Project Support Officer

Job Purpose

The Project Support Officer (PSO) is responsible for supporting the delivery of projects, programmes or a portfolio, working closely with Project/Programme Managers and usually under the guidance of a Project Controller (PC).

Key aspects of the PSO role are to:

· Provide value-add to projects by driving quality and supporting delivery activities

Understand, challenge and track key project issues, risks, dependencies, changes and deliverables

· Manage the timely submission and quality of reporting

· Analyse, validate and present project data and management information

· Provide finance and resource management support and analysis

· Record meeting notes and track actions

Principal Responsibilities

Governance

· Give guidance and support to project teams on the company Delivery Framework processes, steps, documents and governance forums

· Assist Project Managers with preparation of material for governance forums

Controls

· Ensure that risks, assumptions, changes, issues and dependencies are being tracked and managed on a regular basis, challenging and escalating as appropriate

· Assist with the creation and updating of project/programme plans

· Record actions and decisions from key project/programme meetings, ensuring action owners and due dates are clearly communicated, pro-actively following up on progress and status

· Contribute to establishing and driving best practice

· Ensuring portfolio level standards and controls are adhered to

Reporting

· Give advice and guidance to Project Managers on project status report requirements, ensuring key Delivery Framework milestones are reported and performing quality assurance to ensure standards and deliverables are being met

· Collate steering/delivery board and other slide decks or presentations as required

Resource Management

· Maintain project organisation charts, contacts lists and holiday trackers

· Run reports from the in-house time recording system, reviewing and analysing data against resource and finance trackers to ensure that time is booked correctly

· Support Project Managers with resource forecasts and entry into resource management tool

· Assist with on-boarding of new project team members

Financial Management

· Support Project Managers with project finance trackers (budget vs actuals vs forecast), ensuring that month end processes and requirements are understood and carried out by due dates

· Review and validate contractor transfer charge data

· Raise purchase requisitions in Oracle iProcurement, in line with project budgets and track them through to purchase order creation

· Receipt purchase orders once goods/services have been received and before month end

· Assist with benefits reporting

Communication & Collaboration

· SharePoint site creation, administration and support

· Attend and participate in project/programme/portfolio team activities and meetings

· Understand who the project/programme stakeholders are and actively engage and communicate with them

· Provide input into project/programme communications

Document Management

· Define and agree document management processes, including use of SharePoint, naming conventions, version control and access controls

· Conduct quality assurance reviews to ensure adherence to process

General Support & Administration

· Assist with room bookings

· Organise and facilitate project/programme meetings

· Liaison with Facilities and IT

· Provide cover for other team members as appropriate

· Other ad hoc support activities as required

Required Qualifications/Experience

Essential:

· Intermediate MS Office skills (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Visio, Project, SharePoint)

· Working knowledge of project/programme management methodologies and ideally an industry recognised qualification, eg PRINCE2, P3O, APM

· Demonstrable experience of working in a PMO or supporting programmes/projects

· Experience of project management in a multi-disciplined and commercial environment

* · Good attention to detail and a concern for accuracy
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* · Proven strong communication skills (written and verbal)
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* · Excellent organisational skills
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* · Experience of managing stakeholder relationships
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* · Good knowledge of project delivery lifecycleHays Specialist Recruitment Limited acts as an employment agency for permanent recruitment and employment business for the supply of temporary workers. By applying for this job you accept the T&C's, Privacy Policy and Disclaimers which can be found at hays.co.uk