Solution Database Developer
IT Services
Reporting to Manager, Development and Integration
Salary Grade 7- £31,331 to £36,298 per annum Ref: CSE00708
At Leicester we’re going places. Ranked in the top 12 universities in Britain our aim is to climb
further. A commitment to high quality fused with an inclusive academic culture is our hallmark
and led the Times Higher Education to describe us as “elite without being elitist”.
Join our new Development and Integration Team to develop systems and applications. You will
work within a defined software development lifecycle delivering on a number of technology
platforms as appropriate. Examples of environments/development tools used within the team
include VB.net, PowerShell, FIM, SITS, SAP (ABAP, PI), SQL, and Java. Technologies will be fluid
as the portfolio of the team increases for example to include a mobile development platform.
You must therefore be willing to embrace new technologies and development environments
quickly.
The University
There’s never been a more exciting time to join us. At the University of Leicester we are enjoying research success on a world stage and gathering the awards and plaudits to match.
A judge in a recent awards ceremony described Leicester as “elite without being elitist”. We are proud to be elite. But we are at least as proud to be an inclusive and progressive university. This commitment to high quality, an inclusive academic culture and belief in the synergy of teaching and research are our hallmarks. We believe that teaching is inspirational when delivered by passionate scholars engaged in world-changing research that is delivered in an academic community that includes postgraduate as well as undergraduate students.
Our approach to research yields great rewards. Our research impact, measured by citations per academic, is the sixth highest in the UK. Our success in the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise saw Quality Related research income rise by 18% placing us firmly amongst Britain’s top 20 research universities by this measure. The RAE also revealed that Leicester is home to Britain’s top-rated research department – Museum Studies – which has the highest concentration of world class research of any department of any discipline in the UK.
For a University that believes teaching and research are synergistic, it is pleasing that the National Student Survey reveals the quality of our teaching is amongst the highest in the country. Since the launch of the survey in 2006, Leicester has consistently featured amongst the top-10 universities in England for student satisfaction. The Sunday Times recently described Leicester as "top... amongst mainstream multi-faculty universities for student satisfaction".
Currently a University of 23,000 students, with a turnover of £230m and 3,800 colleagues, our future is bright. Our Strategic Vision describes our plans to invest a billion pounds in our estate as we transform our campus. Already ranked in the top-12 universities in Britain, by 2015 we aim to rise further to become top-10.
Leicester is the most inclusive of Britain’s top-20 universities with the greatest proportions of students from under-represented groups.
As a group of talented individuals we are more diverse than ever and stronger for it. At Leicester we are proud of our distinct approach, our achievements and our ambitious plans. If you share our approach join us.
IT Services
The purpose of IT Services is to create a digital campus in which students and staff can be as creative and productive as possible as they learn, teach, undertake research and run the organisation.
Many of our services are typical of the corporate world and offer similar challenges: managed desktops and laptops, storage, email, printing, web content management, data and voice networking, multimedia design and production, and the ERP business applications underpinning finance, HR/ payroll, marketing, facilities management and a range of commercial enterprises.
Other services are specific to the University and create an interesting range of challenges for the IT
function. Here the creation, sharing, analysis and dissemination of information are defining activities. Both students and researchers tend to be demanding, innovative users of technology and we aim to provide them an information environment in which they can be as creative and productive as possible. We provide them with a Virtual Learning Environment, High Performance Computing services and a huge range of specialist software. Our researchers produce vast amounts of data and need tools to manage, mine and generate information from it. Many of them collaborate with others across disciplinary and organisational boundaries. Our students have grown up with internet technologies and expect to be constantly connected using their mobile devices. A technology rich experience is what they expect from University life. We provide equipment in teaching rooms, PC areas, wireless everywhere, and internet services in the halls of residence. We also run specialist business applications to support our students’ journey through the institution, aiming to provide them with a professional service through the application process, while they are studying and after they graduate. Similarly, we run systems to underpin the life cycle of each research project as it moves from grant application through to publication and dissemination.
Background
IT Services was established in January 2007 by the current Director of IT by merging a range of previously fragmented organisations. The emphasis was initially on the creation of an effective, customer focussed organisation with an appropriate governance framework, ITIL based service support disciplines and project and portfolio management processes. The focus then shifted to modernising the IT infrastructure, widening the service portfolio to provide comprehensive support to all areas of University (particularly to underpin research activity) and implementing the standards and service management tools needed to deliver service to 23,000 students and 4,000 staff in a cost effective manner.
With this infrastructure modernisation programme substantially complete IT Services is ready to move to the next stage in its development. The goal now is to be perceived by all as the institution’s trusted IT partner. We aim to help researchers do more effective research and students derive more value from their University experience. We aim to play a leadership role in business process transformation. In these various ways, we will create value for the University rather than simply serve it.
