SAP Business Analyst (Local to Chicago)

Sonoma Consulting is one of the fastest growing national IT Consulting and Executive Search company in the United States, which was founded in 2011 by Mark McGee, the President and CEO. Sonoma Consulting has two business divisions - IT Consulting Services & Executive Search to serve its 150 national clients which range from entrepreneurial start-ups to Global Fortune 500.

Job Description:

Position Summary:

The Senior Business Analyst is responsible for bringing new system-enabled business capabilities. Additionally, this role will ensure the support of the systems which support those business capabilities by working within a matrixed organization to deliver results. This position may also include duties such as project management, work group supervision, recommending business process improvements and status reporting.

People or Process Management Responsibility: Normally receives little instruction on day-to-day work and general instructions on new assignments. This role may be called upon to perform some leadership responsibilities in supervising a team of internal or contract resources, including prioritizing assignments & tasks, mentoring, coaching, and contributing to goals-setting for some team members.

Position Responsibilities may include, but not limited to:

• Act as primary SAP Subject Matter Expert in several business functions such as (but not all-inclusive of) Production Planning, Plant Maintenance, MRP, Transportation Management, Inventory Management, etc. 

 • Develop, maintain and continuously progress in knowledge of business functions. 

• Lead the analysis and design of system solutions, providing assistance and direction to development teams, leveraging a standard SDLC model from Concept, Analysis/Requirements through Development, QA, Implementation, Decommission. 

• Analyze impact of proposed solution across the business, develop use cases to explain/demonstrate business requirements/specifications to IT team, and contribute a business or process perspective during design reviews. 

• Understand and fully utilize ITIL-type methodology for responding to functional and technical issues, from incident management, assist in technical investigation to identify root causes, creating plans and mitigation for user processes. 

• Provide stewardship across organizations of second and third level 24 by 7 support for problem resolution. 

• Ensure the development user documentation. 

• Lead the alignment and delivery of major & minor projects. 

• Serve as liaison between internal IT organizations, vendors and technical groups to resolve complex issues & deliver projects. 

• Perform system configuration and data manipulation as needed. 

• Routine review of application controls and security components. 

• Build test plans and perform system testing, work with users and project development teams during the design, construction, testing and implementation of modifications to systems. 

• Ensure the support activities are met in the project framework and delivery.

• Proactively work to resolve issues and manage scope, escalate when necessary. 

• Manage team resources and coordinate activities within and across teams as needed. 

• Deliver a quality product for each project or phase on time and within budget. 

• Communicate status reporting within to respective stakeholders. 

 • Manage project issues, risks and plan deviations. 

 • Adhere to our IT processes (SDLC, Architecture, Change Management) throughout the project lifecycle. • Meet weekly with project teams and business sponsors to discuss project status. 

• Document and track action items. 

• Complete weekly status reports including milestone plan updates and budget updates. 

• Create an overall Test Strategy to identify the required phases and levels of testing to address project risks and ensure effective coverage. 

 • Communicate system and procedural changes to user through excellent written and oral communication. 

• Ensure change control, access control, and landscape management processes are followed. 

• Provide education and training to advance the ability of our user community. 

• Communicate and reinforce standard business process concepts and methodology. 

• Recommend system or process enhancements. • Establish and maintain relationships with key business area users. • Demonstrate self-confidence while showing respect and support to others. 

• Some travel may be required. • Other duties as assigned.

Required Skills and Experience: 

• Four-year Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering, Computer Science, or a BS/BA in Management Information Systems/Science, or equivalent on-the-job experience

 • 5-7 years’ experience working in a business analysis role, preferably for a multi-location or 24x7 distribution company 

• Expert knowledge of SAP (or other ERP equivalent) business processes; capability to effectively work with and in the business automating and streamlining business processes 

• Experience working in a decentralized environment with extensive manufacturing systems experience. • Familiarity with SAP (or other ERP equivalent) modules FI/CO, APO, PM, PE 

• Strong ability to work independently and be self-driven as it relates to workload, problem-solving and trouble-shooting 

• Expert proficiency in gathering business requirements, process flows and use cases

 • Experience with modeling and mapping as-is and to-be business processes 

• Excellent verbal and written communication skills

 • Expert in Microsoft Office 

• May require off-hours support; ability to be on a rotation 24x7 on-call scheduled is required 

• Ability to travel up to 25% 

• This position must pass a post-offer background and drug test Preferred Skills and Experience: • Experience with Microsoft Project or like project management tool

Titles: SAP Business Analyst, Senior SAP Business Analyst, SAP Consultant, SAP Functional Analyst, SAP Project Manager/ Business Analyst, SAP PM/BA

Skills : SAP AND ERP AND FICO AND APO AND SAP (or other ERP equivalent) modules FI/CO, APO, PM, PE