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Job Summary

The purpose of this role is to have a dedicated resource with the right skills and knowledge to manage projects in line with the corporate strategy. Ensuring projects are delivered in accordance with a Product Development Lifecycle (PDLC) Framework that enables effective Change delivery based on a methodology that is suitable for Agile & Waterfall, flexible controls, based on product scope definition and changes.

Ensure compliance with relevant systems and controls
Ensure that all activities and responsibilities are carried out in full compliance with regulatory requirements, the Enterprise Risk Management System and Absa’s internal policies and procedures.
Understand and manage risks and risk events (incidents) associated with the role.
Responsible for coordinating with the business to ensure changes are consistent with business procedures and process guidelines
Responsible for the production and maintenance of plans.
Conduct assessments against the project management system & develop a plan to address project risks and gaps
Drive change initiatives
Responsible for maintaining workflow, budget and planning standards.
Responsible for working with the business to define its requirements to achieve its strategic objectives, including the development or support in the development of Stage 1 and Stage 2 business cases for related projects.
Job Description

Key Responsibilities and Approximate Timeline

PROJECT CONTROL, RISK MANAGEMENT AND MANAGEMENT

Risk and Issue Tracking, Provide a summary of work flow dependencies

Weight 15%

Ensures projects are managed and controlled in accordance with the Absa Product Development Life Cycle (PDLC) framework.
Ensure appropriate impacts and likelihood scores are assigned to each Risk and Issue within the project and a clearly defined risk culture for change is embedded.
Identify, manage and ensure risk remediation and all operational issues. Report to appropriate oversight and governance committees. Ensure defined and recommend risk change remediation for appropriate approval. Monitor and report throughout the project lifecycle
Ensure that CRAIDs (Constraints, Risks, Considerations, Issues and Expectations) are clearly defined and discussed at relevant meetings. Ensure that related mitigation measures are identified and properly monitored
Responsible for Project/Program Change Management.
Responsible for monitoring activities and ensuring adherence to Program standards and procedures.
Drive projects through 1st line assurance (compliance, health checks, quality checks)
Ensure proper alignment with Operational Risks, Compliance and Project policies
Responsible for Board and Regulatory approvals

PROJECT FINANCIAL ASSESSMENT

Track and report overall project budget and associated costs.

Weightage 10%

Ownership and accountability for the entire project/program budget
Responsible for knowing what is in fact and who is processing costs according to their project principles
Basic knowledge of SAP, WBS, IN numbers and system/process related to financial costs to effectively manage project/program finances.
Proficient knowledge in project tools related to cost tracking and budget management. e.g. Planex
Management of purchase orders, overseas costs, FOO signing, timely receipt of goods, work report and payments. With minimal escalation from vendors and other stakeholders
Ensure timely preparation of business cases and timely submission to Change
Authorization Meeting (CAM) for release of funds.
Report financial issues as soon as they are identified rather than when budget is finalized
Project spend forecast to address any budget or overage issues at year end
Access funding in the event that financial issues cannot be resolved at project level
Additional information and related invoices will be obtained and provided to the finance team as per agreed standard
Ensure that Benefit Recognition is fully managed throughout the project life cycle and post project until completion of the benefit review process.
Report to project/program Executives on financial status on a monthly basis
Basic knowledge of Defense Pricing guidelines
e development or assistance in the development of Stage 1 and Stage 2 of the BRD
Validate requirements by cross-referencing them with business stakeholders. Ensuring a consensus against the requirements before the actual start of building or developing the solution.
Ensure the BRD is analyzed and clearly interprets requirements for tech viability against the business objectives in order to develop the expected solution with zero /minimal defects. Ensure it is carter for the original business problem
Recommend workarounds, value additions and remove solution bottlenecks for the stakeholders.
Document requirements to support business in design of use cases, functional and requirement specification documents. Categorize requirements as functional (contains the features required by the end-users), non-functional (requirements for the
performance and usability of the project) operational (operations that are carried out in the background) and technical and accordingly segregate them in different types of documents
Gain requirements sign-off from the key stakeholders by making sure all of them are on the same level of understanding against the requirements and the proposed solution.

PROJECT DEFINITION, PLANNING AND IMPLEMENTATION

Define, scope and plan project as per agreed budget & Time.

Agree project structure & deliverables according to the Absa Change framework.

