Job Summary

To manage the implementation, maintenance, and enhancement of all Applications systems to enable the use of appropriate platform technology, as an integral and reliable component of business process within country. Drive convergence of technologies, ensure delivery of technology projects associated with Applications and liaise and negotiate with internal customers and technology vendors.

Job Description

Accountability:  Service (Applications) Availability

The prime responsibility is for maintaining the availability and reliability of applications to ensure that IT can effectively meet service targets in accordance with planned business objectives.

The accountability also has a responsibility of analyzing existing application availability issues and problems to determine ways to improve availability at acceptable cost levels.

Finally, the accountability has a responsibility to determine availability requirements for new applications or enhancements to existing applications.

Key Activities

• Optimize the availability of the IT infrastructure to deliver cost effective improvements that deliver tangible benefits to business units and customers
• Provide a range of IT availability reporting to ensure that agreed levels of availability, reliability and maintainability are measured and monitored on an ongoing basis
• Provide holistic management of availability that includes people and processes as well as technology
• Take actions to achieve reductions in frequency and duration of incidents that impact IT availability
• Ensure shortfalls in IT availability are recognized and appropriate corrective actions are identified and progressed
• Create and maintain a forward looking availability plan aimed at improving the overall availability of IT services and infrastructure components to ensure that existing and future availability requirements can be met
• Provide regular reports on availability to the Head of Service Management
• Organize and maintain a regular availability review process with both key business and IT representatives
• Agree appropriate actions to maintain or improve availability levels
• Initiate and coordinate actions required to maintain or improve availability of applications
• Act as a coordination point for changes to availability levels of applications when needed
• Determine the availability requirements from the business for new or enhanced IT applications
• Establish measures and reporting that reflect business, user and IT support requirements with regards to application availability
• Participate in Change Control meetings to assess and authorize changes from an availability perspective
• Assist in SLA negotiation efforts from an availability capability standpoint
• Define the key targets of availability required for the applications and their components that underpin a new or enhanced IT application as the basis for an SLA agreement
• Analyze and review actual availability levels achieved against SLAs and OLAs
• Maintain an awareness of technology advancements and best practices that support application availability

Accountability:  Test Management

Responsibility is to ensure that proper testing occurs for all Application changes released into the production environments

Key Activities

• Work closely with Release Analysts
• Review releases and assign appropriate release testing tasks
• Compiles and Review the Testing Deliverables
• Conduct installation procedure tests
• Oversee / Review functional, performance, and integration testing results
• Coordinate user acceptance testing
• Coordinate back out testing
• Conduct supporting documentation review
• Compile test results
• Conduct release test review
• Coordinate post release testing
• Validate and communicate results of testing activities

Accountability:  Business Liaison

Single point of contact for one or more business units to represent IT services.

Key Activities

• Identify service needs for the Business Units represented to IT
• Escalate Business unit service issues to the Service Manager
• Communicate service status on service issues to the Business Unit
• Assist in SLA negotiation efforts with Business Unit(s)
• Report on quality of services rendered to Business Unit(s)

Accountability: Risk Management

• Build relationship with country IT Risk and Governance team and provide support wherever required.

• Contribute and deliver to the improvement of the risk profile by delivering improved governance, risk management, controls and compliance requirements.
• Devise and implement an effective plan to deliver a satisfactory risk and audit profile for Operations & IT and achieve audit and assurance targets.

Accountability: People Management

• Develop a high performing team by embedding formal performance development and informal coaching. Encourage frequent knowledge sharing between team members.
• Determine and analyse development needs for the team and ensure that identified training requirements are budgeted for and executed.
• Establish and maintain a succession plan for the team.
• Approve leave requests for team members and create leave plan to ensure adequate coverage.
• When required, initiate disciplinary processes for team members calling on support from Human Resources when required.
• Resolve grievances rose by team members and escalate only if required.
• Address poor performance of any team member through the formal Performance Accelerator programme and ensure that continued poor performance is appropriately dealt with.
• Motivate team members and ensure that their efforts are recognised.
• Participate in the creation and implementation of Employee Opinion Survey (EOS) actions for the team.

Qualifications

Analytical Thinking - Basic (Meets all of the requirements), Bachelor`s Degrees and Advanced Diplomas - Information Technology, Digital affinity (Meets all of the requirements), Enabling team success (Meets some of the requirements and would need further development), English, Experience in a similar environment at junior specialist level, IT Infrastructure & Assets (Meets some of the requirements and would need further development), Openness to change (Meets some of the requirements and would need further development), Quality orientation (Meets some of the requirements and would need further development)