Business Analyst Senior- Finance

Seattle Public Schools•John Stanford Center for Educational Excellence, WA

12h•Onsite

About The Position

The Finance Senior Business Analyst supports the Seattle Public Schools Finance department by ensuring that financial systems, budgeting tools, and related business processes effectively align with district goals, fiscal policies, and regulatory requirements. Working from within the Budget Office, the analyst provides day-to-day functional support to budget staff and others, serving as a bridge between Finance users and the technology team — translating needs into system improvements and helping users get the most out of the tools they rely on, including the district's SAP ERP, budget development platform, and supporting systems and databases. This role also provides subject matter expertise related to budgeting processes, financial data, and system functionality; supports user testing; and assists with training and documentation. Success in the role draws on a foundation in finance, budgeting or reporting, paired with analytical skills and the ability to work effectively across both functional and technical areas.

Requirements

Business process and data modeling techniques
Work flow analysis and improvement methodologies
Relational database concepts and client-server concepts
Systems analysis and design methodologies
Project management
Understanding concepts of business area supported at an expert level
PC and other distributed technologies
Project management, including use of project scheduling tools
Analyzing and defining user business requirements and restating as design and requirement documents for the technical development staff
Excellent oral and written communication skills
Facilitating multi-department meetings
Dealing with staff and management at all levels
Technical configuration as appropriate to system being supported
Data analysis
Data correction and data transfers
Complex query writing
Schema changes as appropriate to system being supported
Complex problem solving across departments and divisions
Office productivity tools such as MS Word and Excel
Lead and facilitate meetings of small groups and project teams, including both technical and non-technical personnel
Develop and maintain detailed program plans, estimates and schedules
Analyze and implement improvements to existing manual or automated systems in light of changing business needs and technologies
develop and maintain project schedules
Work effectively with core users and casual users
develop training materials and train core and casual users
Show awareness of and honor the cultural and linguistic diversity in the schools and communities
Support ways to engage families/students from diverse cultures
Six (6) years of related work experience
Bachelor's degree in business administration, computer science or related field or completion of equivalent training
equivalent work experience may substitute for the education requirement on a year-for-year basis
an equivalent combination of education and experience
Criminal Justice fingerprint and background check

Nice To Haves

CBAP, CCBA or other Business Analysis certification

Responsibilities

Facilitates identification of as-is and to-be business processes, ensuring alignment with District and Department policies and procedures and state/federal laws, regulation and code.
Provides consultation to business unit management staff to determine solutions to business problems.
Facilitates Business Case development/ feasibility studies for new initiatives.
Identifies business benefits desired, options to achieve them and associated costs/risks of each.
Elicits and documents Requirements in support of new system implementation or system changes/improvements.
Uses a variety of methods to gather and organize requirements, using judgment to select best methods depending on specific project needs including JAD, use cases, etc.
Assumes a role as liaison between clients and the District's technical development resources.
Configures complex business applications to meet requirements.
Performs analysis to identify options, documents options and related benefits/risks/costs/ trade-offs to inform business decisions.
May use standard query tools to perform data analysis.
Leads or acts as team member in Testing activities, following best practices.
Develops test plan and/or test cases and scenarios/scripts.
Conducts testing against plan, records/reports results.
Uses standard query tools to support testing activities.
Helps inform product readiness decisions and provides data analysis for information or corrections.
Develops system Documentation including operational/technical and user-facing documentation, operating procedures, related District policies and procedures and reference materials.
Develops training plans and training materials to support project or operational work.
Delivers training, which may include 1:1 coaching, videos, demonstrations, workshops and instructor-led classes.
Performs tier 2-3 support – includes escalated support and implementation of system releases, employing all of above skills as needed to ensure smooth and continually improving operation for District operation.
Designs support plans, schedules and training of other support staff.
Schedules and leads small projects, coordinating technical and business staff.
Develops and manages to all project documentation including Charter, schedule, risks/issues list, budget, communication plan and other required supporting plans in keeping with organizational standards.
Performs related duties consistent with the scope and intent of this position.
Mentors and leads other Business Analysts.
Continues to upgrade skill set.