SAP Operations Business Analyst

About the Role

SAP Operations Business Analyst
Remote - UK
Contract,12 months, inside IR35 with strong indication of extension or perm opportunity
37.5h, 4-day working week Monday to Thursday

The SAP Operations Business Analyst is responsible for the functional support, development and continuous improvement of SAP capabilities across the organisation’s logistics and manufacturing processes.

The role provides functional expertise across the operational SAP landscape, with particular focus on Materials Management (MM), Production Planning (PP) and Quality Management (QM), together with their integration into wider logistics, finance, project and supply-chain processes.

Acting as a key interface between operational stakeholders and the SAP delivery organisation, the role translates business requirements into effective, secure and sustainable SAP solutions. The role supports the complete solution lifecycle from process analysis and functional design through configuration, testing, deployment, production support and continuous improvement.

The role will promote effective use of standard SAP capability, process consistency and appropriate simplification while ensuring solutions meet the operational, security and governance requirements of a UK sovereign defence environment.

Key Responsibilities

* Provide SAP functional expertise across Materials Management (MM), Production Planning (PP) and Quality Management (QM).
* Analyse end-to-end procurement, inventory, material planning, production and quality processes; identify issues, opportunities and future-state requirements.
* Translate business requirements into SAP solutions, functional specifications and sustainable designs suitable for complex engineering, manufacturing and defence environments.
* Support MM processes including material master data, purchasing, purchase orders, goods movements, inventory management, stock control, traceability and related integrations.
* Work with procurement, supply chain, warehouse and finance teams to resolve process, data and control issues.
* Support PP processes including MRP, bills of material, routings, work centres, production orders and manufacturing execution.
* Improve planning accuracy, production visibility, scheduling, material availability and operational efficiency.
* Analyse dependencies between production, procurement, inventory, engineering and project requirements.
* Support QM processes including inspection planning, inspection lots, results recording, usage decisions, quality notifications and associated master data.
* Ensure quality processes support product assurance, traceability, reporting and compliance requirements.
* Manage integration between MM, PP and QM and with Finance, Controlling, Project Systems, Sales and external interfaces.
* Assess end-to-end business impacts of proposed changes and ensure master-data requirements are considered.
* Collaborate with business analysts, developers, integration specialists and Basis teams to deliver effective solutions.
* Configure SAP Operations functionality in line with agreed architecture, governance and design standards.
* Produce functional specifications for developments, interfaces, reports, forms, workflows and enhancements.
* Define acceptance criteria; develop and support system, integration and user acceptance testing.
* Support cutover, deployment, transition into service and post-implementation activities.
* Maintain process, design and configuration documentation.
* Provide support for complex production incidents, perform root-cause analysis and implement sustainable corrective actions.
* Drive improvements in usability, efficiency, data quality, operational control and the SAP logistics/manufacturing roadmap, including S/4HANA adoption.
* Ensure compliance with security, audit, segregation-of-duties, change-management and governance requirements within a secure UK sovereign defence environment.

Required Skills, Qualifications and Experience

* Strong experience as an SAP Functional Consultant, Business Analyst or equivalent within logistics, supply chain or manufacturing.
* Strong functional knowledge of SAP Materials Management (MM), Production Planning (PP) and/or Quality Management (QM), with broad understanding across the Operations domain.
* Experience with SAP ECC and/or S/4HANA logistics and manufacturing functionality.
* Good understanding of end-to-end procurement, inventory, planning, manufacturing and quality processes.
* Experience of SAP functional configuration and solution design.
* Ability to translate complex operational requirements into effective SAP solutions.
* Understanding of integration between MM, PP and QM and related SAP functional areas.
* Experience producing functional specifications and supporting SAP technical delivery.
* Experience of functional, integration and user acceptance testing.
* Experience supporting business-critical SAP solutions in a production environment.

Strong stakeholder-management, workshop-facilitation and business-analysis capability.

Key Performance Indicators

* Quality, supportability and business fit of functional solutions.
* Successful delivery of changes against agreed operational requirements.
* Stability and effectiveness of logistics and manufacturing processes.
* Reduction in recurring functional incidents and process issues.
* Improvement in process consistency, data quality and operational efficiency.
* Quality of functional specifications, configuration documentation and test artefacts.
* Stakeholder satisfaction and effectiveness of cross-functional engagement.
* Compliance with architecture, security, audit and change-management standards.

Desirable / Preferred Experience

* SAP S/4HANA implementation, migration or transformation experience.
* Experience across more than one of MM, PP and QM.
* Experience within engineering, manufacturing, aerospace, defence or another highly regulated environment.
* Knowledge of SAP Fiori applications supporting logistics and manufacturing processes.
* Experience with complex material traceability, quality or regulated supply-chain requirements.
* Understanding of integration with SAP Project Systems, Controlling, Sales and Finance.
* Knowledge of clean-core principles and approaches to minimising unnecessary custom development.
* Exposure to SAP workflow, reporting, forms and interface technologies.