Unilever - Global Financial Planning - SME

Job Description :

Job Position : Global Financial planning SME

Function : Global IT Innovation

Reports to : Lead SME - Finance

Scope : Global

Location : India - Bangalore

Vision and Purpose :

- Each Innovation SME (Subject Matter Expert) team provides a focus on the delivery of Innovation into either their functional or cross-functional expertise area, which includes owning the application landscape roadmap, future usability, maintainability and TCO for the business. The Finance (FI) space includes modules such as Accounts Receivable/Payable, General Ledger, Assets Management, Accounting (SCOA) and Reconciliation, Tax and Treasury.

- A number of Finance Big Bets are currently in-flight such as Global Expense Management, Global Invoice Management Workflow and Efficient Finance (EFCR). The role of the SME FI is to manage the solution architecture, design and build for the subsequent SAP modules and solutions.

Accountabilities and responsibilities :

- Assist delivery of all agreed IT-related projects for that functional area, from Feasibility phase to completion

- In the Ideas phase, provide support to Business Engagement Managers in driving clarity of business requirements, high level design, cost and time estimates to facilitate the production of high quality charters

- Assist/Lead during Feasibility and Capability phases for the translation of business requirements into a functional specification and specific work packages for call-off from service design and service introduction functions

- Work in close partnership with the ES CoE to ensure on-time and on-budget execution of application changes for all key projects and programmes

- Work with Lead SME to ensure that the Project Delivery Process as defined in the GPM is adhered to

- Help build and retain level 1 SME capability and provide resource to deliver the functional IT Roadmap

- Support the Lead SME, Business Operations and Engagement Managers to undertake ES innovation projects

- Support the Application Landscape for the functional area, driving application convergence as required (Local - Regional - Global)

- Help ensure agreed changes are correctly integrated with solutions in other functional areas

- Help ensure Technical and Security standards established by S&T are implemented and adhered to during design and implementation

In short, the Manager SME FI is responsible for, in smaller projects, and assist Lead SME, in larger projects, all aspects of the IT business application design, design quality from Feasibility to Delivery, and timely delivery of affordable and sustainable IT business solutions - at acceptable risk to ongoing operations, and in line with the long-term plans for the evolution of our key IT landscapes.

The specific areas of focus and responsibility for this role are :

Business Processes :

Thought Leadership, solution design and delivery for:

Procure to Pay : Global Invoice Management

Order to Cash : Claims Management

Travel Expense : Global TES

Record to Report : Global Financial Result Generation (B/S), Journal Entries (e.g. Trintech)

- Building and maintaining strong relationship within ETS

Main Associated Technologies / Applications:

- SAP ERP

- IBM Application interfacing

- with SAP/Oracle Hyperion Planning (preferably PBCS) background.

Business Context and Main Purpose of the Job

Main Accountabilities :

- Work in and help develop and maintain a team of SMEs with appropriate levels of business analysis skills, IT technical expertise and project delivery experience

- Develop strong relationships with key stakeholders in Enterprise Solutions, Information Management and Analytics, Enterprise Computing, key business owners and with strategic suppliers and 3rd party IT service providers

- Work with key stakeholders to build and maintain a strong governance process for Innovation to ensure high quality project and programme delivery

- Support Business Engagement Managers and Lead SME in clarifying business requirements, developing appropriate high level designs, costs and time estimates for the production of high quality project Charters by the Business Engagement organisation.

- Help co-ordinate and manage business IT projects in the 8QRP including minor enhancements for area of responsibility in an effective and efficient manner, delivering the best possible business value.

- Help agree priority and own sequence of changes and linkage to specific releases; identify synergies between projects and change requests in similar process areas for more effective delivery.

- Help drive simplification to support the lowest possible TCO for each component in the systems landscape.

- Provide change impact assessment to drive scope of testing programme and improve quality and reduce risk/impact of change; ensure cross-functional design risks are identified and mitigated

- Understand and interpret IT strategic architecture, ensure all projects follow the principles, guidelines and standards set out by the CTO Organization

- Assist develop and maintain the roadmap for IT systems architecture change/refresh in line with destination architecture and aligned with business priorities for change projects and programmes

- Help develop, maintain and enforce detailed design guidelines describing how each component of the IT landscape will be used

- Help develop and review Quality-control business requirement documents (BRD- s) generated by business process owner, to ensure appropriate completeness and clarity to drive strong functional specifications

- Specify packages of work to be called-off from the individual service towers and other providers

- Create and maintain project work packages based on business requirements documents

- Agree project work packages with IT suppliers (external and internal) within agreed budgetary guidelines

- Develop functional specification and conceptual design (developed by IT Service provider for each project or change/group of changes )

- Participate in functional and technical design reviews (QA process) with strategic IT suppliers and/or other 3rd parties when/where appropriate

- Perform post go-live reviews to ensure IT design and process issues are captured for learning and future improvement.

