Funding Services Helpdesk Advisor

UK Research and Innovation

Salary: £25,702
Hours:Full time
Contract Type: Open Ended
Location:Polaris House, Swindon, Wiltshire
Closing date: Thursday 13th April 2023

The Funding Service (TFS) helpdesk is a small dynamic team working within UKRI funding services. We support the research councils to deliver grants administration services.

The role requires the individual to provide a high level of first line support to users of the new UKRI digital Funding Service (TFS) platform including universities and research organisations. It involves dealing with enquiries on the phone and by email in relation to technical support for Opportunities run on the Funding Service as well as providing guidance on eligibility or remit questions. TFS is part of the Simpler and Better Funding (SBF) programme and aims to make the experience of the end-to-end application process for UKRI funding as streamlined, harmonised and supportive as possible.

The team will liaise and work closely with the SBF programme and UKRI funding services teams as well as the UKRI research councils to ensure that queries are resolved in a pro-active and timely manner.

Additionally, the role will include reviewing research council Opportunity guidance documents, onboarding university and research organisation administrators to TFS, as well as supporting the SBF Programme with any adhoc activities. All work must be managed in line with UKRI guidelines and service level agreements (SLA’s) which enable UKRI funding services to meet overall targets and objectives.

Activities will depend upon the area that the job holder occupies as agreed with line management, and the role will be supplemented by SMART objectives.

Depending upon the volumes and business requirements staff can be redeployed to ensure business continuity and performances are met.

Responsibilities

• Customer Service
  • Take ownerships of incoming phone calls and emails using the customer relationship management system,
  • Resolve complex customer issues in line with policies, procedures, standard operating procedures (SOPs) or business rules.
  • Provide clear and concise responses to questions, enquiries or associated activities, as well as being able to explain the rationale for UKRI policies.
  • Manage customer expectations by keeping customers informed of outstanding issues.
  • Administrative tasks to support the Simpler and Better Funding (SBF) programme.
    
• Teamwork / Leadership
  • Build and maintain positive working relationships with colleagues.
  • Provide support and adequate cover within the immediate team and to other areas where necessary.
  • Train in other disciplines to enhance flexible working.
  • Provide training to others where appropriate.
    
• Operational
  • Maintain process and data accuracy, quality, and productivity to meet performance targets.
  • Ensure data security.
  • Identify processes requiring improvements as part of continuous improvement.
  • Report any operational issues by raising the appropriate awareness.
    
• Technical Skills
  • Microsoft Office (including Word, Outlook, PowerPoint and Excel).
  • Telephony.
  • Back-office systems (TFS/Oracle.
  • Customer Relationship Management system (Salesforce)
    
• Influencing
  • Understanding the differing needs of key stakeholders.
  • Use a range of influencing styles to achieve desired outcomes.
  • Demonstrate good negotiating skills with key stakeholders to achieve desired outcomes and buy-in.

About you

Essential:

• GCSE level or above/relevant experience
• Experience of a customer service environment
  • Excellent verbal and written communication skills
  • Good analytical and problem-solving skills
  • Proficient in information technology (IT), including a good working knowledge or MS Outlook, Word, Excel and PowerPoint
  • Proven ability to work flexibly in a small team, demonstrate good teamwork and support for other team members

Desirable:

• Study for relevant NVQ or equivalent
• Knowledge of grants processing
• Ability to quickly familiarise themselves with new systems

Key Responsibilities & Activities:

• Take full ownership of incoming contact enquiries and follow through to successful resolution following investigation on a range of grants activities (i.e. application query). Where applicable transfer queries to the appropriate support or UKRI funding services team.
• Liaise with clients and customers where issue resolution is dependent on their input or action (e.g. policy related enquiries).
• Proactively resolve complex queries and errors investigating and reporting any TFS system related issues, with suggested solutions to the functional specialist leads or process owners.
• Contribute to the maintenance of an effective and efficient TFS platform.
• Review research council Opportunity guidance documents ensuring they are clear and match with the specifications for research applications within TFS.
• Where appropriate identify any standard responses for users of TFS.
• Where appropriate identify trends based on customer feedback and analysis of contact data to drive improvement and increase service standards.
• Provide support to other customer service teams and operational teams if and when required, including any other activities within scope of the role which may be required and requested by the funding services senior managers.
• Contribute to meetings and projects where appropriate that are for the benefit of continuous improvement.
• Attend customer / supplier / research organisation visits assisting and delivering training and awareness sessions which contribute to building an effective working relationship between UKRI and its clients.
• Share, help and mentor staff from other areas to increase knowledge and expertise across the funding service teams for more flexible working.
• Provide support for system releases at appropriate times including assisting with ‘User Acceptance Testing’ (UAT).

Key Information

There are a number of systems and associated information to enable the grants customer advisors to carry out their role. Instruction will be provided as part on induction, classroom, or on the job training. The following list applies:

• Access to technical equipment (e.g., PC, Phones) will be provided to each individual and IT training will be provided as necessary
• Systems in use:
  • Microsoft (Outlook, Excel, Word, PowerPoint)
  • SharePoint
  • Back-office systems including:
    • Oracle
    • Je-S Admin Tool
    • TFS
    • Salesforce
    • Confluence