Should the successful applicant be a Unifor Unit 1 bargaining unit member, who meets the eligibility conditions of Article 19.02 of the Unifor Unit 1 Collective Agreement, then the Limited Term Assignment will be defined as a Career Growth Opportunity in accordance with Article 19 of the Unifor Local 5555 Unit 1 Collective Agreement.
The Research Business Analyst Acts as a technical and consulting resource for complex issues related to various University departments and units with respect to the implementation and maintenance of the University’s administrative information system with emphasis on research administration and finance modules. A functional understanding of the HR module is also required. This role will engage in testing and documentation to improve existing processes or develop new ones to continuously enhance the processes and systems utilized by the University community, thereby increasing its operating efficiencies.
The incumbent will act as a subject matter expert in using system modules, including, but not limited to PeopleSoft, working closely with various internal departments to ensure people are setup appropriately for security purposes to access relevant areas within the research administration areas of the system, identifying and trouble-shooting system issues and improvements. This role will support research units in the full research grant cycle from application proposals through to financial reporting and closing the research project. To be effective, this role is required to continuously understand the University’s operations and processes and how systems are utilized to support multiple operations and how these intersect.
Facilitate large group business development sessions, and training workshops.
Ensure appropriate business participation in information technology projects
Utilize the appropriate control tools to coordinate small and medium size projects according to established methodologies.
Develop success criteria and risk assessments for small to mediums size projects and changes
Develop, implement, and document best practices to align with departmental and University strategies and processes.
Work with respective research administrative units to define issues and decompose high level info into constructive details and actionable items.
Drive and challenge business units on their assupmtions of how they will successfully execute their plans.
Collaborate with developers and subject matter experts to establish the technical vision and analyze trade-offs between usability and performance needs.
Take ownership of functional issues related to the respective research administrative units by indentifying underlying problems, analyzing potential solutions and implementing system resolutions, including workarounds.
Critically evaluate information gathered from research administrative users to distinguish user requests from the underlying true needs.
Ensure that projects meet specified functionality requirements.
Perform the functional analysis for production support activities and advise business users in the analysis of less complex issues.
Work with project stakeholders to understand project scope and create test documents.
Aid in the development and execution of all phases of testing including, but not limited to, system, integration, acceptance, regression, and performance.
Document system functionality, particularly related to new enhancements.
Develop and maintain module process flow, methodology, and control documentation.
Develop project proposals and estimates.
Analyze information needs and functional requirements and deliver artifacts such as functional requirements, business process models, use cases, screen and interface designs, test plans and test cases.
Take ownership of functional issues by identifying underlying problems, analyzing potential solutions and implementing system resolutions, including workarounds.
Work with various internal departments (especially UTS and Financial Systems Support) to determine technical approaches and technical risks for project testing.
Prepare and assist other testers with the creation of test cases.
Identify and manage defects identified during all phases of a project.
Review test cases to ensure that the test cases adequately define the business processes.
Resolve problems in the test, production implementation, and post-implementation phases in coordination with other technical and business groups.
Review systems, processes, and information and provide recommendations to Supervisor.
Follow a test script and document defects.
Prepare and review recommendations and other project initiation documents.
Prepare and review end user and operations documentation, training materials, and timelines.
Liaise between the technology and support teams.
Develop budgeting, forecasting templates and customized spreadsheets for queries, reports and financial analysis.
Facilitate and participate in working groups to streamline and improve research finance internal controls and respond to audit recommendations.
Develop and deliver training and information sessions relating to accounting procedures and the use of financial systems.
Assist individuals with regards to security and access to appropriate areas within the system as they relate to research.
Perform advanced levels of analysis, problem solving and research skills to formulate solutions to complex business needs.
Review and extract datasets by developing complex queries using Business Intelligence tools.
Responsible for the reconciliation of data to validate source data and expected output
Understand the operational and system processess and procedures that are utilized by those involved in administering research awards to ensure understanding of needs and utilization of systems and then take appropriate action, such as, fixing/maintaining and/or enhancing operational performance of the process/system, develop appropriate queries, develop appropriate reports, etc.
Understand how staff prepare working papers and consolidate information in accordance with financial sponsor/auditor requirements.
Co-ordinate and schedule data flow and financial information required for the preparation and development of detailed reports and financial statements.
Develop processes, reports, templates, etc to scrutinize, analyze, reconcile and monitor accounts, detailed financial reports and records.
Monitor and investigate error and exception reports.
Analyze business processes to ensure efficiency and proper controls for accurate financial reporting. Recommend changes to improve processes.
Write a variety of document and reports such as procedure manuals, accounting reports and financial statements.
Prepare and generate a variety of scheduled and ad hoc reports and review for accuracy.
Update, maintain, and verify information in a variety of spreadsheets and databases.
Answer complex inquiries via telephone, email, and in person that are specific in nature and require a specialized knowledge of policies and procedures.
Understand Research Administration and knowledge of institutional and research sponsor programs and policies as it impacts research award administration for the full grant cycle, from research proposal stage through to reporting and closing of a research projectRemain current with frequent developments in a specialized field.
Ability to extract and analyze data by writing in Structure Query Language (SQL), Python, etc.
