JOB SPECIFICATION FUNCTION JOB TITLE REPORTING TO GRADE WORK PATTERN LOCATION IT & Digital Requirements Consultant Business Link Manager Band D Full-time Birmingham TRAVEL REQUIRED Occasionally ROLE ID TBC MAIN PURPOSE OF ROLE The IT & Digital department is responsible for the force s adoption and use of information and digital technology. The department consists of three core functions as follows: Architecture Management (responsible for identifying and selecting the right technologies for the force) Delivery Management (responsible for delivering and implementing the right technologies for the force) Service Management (responsible for managing and maintaining all live, operational technology for the force) The Architecture Management function is responsible for ensuring the department understands current and future requirements for the force, understands the technology marketplace, and as a result identifies opportunities for leveraging information and digital technology to benefit the force. This function governs and maintains the Enterprise Architecture for West Midlands Police, ensuring that all work undertaken across the force (particularly the force change programme) adheres to the force s standards, design principles and architecture (technology, information and security). This function is responsible for translating organisational requirements into technical requirements and designs that can be implemented via internal or external resource. It operates the Technical Design Authority which is responsible for assessing and selecting appropriate technologies to service organisational needs. The Business Link Team is responsible for understanding the current future IT & Digital requirements of the Force and the art of the possible from the IT & Digital industry. It undertakes strategic relationship management for the department; developing Requirements Consultant Page 1 of 7
relationships with key business stakeholders. The team are also responsible for capturing and articulating technical requirements, typically as part of force projects, and ensuring these requirements are tracked and managed throughout implementation to ensure new solutions deliver the intended results. Finally, the Business Link team assist the force with the completion of technical aspects within project mandates, outline business cases and detailed business cases in order to ensure informed decisions can be made by the force s Organisational Change Board. The Requirements Consultant will work with stakeholders across the Force to formally document technical requirements. The scope of the role includes eliciting IT requirements prior to their handover to Delivery Management, and tracking requirements throughout the project lifecycle. The requirement support role will also facilitate IT input into mandates and business cases progressed via the Commissioning process. KEY RESPONSIBILITIES Ensure that full IT and Digital requirements are captured and agreed, reflecting all aspects of the delivery; Log, acknowledge, accept and gather requirements for requests for IT change; Support the tracking of requirements throughout the project lifecycle and provide status updates where relevant; Ensure that the Force s requirements are fully understood before commencing any IT and Change delivery; Act as a point of contact for technical requirements and provide guidance; Develop and enhance relationships with key business stakeholders, actively manage their expectations and monitor satisfaction levels; Drive clear and professional communication between the Force, vendors, and the IT & Digital Business Link function; Participate in the Impact Assessment (IA) process to provide SME input on proposed initiatives; Support the coordination of IT & Digital impact assessments; Facilitate IT & Digital input into Project Mandates and Business Cases; Support reviews and handover points with other departments, for example Business Transformation, Information Management, and Procurement; Maintain a view of in-flight requests, to include stage, projected effort level, status, due dates etc. Report to the Business Link Manager for inclusion in department reporting; Define and use templates and tools to ensure consistency across the function; Agree timeframes, priority and scope with the requestor for requirements gathering; Support requirements management evaluations and ensure that lessons learnt are recorded in the knowledge management exchange; Maintain performance levels and ensure these are aligned to WMP standards; Requirements Consultant Page 2 of 7
Support governance boards where required; Participate in consultancy work; To carry out any other duties commensurate with the grading of the post as may from time to time be determined. CONTACTS Internal The postholder will have contact with: i. Other members of IT & Digital ii. iii. Police Officers Police Staff External The postholder will have contact with third party suppliers. The postholder will have contact with third party agencies. SPANS OF CONTROL / FINANCIAL CONTROL Staff management responsibilities: None Budgetary responsibilities: Raise issues with the relevant budget (e.g. as part of a project) to the appropriate level; Assist with the identification of full-lifecycle costs for new or changed IT services. COMPETENCIES REQUIRED FOR EFFECTIVE PERFORMANCE Experience Must demonstrate proven experience and ability to: Capture and document technical requirements; Track and trace requirements throughout the project lifecycle; Support business analysis and technical requirements gathering activity; Interact directly with end users; Communicate effectively with business, IT & Digital, and vendor stakeholders; Work with stakeholders (internally and externally) at all levels of seniority to understand new requirements and new demand; Work across all levels of the IT & Digital Technical Delivery Lifecycle; Requirements Consultant Page 3 of 7
