IDENTIFICATION Department Education, Culture and Employment Position Title Programmer / System Analyst Position Number(s) Community Division/Region(s) 71-14813 Yellowknife Planning, Research and Evaluation PURPOSE OF THE POSITION The Programmer / Systems Analyst s role is to plan, design, code, test, and implement software programs and applications in support of core organizational functions. This individual will apply proven communication, analytical and problem-solving skills to help identify, communicate and resolve systems issues in order to maximize the benefit of systems investments. This includes researching, designing, documenting, and modifying software specifications throughout the systems development lifecycle (SDLC). The Programmer / System Analyst will also analyze and amend software errors in a timely and accurate fashion for system sustainment and provide status reports for projects where required. SCOPE The incumbent reports to the Manager, Technology Operations & Support (TOS). The incumbent works directly with the TOS team, ECE Project Manager / Business Analysts, vendors and third-party developers as required throughout the SDLC. The incumbent s primary role is to provide sustainment and technical project support for the Student Information System (SIS). The SIS has 1200 end-users and is used throughout all territorial schools and Education Authorities to record details and daily event information about students in NWT schools (K-12) including marks, attendance, photos, incidents, disciplinary actions, marks, courses, report cards, etc. The incumbent s secondary role is to design, develop, and support the architecture needed to integrate the SIS with ECE and inter-jurisdictional systems including; Case Management (CMAS), Reporting (Oracle Reports), Business Intelligence (OBIEE), Alberta Provincial Approach to Student Information (PASI), and other custom departmental web/client-server systems. The incumbent designs and develops reports/data extracts and provides end user support for the SIS and supporting systems to ECE, Education Authorities, and schools. October 2, 2015 Programmer / System Analyst Page 1 of 6
Organizational Structure The Department of Education, Culture and Employment (ECE) has a complex and multifaceted mandate within the Government of the Northwest Territories (GNWT). Through its many programs and services ECE impacts the lives of NWT residents across lifespans through income security, early childhood, adult education, labour-market development, culture, heritage and official languages. The Department has three corporate affairs division: Policy, Legislation and Communications; Planning, Research and Evaluation (PRE); and Finance and Capital Planning. Together, these divisions enhance intradepartmental collaboration through coordinated activities and the setting of standards and expectations. The PRE division is composed of 3 units: 1. Research and Program Evaluation Services 2. Information Management Services 3. ATIPP and Records Management Collectively, PRE plays a significant role providing corporate leadership to the Deputy Minister, Assistant Deputy Minister, Directors, and program staff in order to ensure: lateral, systems-wide thinking in support of program integration; holistic and multi-disciplinary approaches to complex problem areas; practical accountability mechanisms that generate meaningful data and adherence to the Department s legislation, directives, and policies; leaner, more efficient service delivery through evidence-based decision making; and transparent communication in support of public accountability. Collectively, PRE collaborates with all levels of the education system to provide strategic and evidence-based research, planning, implementation, and evaluation services. Through these services, PRE staff are mandated to support sustainable programs and technology solutions through the following functions: Departmental strategic and business planning Statistical analysis and research Program monitoring and evaluation Performance measurement and target development Project management Business analysis Risk management Information systems and technology Information management ATIPP and records management October 2, 2015 Programmer / System Analyst Page 2 of 6
RESPONSIBILITIES 1. Development and maintenance of the SIS s ys tem i ncludin g; applica tion/web s erve rs a nd database servers. Maintain multiple environments including; production, user acceptance testing and development. Provide technical support on implementation, customization and maintenance of SIS. Test, document, and communicate changes to Manager, TOS and Project Manager / Business Analyst when implementing new upgrades to SIS or any related systems. Manage data integrity to reflect all business rules, policies and procedures of SIS or any other related system. Manage the structure and permissions of user profiles, accounts, menus and screens on SIS. Perform data backup and recovery operations for SIS. Import and export data from the SIS database(s) and create views as required. By virtue of the position, incumbent will have access to system data that may contain client and staff personal information. 2. Design, develop, implement and maintain custom local and on-line applications. Supports the implementation and maintenance of data interchange applications used to exchange data between ECE and other jurisdictions. Provide expert advice and information about systems development including appropriate methodologies, project management approaches and determination of potential solutions. Analyze business needs and perform necessary investigation, analysis and evaluation to determine system requirements. Ensure designs conform to ECE and GNWT standards. Develop and modify custom applications in accordance to ECE standards. Ensure proper system testing completed to meet end user requirements. Solicit ongoing feedback from users to ensure required and reliable system performance. Manage ECE web applications and interfaces. 