DEPUTY TRANSFORMATION PROGRAMME DIRECTOR
CANDIDATE INFORMATION PACK
Welcome StARS is a high-profile and ambitious institution-wide programme that will make a significant difference to the student experience and to the ways in which staff can support students. System change and optimisation are at the core, but it is not just a technology programme, it requires modernisation and cultural change to transform the ways in which we all work so that we are making best use of staff time and expertise, and simplifying processes to improve every student’s experience with us. As Deputy Director, you will be leading a growing, diverse and highly capable team with a wide range of skills and roles, and responsible for a critical programme of work that is crucial to securing the future success of the University of Birmingham. Strong and effective leadership, management and team working is critical. You will work as part of a wider collaborative team with colleagues from across the campus; in Academic Services, IT Services, Colleges and beyond. Each improvement in processes or systems that StARS delivers is an important step forward, but is not the end goal. The ultimate point of all StARS work is to improve the experience of students and staff, and to ensure that the University can deliver high quality, resilient services both now and for years to come. Your leadership and individual contribution will be a critical to this, and as Deputy Director you will be responsible for the wider shared success of the connected and collaborative team that exemplifies StARS. from the Academic Registrar
Dr Emma Robinson Academic Registrar
The University of Birmingham
The
University was established in 1900, and has a pioneering history including being the country’s first civic University, the first Medical
School and the first Faculty of Commerce. The University offered the first ever sport degree in 1946 and became the first University to open a secondary school in 2015. In 2018, we also opened a new campus in Dubai, the first Russell Group University to do so. Today, the University of Birmingham is ranked in the top 100 globally and in the top 20 of all domestic league tables. The quality of what we do at Birmingham is widely recognised. The University’s prolific research portfolio has produced 2 Prime Ministers and 11 Nobel Prize winners, including 3 in 2016 for Physics and Chemistry. The University’s School of Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation Sciences is ranked 6th in the world for its research.
The University of Birmingham is the largest of 5 Higher Education institutions in Birmingham with 23,000 undergraduates, 12,500 postgraduates and 8,000 staff. Our heritage as the original ‘redbrick’ is combined with one of the most compelling and ambitious agendas in Higher Education. Quite simply, at Birmingham we make things happen. The University is a founding member of the Russell Group (UK) and Universitas 21 (global) groups of research-intensive universities and its alumni population exceeds 300,000, spread far and wide across the globe. The University’s campus spans over 250 acres, nestled in leafy green Edgbaston, just three miles from Birmingham city centre. The University is home to the Barber Institute of Fine Arts, housing works by Van Gogh, Picasso and Monet; and the 100 metre high Joseph Chamberlain Clock Tower (affectionately known as ‘Old Joe’) a prominent landmark visible from many parts of the city. We have been integral to some of the greatest scientific discoveries of recent times, such as the Higgs Boson and Gravitational Waves, and are pioneering new approaches to tackling some of the biggest global challenges facing society; from antibiotic resistance and maternal health to conflict resolution and access to education.
Values and Behaviours
Working effectively with others, using guidance, support and advice as appropriate. Understanding the broader context and how your own work impacts the local team and University.
COLLABORATIVE
Continuously reflecting on individual and team practices, recommending and adopting creative approaches to make improvements. Actively seeking and participating in learning and development opportunities.
INNOVATIVE
Reliable and highly motivated. Providing consistently high levels of customer service.
EXCELLENT
Self-aware and empathetic to the impact of your behaviour on others and how others behaviour impacts you. An ability to embrace different perspectives.
INCLUSIVE
Flexible and adaptable in approach and taking responsibility for achieving individual and team goals. Seeking advice when needed, and possessing a willingness to take calculated risks when appropriate whilst learning from mistakes.
CONFIDENT
Student Administration Refresh and Simplification (StARS) About StARS StARS is a major change programme that will transform many aspects of student administration for the benefit of students and staff alike. It is an essential modernisation programme that is required to enable the University to function effectively now and into the future. In transforming our digital interface we will be taking major steps towards improving persistent challenges in the student experience. Leadership StARS is first and foremost a collaborative programme delivered by a diverse network of colleagues across campus, but at the heart is a core programme team within the Innovation & Development division of Academic Services. The Steering Group, Programme Board, and the Project Boards governing each project within the programme include representatives from across the University, including (but not limited to) Colleges, Registry, Student Services and IT Services. Each Board also has academic and student representation.
