student relationship management system, investment in research administration, and maximising the breadth of opportunities available to the University through Office365, alongside numerous other important initiatives. Investment is aligned to the University’s Digital strategy which seeks to provide a clear vision for how digital services can be an enabler to the overall University strategy and objectives.

CIS is a friendly, but demanding department, where much is expected and can be achieved by competent, self-motivated individuals who are demonstrable in their team work ability.

As a Graduate Business Analyst you will assist the wider Business Analysis Team within CIS to complete investigative work to determine business requirements and specify effective business processes, through improvements in information systems, information management, practices, procedures, and organisation change. This will involve collaborating with stakeholders to develop their business requirements specifications, feasibility studies and supporting the preparation of business cases which define potential benefits, options for achieving these benefits through development of new or changed processes, and associated business risks.

Core responsibilities

• Act as a knowledgeable team member, without responsibility for team members.
• Plan and organise own workload according to team and departmental priorities, taking responsibility for reviewing all work prior to escalation or submission to colleagues.
• Resolve queries and requests for information and advice and escalate more specialist and complex queries or issues to more experienced team members.
• Respond to stakeholder needs to deliver and shape an excellent stakeholder experience.
• Apply theory and practice, from academic and professional development and previous knowledge.
• Contribute to collaborative decision making within the team to deliver an excellent stakeholder experience in accordance with policy and procedures.
• Work collaboratively with colleagues across the organisation and/or externally with colleagues and stakeholder, building relationships to support requirements gathering and business process review.
• Provide guidance and advice to resolve problems and queries for a broad range of service users.
• Organise and schedule resources, activities and events as well as working closely with more senior colleagues to support them in undertaking support activities and workshops.
• Identify priorities and monitor processes and activities to ensure success.
• Plan, coordinate and implement changes to the design and development of service processes, techniques and deliverables for one or more service strands or project streams.
• Support the capture of business requirements from users and work with colleagues to translate these into recommendations for future service provision.
• Identify and design activities to meet business analysis objectives and outcomes.
• Liaise with contacts and participate in networks and communities internally and possibly externally to build links to pass on information for effective working.
• Advise others and make recommendations into work processes and procedures for consideration by senior management to improve services.
• Contribute to and lead business meetings, workshops and focus groups in the University.

Role responsibilities

• Ensuring a high-quality and timely service to all stakeholders, including prospective, existing and past students and staff.
• Analysing business requirements/data and provide reports to stakeholders, making recommendations for improvement as appropriate.
• Assisting in the review and improvement of systems, processes and procedures.
• Eliciting, analysing, validating and managing stakeholder requirements (both functional and non-functional).
• Distributing service information and provide advice to stakeholders regarding business analysis approach to process improvement and requirements management.
• Contributing to the development and implementation of policy and procedures within own area of working. 
• Working with internal and external partners to deliver cross-functional services and activities.
• Analysing data and statistics and provide reports for higher level decision makers.
• Apply recognised professional procedures and techniques, applying agreed CIS standards and tools as required to achieve quality deliverables.
• Document work in accordance with agreed team and CIS standards and assist in the documentation of approved changes in accordance with the CIS change management policy.
• Liaise with outside agencies, suppliers and visitors to ensure the safe and secure delivery of services.
• Any other reasonable duties.

Specific role requirements

• Undertake a compulsory programme of study, that will enable the award of a BCS International Diploma in Business Analysis. To be eligible to apply for this position:
• Standard entry

  • You must have obtained an Honours degree (2:2 or above) in an appropriate Business, Computing, Technology or Engineering discipline,

OR;

• Non-standard entry Indicative working hours are 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday.
  

  • Relevant qualifications and/or work experience will be taken into consideration where the applicant has the judged potential to benefit from the programme. Requests will be considered on an individual basis where appropriate.

Occasional working outside normal office hours may be required, including responding to significant incidents.

Recruiting to this post

In order to progress to the assessment stage of the recruitment process, candidates must evidence each of the essential criteria required for the role in the person specification above.

It will be at the discretion of the recruiting panel as to whether they will also consider the desirable criteria but we would urge candidates to provide evidence for all criteria.

Please note that some criteria will only be considered for those candidates who proceed to the assessment stage.

How to Apply

We prefer to receive applications online.

Please note that in submitting your application Durham University will be processing your data. We would ask you to consider the relevant University Privacy Statement https://www.dur.ac.uk/ig/dp/privacy/pnjobapplicants/ which provides information on the collation, storing and use of data.

What you are required to submit

1. A CV;
2. A covering letter which details your experience, strengths and potential in the requirements set out above;
3. Examples of how you satisfy the essential criteria in the person specification, this will require completion of the ‘Questionnaire’ application section.
4. Copy of your degree award and classification.

Please ensure that you submit all documentation listed above or your application cannot proceed to the next stage.

Contact details

For further information please contact Claire Henderson, Head of Project Delivery. Email: [email protected]

At Durham University, our aim is to create an open and inclusive environment where everyone can reach their full potential and believe our staff should reflect the diversity of the global community in which we work. We welcome and encourage applications from members of groups who are under-represented in our work force including people with disabilities, women and black, Asian and minority ethnic communities.

We will notify you on the status of your application at various points throughout the selection process, via automated emails from our e-recruitment system. Please check your spam/junk folder periodically to ensure you receive all emails.

Person Specification

Essential Criteria

1. Good oral and written communication skills.
2. Proven IT skills, including use of Microsoft Office.
3. Five GCSE’s at least Grade C or level four including English Language and Mathematics.
4. Have been awarded a higher education qualification at Bachelors’ level and possess a minimum 2:2 classification by a recognised university or other recognised higher education institution.
5. Experience of managing time and being able to prioritise in order to meet deadlines.
6. Ability to solve problems and resolve issues, plan solutions and make pragmatic decisions.
7. Ability to follow instructions, written or oral, accurately.
8. Demonstrable ability to proactively work with team members to ensure the delivery of high quality services.

Desirable Criteria

1. Experience of contributing to the delivery of IT provision.
2. Experience of working in a team.
3. Knowledge of how to construct a Business Case.
4. Experience of gathering requirements and reviewing business processes.
5. Experience of providing advice and guidance to a range of customers and colleagues.
6. Ability to effectively network and exchange advice and information for development purposes.
7. Experience of writing documentation and reports.

Realising Your Potential Approach

Further information on the Realising Your Potential Approach is available here.

DBS Requirement: Not Applicable.