Associate Business Analyst

The primary responsibility of this position is business analysis for the City of Philadelphia’s Department of Revenue. This includes web projects, applications and supporting functionality. The person in this position will partner with business stakeholders and project teams to conduct all the activities related to successfully gathering project requirements and participating in the discovery, requirements, design, development, deployment and operations phases of the web project, applications and supporting functionality.

Essential Functions

• Partner with business stakeholders and project teams to help identify, define, & translate business requirements into creative and practical solutions; act as a liaison between business stakeholders and the applications and other internal technology teams.

• Create high-level and detail-level documentation (process and business event models/diagrams) and specify systems and knowledge management solution requirements.
• Help define and develop project deliverables required to achieve targeted outcomes.
• Work directly with OIT operations, development resources and architects to communicate Agency/Department needs and to ensure compatibility and consistency with existing architectural and enterprise standards.
• Perform process reviews, document work flows and business requirements, and work with the project and program managers to see projects through to successful completion. 
• Conduct reviews to ensure requirements documentation, design and other third party deliverables meet expectations.

• Test and quality assure changes, fixes, and enhancements to applications and related programs by the development team.
• Perform vendor evaluations for third party solutions.
• Define and manage data interfaces with third party vendors and internal systems.
• Assume system ownership of revenue applications for customizations, configurations (code setups), upgrades, issue escalation, functionality expertise as well as general user questions/training.
• Work in concert with the Capital Project teams upon systems implementation to ensure the seamless transfer from capital projects to in-house operations.
• Manage projects and initiatives within assigned business areas/systems.
• Champion business process improvements and provide in depth analysis within business areas.

  Competencies, Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

  Ability to: 

• Understand core business functions at a deeper level and engineer more efficient processes.
• Identify areas where IT systems and business processes can be improved to increase efficiency and productivity 
• Communicate (verbally and in writing) effectively and professionally with stakeholders and senior business leadership of departments and agencies participating in the project/business areas.
• Work effectively with systems analysts, programmers, users, business managers, and project teams from other departments, agencies and other technical resources participating in the effort.
• Collect, analyze, and present data related to IT systems and business operations to inform decision- making 
• Develop and execute test cases to validate that proposed solutions align with the original business requirements, ensuring system functionality and integrity prior to deployment to the production environment
• Define and prioritize problems and manage workload without direct supervision.
• Multitask
• Work in varied teams comprised of systems analysts, programmers, users, and managers.
• Work productively
• Think critically
• Work in a team-oriented environment.
• Build productive relationships
• Work with minimal supervision and take initiative
• Speak publicly to communicate technical and business terminology
• Possess organizational and analytical skills
• Display of professionalism during interactions involving daily business processes

Knowledge of:

• Broad based business analysis and technology in multiple business applications and environments.
• The specification, planning and delivery of enterprise solutions
• Web-based applications and collaborative portals.
• SQL, Database Design, Cognos, Crystal, or similar reporting tools a plus.
• Project/program management principles and tools a plus.
• Theory and practices of systems, organizational and procedure analysis
• Theory and practices of systems design
• Strong analytical and problem solving skills (critical)
• Ability to work independently and as part of a team
• Flexibility to work on a mix of technical and non technical assignments required
• Knowledge of SDLC models
• Strong understanding of Relational Database Concepts, preferably Oracle, required
• Experience with Oracle eBusiness (a plus)