Job Specification

Purpose of Position :

To provide project management of large scale, highly complex, high profile and high risk projects for Infrastructure
Technology Services (ITS) initiatives across the Ontario Public Service (OPS). To provide overall project leadership for all
I&IT projects on behalf of the clusters and their ministry clients. Ensures project deliverables meet clients' business
requirements both cost effectively and efficiently and comply with OPS project management methodologies and frameworks.

Duties / Responsibilities :

Within the Project Management Office which provides portfolio and project management leadership to enable Infrastructure Technology Services (ITS) to deliver infrastructure solutions and meet the needs of l&IT Clusters and their respective ministry clients, this position will be required to perform the following:

1. Project Management Accountabilities: l&IT Project Management Methodology- Project management related experience managing large and complex IT projects involving all project phases (concept, definition, planning, implementation, and closeout). Extensive working knowledge of industry standard (e.g. Project Management Institute (PMI)) and OPS I&IT project management methodologies. Leads organizational development, strategy development, business planning, and Ministry funding requests. Gathers and develops requirements in order to create and maintain detailed project schedules. Ability to create a project charter and obtain signoff from multiple key stakeholders with competing priorities. Ability to create and manage the integrated project plan and all component documents. Proficient with project management/portfolio management tools and Microsoft office suite. Handles broad and often complex communication for internal and external audiences from all levels of the organization. Able to develop and execute a communications plan to keep project stakeholders informed and set up community of practice or workshops as needed.
2. Management of Project Teams- Sourcing, selecting and on-boarding team members in various disciplines, clarifying roles and responsibilities and setting task/deliverables/performance expectations for resources that are both OPS unionized employees (including IT Source staff) as well as fee for service (FFS) consultants. Resolving resourcing and interpersonal conflicts, negotiating changes to resourcing, ensuring knowledge is shared among team members. Proactively plans and prioritizes tasks effectively in order to respond to numerous and diverse challenges and demands. Closes out team member assignments including review of performance of team members for input to formal performance reviews and learning/career planning. Able to work effectively and efficiently toward project objectives in a complex and diverse environment with multiple stakeholders and changing priorities.
3. Budget- able to develop complex project budgets based on multiple funding channels and cross ministry dependencies. Familiar with fiscal requirements for Ministry and MBC approvals of project budgets. Effectively manages large project budgets and ensures a high level of fiscal control and accountability. Forecasts changes and communicates current and projected issues. Develops and implements plans to manage activities and ensure controls are in place to achieve the
financial targets associated with a line function or a major project.
4. Risk lssues Management- analyzes project environment to identify potential risk events and issues before they occur so that proper mitigating strategies can be developed. Articulates and prioritizes issues and risks to senior executives and recommends mitigation strategies for decision makers. Enables transparency to ensure that the right decisions can be made at the right time. Identifies, monitors and manages issues through to resolution. Considers and responds to the impact of risks and issues with respect to the project, portfolio, and/or programs.
5. Stakeholder/Customer Relationship Management- Forms and participates in steering committee and stakeholder forums. Develops and maintains relationships with clients at all levels to set and manage expectations. Provides project, program, and/or portfolio reporting to multi-stakeholders at senior executive levels. Identifies and proactively seeks to resolve conflict within and between projects or functional areas; developing methods to monitor project or area progress end provide corrective supervision when required.
6. Change Management- Understands how various stakeholders are or will be affected by changes; uses appropriate strategies and actions to overcome resistance to change and capitalize on forces in support of change during all phases of the project life cycle. Identifies and resolves the differences between an ideal solution and a solution which has the commitment and support of the people who will implement and use the solution.
7. Adheres to OPS l&lT standards and best practices for project management to facilitate control of system quality, standard methodology and the control of the use of I&IT resources. Joins OPS communities of practices where applicable to ensure alignment with direction from the Central Agencies and OPS Centres of Excellence.
8. Other duties as assigned.

