"Ellucian Banner Senior Systems Analyst"

Job Description Summary

The Senior Systems Analyst position is part of the Pennant Operations team within the Division of Finance. The Pennant Operations Student Financial Systems group supports the Pennant Accounts and Pennant Aid suite of applications. The Senior Systems Analyst plays an important role in the organization by utilizing the mission critical systems to support day-to-day operations of the Office of Student Financial Aid, which is part of Student Registration and Financial Services (SRFS) team to implement upgrades, releases, and new functionality, provide subject matter expertise, and other system support roles.

The position will work closely with the Student Financial Aid team to support cyclical system tasks. This will include updating configurations, creating queries to be leveraged by the ERP system rules, analysis and reporting, running system jobs, troubleshooting issues and mass data updates.

As part of the role, the ideal candidate will provide impact analysis, system testing, issue tracking and resolution, implementation planning, communications, and updated process documentation related to system upgrades, vendor releases, and other system roll outs.

The role will also work with SRFS staff and technical team members to understand business requirements that drive the analysis, design, and delivery of IT solutions that align to functional needs and priorities.

A successful candidate will translate business requirements into functional specifications and system design documents for student system related enhancements. The role will develop a strong understanding of Federal, State and University policies and procedures and regulatory compliance to help ensure that delivered IT solutions are built to adhere to those requirements.

The role will provide advanced operational reporting using Business Objects and other ad-hoc reporting tools as well as managing development efforts for reports requiring technical resources. The role will also partner and collaborate closely with developers, testing and approving their work, and acting as a client liaison for those working in support of Student Account and Aid.

The role works with clients and technical team members to understand business requirements that drive the analysis, design and delivery of quality IT solutions, aligning them with business needs. Applies knowledge of commonly used business concepts, practices and procedures; can provide data, process and system requirements; understands software development lifecycles and conducts process redesign. Translates business requirements into functional specifications and system design.

Job Description

Principal Role Responsibilities:

• Support the day-to-day operations and cyclical tasks related to Student Financial Aid's operational calendar such as updating configurations, running batch jobs, and mass data updates.
• Provide Tier 2 end-user support for Banner and other student applications.
• Complete impact analysis and regression testing to support product upgrades and vendor releases.
• Collect business requirements, collaborate with functional and technical teams to complete testing for enhancements.
• Work closely with SRFS staff and technical team members to understand business requirements that drive the analysis, design, and delivery of IT solutions that align to functional needs and priorities.
• Accurately translate business requirements into functional specifications and system design documents for student system related enhancements.
• Serve as a student financial aid subject matter expert by maintaining the Ellucian Banner configurations and baseline jobs.
• Develop expertise on the custom applications developed by Penn to support the financial systems functions and vendor hosted software solutions employed to support the SRFS mission.
• Promptly keep up to date on current trends and innovations with the vendors and industry and apply knowledge effectively in a matrixed environment with multiple partners and clients.
• Fulfill additional support functions within the team supporting Student Financial Aid including but not limited to integrations, batch scheduling, reporting, security administration, process and system documentation, training, and communications.
• Review, analyze, support, and evaluate information systems, processes and client needs.
• Perform and participate in the analysis, design and implementation of systems following appropriate standards and requirement gathering.
• Conduct tests or test planning sessions; provide input for feasibility and prepare user/technical documentation.
• Critically evaluate information gathered from multiple sources; reconcile conflicts; decompose high-level information into details; interpret low-level information to a general understanding; and distinguish user requests from the underlying true needs.
• Design the solution; coordinate implementation of the solution; and ensure delivery of tested solution to the user.
• Translate business and user requests involving enhancements and improvement initiatives to software systems into business requirement specification documentation.
• Document and track issues, action items, user requirements, and deliverables in an accurate and precise manner.
• Other duties and responsibilities as assigned

Qualifications

• Knowledge of Ellucian Banner Financial Aid module including experience maintaining configurations, baseline batch processes, Population Selections, ability to configure Self-Service Banner, and an understanding of Ethos, and Ellucian Banner APIs.
• Bachelor of Science and 3 to 5 years of experience or equivalent combination of education and experience is required.
• Demonstrated professional work experience working with student financial aid information or administrative ERP systems preferably in a decentralized, research-based university, with a comprehensive understanding of a Financial Aid office's business processes and best practices.
• Demonstrated knowledge and application of Federal Higher Education policies and how they relate to a systems and technical environment.
• Proficiency in working with integrated administrative software applications and reporting tools.
• Experience performing data analysis via SQL.
• Experience with querying data via tools like TOAD, Snowflake, etc.
• Demonstrated ability to analyze functional needs and develop and implement process improvement solutions.
• Ability to interact with all levels of clients and customers.
• Demonstrated experience and examples with communicating clearly and effectively to various faculty, staff, and students individuals and communities regarding complex systems, policies, and regulations.
• Proven work experience in developing positive and cooperative relationships with students, faculty, staff, parents, professional colleagues, and the public.
• Exercise exceptional judgment, discretion, and ability to maintain and support integrity with confidential information. Consistently support compliance and uphold values and behaviors to protect data and reporting requirements.
• Proven ability to manage multiple priorities under firm deadlines in a fast-paced environment while maintaining a high level of professionalism and exceptional attention to detail and accuracy.
• Excellent organizational, interpersonal, and problem-solving skills.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.

Job Location - City, State: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Department / School: Division of Finance

Pay Range: $83,500.00 - $90,000.00 Annual Rate