Key contacts UEB Sponsor and Chair of StARS Steering Group: Professor Kathleen Armour, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Education) Programme Sponsor: Dr Emma Robinson, Academic Registrar Senior Programme Management Team • Transformation Programme Director • Deputy Transformation Programme Director • Business Change & Benefits Lead • Head of PMO • Programme IT Architect Professional Services divisions • IT Services: Chief Information Officer • Registry: Director of Registry and Academic Affairs • Student Services: Director of Student Affairs • Strategic Planning: Director of Planning and Performance Insight • External Relations: Deputy Director of External Relations • Colleges - Directors of Operations
• Effectively manage and resolve any conflicts escalated by the programme team or senior stakeholders; • Ensure detailed management of programme risks and, using own knowledge and experience, identify potential risks from similar programmes to ensure risk avoidance or early and effective mitigation; • Have direct/matrix line management for key programme staff including the technical Project Managers, Programme IT Architect and other key members of the Programme team, and overall responsibility for the performance and wellbeing of the staff who report in a matrix manner to these leads, as appropriate. Main Duties • The Deputy Transformation Programme Director will take personal responsibility for delivering and driving forward a comprehensive programme plan for the StARS Programme, working with stakeholders to ensure that the required resources are available to deliver the programme, resolving any conflicts that may arise and ensuring the programme remains on track to deliver on time and on budget.
Job Description
This will involve:
Job Summary StARS is a major change programme that will transform many aspects of student administration for the benefit of staff and students alike. It represents a major step towards improving persistent challenges in the student experience. The Deputy Transformation Programme Director, working with the Transformation Programme Director, is responsible for leadership, development and delivery of the programme through effective collaboration and management, and driving a comprehensive programme plan. This will require close working with numerous stakeholders across the University as well as the supplier, Ellucian, and ensuring effective leadership and management of the diverse programme team to deliver the transformational change required.
• Inspiring confidence in and working closely with StARS programme team members, project sponsors, the wider-University community and other stakeholders as required; • Understanding the operational and strategic needs of the University and translating these into a programme plan; defining tasks, timelines, goals, deliverables and milestones across all phases of the programme, including procurement, sign off, implementation, training, release and post release. This will also require close working with the supplier and external consultants as required to fully understand the implementation challenges; • Working closely with colleagues supporting other business change and/or IT change programmes within the University to ensure that dependencies/inter-dependencies are well understood and that respective project plans are aligned to minimise risk and cost; • Leading University aspects of the successful delivery of the cloud migration and reconciling to a on premise business as usual environment with a release to agreed programmes milestones and review points;
The StARS Deputy Transformation Programme Director will:
• be responsible for planning, monitoring and delivering the overall programme, to include tracking progress and taking any corrective action to ensure successful delivery, working with, plus holding to account, the supplier, leading the programme team and collaborating with colleagues across the wider-University to ensure that the required resources are available for the programme;
• Leading with vendors and with the Programme IT Architect the successful delivery of a data definition and data set/journey that encompasses the student life cycle as defined by the programme; • Leading with vendors and with the Programme IT Architect the successful incorporation of data such that it supports the new University data warehouse strategy; • Leading with the Programme IT Architect the decommission of in house systems that will be replaced through migration to the Cloud; • Working with the vendors and the Programme IT Architect to lead the programme management and IT deliverables encompassing: • Data migration and transformation • Code management and deployment • Environments management • Integration design and build to agreed integration principles and strategy • System Testing preparation, execution, defect resolution cycles • System Integrations Testing preparation, execution, defect resolution cycles • User Acceptance Testing preparation, execution, defect resolution cycles • Non-Functional Testing preparation, execution, defect resolution cycles • Liaising with internal stakeholders, including Academic Services, External Relations, Strategic Planning, Financial Services, University Colleges and IT Services, to ensure smooth delivery of requirements • Working with the on premise technical programme of activity to align requirements, dependencies and timescales to enable cloud migration to proceed to agreed timelines; • Identifying risks, issues and dependences associated with the cloud migration scope, ensuring that they are included within the programme risk register and working to ensure that as far as possible there is appropriate mitigation is in place to manage these; • Identity and access management • Security management and design • Network access and management • Cut over, go-live and release planning
