Information Systems Manager
Bainisteoir Córais Faisnéise

Job Title: Information Systems Manager

Salary range: £37,925 – £39,062 

Grade: Assembly Grade 6

Directorate: Corporate Services Directorate

Business Area/Office: Finance Office

Accountable to: Head of Finance

Job Purpose:

The Information Systems Manager (ISM) post will play a pivotal role in supporting the Assembly Commission to embed its new integrated Finance, Payroll, Human Resources (HR) and Purchase Order/Procurement system.  The post holder will be responsible for the day to day administration of the system and for contributing to the continued development and maintenance of the system, including managing system upgrades and implementation of new modules, features and process improvements.

The post holder will be responsible for identifying process improvements to create efficiencies and to develop the integrated solution to maintain data integrity, especially as it interacts with other internal applications and systems. This will be achieved by developing a sound understanding of the Assembly Commission’s current and future requirements and an in-depth working knowledge of the system’s capabilities.

Job Description:

The main duties and responsibilities of the post include:

System Administration and Maintenance

• Maintenance: To schedule all housekeeping tasks and processes in relation to the various modules and ensure they are running at optimum performance levels;
• New modules: Ensure that any new modules are built, tested and implemented, within scoped parameters and in line with Assembly Commission security profiles and GDPR legislation;
• Upgrades: In consultation with the Finance and HR Offices, schedule and test all related upgrades and arrange periodic database copies to the test and development sites;
• Troubleshooting: Act as the first point of contact for any queries in relation to the system, to log necessary calls with the system provider, and keep users up to date on queries raised;
• Contributing to Contract Management: To be the first point of contact with the system provider for any issues. Managing the day-to-day relationship including the booking of consultants, where required, and monitoring delivery of consultancy work/support; raising and escalation of any cases for supplier action, monitoring the progress of these to completion.  Monitor the relevant contract key performance indicators and provide this information to the overall Contract Manager;
• Subject matter expert: Working with the Finance and HR Offices, drive the development of business and technical processes by acting as the subject matter expert on the various modules and their capabilities. This will require being fully up to date and knowledgeable of relevant Finance and HR Assembly Commission policies and procedures; International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS); and all policies relating to the payment of Members’ salaries, allowances and expenses, in order to ensure that system processes and workflows are aligned to these;
• Continuous process improvement: To continually review the Finance, Payroll and HR processes, ensuring they are fit for purpose, and providing recommendations and/or solutions to the relevant Office on ongoing or potential issues in order to deliver efficient and effective ways of working. Recommend new features or changes to configuration/workflows based on best practice and user feedback, recognising areas of the solution that are underutilised or inefficient and present solutions for improvement;
• Risk management: Maintain a system risk register ensuring all risks and issues are monitored and managed effectively; ensure any new processes designed and implemented have had privacy impact assessments to meet GDPR and other legislative requirements;
• Information Asset Officer: Undertake the role of Information Asset Owner for the information held in the system; ensure privacy notices are reviewed and up to date, that procedures follow best practice in terms of handling data in line with GDPR requirements; ensure all staff are aware of their responsibilities under the Assembly Commission’s policies.

Data Integrity

• Database Management: Take responsibility for database management for system records, such as live suppliers / catalogues / elements / users, etc.;
• Change verification: Protect the integrity of the system data by ensuring only authorised changes are carried out;
• System and user audits: Conduct data audits and data cleansing exercises, user audits, and security access audits.

Training

• User guides: Create and maintain documentation for Finance, Payroll and HR processes, ensuring it is relevant, easy to follow and is kept up to date;
• Training: Take responsibility for all system training materials, ensuring all new users are given the necessary training on the system and that regular refresher training is provided to all Assembly Commission staff; which may be face to face, or via the development and maintenance of eLearning courses. Training will also need to be provided to Members, Members’ support staff and Party support staff as required.

Reporting

• Data extraction: Produce meaningful management information reports for senior managers and the Finance and HR Offices, both on an ad hoc and scheduled basis to enable strategic and management decisions;
• Advice and Assistance: Provide assistance to the Finance and HR Offices to enable them to produce reports/audit reports as required;
• Presentation reports: To design presentation material suitable for delivery at external/stakeholder meetings;
• Report / Dashboard creation: In consultation with the Finance and HR Offices, develop the reporting outputs from the system, including editing/creating new reports and building dashboards, taking responsibility for report data quality (control totals for reports, all reports having the same definition of terms used, etc.).

Essential Criteria:

Applicants must, by the closing date for applications have:

1. A minimum of 3 years’ relevant experience of the administration and maintenance of Finance, Payroll and HR systems. The experience must include:

a) Building and modifying workflows within the systems including testing and implementing changes;

b) Supporting the review of Finance, Payroll and HR processes on the systems leading to greater efficiency;

c) Extracting and creating Finance, Payroll and HR related reports from the systems, for the purpose of statutory reporting; budgeting, variance analysis or accounting;

d) Maintaining a Chart of Accounts and general ledger structures;

e) Acting as the first point of contact for user queries and raising issues with the system suppliers for action;

f) Training staff and other relevant stakeholders on each of the systems.

2. A good understanding of IFRS and their impact on financial processes and reporting.

3. A good understanding of HMRC employment tax regulations and statutory reporting requirements.

4. A good understanding of HR good practice and current Northern Ireland employment legislation.

Shortlisting Criteria:

• Have attained an accounting qualification equivalent to Accounting Technician or above; OR
• Have attained a BTEC Level 3 Award in Payroll Techniques or equivalent and at least 1 years’ experience of processing payroll for a minimum of 100 staff.

Skills & Behaviours:

The following Assembly Skills and Behaviours will be assessed during the selection process:

Delivering a quality service

…is about providing a high-quality and efficient service to our customers. It is thinking ahead, managing resources effectively and delivering work on time and to a high standard. It is also using professional or technical expertise to enhance service delivery.  

Building relationships and effective communication

…is creating and maintaining positive, professional and respectful internal and external working relationships through effective and appropriate communications.

Initiating improvement and delivering change

…is looking for and being open to new and innovative ideas and improvements to the service provided. It is being flexible and adapting positively and professionally to sustain performance when the situation changes, workloads increase or priorities change. It is about forming sound, evidence-based decisions and being accountable for results.

Managing & Leading Self and Others

… is setting high standards for ourselves. It is about guiding, motivating and developing others to achieve high performance. It is about engaging others in delivering a corporate vision of excellence, expertise and innovation in support of the Assembly as a legislature.