Business Analyst

Business Analyst

The job holder will be based in the project delivery team which sits in Howden Group Holdings. The Project Delivery Team (PDT) is comprised of project management and business analysis professionals who work collaboratively with Howden business units to facilitate and deliver change (both business and technology programmes / projects). The project portfolio of work is aligned to the growth strategies of Howden Group Holdings as a whole.

A business analyst provides analytical services such as (but not limited to) requirements engineering, process modelling and data analysis on a variety of projects and initiatives. The portfolio at any given time will contain projects of contrasting magnitude for both existing systems and new products. A business analyst will act as a bridge between business units, internal development teams, IT Infrastructure and third party suppliers to help ensure successful project delivery.

A major part of the role involves analysing a business's processes and systems, investigating the current situation, identifying gaps and documenting improvements required. They will manage the requirements catalogue / product backlog for most projects and will be an essential point of contact for stakeholders.

A Business Analyst is expected to:

• Provide quality business analysis services to Howden and ensure that projects and products are delivered on time, within budget and meet the quality standards outlined at initiation.
• Provide professional, friendly and positive project support to Howden and meeting the challenges of a dynamic and growing company.
• Collaborate with the Howden business units to deliver initiatives, which increase revenue generation, process efficiency and regulatory compliance.

Key Accountabilities

Planning

• Identifies analysis tasks and manages own work on assigned projects as well as contributing to other projects as required
• Provides relevant management information to stakeholders/management team as required.

Technical:

a)Stakeholder Management

• Facilitation of communication between various parties within and external to Howden Group Holdings
• Point of contact and first stage decision-maker for requirements, project issues and queries.
• Responsibility for resolving project issues and escalating as needed.
• Resolve conflict between stakeholders and bring differing parties to agreement.
• Develop strong relationships with business units and external vendors
• Building up of knowledge of specific business divisions as well as the wider Howden Group Holdings subsidiary companies and championing business change and strategic company goals.

b) Requirements Engineering

• Requirements gathering and analysis for strategic and operational projects, using a variety of methodologies: (traditional requirements, user stories. backlog building, backwards and forwards traceability.)
• Planning, managing and running workshops, interviews and prototyping sessions in order to elicit requirements.
• Creating and maintaining requirements documentation, which can be used to gain stakeholder agreement as well as provide suitable information to developers to build / configure products.
• Becoming the expert in the systems requirements during the implementation of a project.
• Performing the full requirements lifecycle - elicitation, analysis, documentation and management
• Functional & Non-Functional requirements
• Managing scope and requirements changes during implementation and adhering to change governance.
• Production of suitable requirements appendices such as use cases, process diagrams and technical specifications.

c) Process Improvement

• Identifying and documenting current business processes for existing or acquired companies
• Analysing current processes for opportunities and improvements in relation to operational efficiency, revenue or risk mitigation.
• Supporting the business and operations managers with the design and documentation of future processes and target operating models.

d) Programmes & Projects (Business & IT)

• Co-operating with project managers / product owners in producing business cases and cost/benefit analysis.
• Outline solution options and make recommendations.
• Assisting project managers with PIDs, full-scale project plans and associated communication documents.
• Keep informed of legal and regulatory developments relevant to projects within the Company/Group.
• Liaison and participation within London Market initiatives and associated projects.
• Configuration of business systems.
• Production of new retail / wholesale insurance product specifications
• UAT management and writing test scripts. Analyse discrepancies in service or performance and make recommendations for updates – Assisting quality assurance teams
• Providing training and production of reference documentation for new systems.
• Providing clean handover to "Business as Usual" support teams.
• Supporting vendor selection RFI / RFP processes
• Provision of comprehensive data analysis and compiling reports and presentations to support projects.

e) Technology Product Delivery

• Able to take on the product owner role within projects as required. This role is not limited to Agile Scrum and varies depending on resource needs.
• Owns the product backlog and manages user stories, requirements or specifications.
• Defines the product features by creating user stories or requirements for the product including acceptance criteria.
• Makes decisions on product integrity and prioritisation of items within the product backlog.
• Interfaces heavily with stakeholders and product development teams.
• Champion of the product and responsible for communicating strategy and status
• Involved in promotion of the product both internally and externally as required.
• To delegate and liaise with technical product owners as necessary
• Ability to Multi-task analysis and product management deliverables under pressure.