Knowledge :

Strong and demonstrated understanding of project management standards techniques and methodologies to manage large, complex, high profile and high risk OPS project initiatives. Strong understanding of OPS l&IT standards, directives and policies to ensure compliance of project initiatives as well as ensuring success and integration of projects. Strong knowledge of l&IT technologies, industry trends and offerings to support project deliverables. Knowledge and experience with Program, Portfolio and Project management tools, eg. MS Project, Clarity or equivalents. Excellent financial and controllership management to develop and manage large project budgets. Strong understanding of procurement to support policies and practices of software solutions, hardware and services. Excellent resource management skills to direct large project teams. Strong knowledge of the service management framework based on ITIL within OPS. Strong understanding of the human factors associated with change as well as the approaches and tools which assist in ensuring change projects are successful. General understanding of the various contributions and areas of expertise associated with each job family in order to determine required resources for delivery of projects. Excellent interpersonal skills for teambuilding exercises within the project team, effective negotiation, collaboration and communication of project deliverables. Strong, proven leadership skills to plan, organize and coordinate human, financial and material resources.

Judgement :

Works under general supervision of the Senior Manager Project Management Office. Judgement is exercised in planning, co-ordinating and managing large-scale, complex, high profile and high risk projects through the assessment of existing business/service performance and the analysis of clients' short and long-term business needs. Position exercises judgement in determining project priorities with consideration to the mandate of the OPS business plans and strategic directions. Judgement is required in determining optimum systems solutions to meet user needs within time and budgetary constraints and in determining the required resources and methods of project development, service delivery and support with consideration to government directions in alternative service delivery, outsourcing and constraint as well as the need to anticipate and formulate problems. Judgement is also required in effectively managing several concurrent projects including establishing observable performance indicators for projects, monitoring progress of projects to ensure budgets and timeframes are met and operations meet quality standards for reliability, confidentiality, security and contingency recovery. Judgement and political acuity are required to identify, monitor, manage and mitigate risks and issues within projects with senior executives in the OPS. Requires professional judgement in order to be experts in the PM field as position is responsible for perpetuating PM best practices amongst the PM family and potentially other job families. Judgement required for coaching and developing resources in both technical and relationship/customer management aspects. Judgement is required to deliver value on both the project and client/stakeholder front.

Accountability - Programs :

Requires security clearance from law enforcement agencies to access information that is sensitive but unclassified. Available for travel within the Province to various ITS/Cluster/Ministry locations. Position is fully accountable for:

Managing all phases of complex l&IT projects and/or specific components of large scale complex projects from start through completion within risk, time and resource constraints, where the outcomes may affect service delivery, government legislative programs, and/or public expectations of services. Ensuring effective utilization of assigned financial, material and human resources within established project timeframes and standards.

Accountability – Personnel :

Providing project direction and leadership for large teams of the highest-level technical project personnel from the various l&IT job families, including setting priorities, scheduling and assigning work, monitoring and reporting on technical performance, providing technical training, advice, coaching development for less senior program/project leads.

Accountability - Finance and Materials :

Establish and manage budgets of large scale, high profile and high risk projects. Determining allocation and use of resources and recommending assignment of resources from other areas within l&lT for project work. Optimal use of resources, including participating in SLA negotiations with internal and external service providers, and managing their performance to the contract.

Accountability - Impact of Errors :

Errors in project planning and leadership could delay the implementation of critical, potentially Enterprise-wide systems and significantly disrupt clients' programs and business/administration; and could lead to excessive project/operating costs, and impact negatively on strict contractual commitments. Errors in provision of authoritative expertise, advice, analyses and support could result in deeply flawed l&lT systems development, poor management of change, considerable waste of resources, and failure of l&lT to support OPS clients' businesses with value-added, cost-effective technology. Failure to develop effective contingency recovery processes and control the security, confidentiality and integrity of data could lead to serious breaches of privacy resulting in legal action against the client; high correction costs; and loss of credibility.

Contact - Internal :

Frequently with client and l&lT senior executive management to provide project status, advice and recommendations, to resolve issues and negotiate changes, resource requirements. Frequently with senior managers across the enterprise and in other clusters or multi-project environments, to co-ordinate inter-cluster sharing, assignments, scheduling and resolve technical or resource issues for enterprise-wide/very complex projects. Daily with assigned project staff and professionals, to provide direction, advice, guidance, consultation and problem resolution.

Contact - External :

Frequently with internal and external peers and senior decision-makers in the OPS, other jurisdictions and/or the private sector, to initiate and develop partnerships, and work on the most complex and/or large-scale projects affecting the enterprise. Regularly with professional peers in the l&lT community, to keep abreast of standards and best practices. Regularly with vendors, suppliers and external consultants, to select/acquire services and projects or to address problems related to quality or services.