Purpose & Overall Relevance for the Organisation:
This role will be focussed around application support on financial processes coming from month end closure, AP and AR, GL etc. The role will form part of global application operations team and report into the Sr. Service Manager for SAP AFS.
Key Responsibilities:
Business process understanding
Business Analysis
* Full end-to-end understanding of respective financial business processes and best practices in order to translate into best operational support service.
* Special focus on operational improvements utilizing all methods available, including automation, monitoring and AI as examples.
Service Design, Transition & Operations
Service Management
* Prepare formal SLA (Service Level Agreement) standards in alignment with the business, considering GIT KPIs, targets. Ensure these standards are met by managing external vendors through monthly service level reviews and contract management.
* Oversee and resolve any escalations in application operations to ensure that IT targets and KPIs are achieved.
* Understanding FICO modules to the extent that you can suggest process improvements
Service Transition
* Engages with projects to adhere to operational standard before service transition into application operations takes place.
People management / engagement model
* Oversee external operational support structure and act as SME within operations around finance processes on SAP AFS (FICO)
* Engage with solutions teams to understand processes in detail and integrate knowledge into internal and external operational teams.
* Form part of internal operational “expert team” to act as SME around SAP FICO processes.
Release and Deployment
* Support release managers around approvals within the process before changes are taken into live systems
* Assisting in testing process in order to discover errors and issues in business processes, documentation or user's lack of experience
Problem Management
* Must be familiar with problem management process within ITIL
* Drive investigations around problems in systems, processes and services.
* Assists with the implementation of agreed corrective actions and preventative measures.
Incident Management
* Prioritizes and diagnoses incidents according to agreed procedures.
* Investigates causes of incidents and seeks resolution.
* Escalates unresolved incidents.
* Facilitates recovery, following resolution of incidents.
* Documents and closes resolved incidents according to agreed procedures.
Key Relationships:
* Business Stakeholder / User
* Business Consultant / Analysts
* Solution Architects
* Solutions Teams
* External vendors around application operations
Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:
* Advanced SAP FICO processes and transactions
* Good numerical and analytical skills, experience in finance
* Ability to define problems, collect data, establish facts and draw valid conclusions
* Strong communication (both written and verbal) and facilitation skills (small and large groups) especially when interacting with different levels of business
* English language (fluent)
* Strong MS-Office skills (Word, Excel, PowerPoint)
* Ability to work in a fast-paced environment with different international cultures
Requisite Education and Experience / Minimum Qualifications:
* Four-year college or university degree with focus on Finance and IT, or equivalent combination of education and experience
* 3+ years experience in IT Operations
* 5+ years in operation with SAP FI & CO modules
* Formal training on IT service management standards (ITIL) would be advantageous.
* SAP S4 HANA exposure would be advantageous