A key step in realising this goal has been to develop the first institutional IT Strategy. This envisages IT Services scaling up its operation so as to provide for the majority of needs across all departments, even those which have historically employed their own IT professionals (mainly within the college of Science and Engineering and the college of Medicine, Biological Sciences and Psychology). The aim is for all IT
professionals to be treated as part of a single team and IT Services is being reorganised from January 2013 to facilitate this.
Development and Integration Services
The Development and Integration Services team reports to the Deputy Director IT, Systems Design and Development.
It is responsible for software development, quality standards and data integration systems. It sets testing strategy and standards, and advises other teams on how to undertake testing effectively. IT similarly defines coding standards and methodologies. It runs the data integration technology platform based on SAP PI and has a particularly important role in designing and implementing the data integration interfaces between major application systems. It is the centre of expertise for these areas and responsible for
appropriate skills and capability development within the IT Operations team. It spots opportunities to apply new features and technologies in new ways that will support the team’s purpose and highlights these to the Partnering team.
Your Role
You will report to the Manager, Development and Integration Services.
You will be an experienced database developer with a detailed knowledge of relational and
multidimensional database techniques (possibly having utilised formal methods such as Kimble). Your experience of large scale systems such as SAP and SITS makes you the “Centre of Excellence” for all data and information held within IT Services Solutions. You are as comfortable translating business information needs from non-technical colleagues as you are supporting the needs of highly technical development teams. Your knowledge and experience developing and performance tuning database solutions give you credibility amongst your DBA colleagues in applications services and operations.
Principal Accountabilities
To assist in the development and enhancement of IT Service database and information solutions: o Liaise with clients within IT Services and the broader University to gather requirements. o Modify databases and products according to university needs.
o Help to create functional requirements.
o Provide technical assistance within the area of database development and data management.
o Undertake technical work packages involved in development projects through design, development, integration and testing.
o Produce technical documentation. o Adhere to all development standards.
o Work closely with the System Specialists in the Application Services team to ensure developments are to the correct standard.
o Helping to design and plan MI/BI solutions using the Business Objects toolset. o Create and deploy reports.
o Be the “centre of excellence” for data and information held within the universities IT solutions.
To support software applications and interfaces:
o Diagnose and resolve complex incidents and problems escalated from the Service Desk and second line support teams in the area of data management.
o Work closely with the System Specialists in Application Services and Operations to support software applications and interfaces.
o Undertaking preventative maintenance, performance tuning, refactoring and upgrade work, preparing change requests and undertaking impact analysis as necessary. o Liaise with suppliers to report and manage defects.
o Maintain awareness of product development roadmaps, known problems, planned fixes and upgrade paths.
o Update IT service continuity plans as systems are changed. o Test IT service continuity plans as necessary.
Maintain and develop specialist skills in line with the needs of the service including the investigation and evaluation of new developments and technologies.
Qualifications, Knowledge and Experience Required
Essential:
Educated to degree level preferably in an IT related discipline or with equivalent additional experience.
Demonstrable experience working in a complex IT organisation with a software development background.
Experience of working on projects through the whole life cycle from requirements analysis through design, coding implementation, testing, system implementation and support. Experience developing and supporting database solutions using the following technologies.
o Databases:
Microsoft SQL Server 2005/2008 Stored Procedures T-SQL
SSIS, DTS (legacy development), SSAS Debugging
Tuning
General SQL Programming o Business Intelligence:
Experience of developing in a large scale Business Intelligence system, preferably Business Objects 4 (though experience of other systems such as Cognos and Oracle BI would be considered).
Experience of Data warehousing and Multidimensional Database Development Desirable: Databases: o Oracle Applications o SAP
o SITS
Business Intelligence: o Business Objects
WEBI (Web Intelligence) Universe Designer Crystal Reports BI Launch Pad o SAP BW
Experience with development in any of the following would be advantageous but not essential - Identity Management (Microsoft FIM), SAP, SITS, or Blackboard.
Experience working in an IT Service Management (ITIL) compliant environment Experience contributing to projects run using Prince2 or equivalent
A good knowledge of student records, financial or accounting systems. Of particular interest is knowledge of student records systems.
Skills, Abilities and Competencies
Excellent analytical skills and problem solving ability. Excellent interpersonal skills.
Experience of working in a highly solution integrated environment. Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
Customer focussed. Excellent team player.
Able to work with minimal supervision. Self-confident and self-motivated. Able to organize, prioritize and plan own work.
Willingness to learn new technologies and development environments
Informal Enquiries
Informal enquiries are welcome and should be made to Michael Dunmore, Manager Development & Integration on [email protected] 0116 229 7742 or Vipin Ahlawat, Deputy Director IT (System Design & Development) on [email protected] or 0116 229 7641.
Applications
For further information and to apply on-line, please visit our website: www.le.ac.uk/joinus
The closing date for this post is midnight on 26th July 2013
Candidates short-listed for interview will be contacted by the University. If you do not receive a communication from the University within 4 weeks of the closing date, please assume that your application has been unsuccessful.
