Data Analyst/BI Engineer

The BEST Program Data Analyst/BI Engineer (DA/BI) will work with a Team comprised of BEST Program staff, agency business and technical SMEs and the new solution system integrator (SI) and product vendor to design and implement the data information management and reporting strategies, tools, and outputs to provide a robust reporting and data analytics capacity for users of the new Financials solution.The implementation of the new Financials solution will provide users with the ability to run queries and reports on the live data in this application directly rather than waiting for data to be available through warehouse reports. Data will be integrated across modules permitting more robust, real-time reporting and analytics capabilities.

The BEST Program Data Analyst/BI Engineer will work with the BEST Financials Data Lead to identify reporting, dashboard and business analytics needs that will drive the configuration of standard reports and dashboards delivered through the new Financials solution. The DA/BI Lead will assist in leading requirements sessions with BEST staff, agency staff and the system integrator and product vendor to review the reporting and analytics capabilities of the new solution and to identify available configuration options.  The DA/BI Lead will develop and maintain a list of selected configurations for each report and dashboard and work with reports/dashboard developers during configuration to assist in translating business requirements to the configured reports. The DA/BI Lead will also participate in testing configured reports and dashboards and in organizing user testing of these items.

Whenever feasible, the BEST Program intends to adopt delivered reports and dashboards, but in instances where reporting requirements cannot be met by the delivered solutions, the DA/BI Lead will work with business and the system integrator and product vendor to identify requirements for future report development and participate in testing of these items when they are developed. The DA/BI Lead will work with business and the system integrator and product vendor to identify opportunities for improving the availability of data for reporting and analytics by understanding the solution’s capacities in this area, sharing that information with business and documenting implementation options with owners of other Commonwealth business intelligence and data analytics resources.

Requirements

Specific Duties

• Contribute to the development of data reporting and data access through database queries, reports, and dashboards.
• Gather information from agency business users and technical staff regarding the types of data, frequency of reports or dashboards, distribution of reports or dashboards, and other information as needed to understand the current reporting needs of agencies.
• Participate in developing an approach to identifying reporting and data analytics needs across the new solution user community.
• Document configuration decisions for each standard report and dashboard and provide guidance to report developers during the configuration stage.
• Participate in testing of configured reports and dashboards and assist in coordinating user testing of these materials.
• Support and manage enterprise architecture’s data operations (optimize data processing, query performance and data quality) and data pipelines.
• Integrate data from diverse sources using ETL processes and transform raw data into datasets used for analysis.
• Implement robust security measures, monitor data access and develop access policies.
• Provide technological expertise to capture, store and employ data catalogue and lineage to support governance initiatives.
• Understand business requirements in the BI context and design data models to convert raw data to meaningful insights.
• Perform SQL, DAX queries and functions in Power BI.
• Receive training and hands on guidance from the system integrator and product vendor in how to build queries, reports, and dashboards in order to assist reports developers in their work.
• Assist in the creation of job aids and other training materials to support report writing by agency users.

Required Skills

• Experience in building complex queries, reports and dashboards using a range of web-based tools.
• Knowledge of structured data, such as entities, classes, hierarchies, relationships, and metadata.
• Proven ability to collaborate with business owners, information architects, content architects and other stakeholders to support common goals and approaches including:

o   Interviewing managers and other stakeholders to understand their data needs.

o   Interviewing users to understand what they need from data systems to boost their performance.

o   Translating business goals, user needs and process improvements into data management functions and requirements.

o   Explaining the capabilities of data systems to business managers and users as the new solution is designed and configured.

o   Providing guidance on project scoping to meet stakeholders' requirements.

o   Assessing whether data is fit for use by performing initial validation of data delivered as part of the project.

o   Exhibiting an excellent understanding of how data are used within business processes and its impact.

• In-depth exposure to data quality concepts, best practices, and tools.
• Experience in designing, developing and deploying business analytics dashboards using PowerBI.
• Experience in Cloud Data warehouses like Snowflake, Redshift.
• Familiarity with Snowflake Data sharing, Snowpipe and Snowpark.
• Experience in ETL tools such as Pentaho/Informatica and proficient in SQL.
• Well-developed system analysis skills.
• Understanding and knowledge of IT standards and controls.
• Proficient written and verbal communication and interpersonal skills.

Preferred Qualifications

Experience with Software as a Service cloud implementations particularly those in which legacy on premise applications have been migrated to cloud delivery options.

Minimum Entrance Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in computer science, system analysis or a related study, or equivalent experience.
• Minimum of 5 years of design and implementation experience in the areas of business intelligence/reporting and data warehousing.