Dignity Health/Phoenix, AZ
Job Summary:
The goal of the Availability Management process is to ensure that the level of service availability delivered in all services is matched to, or exceeds, the current and future agreed needs of the business, in a cost effective manner. The availability management process will ensure the operational readiness and support for business critical applications.
The Availability Process Lead must understand the Availability requirements of the business and to plan, measure, monitor and look to continuously optimize and proactively improve the Availability of the IT Infrastructure, the services and the supporting organization. They will develop and lead activities designed to achieve IT Services Availability. Develop plans to reflecting the current and future needs of the business, and ensuring that Service Availability achievements meet or exceed all of their agreed targets. Ensure that proactive measures to improve the Availability of services are recommended and risk managed.
This role will be a single point of contact for Availability Management within the IT organization. Ensure that levels of Availability required are agreed, measured and monitored to fully support Service Level Management. Availability is planned, measured, and improved across the end-to-end IT Service operation enabling efficient, effective, and cost justifiable decision making between IT and the Business. Provide improvements for Availability shortfalls. Recognize and ensure that appropriate corrective actions are identified and managed. Champion the transition of IT organizationâ??s mindset from error correction to service enhancement, from just reactive to both reactive and proactive.
Assist with and be responsible for Process design recommendations. Document and publicize the process. Define appropriate policies and standards to be employed throughout the process
Define Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of the process and design reporting specifications. Ensure that quality reports are produced, distributed, and utilized. Review KPIs and take action required following the analysis
Address any issues with the running of the process. Review opportunities for process enhancements and for improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the process. Ensure process, roles, responsibilities and procedures are followed.
Ensure that all existing services deliver the levels of availability agreed within the business in SLAs. Ensure that all new IT Services are designed to deliver the levels of availability required by the business and validation of the final design to meet the minimum levels of availability as agreed by the Business for IT Services. Assist with the investigation and diagnosis of all Incidents and Problems which cause Availability issues or unavailability of IT Services or components. Participate in the IT Infrastructure design, including the specification of the Availability requirements for hardware and software. Participate in developing requirements for new or enhanced Event Management Systems for automatic monitoring of IT component Availability. Specify reliability, maintainability and serviceability requirements for components supplied by internal and external suppliers.
Monitor the actual IT Availability achieved against SLA targets. Provide a range of IT Availability reporting to ensure that agreed levels of availability, reliability and maintainability are measured and monitored on an ongoing basis. Proactively improve Service Availability wherever possible and optimize the Availability of the IT infrastructure to deliver cost effective improvements that deliver tangible benefits to the business. Create, maintain and regularly review a forward looking Availability Plan aimed at improving the overall Availability of IT Services and infrastructure components to ensure that existing and future business Availability requirements can be met
Ensure that the Availability Management process and its associated techniques and methods are regularly reviewed and audited and that all of these are subjected to continual improvement and remain fit for purpose.
Create Availability and Recovery design criteria to be applied to new or enhanced infrastructure design. Work with Financial Management to ensure that the levels of IT Availability required are cost justified. Maintain and complete an Availability testing schedule for all Availability mechanisms. Ensure that all Availability tests and plans are tested after every business change
Assist Security and IT Service Continuity Management with the assessment and Management of Risk. Attend Change Advisory Board (CAB) meetings when appropriate and provide impact assessment of RFCs in cooperation with the Availability Management Process Analysts with regards to Availability. Establish the Availability Management Process Manager and Availability Management Process Analysts as the central and accepted point of contact for availability issues. Initiate appropriate action to ensure that all parties involved are familiar with and follow the process, including external suppliers (contractors and vendors). Coach the Availability Management Analysts in the correct use of the process. Ensure and promote the (correct) use of the Availability Management process.
The incumbent will be responsible for the identification and documentation of application and infrastructure that supports critical business services. This role will ensure the end to end service delivery for identified services and the identification of all issues and the closure of all resulting resolution activities. This person will be responsible for identifying and reporting all performance issues, and ensuring resolution is activated. They will work closely with the Event, Major Incident Team, Change Management, and Release Management, as well as the Business. The Availability Lead will be responsible for identifying services and supporting infrastructure, data gathering, interpretation and reporting of all service availability information in production in accordance with Availability Management Policies and Procedures. In addition, the lead must assist with the definition and quality criteria to be used in the quality assurance process and the gating criteria that will be used for monitoring business critical services/applications in Production Control as they relate to Availability.
The Availability Lead will be overseeing and leading matrix teams consisting of: senior team leads, senior analysts and coordinators. The lead will also have input into contractual tasks where details of availability are required. This role will be required to orchestrate the functions across the organization and provide matrix leadership to application groups as well as service delivery managers to help support activities around the service portfolio. This will require interfacing on a regular basis with well over 50 people actively as well as external suppliers.
Will ensure all regulatory and compliance requirements are integrated properly in the process models and service delivery models. Will identify and report risk. Facilitate discussion on how to improve service delivery and document recommendations.
In addition to being accountable to direct line Management, the Availability Lead for Production Control will directly interface with internal and external technology teams at the Manager and Director levels. This requires that the lead in addition to leadership skills, be technically competent in one or more of health care technology pillars (infrastructure, applications, network, etc.) and capable and willing to learn in depth about Dignity Healthâ??s IT architecture; must be able to provide root cause analysis guidance to their staff and the organization.
Leadership Responsibilities:
* Consults with IT support teams on new systems.
