Job Specification

Purpose :

To provide planning, analysis and coordination of exhibit and program development, and design, fabrication and delivery for the Technical Operation department.
To coordinate and analyze the budget processes and resulting activities, and develop strategies for incremental process and procedure improvement.

Key Responsibilities :

1. Financial Planning/Forecasting/Analysis
- Monitors and ensures that approved expenditures are within Agency/Branch allotments. Manages program expenditures by identifying surpluses/deficits and reallocating resources to utilize full allotments. Prepares variance/pressure sheets where expenditures exceed allotments.
- Researches Branch productivity to apply to planning and allocation decisions. Assist with monitoring management plans and identifying issues. Prepares spreadsheets to convert fiscal allotments to calendar year requirements.
- Provides management with statistical and financial information to monitor and evaluate work flow and productivity.
- Works with the Finance department to procure goods and services in support of current projects and/or exhibitions. Liaises with vendors and provides contract administration where appropriate.
- Makes recommendations to management based on completed analyses. Reviews statistical information, comparing data between organizations in order to identify discrepancies.
- Develops and maintains the Branch's budgeting process, collects and analyzes actual activity reporting, provides analysis to department managers and senior branch management.

2. Program/Project Support
- Leads or participates as a member of project/initiatives teams; provides organizational support to Agency/Branch office standing committees on planning; provides coordination and organizational support; coordinates. Participates as a member of a Agency/Branch team, who designs and implements a monitoring system in support of Agency/Branch planning and its coordination.
- Acts as a liaison with corporate on initiatives and projects.

3. Information and Stakeholder Consultation
- Makes recommendations to program management for corrective action when services are not meeting expected outcomes. Coordinates/responds to requests for information by researching and compiling data, organizing information, preparing documents.
- Supports program consultations with clients and community representatives by undertaking assigned components of the consultations including obtaining information from stakeholders.
- Provides leadership and represents the unit at meetings and within work groups.

Knowledge / Skill :

- Financial business practices, government budget cycle and controls, to provide advice related to budget packages, preparation of legal agreements, offset surplus/deficits. Mathematics to provide accurate analysis of monthly expenditure forecasts, budget calculations.
- Ministry acts, regulations, policies, program guidelines and best practices for service delivery to interpret and apply them to meet ministry requirements including financial accountability. Ministry organizational structure, communication protocols, decision making processes, accountability structure, programs and initiatives, budgeting practices, program sectors and their various agencies, service delivery, to understand the issues being researched and analyzed, draft communications, and provide a variety of support to projects/committees/transfer payment agencies.
- Policy analysis, planning and analysis techniques, to develop work plans, conduct studies, respond to planning documents, support standing committees, design and develop a Agency/Branch planning monitoring system.
- Project coordination to coordinate own and others' activities with those of project teams and/or Department/Branch development activities.
- Research, data collection, analysis and evaluation to conduct program analysis studies, assess requirements, determine data sources and analytical techniques, assess implications of findings and relevance of developments in statistical analysis; to develop study designs and procedural methods, evaluate study results and present findings.
- Use of office technology plus specialized computer applications to conduct and facilitate data gathering and analysis, and software applications to conduct research and analysis, prepare reports, correspondence and presentations.
- Communications to provide training, prepare reports and provide advice.

Interpersonal / Influencing Skill :

- Negotiation skills to negotiate budget requirements with agencies.
- Advisory/Consultation skills to resolve problems/issues internal to the Ministry and external with community stakeholders.

Analyzing / Problem Solving Skill :

- Complete complicated financial analyses and forecasts of ministry-funded programs, identify trends, calculate and analyze budgets.
- Examine budget submissions for accuracy, requirements and expected outcomes.
- Identify issues with program reporting/expectations and determine appropriate resolutions.
- Identify gaps/problems in current management plans, system frameworks and service contracts, and identify and assess potential solutions.
- Research and investigate prior to drafting responses to requests for information.
- Assess research requirements, seek and determine data sources and appropriate analytical techniques; conduct analysis of several sources of information and determine presentation of research/analysis findings.
- Use spreadsheet applications to monitor expenditures and detect anomalies.
- Use past project financial reports to refine estimation process for new exhibition builds.

Decision Making / Responsibility :

Responsible for:
- Identifying data requirements and sources and selecting most appropriate data gathering techniques to support project needs and ensure data accuracy, relevance and validity with respect to, e.g., the performance of the service system.
- Planning, organizing and managing the development and operations of project planning services and the visitor evaluation program for the Branch. Planning, organizing and managing the development, coordination and establishment of planning objectives for the Branch.
- Identifying, analyzing and reporting findings Agency/Branch program and budgeting variations.
- Designing and implementing a monitoring system to support the coordination of Agency/Branch planning.
- Make recommendation regarding changes/improvements to policy.
- Has latitude to recommend methods and techniques of analysis, reports; seek and locate appropriate background data and extract relevant information in order to provide managers/project teams/committees/community with materials to plan, and to address service system issues.
- Decisions are guided by government/ministry legislation, policy directives and guidelines, Agency/Branch business practices and protocols, government financial accounting and business practices.

Contacts / Stakeholder :

- Ministry/branch senior management, staff and Project managers to implement new initiatives, resolve technical budget issues, report financial/forecasting information, and respond to information requests.
- Agency/Branch colleagues to provide program/financial direction/updates, problem solve re financial/business processes, provide technical support on automated budget packages. Ministry specialists such as Finance, Accounting and Human Resource staff to discuss budgeting, financial planning and staffing problems. The Board of Trustees to present new ideas, project plan status and directions.
- Community partners/service providers to share information and for funding/budgeting purposes.

Guidance / Supervision :

- Provides budget leadership to project managers, and operational leadership to Exhibit Operations scheduler.

Demands / Pressures :

Work Demands :

- Daily requirement to prioritize workload to meet deadlines on short notice including requests for immediate information.
- Frequent requirement to change priorities/multi-task in response to multiple requests/conflicting demands on short notice with tight deadlines.

Mental / Sensory :

- Daily requirement to switch attention from one task to another due to frequent interruptions, while still requiring daily periods of concentrating on financial data.
- Daily assisting service providers who have limited technical/program support skills.
- Daily instructing agencies in policy/technical changes/updates.

Conditions / Environment :

- Work is performed in a typical office environment, with limited travel to support projects across the region, and the seasonal hazards of winter driving.