System/Business Analyst – Life Assurance & Pensions recruitment

Please note candidates with Life and or Pension / Insurance experience preferred

Responsibilities:

• Gains understanding of the client's business: functions, organization, processes and products

• Contributes to and/or understands the business/IT long term strategy and plans (3 to 5 years)

• Performs strategic systems planning, supporting the objectives of the business

• Defines/refines the business model/business architecture

• Creates migration plans and project frameworks

• Ensures appropriate fit to area/enterprise model

• Maintains business architecture documentation (object, process, workflow, data models, etc)

Defines business problem/opportunity and performs benefit analysis:-

• Understands and provides a clear definition of the business problem or opportunity and associated risks

• Facilitates the assessment of the ability of business or system solutions to address the problem or opportunity

• Ensures the appropriateness of I.S. products and services for the problem/opportunity

• Applies appropriate I.S. processes and practices for the problem/opportunity

• Contributes to the development of the business case initially ongoing

• Ensures a common understanding and agreement of the business problem/opportunity, project objectives, solutions and benefits

Plans and estimates:-

• Identifies System Analyst tasks, estimates tasks, and outlines task dependencies

• Works with the business community to identify all business tasks, estimates business effort, and addresses business dependencies

• Works with Project Managers, Systems Architects, and senior Systems Developers to develop overall project plans.

Performs business and systems analysis and design:-

• Identifies all stakeholders

• Gains comprehensive understanding of the business processes of concern within given project, both manual and automated

• Drives out and defines business problems, limitations and new requirements, ensures agreement by all stakeholders

• Facilitates measurement and prioritization of problems, limitations, and requirements

• Articulates solutions requirements (both system and manual) using the architecture models from three perspectives:
User Services - what's visible by the business
Business Services - the business rules and business processing that produces results consumed by User Services Data Services - responsible for access and maintenance of persistent data

• Generates alternative logical solutions

• Analyzes the ability of solutions to achieve the anticipated benefits and other success criteria (includes evaluation of packaged software products)

• Analyzes the impact of the solution on business areas and existing systems

• Ensures the project fits with existing systems, without adverse impact, for systems training, production support and future work

• Works with the team to ensure functional solution is consistent with technology direction, selection or limitations.

Performs Functional Analysis and Design:-

• Defines and documents detailed business functional requirements sufficient to allow a) the client to assess the appropriateness of the detailed logical solution and b) a developer to design and build the physical system components

• Leads usability perspective of the project - partners with developers on the application design to meet people performance (includes User and Work Profiles, usability assessments, usability walkthroughs, learning system components, etc)

• Defines the conceptual application design

• Designs and documents logical data/object model (eg objects, methods, method contract, entities, attributes, attribute characteristics)

• Documents system external interfaces (eg screens, windows, reports)

• Works with I.S. team members to anticipate and ensure efficiency and practicality of the system design

• Analyzes conversion requirements, provides manual and system conversion alternatives

• Leads and facilitates, workshops, reviews, etc

Ensures Quality Assurance:-

• Gathers the quality requirements

• Performs, or provides consultation for, the development of test strategies, test scenarios, test execution and support of business during acceptance testing

• Ensures the document trail allows for team members to follow from analysis through systems design and quality assurance testing

• Consults with team members during design to ensure physical system consistent with logical system design

• Manages requirements throughout the project life cycle to ensure, from a business perspective, that the system meets expectations

• Designs/participates in walkthroughs (requirements walkthroughs, usability walkthroughs, design walkthroughs).

Supports Training and Implementation:-

• Contributes to business implementation planning

• Contributes to system implementation planning

• Contributes to business training strategy, planning and delivery

• Works with project team to provide post implementation support

• Performs implementation analysis to ensure benefits are being realized and to find further opportunities.

Knowledge/Experience/Skills/Qualifications

• Strong structured systems analysis and problem solving skills

• Knowledge of Application Development Methodologies

• Ability to communicate effectively with technical and non- technical personnel at all levels of the organisation

• Produce clear, accurate and comprehensive systems analysis reports

• Appreciation of the financial service industry and understand the IT systems marketplace and the technologies used within the sector's Blue Chip Companies.

• Develops relationships with key business individuals

• Raise appropriate project documentation

• Adapting to Change and Stress

• Continuous Learning

• Teamworking

• Ability to use initiative in solving business and technical problems