Network Analyst (Voice & Unified Communications)
Information Services
Reporting to: Network Operations Manager
Salary: £28,695 - £37,394 per annum depending on skills and experience. Salary progression
beyond this scale is subject to performance
Job Family and level: APM level 4
Contract Status: Permanent
Hours of Work: Full time
Location: Kings Meadow Campus
The University’s complex voice networks span multiple campuses within the
Nottingham area and comprise approx. 11,000 fixed telephone extensions across a
mixed environment of traditional PBX’s, SIP soft switches and Microsoft Lync. There
are also separate key voice applications including a 200 agent contact centre,
voicemail and DECT. As an experienced and dedicated individual, you will work as
part of the Network Operations Team to provide operational support of the campus
voice network and its applications and the University’s mobile devices service. You
will also play a key part in developing, implementing and managing the Unified
Communications service.
The University
The University of Nottingham (UoN) is ranked in the UK’s top 10 and the world’s top 75
universities by the Shanghai Jiao Tong (SJTU) and the QS World University Rankings, placing it
in the top 1% of all universities worldwide. UoN has award-winning campuses in the UK, China
and Malaysia and is committed to providing a truly inspiring and international education.
Described by The Sunday Times University Guide 2011 as ‘the embodiment of the modern
international university’ – the University of Nottingham is uniquely enterprising and renowned
for its production of world-leading research.
Information Services
Many of our services are typical of any business and offer similar challenges: Managed
desktops and laptops, data storage, email, printing, web content management for the internet
and intranet, data and voice networking, multimedia design and production, and the major
applications underpinning finance, HR/payroll, marketing, facilities management, conferencing
and a range of commercial enterprises, including incubator premises for new business
ventures.
Other challenges are specific to higher education and to our University in particular.
Nottingham has huge ambition to transform the experience it provides to students — to place
them at the heart of its global, digital community. This will involve fundamental change to the
business processes which underpin the student journey through the institution, major
organisational change across professional services teams, and the implementation of a
comprehensive, integrated suite of supporting IT systems. We in Information Services will play
a pivotal role in this exciting and challenging change programme — known as Transform.
We also run specialist systems to underpin the life cycle of each research project as it moves
from grant application through to publication and dissemination. Our researchers need
information to help them target the next exciting and lucrative research opportunity. They
need to be able to demonstrate the impact their research is having in the world.
As our mission says, “by bold innovation and excellence in all that we do, we make both
knowledge and discoveries matter”. This depends on getting the right information to the right
people within our community. Here, the creation, sharing, analysis and dissemination of
information are defining activities. It’s what we exist to do. Both students and researchers are
demanding, innovative users of technology and we aim to provide them an information
environment in which they can be boundlessly creative and highly productive. We have
campuses in Nottingham, China and Malaysia, and aim to support mobility, ease of
communication and team work across this hugely diverse and geographically spread
community.
In response to these specific challenges, we provide particular and differentiating services.
These include a Virtual Learning Environment and other innovative technologies for learning,
High Performance Computing services and a large range of specialist software. Our researchers
produce vast amounts of data and need tools to manage, mine and generate information from
it. Many of them collaborate with industrial partners and researchers in other institutions
across disciplinary and organisational boundaries. Our students have grown up with internet
technologies and expect to be constantly connected using their mobile devices. A technologyrich experience is what they expect from University life. We provide equipment in teaching
rooms, PC suites, language laboratories, wireless everywhere, and internet services in the halls
of residence. Our global nature also means that video conferencing is particularly important.
Context
The Network Operations Team is part of the IT Operations division under the IT Global IT
Services directorate. The Team provide the operational function of all network and voice
services and the University’s campus network ensuring that the network underpins all IT
services effectively. The team has three groups:
(i)
Data Network group, who support the core and distribution layer switching and
routing devices, wireless infrastructure, ACE load balancers, and Firewall
(ii)
Voice group, who support the fixed and mobile voice services
(iii)
Connectivity group, who provide the physical hands-on support for network
operations out in the field.
Note moves and changes on the fixed voice & data network and mobile phone provision/
administration are undertaken by a third party contractor, who is managed within the team.
The Network Operations Team is managed by the Network Operations Manager
Your Role
The primary focus of the Network Analyst (Voice & Unified Communications) role is to provide
operational support for the campus voice networks and associated applications. Any issues,
incidents or service requests will be responded to and where possible resolved within the
defined service levels and appropriate actions will be undertaken to ensure the performance of
voice and UC systems is optimised. This role incorporates a level of development work relating
to the Unified Communications service - it is expected that you will be able to provide the skills
to enhance the current UC service and implement across a wider user-base.
The Network Analyst will be required to provide support in the following areas:
University of Nottingham
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22 March 2016
Principle Accountabilities:
1. To proactively monitor all components of the University campus voice network using
network management tools to ensure any issues, alerts, faults or capacity problems are
fixed ideally before service is affected. All issues should be dealt with appropriately via
engagement with others in the team, other service teams with IS or escalating to the team
manager.
2. To process incident reports and service requests logged on the workflow management
system ensuring the response and restore service level times are adhered to. Escalate to
third party suppliers or team manager where necessary.
3. To provide 3rd line support on all University voice systems and applications including PBX
programming, SIP service, operator’s directory, contact centre, voicemail, DECT, Microsoft
Lync, and Sonus SBC2000. Note standard moves and changes are done by a third party,
but more complex works may be undertaken as part of this role.
4. To lead on operational voice & Unified Communications projects as required and directed,
ensuring effective solutions are implemented within scope to meet customer requirements
and within agreed timescales and that information is accurately documented and is
accessible to colleagues and customers.
5. To provide recommendations on UC strategy, architecture and services, contributing to
development plans and technology roadmaps.
6. To undertake some administration of the call billing system to ensure tariff information is
up to date, monthly departmental reports are scheduled and departments are recharged
correctly for voice services. This also includes producing call reports for analysis of trends
in traffic volumes, detecting fraudulent use or investigating unusual behaviour.
7. All team members take a regular turn in the ‘gate-keeper’ function (currently one day in
every six), acting as the eyes and ears for the team, being the first point of call for
incidents and service requests, alerts and monitoring. The gate-keeper’s role is to ensure
all new issues or work requests relating to both voice and data network are actioned
appropriately within SLA.
8. To provide support for the University Mobile telephone service, liaising with suppliers and
customers where necessary to ensure a continuity of service (note the basic administrative
function of mobile telephone provision is done within another part of the operations team)
9. To take a turn in the on-call rota, to provide 24/7 out of hours operational support on
network related issues (currently one week in every four) – subject to additional payment
as defined in IS on-call policy
Note -
There will be a requirement to travel between the University’s campuses within the
Nottingham area.
There may be some level of out of hours working to facilitate disruptive changes to service
(typically done between 7-8am Mon-Fri or at weekends)
Knowledge, Skills, Qualifications & Experience
Essential
Qualifications/

