UNIVERSITY OF NOTTINGHAM NINGBO, CHINA
RECRUITMENT ROLE PROFILE FORM

Job Title: Application Support Analyst

Contract Status: Full-time fixed term 1 year

Salary: Level 3 on Local Admin Pay Scale

Responsible to: Application Support Senior Officer

Job Outline:

You are a technical expert with a background in application support who possesses a thorough and substantial understanding of supporting Enterprise Resource Planning applications (preferably Oracle based). You will also be experienced in communicating with a wide range of non-technical stakeholders and adept in providing second line support. You are a strong communicator with excellent problem-solving skills who is able to identify creative solutions and promote change within a complex service environment.

Background:

The University

The University of Nottingham (UoN) is ranked in the UK’s top 10 and the world’s top 75 universities by the Shanghai Jiao Tong (SJTU) and the QS World University Rankings, placing it in the top 1% of all universities worldwide. UoN has award-winning campuses in the UK, China and Malaysia and is committed to providing a truly inspiring and international education.

Described by The Sunday Times University Guide 2011 as ‘the embodiment of the modern international university’ – the University of Nottingham is uniquely enterprising and renowned for its production of world-leading research.

Your team

You will be recruited into Information Technology Application support team but will be initially be working with Project Transform team as part of the Oracle Campus Solutions Support group. The role will move back into Information Technology Services following completion of the project in September 2017.

We express the purpose of the Application Support Team as “to keep the new Student Management applications running as designed.” The team undertakes the day to day activities required to maintain the operation of applications and business process that depend on them. Wherever possible, routine service requests relating to the service, such as access permission requests, are undertaken by the Service Desk.

The team monitors the utilisation of student management applications and supporting infrastructure, identifying trends which could affect the service. Wherever possible it establishes appropriate events and threshold levels to be automatically monitored by Data Centre Operations. It works closely with the third party application hosting partner who provide the underlying server and storage infrastructure on which the applications and databases are hosted. It works with Service Management and Super Users from the relevant business areas to support the critical business activities which occur in the annual cycle such as, the production of statutory statistical returns, the registration of new students and progression of students. The Oracle Campus Solutions application will be used across the University’s campuses in the UK, China and Malaysia.

Purpose of the Role

The Application Support Analyst works closely with the Application Support Officer and Senior Officer to ensure that the Oracle Campus Solutions student management services which underpin and provide data for the University’s business processes operate and are maintained to the high standards of the University of Nottingham.

Thefundamental purpose of the team is to manage the operational aspects for the delivery of services to our internal and external customers and assisting in the transition of procured turnkey and authorised projects from the global portfolio of new applications and software which supports the University’s business processes. The University recognises that digitalisation is going to fundamentally impact the way it maintains its identity and fulfils its purpose. It has ambitious plans in every area and expects IT to be at the heart of its global, digitally connected community.

You will support the Application Support Officer and Senior Officer to make this vision possible. You will help to support and contribute to an environment in which individuals are encouraged to be creative, innovative and agile in responding to new opportunities and the changing IT landscape.

Main Duties and Responsibilities:

  • Support the applications and components that underpin specific services delivered by Operations to the business and our customers;
  • Responsible for ownership of specific Oracle PeopleSoft applications to ensure the service is not only routinely maintained but also improved in alignment with business and user requirements and needs;
  • Responsible for ownership and resolution of incident/problem/service requests records and ensuring these are regularly maintained and updated maintained to include current statuses and activities performed to date;
  • Liaise with the Service Management, Infrastructure Solutions and Test teams to support, maintain, optimise and improve technical and service elements of live IT Services;
  • Track and coordinate dialogue with external supplier’s representatives and their internal Incident and Problem management systems;
  • Work with IT Service Transition to promote services to live;
  • Responsible for undertaking detailed investigations to identify root causes/fixes for complex technical issues;
  • Involved in technical and service discussions to help drive new innovative ideas to improve the quality and the efficiency of the services we provide
  • Undertake systems maintenance/monitoring of operation, capacity and performance management
  • Involved in and supervision of the daily team activities: perform the gatekeeper role, attend daily operations catch-ups and attend Problem Management meetings;
  • Develop and enhance relationshipwith Project Transform to understand what is being developed and how this will be supported;
  • Develop and enhance relationshipwith IT Partnering to develop an awareness of new developments in their early stages and how these may impact the Oracle PeopleSoft applications;
  • Develop and enhance relationshipwith IT Development to guide the development teams for operational requirements;
  • Develop and enhance relationship withIT Service Transition to ensure the smooth handover into a live environment;
  • Develop and enhance relationship with Internal Service Management and External Suppliers to ensure support objectives are met;
  • Provide support to the Application Support Officer and Senior Officer with status reporting;
  • Act as an internal and external consultant and advise on the development and management of the Universities applications and systems;
  • Develop own skills and professional capability in line with the needs of the service This job description may be subject to revision following discussion with the person appointed and forms part of the contract of employment.

Person Specification:

Essential / Desirable
Qualifications/ Education /
  • Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science/Information Technology or equivalent
  • Minimum HNC or equivalent, plus substantial work experience in a relevant role
OR
  • Proven track record with extensive work experience in a relevant technical or scientific role
/
  • ITIL Foundation Qualification

Skills/Training /
  • Understanding of ERP applications
  • Understanding of relational database technologies
  • Ability to communicate clearly to non-specialist audiences
  • Empathetic and with strong interpersonal skills
  • Highly adaptable and flexible. Able to adjust quickly to new situations and changing priorities
  • Creative and innovative problem-solving skills
/
  • Ability to identify new opportunities, provide creative solutions and promote change
  • Experience of Oracle/PeopleSoft application support
  • Experience with one of; PeopleSoft Campus Solutions, PeopleSoft CRM or OBIA
  • Familiarity with an enterprise IS environment

Experience /
  • Demonstrable IT experience with substantial proven expertise in second line support
  • Demonstrates a good understanding of the ITIL service management methodology and is able to evidence this through current working practices e.g. Change Control
/
  • Familiar with the HE context and environment