Business/Systems Analyst - MIT Lincoln Laboratory

Position Description

The Business/Systems Analyst will study the business and information needs of specific customer groups and of the Laboratory as a whole to develop information systems solutions. As the liaison between the business areas and the Information Services Department, the Analyst is responsible for identifying and defining issues and gaps, then gathering and documenting business requirements and translating them into functional system design specifications that can be successfully executed in a manner that consistently meets or exceeds business and user requirements.  The Business/Systems Analyst will develop and configure solutions and processes that address business requirements and are in line with Lincoln Laboratory standards.

Primary Duties

Financial Systems Operational Support and Continuous Improvement

• Maintains high level of proficiency and knowledge of financial applications including SAP FI/CO functions, the month-end close process, cash management, and all variations of financial postings
• Identifies, analyzes, and documents business requirements, system functional requirements, and develops key decision documentation as needed.
• Manages assigned projects by applying project management skills, coordinating activities of resources across ISD and business teams
• Collaborates with Financial Business Process owners and documents overall solution design, which may include UI, processing logic, batch jobs, reports, interfaces, conversions, workflows, etc.
• Develops and communicates functional specifications for any required programming or reporting tasks, serves as primary QA tester for solutions requiring in-house development
• Tests functionality of enhancements, and new programs or functions to ensure they meet customer and Laboratory requirements and data standards
• Maintains advanced proficiency of SAP FI/CO master data, transaction data and table structures to support reporting, specification development and troubleshooting.

Financial Systems Operational Support and Continuous Improvement (cont.)

• Monitors the health of critical interfaces between SAP FI/CO at Lincoln Laboratory and other systems such as MIT Campus
• Maintains an understanding of Lincoln Laboratory’s financial reporting requirements within the core SAP ERP system
• Maintains an understanding of the financial reporting requirements of Lincoln Laboratory as they pertain to the data warehouse including the financial data extractors for the reporting system.  Identifies technical and process changes that will require reporting changes
• Maintains and understanding of FI/CO-related authorization roles and authorizations
• Identifies issues and potential improvements to existing business processes and related information systems and prepares solutions to address these issues
• Performs complex troubleshooting and analysis for issue correction, root cause determination and to identify continuous improvement opportunities
• Collaborates with the Financial Services Department and Lincoln Laboratory Business Managers to troubleshoot and resolve issues
• Acts as the Financial Services Department’s advocate to IT in order to ensure that problems are resolved effectively, expeditiously, & are documented appropriately.

Systems Upgrade and Implementation

• In collaboration with the LL Financial Services Department, maintains a set of regression test scenarios/scripts, performs testing, and coordinates business participation in regression testing.
• Identifies and documents impacts to end user processes and any required mitigations resulting from implementation of system updates or upgrades
• Documents all testing and results due to maintenance of system upgrade, modifications, and configurations.  

Communication, Collaboration and Training

• Documents and communicates ongoing work and design changes to IT and Business.
• Collaborates across teams to ensure standard system functionality is identified and used in all relevant situations.
• Develops, publishes, and maintains documentation according to department standards.
• In collaboration with the ISD Training team, develops and delivers training & user guides on applications capabilities to increase user acceptance.
• Prepares and delivers presentations at conferences or external meetings where appropriate.

Business Planning

• Assists in planning and in setting priorities for the Enterprise Applications Service Management Sector in collaboration with the other teams and the Sector Manager.
• Performs a variety of tasks and may direct the work of others. A wide degree of creativity and latitude is expected.

This position is under the general supervision of an Enterprise Applications Service Management Finance Team Lead.

This position can interact with vendors to keep abreast of roadmaps and directions.

This position routinely interacts with MIT-LL Finance Department and Financial Reporting end-users.

Qualifications

Required

• Bachelor's degree plus a minimum of seven years of experience OR a master's degree and a minimum two years of experience OR equivalent
• 7+ years of SAP FI/CO experience in requirements gathering, deployment and support
• 7+ years of experience with SAP ERP business processes design, implementation and support
• Working knowledge of the software lifecycle and methodologies
• Strong and in-depth knowledge of SAP FI/CO. Understanding and broad application of technical standards, principles, theories, concepts, and techniques
• Ability to work independently under limited supervision. Participates in determining objectives for assignments
• Ability to work analytically in a problem-solving environment
• Skill in analyzing process and data flows
• Skill in requirements collection and analysis to identify needs
• Skill in building consensus among stakeholders and colleagues
• Excellent customer service skills
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills
• Excellent business, functional, technical acumen
• Project management skills to succeed in matrixed environment

Preferred

• Working knowledge of other SAP ERP related modules including but not limited to Funds Management, Grants Management, & Project Systems.
• Working knowledge of SAP BW and Business Objects reporting.
• Working knowledge of SAP Concur
• Working knowledge of change management tools for software life cycle development.
• Experience as a Project Manager for large IT projects

US citizenship required to obtain and maintain a security clearance