OPERATIONS AND SUPPORT MANAGER
The Operations and Support Manager manages systems and database administration and help desk function. He/She focuses on strategic and policy development aspects that will have medium term consequences on the operation of the function and impact elements of organisation performance. He is responsible for Overseeing the incident resolution and business continuity plans along with the database and systems administration. He focuses on setting goals and priorities, allocates accountability among staff, manages the career development of others, liaises with professional staff and other managers, advises the business on technology related issues and engages in medium-term planning. He is familiar with enterprise architecture frameworks, database administration and systems, and application monitoring tools. The Operations and Support Manager possesses an end-to-end understanding of an organisation's system environment and its critical elements that need to be actively managed to ensure service levels are met. He is driven leader, able to align the team behind strategic business priorities and to motivate key stakeholders to strive for continuous improvement at all levels.
What Does a OPERATIONS AND SUPPORT MANAGER Do?
Key Responsibilities & Tasks
Formulate strategy for service level agreements (SLAs) and improvements
- Provide inputs for IT operations and support strategy planning
- Develop plans to deliver IT operations and support, systems and database administration services
- Develop service level agreement key performance indicators (KPIs) and dashboards
- Monitor service level dashboards to ensure compliance to KPIs
- Determine corrective action to address non-compliance with SLAs and KPIs
Manage and optimise IT operations and support performance
- Establish priorities for IT operations and support activities, initiatives and incident resolution
- Set direction for continuous improvement of operational procedures and customer experience
- Certify the functionality of components and services to ensure deployment meets expectations and requirements
- Oversee migration of components into the operating environment
- Recommend enhancements to improve systems availability and performance
- Develop and maintain a comprehensive database and/or library of supporting documentation
- Develop capacity planning models and load balancing solutions
Oversee incident resolution and business continuity plans
- Drive and oversee resolution of operations and support centre incidents
- Explore opportunities to improve incident response rate
- Formulate the organisation’s disaster recovery and business continuity plans
- Oversee disaster recovery plan drills and activities to determine if technical criteria is met
- Develop, test, maintain and exercise procedures for back-up, restoration and disaster recovery for high availability, high volume mission critical databases
Oversee database and system administration
- Design, monitor and maintain data replication primary and secondary databases
- Oversee database activities to ensure continued reliability, performance monitoring and tuning, security, back-up and disaster recovery
- Oversee the allocation of database resources
- Design security controls for data and databases
- Participate in security investigations of database
- Direct the scheduling of DBMS software installation
- Oversee the upgrade of databases, new structures or elements
Manage people and organisation
- Manage the budget expenditure and allocation across teams and projects
- Monitor and track the team’s achievements and key performance indicators
- Propose new operational plans, including targeted budgets, work allocations and staff forecasts
- Acquire, allocate and optimise the use of resources
- Develop learning roadmaps to support the professional development of the team
- Manage the performance and development process, including providing coaching and development opportunities to maximise the potential of each individual
Do You Have the Skills for This Role?
A OPERATIONS AND SUPPORT MANAGER needs 4 core competencies. Here's what's required and at what level.
Must-Have Skills (Advanced)
Communication
AdvancedInteracting with Others
Collaboration
AdvancedInteracting with Others
Supporting Skills
Developing People
IntermediateInteracting with Others
Decision Making
IntermediateThinking Critically
SkillsFuture Skill Levels
3 levelsBasic
Recognise and understand fundamental concepts. Apply skills in routine situations with guidance.
Intermediate
Apply skills in varied situations independently. Analyse problems and adapt approaches as needed.
Advanced
Lead and innovate in complex situations. Evaluate strategies, guide teams, and drive improvements.
Technical Skills & Competencies (TSC) Levels
6 levelsFollow
Carry out routine tasks under close supervision. Follow established procedures and guidelines.
Assist
Perform tasks with some independence. Assist in non-routine situations and apply established techniques.
Apply
Apply skills and knowledge independently in varied situations. Analyse problems and adapt approaches.
Analyse
Analyse complex situations and develop solutions. Guide and mentor junior colleagues.
Strategise
Set strategic direction and drive innovation. Evaluate trade-offs and make high-impact decisions.
Transform
Lead industry transformation. Establish standards, shape policy, and provide expert advisory.
Technical Skills & Competencies
A OPERATIONS AND SUPPORT MANAGER requires 38 technical skills at specific proficiency levels.
