Functional Analyst II - Shoprite Group

Purpose of the Job    

The purpose of this role is to ensure that efficient and cost-effective business solutions and processes are in place to address business needs/requirements. The role facilitates effective and competitive business processes by eliciting, analysing, validating and documenting business organisational and/or operational requirements.

This role plays an instrumental role in the delivery teams to ensure that solutions are delivered according to the business requirements. The Senior Functional Analyst works closely with a cross-functional team and supports system designers with co-creating sustainable and innovative solutions.

Specialised knowledge of systems analysis, and the creation and testing of medium to high complexity lications, will be a key success factor in providing relevant technical solutions and practical configuration execution.    

Job Objectives    

• Review technical solutions and business processes and undertake systems analysis and participate in system design, planning and fit-for-purpose specification documentation for medium to high complexity solutions including participation in the solution assessment and validation of medium to high complexity solutions to business requirements and processes using appropriate tools. Specify testing, training, definition, and implementation of standardised procedures for support of practical business solutions.
• Perform detailed gap analysis to determine and understand complex functional business requirements and changes as defined by the Business Analysts, Product Owners and other stakeholders. Identify problem areas, measure various areas of performance, propose changes and develop process improvement initiatives. 
• Perform systems integration of medium to high complexity and provide specialised support to the systems designer in the identification of data conversion and reporting requirements.
• Work collaboratively within and across functions, building and maintain a trust relationship with business and IT stakeholders by delivering what was promised and providing technical and specialist knowledge and support to the team as well as system users.  
• Estimate, schedule, prioritise and deliver on business-critical projects. This includes accurate and justifiable effort estimations for completion of work, identifying business and functional dependencies to effectively prioritise and schedule delivery of assigned work packages and providing accurate and concise feedback to team leads, highlighting task status, issues, and risks. 
• Analyse test requirements and test scenarios. Prepare test scripts and execute testing the configured scenarios. Additionally, troubleshoot system related issues and channel 
• transactional data. Facilitate and coordinate User Acceptance Testing. Ensure detailed, accurate and auditable test documentation is maintained according to required IT standards. Provide input into training, testing and related procedures and processes to support delivery of the solution(s). 
• Facilitate and execute QA testing/user acceptance and go-live support activities. Maintain and enhance manual and automated test case repository. 
• Troubleshoot system related issues and channel transactional data. Track and report on systems/software defects. Proactively identify client needs and problems on technical issues that arise and propose resolutions to address them. Provide timeous feedback on ad-hoc queries from business stakeholders. Gather user issues, analyse, prioritise and document using JIRA.
• Provide input into the scope of a solution and ensure an understanding of the scope by relevant stakeholders. Present functional designs to functional areas to facilitate agreement and sign off from all concerned users and stakeholders on the suggested design and solution. Provide technical input on alternatives presented by the system designers and answer detailed questions regarding the business design and applicable configuration options. 
• Customise solutions according to the requirements of the respective business area, ensuring the system reacts and operates within the confines of the request. These include converting complex business requirements into customised configurations, maintaining configuration guides for applied customising, and identifying and resolving design decisions with business and IT owners.  
• Complete complex deliverables throughout the system lifecycle for compliance according to agreed plan, supporting the delivery of projects in assigned area, while consistently reviewing and analysing accuracy and quality of own deliverables.
• Maintains clear communication channels with project team on work status. Raises issues with manager as identified in area of focus that may affect the quality of delivery or timelines of the project. 
• Continuously support the business environment, through maintaining an understanding of initiatives and objectives, its various line portfolios, and the current trends and developments in the technology field. 
• Work within the framework Agile methodologies and/or other agreed cross-functional team ways of working and help foster a culture of collaboration, commitment, and continuous improvement.

Job Requirements

Qualifications    

• 3-year IT qualification - (essential) 
• Business Analyst / Functional Analyst course or similar - (essential)  
• MS SQL fundamentals (Introduction to SQL) Certification - (essential)  
• MS SQL - Querying data with Transact Certification - (desired) 

Experience    

• +4 years’ experience in a Functional Analyst or similar role – (essential).  
• Relevant and demonstrable experience in functional analysis, configuration, and user testing - (essential).
• Experience in software testing - (essential).   
• Experience in a Retail and or Financial Services industry - (essential).  
• Experience of working on projects within the Software Development Life Cycle – (desirable)  
• Experience in cloud solutions – (desirable).    

Knowledge and Skills    

• Working knowledge of different operating systems and Internet technologies - (essential) 
• Exposure to vendor management - (essential).  
• Incident management system knowledge - (desirable).  
• Exposure to Project Management - (desirable).   
• Foundation knowledge of Cloud technologies – (desirable).  
• Foundational knowledge of core programming technologies - (desirable).