Assistant Director: Persal & Vulindlela Ops (IMS) at National Treasury

Purpose of the Role

• To maintain, support and enhance transversal financial management systems, including PERSAL, Vulindlela, MIS and ad hoc reporting solutions, in line with applicable legislation, policies, standards and governance requirements. The role also supports system modernisation and related cost-recovery processes. 

Qualification/s Requirements

• A Grade 12 is required coupled with a minimum National Diploma (NQF 6 in Information Technology or Information Systems/Business Analysis; 
• A Bachelor’s degree (NQF 7) in any of the above disciplines is added advantage; 
• A Qualification in Project Management is added advantage; 
• A minimum of 3 years’ experience obtained in an application/system support or operations environment; 
• Experience in transversal financial management systems operations and support processes (incident, problem, change and release management); 
• Experience in Project Management (IT Systems Implementation); 
• Knowledge and experience of the public-sector financial framework and end-user support in a multi-stakeholder environment; and 
• Experience in HR and Salary maintenance/reporting. Knowledge and experience of Persal and its operations.

Key Performance Areas

System Maintenance, Enhancement and Modernisation: 

• Develop, maintain, configure and enhance PERSAL, Vulindlela, MIS, ad hoc reporting and related transversal financial management systems in line with approved procedures, standards, controls and business requirements; 
• Analyse policy, business and user requirements and translate approved changes into functional specifications, configuration requirements, implementation actions and reporting requirements; 
• Support maintenance, modernisation, patching, upgrade and enhancement initiatives across current and future financial management system platforms; and 
• Provide functional clarification and technical inputs to internal teams, consultants and service providers during design, development, configuration and implementation activities.

System Configuration, Data Updates and Processing Controls:

• Create, amend, validate and maintain system codes, parameters, tables, calendars, workflows, salary notch codes, salary key scales, MIS classification codes and other configuration items; 
• Coordinate approved bulk, programmatic and system-based updates across relevant systems, including payroll, salary adjustment, leave, package-structuring and reporting processes; 
•  Validate control totals, exception reports, adjustment schedules and system outputs to ensure accuracy, completeness and compliance before implementation or distribution; and 
• Investigate and resolve technical exceptions arising from configuration changes, programmatic updates, financial adjustments, interfaces and processing cycles. 

Testing, Quality Assurance and Implementation Readiness: 

• Plan, coordinate and conduct testing and quality assurance for new functionality, enhancements, patches, upgrades, interfaces, reports and system maintenance activities; 
• Validate that implemented functionality meets approved business, policy, technical and operational requirements prior to deployment; 
• Support defect resolution, business readiness, stakeholder engagement, change and release activities and post-implementation validation; and 
• Prepare implementation communications, system messages, notices, technical outputs and deployment support material for affected users and stakeholders.

Operations, Service Continuity, Access and Risk Control: 

• Provide operational and functional support for transversal financial management systems in accordance with agreed service levels, governance processes and security requirements; 
• Monitor service issues, incidents, service requests, system availability, processing risks, turnaround times and stakeholder feedback, and coordinate approved corrective and preventive actions; 
• Support user access management, role/profile maintenance and access review processes in accordance with security and segregation-of-duties requirements; and 
• Apply approved system controls to prevent irregular, duplicate, unauthorised or non-compliant payments and transactions, including the processing of deceased-employee salary freezes and related exceptions.

 Reporting, Stakeholder Support, Governance and Documentation: 

• Develop, maintain and enhance MIS, ad hoc reports and related reporting functionality to support operational, management, compliance and stakeholder information requirements; 
• Liaise with departments, users, internal teams, policy owners, external institutions and service providers to identify, analyse and resolve system, reporting and operational issues; 
• Ensure that system changes, reports, financial adjustments, support processes and stakeholder communications comply with approved policies, procedures, delegations, standards and controls; and 
•  Maintain technical documentation, system rules, metadata, manuals, help functions, standard operating procedures, user guides, knowledge articles and control records.