Financial Aid IT Business Systems Analyst II

Appalachian State University•Boone, NC

About The Position

Primary Purpose The primary purpose of the Office of Student Financial Aid and University Scholarships is to aid students and families in securing the financial resources necessary to attend college. The major activities of this unit include accurately and effectively aiding students, assisting with the completing of required applications, and ensuring students meet eligibility guidelines for various financial aid programs, evaluating all requests for eligibility, and administering all scholarships, grants, loans, and student work programs that are available to students at Appalachian State University. The Office is also responsible for the University’s compliance with federal and state regulations and reporting which are required to maintain our continued funding. The primary purpose of this position is to ensure the Office of Student Financial Aid and University Scholarships has systems and processes in place to effectively manage the reporting, packaging, updating, and communicating of all of the federal, state, institutional, and external funds awarded and received to assist students in paying for college. All processes and systems must remain compliant with Federal, State, NCAA , and Institutional regulations/laws. The purpose is to participate as a member of the critical team that manages the technology needed to ensure financial aid and scholarships can make awards in a streamlined and efficient way, communicate those awards consistently and effectively, and report on funds used to make those awards to help remain in compliance and within University’s budgetary limitations.

Requirements

Graduation from a four-year college or university with nine semester hours in programming and one year of experience in business application consulting or development.
Experience in the field of work related to the position’s role may be substituted on a year-for-year basis.

Nice To Haves

Experience writing SQL queries (preferably for Oracle databases) to extract, manipulate, analyze data, and create reports.
Experience writing programs or scripts (R, Python, SAS , or other languages) to extract, manipulate, analyze data, and create reports.
The ability to independently diagnose and resolve issues related to both data integrity and system functionality.
Ability to manage data flow and system integrations between a primary ERP and third-party platforms such as Slate, Scholarship Universe, or Student Forms.
Experience developing and maintaining automated scripts (e.g., Appworx) to streamline repetitive processes.
Proficiency in UML Modeling or similar diagramming standards to document business practices and design technical solutions.
Experience leading IT projects from inception to completion, including creating project schedules, defining milestones, and managing stakeholder expectations.
Ability to analyze complex business requirements, identify process gaps, and recommend or develop technical modifications to improve operational efficiency.
Ability to act as a high-functioning member of a critical technology team, collaborating closely with the Financial Aid Banner Lead, other members of the Financial Aid Tech team, and other Financial Aid staff.

Responsibilities

Develop software programs and reports using WebFOCUS, SQL , and Tableau to support Financial Aid employees in data analysis and business processes.
Demonstrate advanced knowledge of the standards, theories and practices associated with Banner Financial Aid and SQL reporting.
Write SQL queries to independently identify issues with software or standard operation procedures.
Identify solutions and make suggestions for technical modifications to prevent future problems.
Develop new applications to address issues when needed.
Develop Appworx scripts to automate Banner Financial Aid processes.
Develop a detailed understanding of Financial Aid data and of the flow of that data among the various Financial Aid software systems.
Work on integrating and managing multiple Financial Aid Software systems, including: Banner Financial Aid Student Forms Scholarship Universe Federal – SAIG Mailboxes Federal – COD State – State Grants Portal
Manage various Financial Aid IT projects, e.g. installation and integration of new software (such as Scholarship Universe), new aid year software configuration, closing out aid year, etc.
Work with central IT to design, develop, and test custom software solutions.
Work with employees in the office of Financial Aid to understand functional requirements and to design and implement software systems to address those requirements.
Test Banner Financial Aid software updates and patches.
Test new functionality in Banner Financial Aid software releases.
Serve as a functional user liaison during review of software applications.
Act as a resource for the technical ITS staff to ensure appropriate integration and verify the accuracy of information.
Work closely with Financial Aid office during testing for successful integration.
Develop long-range vision and plans for Financial Aid IT systems, incorporating the appropriate use of technology into the division.
Work closely with ITS to ensure adequate storage space and technical requirements for successful system performance.
Participate in work groups with central IT to meet regularly to identify and resolve problems and to establish system goals.
Understand and develop strategies for improved use of data in various systems used by division.
Participate in work groups with other campus Banner leads (Student, Student Accounts, Advancement, Business Systems) to coordinate on data standards, usage of shared data, and integration of Banner Financial Aid with Banner and other campus software systems.
Develop and maintain IT project schedules for Office of Financial Aid and University Scholarships to establish project priorities with the Financial Aid Banner Lead/Associate Director of IT.
Analyze business practices and recommend new software systems to increase efficiency and streamline processes.
Identify if system modification or new application development is required.
Document and diagram Financial Aid IT processes.
Create and maintain an up-to-date repository of Financial Aid IT process documents.
Analyze Banner Financial Aid security requests, and serve as the liaison to ITS to ensure appropriate access is granted. This position will create security classes with appropriate objects and authorize access based on user role and supervisor approval
Provide training on new software to financial aid and university scholarships as well as units managing scholarships across campus who may need assistance