- Deliver above responsibilities within an agreed financial charging structure and budget

Direct Reports Key Interfaces :

- Indirectly IT SMEs (subject matter experts)

- FI users and Stakeholders

- Other Enterprise Solutions Teams

- Other SME and Project Teams

- Global Solution Delivery Team

- Business Operations Team

- Business Engagement Team

- Information Management and Analytics

- Relevant ES IT teams

- Strategic IT Suppliers and their Unilever Management Teams

Critical success Factors for the Job :

KPIs Relevant Experience :

Solutions meet agreed business requirement as specified :

Post Project Reviews

- Project Delivered

- on time

- in budget

- Solutions delivered with no or low impact on existing system performance/operation

Stability of solution/incident levels :

- Solution harmonisation and adherence to best practice standards

- Proven experience in managing small to medium size projects and programmes

- Proven experience in managing and maintaining teams in a diverse and extended environment

- Appreciation of IT systems landscapes and impact of architecture decisions on quality and delivery

- Good financial awareness and understanding of TCO models

- Good knowledge of process area and IT solutions in area of responsibility (ideally with experience of having managed the relevant business process)

- Experience in the Application Development Life Cycle

Leadership Behaviours :

Should "meet expectations" on the Standards of Leadership behaviours relevant to the WL of this job. Description SOL behaviours :

Growth Mindset :

- Defines and deploys globally aligned strategies, driving competitive advantage

- Urges people to make use of global economies of scale, and best practices, to win local battles

- Aligns plans, SIA priorities, KPIs and resource allocations across organisational boundaries

- Communicates the strategy, and its implications, to inform and align Unilever leadership

- Role models behaviour aligned with the one-Unilever operating framework, and urges other leaders to do the same

- Puts broader Unilever goals before local or narrow interests

- Champions great ideas regardless of origin, rejecting the - not invented here- orientation

Bias for Action :

- Creates an environment that encourages teams to take managed risks and use mistakes as opportunities for learning

- Drives continuous improvement, work simplification, and the elimination of non-value-added work

- Makes timely decisions, balancing analysis with decisiveness

- Moves to action once a decision has been made and ensures unnecessary debate is avoided

- Spots and acts on opportunities to improve business performance in line with Unilever's strategic plans

Accountability & Responsibility :

Sets clear, challenging goals and expectations across organizational levels :

- Drives organizational accountability for delivering on goals, managing consequences for people who do not deliver

- Does what they have said they will do, consistently delivering on commitments

- Establishes an environment of uncompromising ethics and integrity

- Confronts tough organizational issues and makes difficult choices

- Orchestrates change initiatives that drive tangible Unilever success

- Encourages resilience and resourcefulness in the face of obstacles, adversity and/or major change

Build talent & teams :

- Builds an engaging and realistic vision of our future

- Celebrates team and organizational success, helping to create a winning mindset

- Builds - and encourages others to build - Unilever networks and relationships, enhancing collaboration and integration across boundaries

- Promotes and makes use of contributions from people with diverse ideas, perspectives, and backgrounds

- Presents a united front by actively championing team decisions throughout the organization

- Ensures that individual and team behavioural issues are openly addressed

- Hires and promotes the best leadership talent, ensuring a high quality talent pipeline

- Shapes roles and responsibilities to support Unilever's priorities, and appoints people with the capability to succeed and grow

- Promotes the recruitment, advancement and development of people with different backgrounds, gender and viewpoints

- Provides feedback, mentoring, and guidance to nurture key leadership talent

- Inspires and challenges others to stretch beyond what they think they can do

- Uses effective people management practices to retain key talent

- Develops successors to ensure availability of key individuals and skill-sets for Unilever

Skill Profile :

N/A : Not Applicable BA: Basic Appreciation WK: Working Knowledge FO: Fully Operational LE: Leading Edge

IT Skills as defined in the IT Skills Dictionary Level Comments :

- N/A BA WK FO LE

- Stakeholder Relationship Management

- Business Analysis

- Business Process Improvement

- Business Proposals

- Consultancy

- Project Management

- Business Continuity Planning

- Customer Services Techniques

- Product Evaluation & Selection

- Risk Management

- Programme Management

- Contract Negotiation

General Skills Level Comments :

N/A BA WK FO LE :

- BPC and financial forecasting knowledge

- General Unilever and cross functional knowledge

- Business & Financial acumen

- Interpersonal skills

- Problem solving and decision making

- Project and programme management

- People management and coaching

- Working with and leading diverse teams

Select only the skills that are relevant for this job and mark with an - X- the required level for each one of them.

Compass Non-Negotiables Level Comments :

N/A BA WK FO LE :

- Deliver superior products, design, branding and marketing

- Bigger, better, faster innovation

- Appeal to more consumers across needs and price point

- Lead market development

- Win with winning customers

- Be an execution powerhouse

- Lean, responsive and consumer led value chain

- Drive return on brand support

- Agile, cost competitive organisation

- Organisation and diverse talent pipeline

- Performance culture which respects our values

- Leverage operating framework for competitive advantage

Select only the Compass Non-Negotiables that are relevant for this job and mark with an - X- the required level for each one of them.

Others :

Additional accountability :

- Ability to inspire confidence in delivery

- Excellent understanding of IT applications (or information) technology and project delivery processes

- Awareness of core Financial and Managements reporting processes

- Effectively estimates costs, timescales and resource requirements for the successful delivery of the project(s) to agreed terms of reference.

- Ability to work effectively in complex matrix organisations involving outsourced operations

- Flexible and responsive to changing business and market conditions

Date of last Update (month/ year) : March 2014