Business Continuity
Level 5Business and Project Management
Develop business continuity plans, and direct resources to establish and maintain business continuity processes
Cyber and Data Breach Incident Management
Level 5Operations and User Support
Formulate incident response strategies and direct teams in the remediation, resolution, communication and post-mortem of large-scale, unpredictable cyber and data incidents
Database Administration
Level 5Operations and User Support
Establish strategy and guidelines for database management and administration, directing processes, resources and IT investments to optimise database performance
Disaster Recovery Management
Level 5Business and Project Management
Design a disaster recovery plan and review recommendations for alternate solutions and recovery or back up procedures
Infrastructure Strategy
Level 5Strategy Planning and Implementation
Develop a robust infrastructure plan and model that is aligned and adaptable to internal business priorities and external trends
IT Strategy
Level 5Strategy Planning and Implementation
Create an IT strategy, and develop transformation initiatives to meet business requirements and support the modernisation of the IT landscape
Learning and Development
Level 5People Development
Drive employee developmental programmes in alignment to business needs
Performance Management
Level 5Operations and User Support
Evaluate and integrate new mechanisms and technology, and leverage analytics to optimise performance data, and determine implications of performance levels reported
Process Improvement and Optimisation
Level 5Business and Project Management
Devise strategies for the adoption of improvements and optimisation of processes
Project Management
Level 5Business and Project Management
Lead end-to-end management of large programmes or multiple projects concurrently, coordinating project interdependencies
Service Level Management
Level 5Stakeholder and Contract Management
Evaluate service levels and oversee improvements to enhance service performance
Stakeholder Management
Level 5Stakeholder and Contract Management
Define a strategic stakeholder management roadmap, and lead critical discussions and negotiations, addressing escalated issues or problems encountered
System Integration
Level 5Development and Implementation
Design a feasible integration roadmap, monitor system integration outcomes and drive enhancements to integration plans
Applications Development
Level 4Development and Implementation
Plan the application development process, program applications and secure features, applying suitable debugging techniques to resolve complex errors
Applications Integration
Level 4Development and Implementation
Oversee end-to-end process of application integration, determining suitable middleware and testing procedures and resolving issues that arise
Applications Support and Enhancement
Level 4Operations and User Support
Establish internal protocols for application support, and evaluate viability of application enhancements and change requests in collaboration with developers
Budgeting
Level 4Business Finance
Manage budgeting and forecasting for annual financial and business planning within the business unit
Business Needs Analysis
Level 4Business and Project Management
Investigate existing business processes, evaluate requirements and define the scope for recommended solutions and programmes
Business Performance Management
Level 4General Management
Manage organisation performance systems across departments
Configuration Tracking
Level 4Development and Implementation
Develop policies, processes and guidelines for the organisation's configuration management and tracking
Data Centre Facilities Management
Level 4Operations and User Support
Undertake capacity and resource planning for data centre facilities, and develop protocols and security guidelines in data centre management
Data Engineering
Level 4Development and Implementation
Translate business requirements into data structures and processes to standardise data, verify data reliability and validity, store, extract, transform, load and integrate data
Infrastructure Deployment
Level 4Development and Implementation
Lead large-scale installation projects, involving deployment, decommissioning and coordination of multiple hardware and software deployment plans
Infrastructure Support
Level 4Operations and User Support
Develop plans and retain accountability for maximising service quality, speed and availability in infrastructure administration and support activities
IT Asset Management
Level 4Operations and User Support
Integrate understanding of future IT asset requirements and policy changes to define an asset management plan that optimises business value and minimise risk
Manpower Planning
Level 4Business and Project Management
Conduct project level manpower forecasts to bridge gaps between manpower demand and supply, and facilitate development of recruitment strategies
Networking
Level 4Business Development
Develop business plans for new opportunities
People and Performance Management
Level 4People Development
Develop performance management programmes
Problem Management
Level 4Operations and User Support
Introduce processes, guidelines and technologies to facilitate the management of problems throughout their lifecycle
Procurement
Level 4Stakeholder and Contract Management
Develop a procurement plan including vendor selection guidelines, and select a suitable service provider considering potential risks
Quality Standards
Level 4Governance and Compliance
Assess existing quality standards and align processes and activities with IT product and service quality expectations
Security Programme Management
Level 4Development and Implementation
Manage large scale secure system initiatives and collaborations with programmers to develop new security solutions and capabilities
Software Configuration
Level 4Development and Implementation
Establish and revise an effective release and configuration plan, and evaluate configuration test results to recommend modifications to the product or deployment process
Software Testing
Level 4Development and Implementation
Define the testing objectives and criteria for success and oversee the testing and follow up processes for software products
Strategy Implementation
Level 4Strategy Planning and Implementation
Evaluate strategies for critical business functions to ensure plans are realistic and reflect health of business
Strategy Planning
Level 4Business and Project Management
Develop resource allocation plans and implement strategies and policies
Sustainability Management
Level 4Business and Project Management
Assess the organisation's utilisation of energy against supply considerations, and propose and implement solutions to optimise utilisation
Test Planning
Level 4Development and Implementation
Define testing objectives, and design a master test plan including a series of systematic test procedures to achieve them
European Skills Framework
ESCOSkills and knowledge areas required for this occupation based on European classification.
Essential
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