Assist in the compilation of accurate and effective outline/detailed business cases. Knowledge Comprehensive understanding of Business and IT Requirements Gathering; An understanding of Business Relationship Management; An understanding of the Project Delivery Lifecycle; Understanding of Demand Management; An understanding of the ITIL framework; An appreciation of architectural frameworks (e.g. TOGAF). Skills Strong requirements gathering skills; Strong problem solving skills; Excellent interpersonal skills with the ability to confidently interact and empathise with all levels of staff; Excellent presentation skills; Flexibility to use a variety of supporting technologies and to be innovative; The ability to work under pressure and be capable of balancing competing demands and priorities; Proven track record in understanding the need of customers/users; Good communication skills in order to work effectively throughout the organisation and with external contractors and suppliers; An understanding of the ITIL processes as they apply to the team and to the department as a whole; Ability to produce management reports, policy documents and comprehensive working papers including recommendations and implementation of documents; High level project management skills and an understanding of professional techniques; Excellent technical design skills; Ability to gather and assimilate information. Requirements Consultant Page 4 of 7
SKILLS FRAMEWORK FOR THE INFORMATION AGE As IT gets more complex and pervasive there is an ever growing need clearly to define, recruit and grow the skilled resources that you need. SFIA provides a language that is the foundation for consistent, unambiguous and clear definitions of IT based skills. Primary SFIA Competencies REQM BUAN Skill Requirements Definition and Management The definition and management of the business goals and scope of change initiatives. The specification of business requirements to a level that enables effective delivery of agreed changes. Business Analysis The methodical investigation, analysis, review and documentation of all or part of a business in terms of business functions and processes, the information used and the data on w hich the information is based. The definition of requirements for improving processes and systems, reducing their costs, enhancing their sustainability, and the quantification of potential business benefits. The creation of viable specifications and acceptance criteria in preparation for the construction of information and communication systems. V Desired Level Facilitates scoping and business priority setting for large or complex changes, engaging senior stakeholders as required. Selects the most appropriate means of representing business requirements in the context of a specific change initiative. Drives the requirements elicitation process where necessary, identifying w hat stakeholder input is required. Obtains formal agreement from a large and diverse range of potentially senior stakeholders and recipients to the scope and requirements, plus the establishment of a base-line on w hich delivery of a solution can commence. Takes responsibility for the investigation and application of changes to programme scope. Identifies the impact on business requirements of external impacts affecting a programme or project. IV Investigates operational requirements, problems, and opportunities, seeking effective business solutions through improvements in automated and non-automated components of new or changed processes. Assists in the analysis of stakeholder objectives, and the underlying issues arising from investigations into business requirements and problems, and identifies options for consideration. Identifies potential benefits, and available options for consideration. Works w ith clients/ users in defining acceptance tests. RLMT Stakeholder Relationship Management During the design, management and implementation of business change and throughout the service lifecycle, the analysis and coordination of relationships w ith and betw een stakeholders, taking account of the services they use. IV Collects and uses feedback from customers and stakeholders to help measure effectiveness of stakeholder management. Helps develop and enhance customer and stakeholder relationships. Implements a communications strategy, including, for example; handling of complaints; problems and issues; managing resolutions; corrective actions and lessons learned; collection and dissemination of relevant information appropriately. Requirements Consultant Page 5 of 7
Secondary SFIA Competencies BPRE BSMO Skill Business Process Improvement The identification of new and alternative approaches to performing business activities. The analysis of business processes, including recognition of the potential for automation of the processes, assessment of the costs and potential benefits of the new approaches considered and, w here appropriate, management of change, and assistance with implementation. May include the implementation of a process management capability/ discipline at the enterprise level. Business Modelling The production of abstract or distilled representations of real w orld, business or gaming situations in traditional or transmedia applications, to aid the communication and understanding of existing, conceptual or proposed scenarios. Predominantly focused around the representation of processes, roles, data, organisation and time. Models may be used to represent a subject at varying levels of detail and decomposition. V Desired Level Analyses business processes; identifies alternative solutions, assesses feasibility, and recommends new approaches. Contributes to evaluating the factors which must be addressed in the change programme. Helps establish requirements for the implementation of changes in the business process. II Understands the purpose and benefits of modelling. Uses established techniques as directed to model simple subject areas w ith clearly-defined boundaries. May assist in more complex modelling activities. Develops models w ith input from subject matter experts and communicates the results back to them for review and confirmation. Requirements Consultant Page 6 of 7
Attitude Positive and optimistic outlook; Motivated to see the Force succeed; Open and honest; Problem solver; Able to delegate where appropriate and target that delegation to develop other team members; A strong team player with a can do attitude; Self-motivated with the ability to multi task and work well under pressure. Training & Education An IT related qualification ideally at a Degree level, or demonstrable specialist skills in an IT environment; ITIL Foundation certificate or demonstrable skills that the ITIL principles are understood in the context of the role; Qualification in requirements management is desirable. Special Circumstances The post holder must be able to work from alternate locations in line with business need. Flexibility is required where rota management is required and/or extended hours are proposed. It is suggested that this role requires a flexibility of approach to working hours. The post holder may be required to provide out of hours availability for which the appropriate allowance will be paid. The post holder may be expected to work outside of normal working hours. Requirements Consultant Page 7 of 7