Intermediate Specialist, Academic Administration

University of Ottawa•Ottawa, ON

1d•CA$85,040 - CA$107,421•Onsite

About The Position

Student Affairs is at the very heart of the student experience at the University of Ottawa. We recruit the very best future students, support them throughout their university years and leave them well-prepared for fulfilling careers and future studies. Our team of more than 600 dedicated staff provides the services that keep students happy, well and thriving as they pursue their ambitions. We help them apply and enrol for courses, we oversee 11 residences and an award-winning Dining Hall, we organize fun events, we provide extensive recreation program opportunities and varsity sports activities, we run an innovative career development and experiential learning program and much more! There’s nothing more rewarding than helping future generations reach their full potential at a world-class university. With our wide variety of career opportunities and professional development pathways, we’re sure that you’ll enjoy the experience as much as our students do. Works closely with clients and various levels of management to provide expert business guidance and support in implementation of application solutions, including but not limited to the Student Information System (SIS), while managing critical academic processes related to SIS and other integrated systems. Acts as the point of escalation for complex issues that cannot be resolved at the initial stages, providing in depth analysis and resolution for critical system challenges.

Requirements

University Degree in Commerce, Administration, Computer Science, Information Technology, Management Information Systems (MIS), a related field, or/and an equivalent combination of education and experience.
Minimum 5 years of experience supporting academic processes and their associated information technology infrastructure.
Minimum 3 years of experience in project management.
Bilingualism – French and English (spoken and written).
Ability to negotiate and influence clients in accepting solutions that align both the strategic goals of the University and short- and long-term client requirements.
Advanced knowledge of the University’s and/or clients’ business operations and priorities, and ability to provide appropriate advice and support regarding academic regulations and processes.
Advanced knowledge of business rules and processes, and management systems used by the University, including academic regulations and processes.
Advanced knowledge of project management methods and practices.
Strong analytical skills to convert business requirements into functional specifications, as well as the ability to conceptualize individual requirements and create links between different stakeholders’ needs.
Advanced experience with Microsoft Excel or other data management tools to manipulate, convert, clean, and present complex data.
Advanced knowledge in system configuration and process automation to optimize system efficiency and ensure the effective implementation of all system changes.
Advanced knowledge of computing principles with understanding of business processes and cycles.
Advanced knowledge of University’s established IT strategies, policies and procedures.
Considerable Experience aligning client goals with system capabilities to ensure that the systems meet client needs effectively.
Meticulous attention to detail for working closely within systems and across different environments.
Strong ability to communicate business requirements into functional requirements and to translate business requirements into functional specifications.
Experience writing and maintaining complex business and technical documentation.
Ability to adapt to changing requirements and processes, challenge ideas, and accept new methods and procedures.
Ability to be proactive in keeping abreast of new/emerging business processes.
This position can be called upon working with different teams and projects within the department.
Planning: Organize in time a series of actions or events in order to realize an objective or a project. Plan and organize own work and priorities in regular daily activities.
Initiative: Demonstrate creativity and initiative to suggest improvements and encourage positive results. Is proactive and self-starting. Show availability and willingness to go above and beyond whenever it is possible.
Client Service Orientation: Help or serve others to meet their needs. This implies anticipating and identifying the needs of internal and external clients and finding solutions on how to meet them.
Teamwork and Cooperation: Cooperate and work well with other members of the team to reach common goal(s). Accept and give constructive feedback. Able to adjust own behaviour to reach the goals of the team.

Responsibilities

Collaborates within a team to ensure the delivery of essential academic support services and acts as an expert to resolve complex support requests from clients across the university.
Implements operational processes and prioritizes services requests to provide quality client services according to established operational and customer services norms.
Monitors quality and integrity of data, to ensure critical operational processes and systems are functioning normally.
Intervenes quickly to correct data or system configurations issues.
Provides advanced technical expertise for resolving complex system issues that cannot be addressed by the second line of support.
Involves in-depth analysis, root cause identification, and the development of long-term solutions to prevent recurring problems.
Collaborates with system developers to implement advance configurations and enhancements, ensuring optimal system performance and data integrity.
Proactively engages in evaluating clients' business and complex operational requirements, identifying both explicit and implicit needs.
Investigates opportunities for improving existing procedures and developing new solutions when necessary.
Writes detailed business cases and works closely with IT teams, managers, and other stakeholders to validate and refine proposed solutions, ensuring they align with business needs and minimize potential obstacles.
Leads process re-design initiatives to optimize and standardize configurations across information systems for complex business processes.
Analyzes intricate business structures, rules, academic regulations, and policies, as well as evaluating advanced operational requirements to recommend strategic process enhancements and maximize the use of available tools to deliver significant business value.
Anticipates potential risks and issues in business plans and requirements, collaborating with IT professionals to find effective solutions.
Ensures that designs are integrated into a well-rounded solution that is thoroughly tested, functional, and aligned with business needs.
Facilitates a smooth transition as complex system enhancements are implemented into the daily operations of users.
Develops comprehensive documentation for new projects, including detailed functional requirements, design, and configuration specifications.
Translates complex business needs into standardized functional documents that guide the design or enhancement of business processes and IT systems.
Regularly updates operational documentation to ensure accuracy, consistency, and alignment with business goals in complex operational environments.
Develops detailed test plans and oversees the testing of end-user scenarios and use cases for complex processes.
Ensures systems meet key organizational and client requirements, including flexibility, functionality, performance, reliability, and security.
Monitors progress and demonstrates the successful completion of requirements, always focusing on optimizing the end-user experience.
Participates in data conversion validation, in-depth data reconciliation, and performs complex data analysis to ensure operational accuracy and consistency.
Conducts in-depth data integrity analysis for complex processes.
Develops and implements advanced data management strategies to maintain high standards of accuracy and consistency in system and customer data.
Develops comprehensive implementation plans detailing the activities required to ensure the successful deployment of new processes and solutions for complex organizational changes, thoroughly analyzing the impact on all stakeholder groups.
Guides affected business areas in evaluating intricate processes and designing innovative techniques to fully leverage advanced system capabilities in operational environments.
Performs in-depth reviews system capabilities and workflows to determine how critical processes can enhance the needs of the client and the student experience.
Assesses existing critical processes to ensure inefficiencies or configuration issues are addressed and escalated as necessary.
Keeps apprised of evolving industry tools and business processes and assesses and recommends how to integrate enhancements with SEM’s priorities.