Overview

Our aim is for everyone in the National Church Institutions (NCIs) to feel that they belong, and are valued for who they are and what they contribute. Together, our people contribute in different ways towards our common purpose, whichever NCI they work in and whatever their background.

The National Church Institutions (NCIs) are national administrative bodies that work together to support the mission and ministry of the Church of England. Their activities are hugely varied, ranging from management of a multi-billion-pound investment fund, to a grant-giving charity, a housing service for retired clergy and the administration of four multi-employer pension schemes.

The NCIs first implemented SAP in 2006, and currently operate SAP ECC 6.0, utilising functionality across SAP Finance (FICO), Real Estate (REFX), Loans Management (CML) and Materials Management (MM) to deliver their business needs. The system is supported by a small team working across the NCIs as part of the central services Finance function, and in partnership with the internal IT department and an external support provider.

The NCIs are going through a period of significant change, with business requirements becoming increasingly complex, more diverse applications and even greater demands placed on technology to help deliver efficient and effective services across a range of business areas. We are seeking a Finance Systems Analyst who is able to work on their own initiative, combining their strong inter-personal skills and system skills to support the business through this period. This will include supporting SAP, bank and credit card applications alongside general Finance support for data and information sharing.

Post Introduction

You will play a key role in the Finance Systems team, working with colleagues to provide first line user support through the helpdesk, systems administration, deliver user training, and support ongoing maintenance activities throughout the system life cycle. Primarily this will be SAP but other ancillary Finance systems will also be maintained.

Role Responsibility

The main responsibilities for this role are:

• To work as part of the Finance Systems Team to provide day-to-day Finance Systems Application Support, including answering helpdesk queries and administering the systems as required, ensuring all changes are subject to robust testing and appropriate controls.
• To support the day-to-day operation of application interfaces and data exchanges with other key business systems, undertaking reconciliations and resolving issues as needed.
• Assist with developing and providing end-user training to ensure Finance System Users adopt best practice use of the systems.
• Work with stakeholders and the third-party support providers to understand business requirements and convert them into functional specifications for Finance systems developments, ensuring these are fully tested and delivered.
• To promote a continuous improvement culture for Finance Systems, delivering end user workshops and other user engagement activities to review the current use of the system and identify and implement changes to enhance user engagement and system effectiveness.
• To provide system oversight on key financial processes and flag any potentially fraudulent or suspicious activity.
• Participate in planning and testing as part of system upgrades and maintenance in order to ensure the integrity and continuity of the system.

Finance Systems Administration

• Manage User access, roles & responsibilities, workflows
• Maintain system configuration, master data and change controls
• Maintain the data integrity of Finance systems and their databases.
• Ensure appropriate controls, audits and security reviews are undertaken
• Review, revise and document Finance systems procedures and controls

Finance Systems Support

• Provide prioritised 1st line user support across finance systems, escalating where necessary to 2nd line or external support partners for resolution.
• Ensure all issues, changes and resolutions are clearly recorded and outcomes documented on the helpdesk system to provide an effective knowledge base.
• Regression testing of functionality to avoid any system issues once applied in the Production system, encompassing change requests, patching and configuration updates
• Refer users as necessary to appropriate training/reference materials or arrange user education where required.
• Manage change requests, including detailed business requirements, impact analysis, solution development, appropriate testing and implementation

Finance Systems Business Analysis

• Engage with and develop a strong understanding of individual NCI business areas, working with departments to assess the effectiveness of the systems and the extent to which it meets their needs.
• Assist in the documentation and validation of business requirements for projects and changes within the NCIs, undertake necessary testing and provide training materials for the roll out of changes.
• Review existing systems processes to identify issues and provide guidance on correct practices, designing and implementing improved processes where necessary.
• Help to define and maintain the roadmap for the NCI's use of Finance Systems, assessing options and consulting with users to understand and define NCI requirements.

Finance Systems Training

• Deliver appropriate training for new NCI users to ensure that they are able to carry out their responsibilities, covering, for example: SAP navigation, reporting, purchase ordering and invoice approval.
• Review user behaviour and assess training needs, developing and providing refresher training for existing users to promote best practice use of the system. Provide training on any new functionality rolled out in the systems.
• Develop and maintain quick reference, video and other resources for end users and keep information on the intranet up to date.

Finance Systems Project work

• Work with the Finance Systems Manager to define and deliver Finance Systems Projects as necessary and in line with the Finance Systems defined strategy and roadmap.
• Ensure any Finance Systems project work follows the NCIs’ Project Management Office guidance and uses any required template documents 

The Ideal Candidate

The ideal candidate should have:

Essential

Qualification/Experience:

• Experience of working with SAP in a complex organisation, focused on SAP Finance (FICO) and relevant experience in some or all of Real Estate (REFX), Loans Management (CML) or Materials Management (MM).
• Financial Accounting experience, including experience of translating financial accounting requirements into systemised solutions
• Experience of working in a systems administrator, business systems analyst role or similar capacity

Skills/Aptitudes:

• Proven administrative skills in SAP ECC 6.0 in a support environment
• Evidence of ability to deliver effective solutions to SAP issues and requests for change.
• Strong stakeholder engagement skills; able to create, develop and maintain effective relationships with team colleagues, wider SAP users within the NCIs, the IT department and the third party support provider
• Ability to explain Finance system matters simply to non-financial and non-IT-literate audience
• Ability to work within a team and collaboratively across stakeholder groups
• Organised and self-disciplined, with excellent attention to detail
• Able to take the initiative in identifying opportunities for improvement and take ownership of projects from initiation to successful completion
• Highly self-motivated with a dynamic ability to energise self and colleagues
• Ability to persuade and influence others, establishing credibility across a range of stakeholder groups at differing levels of seniority to ensure best practice use of the system and adoption of new initiatives
• Ability to effectively problem solve
• Ability to work calmly under pressure and to tight deadlines
• Commitment to providing a high level of customer service
• Desire to develop in the role and learn new skills

Knowledge/Experience:

• Knowledge and experience of SAP processes with regard to FICO, REFX, Loans Management or MM
• Ability to carry out minor configuration changes in to FICO, REFX,  Loans Management or MM
• Experience of assessing SAP issues and applying problem solving skills, creativity and judgement to resolve issues and improve processes
• Experience of identifying opportunities for improvement, and designing and implementing system improvements / developments in order to meet business requirements
• Experience of projects using recognised methodology, including producing business requirement documentation, business cases etc. 
• Strong Microsoft Office 365 skills including Excel, Word, Teams

Desirable

• Project Management and/or Business Analyst Experience
• Experience of change management
• Systems Implementation Experience
• ITIL knowledge 

About Us

We in the National Church Institutions support the mission and ministries of the Church all over England. We work with parishes, dioceses (regional offices), schools, other ministries and our partners at a national and international level.

Excellence, Respect, Integrity

We follow these three values in everything we do, whether we are of Christian faith, another faith or no faith. To learn more about working for National Church Institutions and our benefits, please click here

As a Disability Confident Leader, we actively look to attract, recruit and retain those of you who are disabled.

As a member of the Armed Forces Covenant, we welcome applications from those of you who have served in our Armed Forces and their families.

We are committed to being an equal opportunities employer and to ensuring that everyone, job applicants, customers and other people with whom we deal, are treated fairly and not subject to discrimination.  We will do whatever is necessary to provide genuine equality of opportunity. We continuously review our policies and processes to support our aim to create a workforce as diverse as the nation the Church of England serves.

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