Project Manager/Business Analyst

Libraries, Research and Learning Resources (LRLR)

Reporting to: LRLR Associate Director – Strategy and Planning

Salary: £28,695 - £37,394per annum, depending on skills and experience

Job family and level:APM Level 4

Contract Status:Fixed term – until 31 December 2016

Hours of Work:Full time

Location:based at King’s Meadow Campus, and working across all UK campuses

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.

Context

The next era of University development has been initiated. Recent activity has focused on developing the University’s new ‘Strategy 2020’, outlining our vision and strategic ambitions, building on previous achievements and recognising that the higher education environment is evolving rapidly and the pace of change will only accelerate. We now need to focus on consolidating and enhancing our position as a world-leading University and direct resources to:

  • Strengthening and enriching our core activities of Education and Research
  • Focusing on enhancing quality
  • Addressing the changing expectations of our students
  • Targeting investment in research strengths
  • Continuing to differentiate from our competitors on the student experience and our approach to internationalisation

Excellence in Education and Student Life is at our core. As part of our ambition to strengthen and enrich education, we have embarked on a number of ambitious programmes under the ‘umbrella’ of the Transforming Teaching Programme. Akey component and critical to this success is the need to redefine the services that we provide to staff and students through libraries and online facilities. The Transformation of Libraries, Research and Learning Resources (LRLR) Programme has therefore been established, as an exciting, high profile and complex programme, to deliver the changes which will be paramount to this overall success.

Libraries, Research and Learning Resources (LRLR)

The LRLR transformation is an exciting and challenging programme of work to address issues and opportunities to improve students’ experience of the library, and academics’ experience as both teachers and researchers. The programme(comprising of over 20 projects) aims to put students and academics at the heart of everything we do in libraries.; Our working practices, our culture and the way we engage with University stakeholders in Faculties and Schools will change so that we: reflect teaching and research priorities and academic workflows in the services offered; deliver interactive, connected and innovative environments (physical and online) in support of teaching and learning and research; and provide consistently excellent services aligned to University strategy.

As part of the LRLR transformation an organisation restructure has been implemented, and a new Strategy and Planning Section has been formed. This Section,led by Valerie Housley -Associate Director of Strategy and Planning, will provide a strategic management function for LRLR. It comprises a small team of six specialists, with student engagement, planning and performance measurement, operational planning and library space management already in place, and to complete the Sectionwe are now seeking a highly motivated and emotionally intelligent Programme Manager and an enthusiastic and flexible Analyst Project Managerto manage the delivery of the transformation programme.

Your Role

Reporting to theAssociate Director - Strategy and Planning, and working closely with the Programme Manager, the Analyst Project Manager will provide essential capacity and capability to shape and deliver a range of priority transformation programme projects. To define and deliver these projects, the person we are seeking will have a wide-ranging skill set. You will be able to identify, gather and prioritise stakeholder requirements, and project manage through to delivery. Your analyst expertise will be crucial in ensuring that library development is user-centred -so that services meet University of Nottingham student and staff needs. Your project management skills will enable you to identify activity, schedule, plan and manage - so that project outputs are delivered. Your communication skills will engage LRLR staff in projects, harnessing their effort and creating enthusiasm for transformation activity.

The Analyst Project Manager will build key relationships across LRLR and into the University to understand existing and future business requirements. S/he will work closely with the LRLR Transformation Programme Manager, colleagues in the Strategy and Planning Section including the Student Engagement Co-ordinator, LRLR Senior Management Team, and collaborate with colleagues across the University including the University Executive Project Management Office (EPMO).

Delivery of the transformation programme requires culture change for LRLR. To underpin the way we work across the Department and serve our customers, a new ethos has been developed by staff; we aspire to be Welcoming Inspiring Supportive to Everyone (WISE). Building and maintaining attitudes and behaviours in line with this ethos brings with it both challenges and exciting opportunities. The Analyst Project Manager we seek will embodythis ethos.

You will be an experienced project manager or analyst with strong communication skills and emotional intelligence. You will have experience of delivering projects within a programme structure, and will have the ability to role model the cultural change required for LRLR to change the way we work.

