Business Relationship Manager III

Job Description:
Information Technology BA III
Note: This is a hybrid telework position that requires some days each week in the office.

The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) is currently seeking a Business Analyst for a full-time position within the Business Relationship Management (BRM) team of our IT Department. This position reports to the manager of the BRM team on the IT Business Operations team within the Information Technology Services division.

The BRM team serves as the primary point of contact in IT for DFPS and external stakeholders looking for assistance with their IT needs. Partnering with these stakeholders, BRM helps shape, define, and refine these stakeholder IT requests with a goal of realizing maximum value.

The mission of DFPS is to protect children, the elderly, and people with disabilities from abuse, neglect, and exploitation by involving clients, families, and communities. We are looking to grow our teams with people who share our energy and enthusiasm to get behind our mission of protecting those among us who are most in need.

This position will:
•Serve as an advocate for the business stakeholders as they submit their IT requests,
•Perform research related to agency program IT requests,
•Coordinate the gathering, development, and documentation of business cases, technology requirements, and the review and assessment of business processes; and
•Participate in legislative analysis and fiscal note activities related to legislative initiatives affecting technology requirements for various program areas.

As a Business Analyst in the IT Business Relationship Management team the position will perform advanced (senior-level) business and systems analysis work that involves gathering, developing, and documenting user requirements, reviewing and assessing business processes, and providing research and special project work. The position will work in concert with appropriate stakeholders on IT solutions and business decisions to support the organization’s short- and long-term business goals/strategy to ensure they align with IT strategies and project requirements.

This position is for people who:
•Are curious
•Are good communicators
•Enjoy solving hard, but interesting, problems using critical thinking
•Like to work with multiple teams
•Driven by continuous improvement
•Take initiative
•Are looking for ways to expand their experience with strategic planning
•Are looking for ways to expand their experience with Texas legislative bill analysis processes

Good communication and presentation skills are required for developing reports, fiscal notes, and presentations. Familiarity with child and adult welfare case management system requirements is desired.

This position is classified as a full-time position (40 hours a week). Work outside of regular hours may be required. Travel to other Austin offices(s) may be required. Works under minimal supervision, with considerable latitude for the use of initiative and independent judgment.

This position is a full-time position that includes other State of Texas benefits as described in this SAO site:
Essential Job Functions:
Manages, evaluates, and processes incoming Information Technology (IT) service requests.
• Assists in identifying agency-wide continuous process improvement initiatives with primary emphasis on development of business process optimization/redesign and use case development.
• Develops reporting mechanisms to track and prioritize incoming technology requests compared to existing IT capabilities and agency funding.
• Conducts research and analysis to cost and document effects of legislative initiatives on IT systems and processes.
• Develops presentations for senior and executive level management and governing bodies to communicate recommendations, options, risks, cost benefit analysis, end user impacts on business processes and system priorities.
• Works with internal and external stakeholders to align technology solutions with business strategies.
• Leads and coordinates change management activities e.g., frequent communication to customers about the change and its impact.
• Advocates, coaches, and mitigates resistance to changes to minimize disruption and achieve desired results from initiatives that are triggered/enabled by technology.
• Negotiates agreements and commitments by effective facilitation and communication between business stakeholders and IT from initial requirements to final implementation.
• Reports on IT resources required to evaluate existing and proposed system or network infrastructure changes and determine level of effort and cost for requested changes; and develops related benefit analysis in meeting high-level business needs.
• Analyzes complex business processes, equipment, and techniques for applicability, reliability, efficiency, speed, cost, flexibility in meeting customer needs with relation to customer IT Service Requests.
• Maintains a strong awareness to the agency strategy, funding, goals, child and adult welfare practices, IT platforms, and processes to ensure IT requests reflect the priorities and needs of the agency.
• Review and comment on complex deliverables such as project charters, quality management and risk assessment plans, workflow diagrams, and business rules.
• Prepares and reviews complex project cost estimates and devises and proposes project solutions and/or implementation plans.
• Ensures IT solutions and business decisions support the organization’s short- and long-term business goals/strategy and aligns with IT strategy.
• Plans, participates, and/or facilitates stakeholder business planning and strategy meetings to include short- and long-term strategic planning sessions with customers and agency management.
• Coordinates or performs root cause analysis for issues with IT system or processes.
• Adheres to all Texas Department of Family and Protective Services HR policies and performs related work as assigned.

Knowledge Skills Abilities:
• At least five years experience in a role demonstrating business systems analysis expertise.
• Strong communication skills and ability to communicate with technical, non-technical, functional, management and executive staff.
• Knowledge of Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) and Project Management Life Cycle (PMLC) methodologies; high-level system design methodologies and techniques (entity/relationship models, data/process flow diagrams); object-oriented programming and of programming client/server applications.
• Knowledge of information gathering techniques with demonstrated experience for developing findings and recommendations from data collection.
• Knowledge of technical approaches used to deliver projects, products and services to large client organizations; and current and future IT trends and best practices.
• Ability to work within cross-functional teams.
• Ability to analyze legislation to determine and document agency impact analysis, fiscal notes and cost estimates.
• Strong skills in meeting facilitation and presentations for meetings involving cross-functional teams and including external stakeholders.
• The ability to use independent judgment in identifying root cause of problems, and developing solutions to a variety of problems of moderate to large scope and complexity.
• The ability to maintain the confidentiality of sensitive information.
• Working knowledge of office productivity software including Microsoft Office Suite to include MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, MS Project, SharePoint, Visio and/or SQL.
• Ability to analyze and process information quickly.
• Ability to identify and address existing and potential obstacles, issues and opportunities; and identify and mitigate key issues affecting the progress of organization and process solutions.
• Ability to translate up-to-date information into continuous improvement activities that enhance program area performance.
• Demonstrates excellent organization skills, e.g., defines and organizes tasks, responsibilities and priorities.
• Consistently demonstrates strong analytical and critical thinking skills.
• Ability to develop documentation that maps and illustrates processes and develop framework for process improvement.
• Demonstrated experience in expressing technical and business concepts and conclusions orally and in writing.
• Ability to communicate with all team members and stakeholders; technical teams and customers; work in a team setting; manage multiple tasks, projects and priorities; train and mentor junior level staff.
• Skill in analyzing business processes and developing business cases for new or modified customer-related products and services.
• Skills in problem root cause analysis and negotiating problem resolution.
• Ability to analyze and interpret program and technical information including regulations, policies, and business rules to aid in DFPS IT program goal and priority setting.
• Ability to work with moderate supervision and provide full transparency into all aspects of ongoing work assignments.
• Prefer experience in estimating project effort and timelines.
• Prefer knowledge of Texas Project Delivery Framework.

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