• Working closely with the StARS Programme Leadership team to understand the direction and impact of their work across all phases of the programme in order to deliver systems and services that deliver a transformative change in working practices and established cultural norms amongst relevant stakeholders and user-communities within the University; • Designing and overseeing management of the programme plan so that it reflects the complexity of the programme including data and Business Intelligence, process change, testing, communications, training, implementation and other project imperatives as they arise; • Receiving and reviewing detailed action plans from the delivery team and the Change and Benefits Manager to support each project phase, identifying interdependencies and working with the programme team to ensure that activity is appropriately co- ordinated; • Leading and supporting the programme’s management team on associated resource plans to ensure that there is sufficient capacity to deliver each phase of the programme, and that it is within the constraints of the overall budget; • Developing the programme quality management plan, monitoring activity against it, including tracking and reporting on programme milestones and deliverables and driving activity forward to ensure that all plans are achieved in full and in a timely fashion; • Constantly evaluating variances from the programme plan, assessing and minimising risk exposure and taking steps to analyse and manage the risk, making mitigation recommendations to the wider programme team, initiating corrective actions and revising the project plan accordingly; • Managing the performance and supporting the wellbeing of the programme team who support the detailed delivery of the programme and individual project plans; • Writing high-level project and programme documentation, including non-technical briefings and assurance reports for key committees; • Maintaining effective supplier engagement with any third party organisations involved in the implementation of the programme and ensuring ongoing and effective stakeholder engagement within the University; • Undertaking direct line management of key programme team members.
• Programme management that has involved significant collaboration both with internal IT stakeholders as well as with software vendors and across a diverse range of stakeholders in the implementation of transformation change programmes; • Managing the successful move of on premises system(s) to cloud hosting; • Managing and embedding both process and cultural change within a similarly complex/matrix organisation; • Effectively managing supplier relationships to ensure effective and on budget delivery; • Applying a significant amount of independent professional judgement;
Person Specification
• Project and programme management techniques and tools;
• Risk management and change management.
• Excellent communication and inter-personal skills including:
Educated to degree level (or equivalent) with appropriate programme and project management qualifications, as well as substantial previous programme management experience of successful systems implementation at a senior level in a complex organisation, preferably a student records system implementation/ re-implementation at a Higher Education Institution (HEI).
• Ability to communicate effectively, both orally and in writing, including the ability to produce high quality project documentation and well developed presentation skills; • Establishing and managing collaborative stakeholder relationships and networks with academics, professional services staff and other partners demonstrating credibility and gravitas; • Interacting with all levels of staff including the ability to motivate and develop people and teams;
• Detailed knowledge of and significant expertise in:
• Technical programme management and leadership which has successfully delivered similar IT and business system cloud migrations within a transformational change programmes in a Higher Education or similarly complex environment • Programme management that has successfully delivered similar IT and business system solutions within transformational change programmes in a complex environment;
• Excellent influencing, negotiating and facilitating skills.
• Personal characteristics:
• Strong intellectual abilities;
• Eye for detail and strong influencing personality;
• Judgement and resilience;
• Critical thinking and problem-solving;
• Negotiation and conflict management;
• Honesty and integrity;
• An ability to establish and maintain relationships with both internal and external stakeholders;
• Inspiring and empathetic leadership skills;
• Energy and resilience.
Further information & Application process
For
a confidential discussion to learn more about the role and opportunity please contact the University’s appointed recruitment partner, Sian Gardiner of The Management Recruitment Group.
Closing date for applications is Sunday 20th February 2022. Preliminary interviews will be carried out by MRG w/c Monday 21st February 2022 with formal interviews to be held at the University of Birmingham Edgbaston Campus w/c 7thMarch 2022. You can view the university’s website here;
Sian Gardiner T: 02039 629 900 M: 07972 579 938 E: sian.gardiner@mrgpeople.co.uk
http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/
Applications should consist of a comprehensive CV (of not more than 4 pages) and supporting cover letter (of not more than 2 pages) outlining key matching experience and rationale for applying for the post. (Applications should be sent to sian.gardiner@mrgpeople.co.uk)
mrgpeople.co.uk
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