Audit Technology Support Analyst

The National Audit Office (NAO) supports Parliament to hold the government to account for the way public services are delivered. Our primary role is to scrutinise public spending for Parliament. We do this by certifying over 350 government accounts and produce around 65 Value for Money (VFM) reports each year.

The NAO invests in audit technology and automation to improve quality, efficiency, add value and reduce costs. To support the tools used by the Financial Audit service line, we have a central function called “Audit Technology Services” (ATS). ATS is currently lead by the ATS Manager and is supported by a Senior ATS analyst and an ATS Analyst. The successful applicant would become our second ATS Analyst forming a complete team of four.

We require an experienced person to:
• Provide user support (to a community of around 700 users) for all audit system solutions including training, creating and updating guidance, dealing with support queries; including problem solving to resolve system issues and provide a high level of customer engagement.
• Support with day to day management of audit applications to ensure delivery of a high-quality service.
• System administration and maintenance of solutions; ensuring all audit applications are kept to date e.g. joiners, leavers, removal of out of date audits and data to comply with NAO policies.
• Support with data quality, cleansing, reporting and insights using MS Excel.
• Provide support with configuration of system developments and testing of changes, service packs / releases and upgrades.
• Support the Audit Technology Services Manager with continual improvements of all systems, processes and ad hoc projects.

Introduction
This Audit Technology Support Analyst role is a wide-ranging role, requiring the holder of the role to effectively provide service management for a range of business-critical applications relied on by the financial audit service line. The holder of the role will support with:

System maintenance and configuration
• System administration; ensuring all applications are kept to date with joiners, leavers, removal of out of date audits, security restrictions etc.
• Configuration and supporting with testing of system changes/ updates to support operational changes and efficiencies;
• Supporting with testing of service packs and upgrades to audit software / tools, or changes to infrastructure that could impact the operation of audit software / tools.
• System monitoring and data cleansing.

Supplier management
• Liaise closely with suppliers for issues relating to audit software and tools to ensure speedy resolution;
• Service level compliance monitoring and reporting

User Support
• Directly support end users with queries relating to the operation of all audit software;
• Support and develop training for new joiners and all users for significant changes in the audit software / tools;
• Monitor incidents and produce statistics and recommendations to improve services and customer satisfaction
• Support with communications to ensure the service line are kept up to date with software matters.
• Work closely with our first line Expert support network

Proactive working with Stakeholders across the NAO
In relation to proactive working with the NAO’s Corporate IT Support team we would expect the holder of this role to be responsible for:
• Support with liaising with the NAO’s Digital Services (our corporate IT support team) to ensure the services are being delivered as expected and to the quality expected;
• Keep up to date on business changes and upgrades to the NAO IT estate that Digital Services may be planning;
• Maintain communications with our central methodology team (how we do audit) and our financial audit operations team (ensures the effective running of the financial audit service line).
• Communicate with all levels of the NAO;
• Work closely with the Audit Technology Services Manager and wider team on the day to day management of applications, service improvements and the strategic roadmap.

Skills and Experience

Abilities
• Enthusiasm and a commitment to providing excellent customer service
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills
• Given the operational importance of the audit software / tools to the NAO’s business activities, a track record working at pace to resolve issues and get things done
• Good problem solver / logical thinker able to work through problems to identify root causes
• Brings new innovative ideas for improving service offerings and support

Attributes
• Intellectual curiosity, especially about technology and business process related matters
• Willingness to address poor performance to ensure that issues are addressed quickly
• Ability to work co-operatively and collaboratively as part of a team to deliver a team effort
• Drive and determination to overcome obstacles, resistance or challenges in order to achieve goals
• Commitment to personal development and keeping technical skills up to date
• Good communication skills and ability to flex these to address the various audiences from junior audit staff through to senior level client staff.

Education/work experience/skills

• Experience of providing user support. Experience of providing such a role in the context of a professional services business would be an advantage;
• Good understanding of the technical operations of an IT team and their operational impact on business applications;
• SQL skills (desirable) to enable information gathering and analysis
• Intermediate to advanced level of MS Excel (e.g., for data manipulation and reporting)
• Familiar with ITIL principles (Service Management)
• Experience using service management / ticketing solutions (desirable)
• Given the NAO’s “cloud first” approach, experience gained in a Cloud environment would be valuable
• Problem solving and analytical thinking
• Familiar with project-based work