* Consults with Application Development and Support Teams
* Leads and ensures quality delivery of IT Services Availability
* Oversees changes to the production environment.
* Identifies and works with various requestors to resolve potential conflicts.
* Communicates status of operations to allow for immediate response to service disruptions.
* Monitors multi-platform operations within the production environment, interpreting alert issues and resolving or coordinating resolution to more complex production, application and system problems to ensure that the Command Center service commitments are met.
* Identifies production problem patterns and relationships and resolves issues to avoid impacts to system performance.
* Analyzes work flows and procedures, recommends and implements changes to the production environment.
* Audits and assures all processing procedures and documentation within technology are maintained concerning Availability of IT Service Delivery.
* Responds to customer inquiries, documents, resolve and close issues.
* Direct response to any availability issues
* Provide work direction for all matrix team members
* Provides external communications with senior leadership during service availability incident management (paging, email, phone)
* Provide guidance and direction to less experienced staff in resolution of escalated issues and/or complex production, system problems.
* Assist in coordinating training and development of support staff.
Available to work irregular work hours as necessary including weekends, holidays, evenings and nights
Reporting Relationship:
* Report to the Senior Director, Production Control
Specifications:
Experience
Minimum Required:
* 5+ years in application development and or support
* 5+ yearsâ?? experience in program or project management
* 5+ years of experience working hands-on with all aspects of the SDLC
* 5+ years of experience working with multiple cross-functional teams in a highly collaborative environment.
* Strong process-oriented and analytical skills
* Strong written and oral communications skills
* Familiar with ITIL/COBIT/PCI/PHI/HIPAA
* Experience with Service Management tools
* Leadership experience in team delivery of program objectives
Preferred/Desired:
Education
Minimum Required:
* Bachelorâ??s Degree in business or science or another related field (s) of study such as Management Information Systems, or equivalent IT professional certifications in: ITIL, COBIT or other related certifications.
Preferred/Desired:
* Masterâ??s Degree in business or science or another related field (s) of study such as Management Information Systems, or equivalent IT professional certifications in: ITIL, COBIT or other related certifications. SDLC Certification
Special Knowledge, Skills, Abilities
Experience with ITIL with focus on Availability Management
Ability to navigate complex corporate processes
Understanding of IT-specific project practices including SDLC.
Ability to adapt to shifting priorities, demands, and tight timelines through analytical and problem-solving capabilities.
Experience with managing to a project methodology.
Advanced interpersonal, written and oral communication skills.
Experience in developing and deploying project best practices, policies, procedures, and processes.
Demonstrated vision in problem solving.
Advanced knowledge of Microsoft Project
Intermediate knowledge/skill in SharePoint
Advanced ability in MS Excel, MS Visio, MS Word, MS PowerPoint
Understands that quality means "fit for use" AND suitability to need
Ability to manage to a solution and not just a checklist
Understanding of how managed projects align with strategic vision
Strong knowledge of software applications and utilities, operating systems, telecommunication protocols, job scheduling packages, scripting and macro languages.
Strong knowledge of various operating systems across platforms and associated software applications (Mainframe Z/OS, HP, UNIX, Linux, Windows, BMC Patrol, Remedy, IBM Tivoli Network Manager, CA Wily Introscope, Fluke Visual Performance, Database Administration: MS SQL, Oracle, DB2,Data warehouse technologies, Backup and Storage Technologies, etc.). and/or strong knowledge of Network equipment and Network management tools, including but not limited to: (Router, switches, IOS, ITNM, Net cool). Network certificates are preferred.
Ensure Monitoring Service Maps are accurately maintained, well-tuned, and integrated.
Drive for results through proactive and predictive measures.
Accountable for system availability, service delivery, service restoration in a high volume and complex technical environment.
Maintain current knowledge of industry trends/ Environmental Changes and potential impact on the Command Center.
Work effectively in cross-functional teams at different technical skill levels and with other cultures.
Takes initiative for continuous improvement, supports and champions change.
Strong written and verbal communication skills. Ability to write clear instructions and communicate effectively.
Strong knowledge of documentation processes/procedures.
Strong ability to understand client expectations and to proactively resolve issues that impact the business.
Strong ability for self-development while mentoring, coaching and training lower level computer operators.
Self-starter, with a demonstrated ability to learn beyond formal training with a strong aptitude for delivering quality products.
Demonstrated interpersonal, business management, leadership and customer service skills including consensus building and facilitation skills.
Focal point for all operational readiness and support of all shift related activities.
Review changes and responding to health checks while actively monitoring all systems.
Excellent analytical, risk mitigation, negotiation and vendor relationship skills. Intermediate experience with event management concepts and tools preferred.
Thorough understanding of ITIL practices and philosophy.
Healthcare/Financial Industry experience
Process improvement background/experience desired (ex: Six Sigma, Lean etc)
Prior QA management experiences
About Dignity Health
Dignity Health, one of the nationâ??s five largest health care systems, is a 21-state network of nearly 9,000 physicians, 55,000 employees, and more than 380 care centers, including hospitals, urgent and occupational care, imaging centers, home health, and primary care clinics. Headquartered in San Francisco, Dignity Health is dedicated to providing compassionate, high-quality and affordable patient-centered care with special attention to the poor and underserved. In 2013, Dignity Health provided nearly $1.7 billion in charitable care and services. For more information, please visit our website at www.dignityhealth.org. You can also follow us on Twitter and Facebook.
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