Principle Accountabilities

  1. Proactively work with stakeholders to gather and analyse requirements:
  • Identifying stakeholder requirements to inform priority transformation projects and service development
  • Analysing user requirements and business processes to author specifications, use cases, and requirement catalogues to inform transformation projects and LRLR Senior Management Team (SMT) decision making
  • Reviewing requirements and issues impacting on projects within the programme, recommending changes where appropriate
  • Working closely with the Project Sponsor and Programme Manager, informing development of and changes to projects in line with stakeholder requirements
  • Working with and providing reports and communication material for stakeholders including students and senior stakeholders.
  1. Define, plan and manage transformation programme projects;
  • Proactively work with LRLR SMT and University stakeholders to agree the scope and shape of projects
  • Provide project leadership and management including management of project team members and the initiation, co-ordination and activity management to successful delivery. This will include management of all aspects of the project lifecycle including:
  • Planning
  • Risk assessment
  • Delivery
  • Monitoring
  • Reporting
  • Closure.
  1. Inform and support the management of the LRLR Transformation Programme;
  • Contributing to the management and development of the programme including:
  • Monitoring and reporting
  • Communication strategy, planning and implementation
  • Change management
  • Issue and risk management.
  1. Contribute to the development of library services and LRLR strategy, communication and engagement;
  • Actively participate in the Strategy and Planning Section in order to facilitate effectiveness of, and communication within, the Section
  • Liaise with colleagues throughout LRLR, and particularly with other customer focused roles, to maintain awareness of potential developments and plan for their implementation
  • Liaise with colleagues throughout the University to promote/enhance the work of the Section and LRLR
  • Present written or oral reports on projects and initiatives
  • Represent the Section on LRLR/University working/collaborative groups and at national conferences, committees, etc.

Knowledge, Skills, Qualifications & Experience

Essential / Desirable
Qualifications/ Education /
  • First degree (or equivalent) or substantial relevant experience
/
  • PRINCE2 project management or/and Managing Successful Programmes (MSP) qualifications
  • Hold a BCS/ISEB Diploma in Business Analysis, or IIBA/BCS Chartered/Certified status

Knowledge/Skills/Training /
  • Proven excellent communication and interpersonal skills
  • Ability to build productive working relationships across teams, sections and departments
  • Ability to produce clear written reports, to contribute to informal and formal discussions and presentations, and to deal effectively with internal and external stakeholders at all levels
  • Ability to translate requirements into use cases, requirements catalogues and/or service development specifications
  • Demonstrableproject management skills
  • Critical thinking and problem solving skills
  • Ability to work under pressure, prioritise work and deal with unforeseen issues
  • Thorough knowledge of Microsoft Office suite of tools
/
  • Commitment to the development of library services
  • Ability to contribute to strategic planning

Experience /
  • Experience of gathering user requirements to inform and support service development
  • Experience of project management including planning – i.e. ability to identify activity and schedule effectively
  • Experience of coordinating the inputs of colleagues across teams
  • Experience of working with colleagues from a range of professional backgrounds
  • Experience of working across organisational boundaries
/
  • Experience of leading teams or group activities
  • Experience of market research activity including planning and leading focus groups and survey development

Other /
  • Willingness and ability to embrace new ideas, develop new skills and adapt to changing situations and requirements
  • Enthusiastic and proactive ‘can do’ approach
  • Team player and willingness to be flexible and adaptable, to both audience and priorities
  • Customer focused

Further information

Libraries, Research and Learning Resources (LRLR): an overview of the Department

The University of Nottingham Libraries, Research and Learning Resources (LRLR) Department provides library, learning technology, and manuscripts, archives and special collections services to University students, staff and visitors. As a Professional Service Department, LRLR is the focal point for virtual and physical knowledge creation and dissemination; it is the information manager for the University covering published collections, research outputs and e-learning objects.

The Department has approximately 180 FTE staff distributed around the University’s campuses in the UK, and grouped into six sections: Learning Technology, Manuscripts and Special Collections, Research and Learning Services, Customer Services, Collections Management, and Strategy and Planning (see staffing structure). The LRLR annual operational budget is around £11 million.

We currently provide resources and services to 40,000 students and staff in the UK. These include: over one million books and journals in eight libraries; 100,000 electronic books; and four million manuscripts including special collections of national importance. In addition, services are provided for about 10,000 students and staff at our campuses in Asia.

Our services range from state-of-the-art learning facilities to frontline library and lending services, support of the University’s print and electronic library resources and the provision of learning technologies, including:

  • frontline lending and enquiry services across eight libraries
  • managing a variety of study spaces
  • enquiry services and information skills teaching
  • ensuring library resources are accessible to students and staff with disabilities
  • managing and promoting printed/electronic information resources for research,learning and teaching
  • delivering eLearning services and development of new technologies
  • acquiring/managing digital and print library collections, including Manuscripts andSpecial Collections
  • hosting the Centre for Research Communications (CRC)

Organisation structure