Job Specification

Purpose of Position :

To manage and coordinate Technical Support services for client Ministries' applications, ensuring a high level of availability and reliability of the technical environment. To manage reliable and efficient production operations services and systems monitoring to support non-stop client businesses for a large and diverse client group working with multi technology platforms. To provide expert strategic advice to clients and senior management related to the technical environment, application and operational issues. To provide leadership by managing and optimizing staff performance, effective team building, maximizing, employee engagement and empowerment to maximize operational delivery while meeting goals and objectives.

Duties / Responsibilities :

The Technical Support Office provides 7x24x365 IT support to a variety of technical platform hosting services including monitoring and incident management and coordination in a multi-platform application environment for its clients including the Ministry of Transportation's Road User Safety and Provincial Highways Management divisions and the Ministry of Labour and its stakeholders (such as the Ministry of the Attorney General (MAG) and Ministry of Environment). The office mandate is to ensure a stable and robust technology environment to meet commitments made to clients. This position works under the general direction of the Senior Manager and has access to OPS policies, directives and standards. The position is key in managing communications between the Technical Support Office and appropriate senior management during major incidents and outages.
The position:
1. Participates in the analysis of business systems and defines application technical support requirements that meet client needs and ensures adherence to OPS standards. Manages application technical environments and related application design to ensure adequate support for the computing platforms and applications that serve client ministries' businesses to ensure continued availability, reliability and integrity of applications and the technical infrastructure. Participates in planning, acquisition and/or installation of hardware, software and services to support the growth and deployment of business applications.
2. Interfaces with the Infrastructure Service Providers on infrastructure projects for the delivery of the required technical environments; develops and schedules project deliverables for the Cluster, and; develops and makes related technical presentations to clients and senior management. Co-ordinates and/or participates with other ministries and external stakeholders in projects having broad impacts across partner ministries and external clients
3. Plans, coordinates and manages the delivery of technical support services for the integrated multi- technology, multi-platform environments that service client Ministry business applications. Manages incidents for the restoration of the application environments that service clients' business applications using the Cluster's Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) based IT Service Management Processes.
4. Coordinates Tier-2 support through the investigation of incidents raised by the client through the OPS IT Service Desk, looking for known solutions to complex technical problems. Coordinates resolution of escalated Tier-3 incidents (incidents related to a specific technical component or components i.e. network, application program, data base, etc.) with the subject matter experts (i.e. network technicians, program developers, data base analysts, etc.) within the Solutions Branches serving the client Ministries, Solutions Engineering Office, IT Service Management, Infrastructure Technology Services (ITS), the Network Service Provider and other IT service providers to ensure the restoration of the application services.

5. Performs problem management to prevent incidents from happening and to minimize the impact of incidents that cannot be prevented. This includes the investigation of one or more similar incidents, coordination of root cause analysis to identify the cause of the incidents and recommending solutions using the Ministry's ITIL-based IT Service Management Processes.

6. Coordinates with the Cluster's Solutions Branches and I&IT Corporate Security Branch, the enhancements, testing and execution of Disaster Recovery/Contingency Plans and strategies for all client ministry computing platforms.
7. Manages selection, collection and reporting of metrics to evaluate value, effectiveness and efficiency of technical support services as well as those for related service providers and recommends, obtains approval for, and implements improvements as necessary.
8. Manages Service Level Agreements (SLAs) with service providers and Operating Level Agreements (OLAs) with internal IT partners to ensure the delivery of consistent service based on signed agreements and customer
expectations.
9. Manages the acquisition of consulting services and contracts provided by external systems professionals including the development of Requests for Proposals (RFPs), Request for Services (RFS) participating in the selection of consultants or contractors, obtaining approvals and ensuring effective quality control of results through the ongoing liaison, management and evaluation of services.
10. Manages staff members consisting of direct reports, functional reports and consultants through the assignment of operational and project tasks, recruitment, training and development, development of work schedules (including on-call schedules and off-peak hours) and allocating assignments, determining performance standards, evaluating work and handling labour relations matters, determining performance standards and fostering an environment of teamwork and productivity.
11. Manages effective relationships and partnerships with internal clients, co-located ministries, ITS, vendors, suppliers, and team members to use cooperative approaches to deliver support and reliable production operations, ensuring cost-effective solutions are realized.
12. Participates as a member of various branch/division/ministry committees to provide input to IT standards, policies, guidelines and procedures and to maintain standardization across the OPS.
13. As a member of the Service Management Branch management team, participates in the development and
management of operational plans, office/branch strategic plans and administrative processes (e.g. budget).

Knowledge :

