UAT and Release Officer at Absa Bank Limited

Job Summary

The Jobholder will provide support to all the Technology teams in coordinating Release Management and User Acceptance Testing.

The Jobholder will provide support to all the business units in coordinating User
Acceptance Testing for all bank system changes/enhancements.

The Jobholder will act as a link between business units IT and offshore support teams (BTCI and GTS) for In-country Release management on all the periodic releases (changes) in the core banking systems.

Job Description

Main Accountabilities:

Service Availability

• Coordinating effective Incident Management across all Technology teams. Coordinate portal management activities by the support teams.
• Coordinate Release management by ensuring timely scoping and User Acceptance Testing for the releases and ensuring fixes are tested by the business and sign off

Key Activities

• Work closely with the Service and Change teams to ensure high level of service availability to the business units
• Ensure Technology incidents and change requests are managed within SLA.
• Main contact point for the testing within the Business (IT, Operational areas and centers) and outside with International testing team.
• Manage the record management related to UAT and Change Releases.
• Participate in system change/releases/project meetings where UAT input is required.
• Managing the User Acceptance testing for the releases and ensuring all fixes are tested on time by the business and signoffs received.
• Consolidating the sanity testing and live proving plan for release management.
• To work with all Technology managers and other teams to ensure the testing requirements are fulfilled.
• Follow up of Live proving results and update the stakeholders appropriately.
• Getting the business wish list from all business teams within Kenya to prepare and finalize the scope for the release management.
• Attending all Release Review Board (RRB) meetings regularly and putting and highlighting the business pain areas.
• Working closely with project/change initiators to provide support in UAT
• Make presentation to business and other workstreams on the activities and function of the testing workstream.
• Identify any Gaps existing/ Assist in the development of test cases/scripts (show initiative) for UAT testing in support of the business units.
• Assist in the preparation, delivery and review of UAT & Release documents to ensure a detailed End to End process documentation.
• Deliver team deliverables in quality and timely manner.
• Review and amend test cases/scripts as required by the change team.
• Work with the business to identify and resolve operational risks and gaps introduced by changes in the system to the business.
• Monitoring the Change Incident & Change queues on the change management tool.
• Producing periodic (scheduled & ad hoc) MI on Technology changes.
• Managing all test environment to ensure they are available as and when required

Business Liaison

• Single point of contact for one or more business units to represent IT services.

Key Activities

• Identify testing needs for the Business Units represented to IT
• Engage business units to provide testers whenever required
• Escalate Business unit issues to the Head of GTIS
• Communicate UAT status to the Business stakeholders

Risk Management

• Build relationship with country Technology Risk and Compliance team and provide support wherever required.
• Ensure that processes and controls are executed in daily work and understand the reasons for the controls and the consequences for failing to adhere to prescribed processes.
• Test a sample of activities on a weekly basis by reviewing documentation and checking work completed by team members to see if control requirements are being adhered to.
• Coach the team members on areas for improvement and highlight major failures to the manager of the area
• Provide evidence/supporting documents to auditors or management assurance consultants during formal reviews
• Identify losses due to processing errors or internal fraud in the department. Escalate to the manager and provide all the required information to allow logging of the Risk and Loss events.
• Participate in the investigations.
• Make team members aware of all changes to policies, processes and procedures that are being planned for the area and ensure that they are able to incorporate the changes on the effective date.
• Ensure that team members read circulars that are relevant to the area and answer questions they may have.
• Contribute and deliver to the improvement of the risk profile by delivering improved governance, risk management, controls and compliance requirements.
• Devise and implement an effective plan to deliver a satisfactory risk and audit profile for
• Operations & IT and achieve audit and assurance targets.

Education and Experience Required

• B. Com and or BSc
• ITIL Certification or Equivalent
• Architecture Framework Certification (e.g. TOGAF The Open Group Architectural Forum 8.1).
• Software Development & Software Quality Assurance capability
• Professional Scrum Master certification will be added advantage

Subject Matter Expert Qualifications

• ITIL v3 Expert
• Minimum 10-15 years experience in IT exposure
• Minimum of 5-year service management experience
• Minimum 3-year experience in leading and sponsoring large change projects
• Minimum of 4-year experience in a Leadership role

Knowledge& Skills: (Maximum of 6)

• Translate Bus Requirements to Tech Solutions (Solid)
• Negotiation Skills (Solid)
• Strategic Thinking (Solid)
• ITIL - Governance Framework (Solid)
• Communication Skills (Written and Verbal) (Solid)
• Subject matter expertise (Solid)
• Understand the IT service delivery within a corporate environment (Advanced)
• Conceptual thinking skills (Solid)
• Ability to analyse, make decision and initiate act (Solid)

Competencies: (Maximum of 8 competencies)

• Proficient in “desktop” applications (Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint).
• Experience in relationship management.
• Able to perform UAT testing on the various banking systems and change management.
• Learning and researching
• Relating and networking
• Adapting and responding to change
• Persuading and influencing
• Creating and innovating