Business Analyst - Tier 2 IND

1. Job Purpose

The key purpose of this role is to support the delivery of core products, systems, processes and associated business initiatives, for small scale business process improvements and Change initiatives and programmes.  The role holder will be responsible for identifying functional and non-functional requirements against the agreed internal and external change need.

The Business Analyst will be responsible for the facilitation, capture, analysis and challenge of business requirements; documenting and discussing potential solutions; requiring extensive liaison with both internal and external stakeholders. The role holder will identify and understand business change needs, creating Business Requirements; and being responsible for ensuring that projects deliver to agreed and signed off requirements. Key focus to ensure that change objectives, scope and benefits are fully understood and realised and are embedded effectively within the business.

The role will require the job holder to work independently with Project Managers and users/customers, on a number of small/medium sized projects and change initiatives concurrently across the Group.

There will also be requirement to act as a member of a BA team, working on large scale projects and programmes, often under the direction of a Senior BA and potential to provide Systems Analysis support to the Group IT Change and infrastructure programme.

The role may require travel to other OSB Group UK sites and where required, third party locations.

2. Core Responsibilities

• Produce high quality business requirements from a functional and non-functional perspective that are accepted and approved within agreed timelines and objectives.
• Identify key stakeholders and resources needed across the business and third parties to support the successful delivery of accurate and detailed business requirements from a project and change perspective.
• Work to agreed policy and procedures and where applicable contribute to the continuous development of business procedures and operating frameworks.
• Lead and facilitate system, process improvement workshops and resolve scoping issues and stakeholder conflicts.
• Engage with a wide range of stakeholders across the Group and third parties to ensure requirements are understood and are being met, or where gaps are identified, are raised appropriately and resolved.
• Delivery of end to end traceability against quality business requirements and system/functional specifications using appropriate tools and templates.
• Collaborate in the planning, design, development and deployment of new applications and enhancements to existing applications.
• Engage with key stakeholders to influence the solution of design to meet business goals, scope and strategy requirements; clearly documenting and managing identified risks and key decisions needed.
• Contribute to project documentation and planning documents e.g. PID’s / RAID’s / milestone and project plans.
• Provide source material for preparation and maintenance of user manuals and other related documentation.
• Conduct business impact assessments and feasibility studies as required.
• Support the test team in the creation of test plans to align with approved requirements
• Develop a clear understanding of business objectives and develop knowledge of core business processes, products and systems; to be able to provide advice and communicate in both a technical and user friendly language.
• Act as a key SME for the Change function representing the function in core working and steering groups.
• Conduct research into systems, processes and products as required, making recommendations for the best options available to meet business objectives.
• Prepare and provide regular reporting against agreed delivery timelines, clearly documenting progress and risks & issues against the delivery.
• Work to the agreed Group quality framework to ensure process risk is mitigated and, where required corrective action plans are implemented.
• Identify project risks and agree appropriate actions to mitigate/control.  Regularly review risk assessment.  Ensure residual risks are incorporated within the appropriate business area’s operational risk plans
• Ensure that fully understand and comply with the organisation’s Risk Management Policies as they relate to your area of responsibility and demonstrate in your day to day work that you put customers at the heart of everything you do.
• Ensure that you fully understand and comply with the organisation’s Data Governance Policies as they relate to your area of responsibility and demonstrate in your day to day work that you treat data as an important corporate asset which must be protected and managed.
• Maintain the company’s compliance standards and ensure timely completion of all mandatory on-line training modules and attestations.

3. Experience Requirements

• Equivalent to 5 years previous experience as a Business Analyst within the Financial Services industry is essential
• Equivalent to 3 years previous experience as a Systems Analyst is desirable
• Equivalent to 3 years practical experience of gathering requirements in an Agile delivery environment building Epics and Stories is desirable
• Equivalent to 2 year previous experience of working with Mortgage and Savings, products and systems is essential 
• Previous experience working with offshore operations is desirable

4. Knowledge Requirements

• Excellent practical knowledge of utilising various tools, techniques & processes for elicitation and management of Business Requirements is essential
• Excellent practical knowledge and understand of, and compliance with, regulatory requirements and Risk Management policies is essential  
• Excellent practical knowledge of Waterfall change methodology is essential
• Good Practical knowledge of Agile change methodology is desirable
• Good change management skills and ability to support & adapt within a changing environment is essential
• Excellent knowledge of savings and mortgage products is essential
• Excellent knowledge of Microsoft Word, Project, PowerPoint and Excel is essential
• Excellent analytical, mathematical and creative problem solving skills is essential.
• Detailed knowledge of the Project Lifecycle, Project Methodologies and  Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) is desirable
• Understanding of  data flow and data lineage modelling is desirable
• Understanding of Quality Centre & JIRA exposure to client servers and web technologies, oracle and SQL Server databases is desirable

5. Skill and Competency Requirements

• Advanced level skills in respect of verbal & written communication are essential
• Advanced level skills in respect of facilitation are essential
• Advanced level skills in respect of influencing SMEs to gain a consensus view are essential
• Advanced level skills in respect of attention to detail are essential
• Advanced level skills in respect of the ability to learn & adapt are essential
• Advanced level skills in respect of the ability to understand and rate the importance/necessity of requested changes are essential
• Intermediate level skills in respect of the ability tasks and manage time effectively are essential
• Intermediate level skills in respect of the ability to self-manage are desirable

6. Required Qualifications/Certifications

• GSCE/GCE qualifications in both Maths and English are essential
• Degree or equivalent is desirable 
• BCS Diploma in Business Analysis or equivalent qualification, or committed to working to complete qualification,  is essential
• Prince 2 Practitioner or equivalent qualification in project and change management is  desirable