• Expert knowledge of business system analysis, design, implementation, Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) Incident and Problem Management and data centre production operations management.
• Advanced knowledge of the underlying technologies that make up both the Cluster and OPS Enterprise hosting environments including (but not limited to): Data Centre Monitoring and Management tools (System Center, Openview), Web / Application Hosting (Internet Information Services / lIS, WebSphere, Weblogic), Database Hosting (Oracle, SQL Server, DB2, IMS), Reporting Services (Cognos, SQL Server Analysis Services, Crystal Reports, Hyperion), Collaboration Services (SharePoint, OpenText), CRM Services (Dynamics, Seibel), Integration Services (Biz Talk, WebSphere MQ). Must be able to provide strategic direction to staff as well as provide effective communications on technical problems to stakeholders and business clients.
• Excellent knowledge of current and emerging technologies in areas such as: multi-technology platform within mid-tier environments, high-speed local and wide area networks, broadband data communications and working, storage technologies and storage management, Internet/Internet technologies.
• Broad knowledge of government/ministry IT policies, standards, strategies and directions and industry trends/standards to lead the development of application support and production effectiveness Improvements and evaluate emerging trends.
• Excellent knowledge of project management principles, techniques and processes including planning, estimating, budgeting and performance measurement to lead/co-ordinate concurrent, large scale projects involving multiple internal/external clients and stakeholders within established deadlines and budgets.
• Strong knowledge of and skills in problem solving and analysis approaches and techniques to coordinate the resolution of technical incidents/outages and analyze and evaluate key components of system applications and technical impacts of proposed projects on other areas, partner ministries and industry and assess long-term implications of recommended alternatives
• Sound planning, management and leadership skills to manage staff and consultants and financial and other resources within budget allotments.
• Effective leadership and team-building skills in order to motivate section staff and to develop section processes and internal capacity; to continue to define clear roles and accountabilities and hold the team accountable for actions and results; and to provide clear and constructive feedback for development purposes.
• Leadership skills to manage section staff, chair selection panels for hiring staff, determine work priorities and
assignments, establish performance standards, conduct performance reviews, recommend or initiate discipline as necessary and handle labour relations matters.
• Strong leadership competencies in networking and partnering with service providers for the delivery and support of technical environments.
• Sound knowledge of OPS contract management policies/procedures and negotiating skills to develop/negotiate service level agreements, operating level agreements and service provider contracts, develop service delivery plans and performance measures and assess quality control of results.
• Excellent communication, interpersonal, presentation and consulting skills to establish relationships with and provide systems advice to senior systems management, gain agreement/consensus with clients on data needs and consult with colleagues in other ministries and industry on data management, industry trends and knowledge sharing opportunities.
• Sound Knowledge of OPS finance and budgeting processes and procedures to manage and control the costs of delivering the operations of a cluster hosting service while determining methods of gaining efficiencies and improving the quality and value of services delivered to clients.

Judgement :

Work is performed under the general direction of the Senior Manager, Service Management Branch and within the broad framework of m ministry/OPS IT policies, directions and guidelines following industry standards and trends. Judgement is used in coordinating and managing large, concurrent systems projects to ensure client needs and OPS directions are met, and coordinating project requirements with partner ministries and external stakeholders (e.g. MAG, law enforcement). Judgement is exercised in planning work to ensure effective monitoring of integrated multi-technology, multi-platform environments and in resolving system problems to ensure system integrity and availability. Judgement is used in providing senior level expertise to clients, senior management and system architects, designers and developers in managing the integration between cluster
architecture and design applications and recommending a range of implementation strategies and options for clients. Judgement is required in managing relationships with clients, other ministries, Infrastructure Technology Services (ITS), OPS team members and external clients, identifying service delivery needs, discussing approaches to service delivery and production operations, negotiating joint data sharing and service level agreements/operating level agreements and evaluating technology trends and applications for use. Judgement is used in planning all aspects of projects, estimating budgets, determining and selecting staff and consultant requirements, determining project priorities and ensuring projects are on time and within budget and consistent with terms of reference. Judgement is used in managing and providing direction to staff and consultants and in making decision on matters related to selection of staff, performance appraisals, training and
development and discipline.

Accountability - Programs :

Accountable for the coordinating and managing the technical environment support and operations services for the Cluster's client ministries' business systems (this includes the systems on the integrated multi-technology, multi-platform environments). Also accountable for planning, coordinating and managing projects for the development of multiple, long range application support components and standards and application development methodologies, best practices and tools to support client Technical environments. Accountable for managing the resolution of Tier 2 and Tier 3 incidents often involving co-ordination/participation of partner ministries/stakeholders and having broad external impacts.

Accountability – Personnel :

Accountable for managing up to 9 staff directly in addition to consultants. Responsible for conducting all aspects of management responsibilities including recruitment, training and development, work schedules and allocating assignments, determining performance standards, evaluating work and handling labour relations matters including discipline and dealing with Stage 2 grievances

Accountability - Finance and Materials :

Responsible for estimating, monitoring and controlling unit and project budgets and the approval of all project expenditure. Determines allocation and use of resources and service provider contract terms of reference.

Accountability - Impact of Errors :

Poor judgement in recommending/managing application environments and operations services for critical Ministry businesses and ineffective management of projects for the development of application support components, methodologies, tools, best practices and standards could result in implementation of ineffective and costly applications for the administration 0 application environments and support services that do not meet client needs, disrupt service delivery of client business operations and impact high profile government programs (e.g. law enforcement, courts, insurance industry, welfare) as well as costly long-term implications of decisions and recommendations. Inability to effectively manage the resolution of Tier 2 and Tier 3 incidents/outages could lead to prolonged service disruptions with broad external impacts (i.e. law enforcement, MAG).

Contact - Internal :

Regular contact with client and cluster senior management to identify and discuss operations requirements and recommend and provide advice on solutions, negotiate service level/operating level agreements and recommend the development f components, methods, tools and standards. Regular contact with central agency counterparts, Infrastructure Technology Services, project staff and other systems professionals to discuss resolve matters of mutual concern and provide consultation on application support alternatives and production operations/support service issues and problem resolution. Frequent contact with systems managers in other areas and ministries to co-ordinate approach to joint projects and participate on committees and meetings to discuss and advise on application support issues and opportunities.

Contact - External :

Occasional contact with vendors, suppliers and colleagues in the technology industry to maintain awareness of trends and developments in the IT field. Regular contact with consultants to discuss RFP requirements, selection decisions, acquisition plans and project quality control and service delivery. Occasional contact with senior officials with external clients, other jurisdictions and industry to establish partnerships.