Business Analyst

Job Purpose:

The selected candidate will be assigned to support requirements gathering and analysis, backlog management and quality assurance for the HR Automation initiative in collaboration with the HR Office and Office of Work Program and Budget. The candidate will serve as the primary liaison between OWPB Systems Support and HR subject-matter experts, translating HR business intent to actionable user stories with clear acceptance criteria. Quality assurance and user acceptance testing will play a vital part of the overall delivery to ensure any discrepancies or gaps that may arise during implementation are quickly and properly addressed. As part of this effort, the candidate will participate in iterative release planning, support stakeholder engagement across HR and OWPB, and produce documentation that supports both the development team and end users. The selected candidate will be given access to existing source documentation and project staff, and will be required to identify functional gaps, develop, and document all activities necessary for successful implementation.

About the Candidate:

Qualifications

Education - Bachelor’s degree in computer science, Information Systems, or financial related field and 6 years professional work experience. Work experience can substitute on a year for year basis for the degree. Special consideration will be given to candidates with Certified Business Analysis Professional (CBAP), International Software Testing Qualifications Board (ISTQB) certification, or similar business analysis and quality assurance certifications.

Required Experience

This position requires the following experience and/or knowledge:   

1.      A minimum of 6 years of experience in business analysis, requirements engineering and quality assurance documentation.

2.      This experience must also be in a professional environment, preferably workflow automation, human resources systems, or state government applications. Candidate will be expected to describe multiple past experiences with business analysis tools and methodologies, and how they were deployed for a successful outcome that met customer’s objectives.

Job Specific Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

1. Knowledge of human resources business processes and state government workflow practices with the ability to translate HR domain knowledge into functional requirements and acceptance criteria.

2. Ability to produce legible and complete functional documentation in a way that thoroughly captures business processes and inputs/outputs of the applications.

3. Ability to analyze and accurately and completely define processes and workflows to design efficient information solutions, including missing or duplicate functionality in existing applications.

4. Ability to work effectively with users and a project team, to identify and document requirements for the maintenance, enhancement, or development of computer application systems, including technical overviews and context diagrams.

5. Knowledge of relational database theories and concepts.

6. Skill in testing complex applications and interpreting whether requirements and designs were met in the product.

7. Ability to plan, organize, coordinate, and prioritize work assignments for him/herself.

8. Skill in accurately preparing schedule estimates for requirements analysis and quality assurance tasks in an iterative software delivery environment.

9. Ability to work effectively with Project Managers, Business Analysts, Software Developers, and Technical Architects to build efficient, viable solutions in the maintenance of business applications utilizing all established Departmental standards.

10. Ability to prepare functional specifications and user stories with clear acceptance criteria.

11. Ability to prepare test plans and to design test cases, test data, and test environments.

12. Ability to interpret and communicate technical and functional information related to software applications, both verbally and writing.

13. Advanced skills with Microsoft products: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Visio, and Project.

14. Experience working workflow automation, human resources, or government administrative computing applications.

15. Knowledge of Agile Project Management methodologies and practices.

16. Knowledge of the SCRUM Framework.

17. Azure DevOps experience for backlog management, spring planning, and test execution.

18. Skill in performing QA reviews in determining that standards are met.

Preferred KSA’s

1. Experience with state government human resources systems, payroll systems, or position management applications.

2. Skill in data analysis techniques, data validation approaches and validating data relationships.

Primary Job, Duties and Tasks

• Coordinate the development of project schedules, implementation plans, and documentation for HR automation releases and present to management, customers, and technical staff.

• Apply subject matter expertise, industry methodologies, and best practices to analyze current business processes, performing As-Is process analysis to document and evaluate business needs in coordination with the HR Office and project team; redesign business processes and develop To-Be process documentation to automate HR workflow processes.

• Translate high level business requirements into detailed business documents and/or functional specifications.

• Facilitate work sessions with HR subject-matter experts to elicit and prioritize business and functional requirements including the data and integration requirements.

• Perform data analysis to understand existing and future data needs and document data requirements.

• Evaluate existing integrations with internal and external application, perform the impact analysis, and propose the integrations supporting future business needs.

• Work with functional and enterprise system support staff during technical assessments of the Department's internal HR-related systems and integrations as needed.

• Manage user stories, project backlog, sprint backlogs, participate in Scrum ceremonies, including daily stand-ups, sprint planning, and sprint retrospectives, within Azure DevOps.

• Develop Design Specification documentation and mockups based on the business and functional requirements confirmed by the HR office.

• Development of testing strategies, data scenarios, and test plans to ensure functional requirements are addressed.

• Lead User Acceptance Testing (UAT) cycles with HR Office and impacted internal and external stakeholders; document the findings, coordinate with the project team to remediate issues, document the enhancements and obtain user acceptance on the deliverables.

• Evaluate critical information gathered from multiple resources. Summarize detailed data into executive-level formats and break down aggregate information into meaningful components.

• Develop standardized desk procedures that include the purpose, prerequisites, process flows and narratives of business processes.

• Produce deliverables including, but not limited to, project schedules, implementation plans, business requirements, functional specifications, business process documentation, Design specifications, Quality Assurance Test plans, Test Cases, and User Acceptance Testing artifacts.