Cognos Report Specialist

Department: Institutional Research 

Job Type: Continuing

Full-time/Part-time: Full Time (>=1249 hrs/year) 

Campus: Waterloo 

Reports to: Reporting Manager, Institutional Research and Planning

Employee Group: WLUSA 

Application Deadline: 05/10/2024 

Requisition ID: 6910 

Wilfrid Laurier University is a leading multi-campus university that excels at educating with purpose. Through its exceptional employees, students, researchers, leaders, and educators, Laurier has built a reputation as a world-class institution known for its rich student experience, academic excellence, and global impact. With a commitment to Indigenization and commitment to equity, diversity, inclusion, Laurier’s thriving community has a place for everyone.

Laurier has more than 19,000 students and 2,100 faculty and staff across campuses in Waterloo and Brantford, as well locations in Kitchener and Milton. The university is committed to providing an inclusive workplace, a flexible work policy and employing a workforce that is reflective of local and national demographics. Our locations are situated on the traditional territories of the Neutral, Anishnawbe, and Haudenosaunee peoples. We recognize the unique heritages of Indigenous peoples and support their intentions to preserve and express their distinctive Indigenous cultures, histories, and knowledge through academic programming and co-curricular activities. Laurier’s Centre for Indigegogy is one example of how Laurier honours Indigenous knowledge.

Position Summary

The Office for Institutional Research & Planning at Laurier provides information, analysis, evidence and insight in support of the University’s overarching mission and goals. 

The incumbent will work with colleagues in the Institutional Research & Planning Office to interpret and deliver the university’s data requirements.   They will work with the University’s Banner Relational Database, using SQL, Cognos  Analytics,  Microsoft BI and other similar reporting tools to extract and organize data that delivers these requirements.  

This position has a university-wide mandate and will be based at the Waterloo campus. 

Accountabilities

The individual in this position will be responsible for:

Report Development

1. Build new reports, dashboards and queries in Cognos.
2. For each report, responsibilities will include
   • Design, development and customization of each report utilizing creative solutions and best practice approaches including visuals, interactivity and reusable/flexible reporting options
   • Extensive testing of each report with individuals who will access the reports to ensure it meets their needs
   • Extracting, compiling and calculating data from a single or a range of data source(s).
3. Proactively communicate and collaborate with individuals who will access the reports to review data/reporting needs and functional requirements to explore report options and optimal report development. Sometimes needs will be clear regarding what type of report and calculations will be needed but particularly for new reports, the requests may require extensive conversations before, during and after development of each report.
4. Test and analyze data to provide reports to a wide variety ofindividuals and departments.
5. Maintain accuracy of data and troubleshoot any discrepancies in reports.
6. Build familiarity with the structure of Banner (our relational database management system).

Cognos Analytics Administrator Back-Up

1. Serve as a secondary point of contact for support and issue resolution for CognosAnalytics in production.
2. Monitor, analyze, troubleshoot and /or tune Cognos Analytics hardware and software performance or deployment issues when required, in production.
3. Understand and possibly adjust design and development specifications, metadata and documentation.
4. Oversee and manage security access rights to Cognos reports, dashboards and queries.
5. Build and adjust data models as needed.
6. Work collaboratively with team members in Institutional Research & Planning and other teams to develop the models to meet the analytic needs of various units in Laurier.
7. Provide training to users as needed.
8. Any additional tasks as needed related to Cognos report, dashboard and query development or administration.

Other

1. Posting/publishing reports on internal webpages

Qualifications

Education: 

• Degree in Computer Science or equivalent.

Technical Skills

• Experience with building Dashboards and Reports using Power BI
• Knowledge of relational database management systems, preferably Oracle based and/or MS SQL;
• Experience with Banner or other higher education ERP software packages;
• Expertise in designing, maintaining and sharing data reports, cubes and dashboards in Cognos Analytics 11 or 12
• Expertise in creating models using Cognos Framework Manager;
• Experience writing SQL queries to validate reports, researching data in tables and generating SQL reports in instances where Cognos is inappropriate;
• Strong Excel skills and strong working knowledge of Microsoft Windows environment.

Other Experience

• 3 years of relevant work experience;
• Excellent interpersonal, verbal and written communication skills;
• Experience working with individuals to design and develop correct and well-performing Cognos reports, dashboards and queries in a timely and easy to use manner;
• Ability to troubleshoot query issues during report development using a methodical approach;
• Ability to translate business requirements into a data model in order to communicate with others for the creation of reports;
• Good understanding of the technical architecture and functionality of a data warehouse, data marts, operational data stores and various data models;
• Ability to work in a multi-disciplinary team environment.

This position has been deemed eligible for educational equivalencies. Please refer to the attached link for details.

Hours of Work:  This is a full time continuing position. The normal hours of work are 8:30 am to 4:30 pm, Monday to Friday.  Flexibility in hours will be required, including evening and/or weekend work due to periods of high volume.  When possible, the manager will adjust the work schedule so that no more than 35 hours are worked in a week. 

Compensation:

Position Grade: E

Rate of pay: $39.89 - $42.17 with an annual step progression on anniversary date up to  $45.59

Considerations for new hire step placements include, qualifications and length/depth of required experience, relevant market rates for similar jobs, internal equity, and estimated learning curve in starting the job.

Job Evaluation Factor Scores

Wilfrid Laurier University endeavors to fill positions with qualified candidates who have a combination of education, experience, skills and abilities to successfully perform the duties of the position while demonstrating Laurier's Employee Success Factors.

Equity, diversity and creating a culture of inclusion are part of Laurier’s core values and central to the Laurier Strategy. Laurier is committed to increasing the diversity of faculty and staff and welcomes applications from candidates who identify as Indigenous, racialized, having disabilities, and from persons of any minority sexual and gender identities. Indigenous candidates who would like to learn more about equity and inclusive programing at Laurier are welcomed to contact the Office of Indigenous Initiatives. Candidates from other equity deserving groups who would like to learn more about equity and inclusive programing at Laurier are welcomed to contact Equity & Accessibility. We have strived to make our application process accessible, however if you require any assistance applying for a position or would like this job posting in an alternative format, please contact Human Resources. Contact information can be found at careers.wlu.ca/content/How-to-apply/

Should you be interested in learning more about this opportunity, please visit www.wlu.ca/careers for additional information and the online application system. All applications must be submitted online. Please note, a resume and cover letter will be required in electronic form.