Manage and track progress through Information Management by developing presentation, decks accurately and timely

Weighting: 50%

Ensures that Projects/programme are aligned to overall company Strategic Objectives
Participate on defining the Business problem and the identified solution in order to ensure an agreed scope, budget and Time is clearly defined and approved
Produce reports to the Product Director, Account Executive, Sponsor, Steerco and Business Committee to highlight the status of the project in terms of milestones, key achievements and key risks
Prepare project forums as per required standards including Working Groups (WG) Team meetings and Steerco. Ensure approved meeting Frame work and Terms of Reference are in place at the initiation stage
Take and distribute minutes from the design authority forum on an agreed frequency
Take and distribute minutes from the Steerco and Business Committees at the end of each stage
Responsible for assessing the impacts of new changes against the existing planning portfolio
File Master Project documentation- project folders should be up to date and accessible at a project level. Ensure that documents saved have used the correct naming conventions and version control
Maintain and update the project library regularly and ensure all documentation is accurately organized
Prepare the quality project Plan in line with Prince 2 Methodology/PMP by using the Microsoft project
Responsible for consolidation / coordination of all in-country project activities and issuing reports to key stakeholders and all staff involved.
Responsible for reporting deviation in cost and time against the established project baseline.
Responsible for the adherence and definition where required of best practice change standards, tools and processes to optimize the delivery of governance of change. Responsible for production of program level plans run locally.

PEOPLE CHANGE MANAGEMENT

Design Projects communication and training plans effectively.

Identify knowledge and skills gap timely and proactively address them with a clear mitigating plan

Weighting: 10%

Establishing effective project communication plans and ensuring their execution.
Plan for training and knowledge embedment’s of the projects deliverables
Identification of knowledge gaps and missing skills of the implementation solution / product by proactively collaborating with the SMEs and Product Owners. Address and gap and arrange effective trainings
Coordinating with cross discipline team members to make sure that all parties are on track with the projects milestones
Assisting business with tracking people related benefits from beginning to end of the change
Meeting with project team members to identify and resolve issues.
Preparing status reports by gathering, analyzing and summarizing relevant information.

PROJECT MANAGEMENT OFFICE

Weighting: 5%

Ensure Office equipment and facilities are available and in good working order
Ensure that the roll-on and -off procedures for staff are adhered to
Communicate to the team on relevant topics
General administration for the project
Well managed project office with easily accessible information
Joint responsibility for the smooth running of the Program Office in terms of maintenance of office records, servicing of equipment and machines, snap checks and mandatory security checks

Risk and Control Objectives

Ensure that all activities and duties are carried out in full compliance with regulatory requirements, Absa Operational Risk Framework and internal Absa Policies and Standard
Understanding of own role in the end to end processes in which you play a part, including applicable risks and controls.
Adhere to Absa’s policies and procedures applicable to own role, demonstrating sound judgment and responsible risk management.
Report all risk events / incidents / issues using the defined process for your business area and help to understand why these happened and how to prevent them in the future.
Proactively look for ways to improve the control environment by considering what could go wrong in the processes you operate and how errors could be prevented.
Continuous and proactive engagement with regulatory bodies, unions where applicable
All mandatory training completed by deadline

Project Portfolio Manager at ABSA Bank

Technical skills / Competencies

A learning mind-set to rapidly assimilate complex business issues and quickly solve problems in a structured manner or pre-empting issues that may arise where there is limited precedence.
Effective negotiating skills to secure both internal and external resources and deal with external service providers.
Able to adopt and/or coach the use of a variety of methods to keep projects on schedule and within budget
PRINCE2/PMP Foundation level accreditation
Quality, high standards and controls
Drive for results
Service Excellence
Good understanding of project governance processes
Understanding of project management principles
Accuracy
Problem Solving skill
Technological understanding (tools – Microsoft Project Plan, Planex etc)
Time Management
Communication skills
Stakeholder management
Problem Solving
Analytical
Knowledge, Expertise and Experience

Essential

Expert knowledge of the Absa Product Development Life Cycle (PDLC) framework, governance and other change policies
Project management experience
Some experience of managing activity across the whole of a project lifecycle, using current technology, structured methods and a quality process
Exposure to governance, control and risk management
Proven ability to effectively work across teams
Preferred

Knowledge and application of project/programs management and systems development techniques e.g.PRINCE2, MSP/PMP will be an added advantage,
Practical experience of appropriate change/program management software.
Knowledge of the Bank’s policies, standards, procedures covering premises, equipment, security procedures/controls and snap checks.
Ability to effectively work across teams
Absa Values

Absa’s Values and Behaviors represent the set of standards which govern the actions of all of us who work for the bank and against which the performance of each one of us in Absa are being assessed and rewarded: