Project Insight Advisor at Catholic Relief Services

Reports To: Deputy Regional Director for Operations, SARO

About CRS:

Catholic Relief Services carries out the commitment of the Bishops of the United States to assist the poor and vulnerable overseas. Our Catholic identity is at the heart of our mission and operations. We welcome as a part of our staff and as partners people of all faiths and secular traditions who share our values and our commitment to serving those in need.

Background:

CRS works across Southern Africa in 5 countries including Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe and has outreach activities in Angola, Mozambique and South Africa. The total annual program value for the current fiscal year is approximately $66 million. The country programs are recipients of funds from diverse donors both as prime and sub awardees.

About Project Insight:

Project Insight is CRS’ initiative to improve Finance, Human Resources and Supply Chain functions, including through a global rollout of Oracle technology. Improved processes will make CRS more efficient; using timely, accurate data for decisions will make CRS more effective. By equipping our staff with tools for better stewardship, Insight will help us to better meet the needs of those we serve. Malawi has been identified as a Release 1 country and will require focused attention and support; as will the challenging operating environments in most SARO countries. During the readiness phase it is equally important to work with all other SARO Country Programs (CPs) so that the entire region is ready for a successful launch.

Job Summary:

As a member of the Regional (Operations) Team, the Insight Advisor supports country programs and regional leadership to prepare for Project Insight. The Advisor functions as Insight Lead in SARO, and coordinates and liaises with SARO country and field offices while they undertake activities that concretely prepare their staff, processes and technology for Go-live and the subsequent adoption of Insight scheduled for October 2019. The Advisor ensures visibility into regional preparedness for Insight through the monitoring of surveys, an activity status dashboard, and other two-way communications (including, but not limited to: news flashes, knowledge aids, virtual and in-person visits, field visits, etc.). The Advisor works in a highly collaborative manner with other SARO regional staff involved in Insight readiness and rollout (i.e., DRD-Ops, RFO, TA SCM, RIM, etc.), HQ Insight staff and Country Program Project Insight team members, including Finance, HR and Supply Chain functions as well as IT and the Heads of Operations. The Advisor will further coordinate with the DRD-PQ and Head of Programs community to ensure the most holistic and collaborative approach to Project Insight preparations and deployment.

This position requires an independent, self- motivated, detail-oriented, service-oriented and analytical individual who can work with varying stakeholders. International travel up to 50% may be required in Southern Africa, Baltimore and other CRS offices around the world.

Specific Responsibilities:

General

• Manage all workstream tasks within the project workplan to make sure that all staff can deliver on technical, functional, and training deadlines, and that all readiness and roll-out activities are well coordinated.
• Be the primary point of contact between the regional office and the Insight Project Management Team
• Provide timely updates on project readiness/rollout status, challenges, and solutions to regional, CP and Insight teams.

Data Collection, Configuration, and System Preparation

• Review CP’s key operations, organization structures, processes, vision and business needs in order to recommend process improvements and design solutions and create an action plan to implement all needed activities before system go-live. Conduct STEP Up Activities for relevant Release 2 and Release 3 countries. Support CPs as they work through their action plans.
• Collect data on key local design elements and structure, as well as all relevant transactional documents.
• Provide inputs into policies, procedures, and guidelines, based on system needs and key organizational changes, to support system implementation.

Training and Hypercare Coordination

• Liaise between SARO, all relevant CP staff, and the Project Insight Project Management team to ensure common understanding of proposed system designs
• Organize onsite and remote training for the field staff in sync with the Insight Change Management team
• Leading up to formal trainings, organize and facilitate meetings, and presentations to sensitize, educate, and prepare staff for Insight
• Develop a training-of-trainers strategy to ensure that all Country Programs are sufficiently supported during go-live and hypercare.
• Manage trainers and hypercare staff for SARO to ensure quality training is consistently applied.
• Develop and maintain a strong working relationship with application end-users and management to continuously improve their user experience
• Provide ongoing support for the technical aspects of Insight
• Analyze project metrics to assess the effectiveness of change management efforts.
• Perform all other job duties as assigned

.