3. Design, maintain and create custom reports and data extracts for ECE systems. Assist GNWT and non-gnwt end users in defining report requirements from data stored in the SIS, CMAS, Business Intelligence tool, and other ECE systems. Use department supported reporting tools to create and modify reports. Creates views and procedures as required in the database(s). 4. Provide end-user support to clients, both in Headquarters and in the Regions. Travel to the Regions and communities as required. Provide design consultation/advice to end users. Assist in maximizing software solution capabilities. October 2, 2015 Programmer / System Analyst Page 3 of 6
Provide end user support to clients using help desk ticketing software. 5. Work as a team player with other members of the TOS team. Liaise with third-party vendors on maintenance of the current systems and development/customization of new solutions. KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND ABILITIES Knowledge The incumbent must have w o r k i n g knowledge of and ability to apply project management best practices in information systems including analysis, design, development, implementation, support, evaluation and life cycle management. The incumbent must have expert knowledge of HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and SQL programming/markup languages. The incumbent must have working knowledge of server operating systems, including Microsoft Windows and Red Hat server operating systems. The incumbent must have working knowledge of Oracle database. The incumbent must have working knowledge of network protocols including SSH, FTP, HTTP, HTTPS, RDP, and the TCP/IP network stack. Skills and Abilities The incumbent must have excellent communications skills including the ability to communicate technical information to non-technical staff. The incumbent must be able to work with short deadlines, be a team player, be able to work well with end users and be analytical in nature. The incumbent must have the ability for systems design. The incumbent must have the ability to create reports in tools like Oracle Reports, Crystal Reports or Jasper Reports. The incumbent must have ability to learn programming languages such of PL/SQL,.NET (VB and ASP), and Python. Typically, the above qualifications would be attained by: These knowledge skills and abilities may typically be attained through; college diploma or university degree in the field of computer science, information science, management information systems, or software engineering and 4 years related work experience. October 2, 2015 Programmer / System Analyst Page 4 of 6
WORKING CONDITIONS Physical Demands The incumbent is required to sit or stand for long periods at presentations, in meetings, and group or one-on-one training sessions. There is a frequent requirement where the incumbent must sit at a computer (4-8 hours) analyzing data and traveling to NWT communities and other cities as required. Eyestrain, back discomfort and keyboardinduced tensions are the most common problems. Environmental Conditions There are requirements for visits to other offices and remote sites for consultation, review, training, and work outside the office environment. There is exposure to noise from servers when working in the data centre (1-2 hours per week). The position may require travel in small aircraft into small communities. Sensory Demands The incumbent may spend long periods (4-8 hours) of intense concentration reviewing data and information. There is a frequent need for accurate rapid visual judgments when providing time-sensitive data. Mental Demands The incumbent may experience stress or mental fatigue related to meeting short deadlines responding to requests for information and managing several projects at the same time. This is compounded by the fact that a large amount of the work has tight departmental deadlines beyond the control of the incumbent; and that the work may have financial implications to the department or clients if delays occur. Stress may also be induced as a result of continually learning new technologies and the use of new or enhanced products. Weekend and evening overtime for after-hours system implementation will be required, so as to not interrupt the daily activities of the rest of the department(s), school(s) and school authority(s) (5 8 hours per month). ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS Position Security (check one) No criminal records check required Position of Trust criminal records check required Highly sensitive position requires verification of identity and a criminal records check October 2, 2015 Programmer / System Analyst Page 5 of 6
CERTIFICATION Title: Programmer / System Analyst Position Number: 71-14813 Employee Signature Supervisor Signature Printed Name Printed Name Date I certify that I have read and understand the responsibilities assigned to this position. Date I certify that this job description is an accurate description of the responsibilities assigned to the position. Deputy Head/Delegate Signature Date I approve the delegation of the responsibilities outlined herein within the context of the attached organizational structure. The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by the incumbents of this job. They are not intended to be an exhaustive list of all responsibilities and activities required of this position. October 2, 2015 Programmer / System Analyst Page 6 of 6