IT Business Planning Manager

Role: Manager, IT Business Planning
Duration: 5 months
Location: Tallahassee, FL

 
Background: As a result of the Department's efforts to re-engineer and modernize core financial systems, there has been over 1,500 computing assets identified as performing some level of financial planning, analysis, and management functionality that are impacted by the State of Florida's accounting system. The Florida Planning, Accounting, and Ledger Management (PALM) project is a multiyear endeavor to replace the State of Florida's accounting and cash management systems with a modern financial management solution. The Florida PALM Project is targeted to replace Central, Payroll, and Departmental FLAIR functionality, with a go-live scheduled for January 6, 2026.
 
The 1,500+ computing assets are comprised of interfaces, enterprise applications, databases, automated processes, and reporting programs within FDOT that will require remediation due to:

• Adoption of the Florida PALM Standardized Business Process Model
• Transition to the Florida PALM Chart of Accounts values
• Replacement of Central, Payroll and Departmental FLAIR functionality
• Redevelopment of agency incoming and outgoing interfaces to the statewide accounting system
• Implementation of Information Warehouse data to support agency specific reporting requirements.

 
The computing asset modifications to complete the FDOT PALM System Transition (FPST) will take place over the course of the next two years in alignment with the Florida PALM Project scheduled timeline.
The IT Business Planning Manager will be responsible for ensuring that the planned, remediated technology environment is in alignment with the goals and business plans of the Office of the Comptroller (OOC) and the Office of Information Technology (OIT) at the Florida Department of Transportation.  In the first several months, they will meet with the leadership team to understand the goals and objectives that drive the business strategy for each area.  They will need to understand how current technology supports and facilitates accomplishment of those goals and objectives.  They will then review the impact of Florida PALM on the current technology environment and assess potential risks to current business goals and objectives.
The IT Business Planning Manager will review the Florida PALM System Transition project operational work plan and make recommendations for refining of the plan to ensure maximum efficiency through the remediation process.  They will develop a plan for monitoring and auditing the performance of the project.  They will also support the execution of the remediation plan by working with management to refine the plan when unforeseen risks and issues hamper the execution of the plan.
 
Education
Bachelor's Degree in a field of study related to technology or finance. Work experience can substitute on a year for year basis for the degree.
 
Experience
Candidate must have a minimum of seven years' experience in Information Technology working in a broad range of technical environments, with at least two years’ experience supporting financial applications.  
 
Primary Job Duties/ Tasks
The submitted candidate must be able to perform the following duties and/or tasks. Duties of the selected candidate will include, but not be limited to:

• Gather the goals and objectives related to the IT business strategy for the Department of Transportation and help document them as requirements for the Florida PALM project.
• Support project managers and business analyst performing gap analysis between current FLAIR financial processes and future state PALM functionality.  
• Support the PALM remediation plan by assisting in the process of on-boarding dedicated project resources.
• Develop a detailed on-boarding plan for newly acquired resources with the goal of facilitating seamless integration of new resources into the project team.
• Provide orientation for newly acquired project resources on FDOT agency coding standards and best practices, internet use and cyber security best practices, and PC and application support procedures.
• Act as a liaison between dedicated PALM contractor resources and other FDOT departments.
• Ensure PALM project work assignments align with the goals and objectives outlined in the Florida PALM system transition operational workplan.
• Support management in the monitoring of the completion status of assigned project tasks.
• Review strategic and operational efforts towards remediation of PALM assets to identify and implement efficiencies across the project.
• Support the creation of regular project status reports including, but not limited to, bimonthly status reports to the PALM executive steering committee, and reports required to maintained compliance with section 60GG of the Florida administrative code.
• Monitor progress toward project milestones raising concerns to agency leadership.
• Create and maintain a log easily accessible by the project team of major project decisions, risks, assumptions, and issues and provide regular updates to project leadership.
• Support project managers in the creation of agendas for status meetings and the documentation of meeting notes and key project decisions.
• Support change management and communication plans aiding the facilitation of project communication across all offices within FDOT.
• Monitoring communication from the Department of Financial Services related to the Florida PALM project sharing out critical communications to key agency stakeholders.
• Maintain PALM documentation in the Azure Dev Ops repository.
• Drawing from past experience and expertise, provide a plan to leadership for how to leverage new PALM technology to implement future process improvements and efficiency gains post go-live.

 
Job Specific Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSAs)

• Past experience working in information technology with solid knowledge of current information technology trends and best practices.
• Experience understanding business strategy and leading work to align technology with that business strategy.
• Familiarity with project management concepts such as project plans, project charters, work break-down structures, gap analysis, communication plans, and change management plans.
• Experience with project management tools such as Microsoft project, Azure DevOps, Monday.com, or Clarity.
• Experience developing IT strategy related to financial applications such as Enterprise Resource Planning systems (ERP) or Financial Management Systems (FMS).
• Demonstrated ability to promote collaboration across teams promoting progress toward shared goals and objectives.
• A biased for action, relentless about driving and owning goals and motivation for the responsibility of delivering the most crucial capabilities for project success.
• Knowledge of agile management methodologies.
• Knowledge of the state of Florida administrative code particularly articles and legislation related to IT project management and service delivery.
• A demonstrated track record of excellent communication and organizational skills.

 
Preferred KSAs:

• Experience with an extremely diverse IT environment leveraging mainframe, on premise web based, and cloud-based applications.
• Knowledge of the state of Florida procurement processes and the My Florida Marketplace system.
• Experience with IT helpdesk policies and procedures related to the on-boarding of new staff including AD account creation, Office 365 application license provisioning, and device assignment.  
• Knowledge of cyber security and internet use best practices.