Assistant Manager (AM) - Business Analyst at Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA)

Job Purpose

This role is responsible for undertaking/coordinating review and analysis of assigned portfolio’s business processes and activities using data analysis and business modelling/research for requirements definition of the organizational business solutions to improve business efficiency, and bridge the gap between the organization’s current position and its future target position.

Key Responsibilities/ Duties / Tasks

1. Managerial / Supervisory Responsibilities

• Scope and plan the design and execution of business analysis and requirements documentation plans for assigned portfolios
• Work closely with various departments to perform and validate business analysis and requirements documentation based on quality requirements and recommend changes to predetermined quality guidelines
• Apply Business Analysis/ Process Engineering expertise on assigned initiatives and undertake research on best practice as part of benchmarking
• Undertake resource allocation decisions during project prioritization with stakeholders
• Liaise between stakeholders and users managing competing resources and priorities
• Regular project team engagements and assigned portfolio team performance management
• Hands-on monitoring of team members’ and working alongside others
• Manage delegation and completion of tasks to ensure timely delivery
• Guide, motivates and encourage team members
• Provide regular progress reports to management

1. Operational Responsibilities / Tasks

 Business Requirements Analysis

• Lead cross functional business analysis teams to undertake all required business analysis activities for assigned initiatives and portfolios:

• Undertake and/or review full business requirements discovery working with all relevant stakeholders/end-users to elicit and gather the requirements

• Undertake and/or review of the detailed process analysis undertaken by portfolio team members including bottleneck analysis, time trap analysis, process cycle efficiency, lead times and statistical process control and document processes including mapping (current and future state), physical layouts and time standards

• Undertake and/or review the collection classifying, analyzing and documenting and/or review of collected/analyzed/documented business requirements as per set standards
• Undertake and/or review the creation of high-level solution designs to meet business requirements by exploiting the functionality available in IT systems already in the Authority or by filling missing gaps with appropriate new system guided by the Authority’s defined Enterprise architecture
• Undertake and/or review documented business solutions process and requirements analysis to ensure comprehensive and user friendly end-products
• Ensure sensible consensus is reached for all requirements/specifications and help business, IT, and test leads to have the same mutual understanding thereof
• Monitor and report on assigned deliverables to ensure timely completion of projects
• Undertake business solutions roll-out and adoption activities
• Support updating, implementing, and maintaining procedures.
• Undertake and/or review the mmonitoring of the performance of implemented business solutions to ensure they are fit-for purpose per defined business needs
• Establish standards, processes and best practices in solutions implementation to ensure high quality deliverables
• Stay up-to-date on the latest process and IT advancements to automate and modernize systems

Business Process Documentation

• Evaluate business processes to identify business needs and requirements and areas for improvement and/or review the evaluated/identified requirements portfolio team members for assigned initiatives to document current state and future state processes; user stories and process maps

• Review and/or extract/document the processes critical business requirements and develop, input to and update initiatives business case

• Undertake and/or review the production of required documents/artefacts for implementation and rollout of business solution such business case; project plans; project design documents business use cases etc.

• Document project/initiative plan/roadmap; follow-up for stakeholder’s approval and sign-off; deliver on initiatives against scope, timelines and budget; report deviations to management and update implementation plans as needed

Requirements Testing

• Collaboratively develop test-driven business requirements and functional specifications for required business system solutions and system changes to optimize process efficiency working in liaison with business, technical, and testing team members
• Verify that requirements are testable and generate testing objectives; review test cases for accuracy and validate results conform to requirements.
• Undertake and/or review user acceptance testing and ensure solutions meet business needs and requirements.

Release Planning and Prioritization

• Adopt agile based methodologies in business analysis and ensure minimum value propositions are achieved in agile delivery of key solutions.
• Promote proper release planning, guaranteeing adherence to business needs and priorities to contribute to the reduction of development costs in future

• Be the key link between the business and IT teams to ensure smooth implementation of systems and processes, keeping all stakeholders constantly up-to-date on progress

• Administrative; Stakeholder and Quality Standards Responsibilities/ Tasks
• Provide input on Business Analysis and Quality Assurance Framework

• Support adoption and execution of the defined on Business Analysis and Quality Assurance Framework within the authority

• Undertake Business Solutions Change activities to drive adoption
• Provide regular progress reports to management
• Liaise with business owner/representatives to understand and document processes to ensure consistency across the authority
• Collaborate with business subject matter experts to understand and document business solutions requirements

• Proactively engage with stakeholders to address needs and issues, conducting meetings and presentations to effectively communicate process review outcomes; gaps analysis and improvement recommendations, insights and plans to cross-functional team members and management.

• Ensure high level of customer service across all interactions and deliverables and manage stakeholder relationships and expectations
• Establish standards, processes and best practices in solutions implementation to ensure high quality deliverables and liaise with appropriate structures to implement defined standards and guidelines
• Maintain quality standards in all assigned Initiatives and ensure that the end product meets the minimum quality standards, is fully functional and user friendly

• Prioritize initiatives based on business needs and requirements; following a prioritization process that is transparent and understandable for all parties involved

• Serve as team representative at designated meetings and respond to questions/tasks related to business analysis/process engineering management

• Participate in technical/functional evaluation of bids for new systems

• Participate in planning and scheduling and responding to business solutions post-implementation/quality audits; follow-ups on corrective actions and preparation of required audit report
• Collaborate with unit team members to deliver on Business Solutions initiatives
• Complete all assigned tasks to ensure timely delivery
• Comply with HR requirements on staff policy guidelines and requirements
• Mentoring, training and skills development of team members; interns and attaches
• Any additional duties as assigned

Job Competencies (Knowledge, Experience and Attributes / Skills).

Academic qualifications

• A bachelor’s degree in Information Systems, Computer Science; Business Administration, or other related technical Field from a recognized university
• Certification in a recognized Business Analysis or Process Engineering or Improvement Methodologies (Lean Six Sigma/CBAP etc.)
• Project Management Certification and experience with preference for certification or experience in Agile project delivery methodologies
• A Master’s degree is an added advantage

Functional Skills, Behavioral Competencies/Attributes:

• Excellent Business Analysis and Process improvement technical skills
• Proactive and Solutions Oriented with well-developed decision-making skills
• Strong organizational and planning skills
• Highly innovative; creative and results driven
• Strong logical and strategic thinker
• Lateral Thinker and Team Player
• Strong written and verbal communication and presentation skills along with meeting facilitation skills - must be able to listen to customers, document requirements quickly & accurately, and review written materials for accuracy. Must also be able to communicate technical information to persons at all technical levels.
• Risk management and analysis
• Project Management; Quality analysis and Change management skills
• Strong leadership, people management and interpersonal skills
• Excellent business awareness and understanding
• Desire to continually learn new skills

Professional Qualifications / Membership to professional bodies

Membership to one or more of the below professional bodies will be an advantage:

• International Association for Six Sigma Certification (IASSC)
• International Institute of Business Analysis™ (IIBA)
• ISO 9001:2015
• Certified Analytics Professional (CAP)
• PMI Professional in Business Analysis (PBA)

Previous relevant work experience required.

• Minimum of 4 years work experience in similar role
• Professional Experience in Business/Process Analysis and Improvement methodologies (CBAP, IIBA Lean; Six Sigma; TOC or continuous improvement); Project Management methodologies (Agile, Waterfall etc.)
• Broad technical expertise combined with business acumen and strong consultation skills
• Good working knowledge of process documentation tools – (Visio; BPMN or other recognized process mapping tools)
• Practical experience in relevant MS Office Applications (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Project)
• At least 1 year experience in leading people in diverse roles
• A good understanding of technology.