University of Nottingham
Desirable
Educated to degree level, or equivalent,
3
Cisco accreditation in CCNA
22 March 2016
Education
Skills/Training
Experience
or proven track record of relevant

extensive work experience,
demonstrating expertise in voice or UC
networking

Good understanding of key principles
of telecommunications including SIP,
TDM, ISDN30, DPNSS

Ability to provide 3rd line support on all
components of Microsoft Lync including
Enterprise Voice

Reasonable level of understanding of
IPv4 networking and protocols

Good personal skills with proven ability
to communicate effectively with
customers

Ability to work independently and as
part of a team

Demonstrable analytical and technical
problem solving skills

Experience in designing and
implementing a UC system across a
large corporate organisation

Experience in working on large scale
voice systems with at least 2000 end
users

Experience in working with Windows
Servers, Active Directory, and LDAP

Demonstrable project management
experience in IT, telecommunications or
network related projects

Experience in working with an ITIL
service delivery framework

Experience in dealing with third party
suppliers and/or contract management
ITIL foundation course (or
higher)

Ability to provide
administrative support on
NEC Sopho telephone
systems

Understanding of mobile
phone operators and
services

Demonstrable project
delivery and change
management skills
 Experience in call
logging/call billing systems
(preferably BTS)

Experience in configuration
of Sonus SBC2000 session
border controller device
which interfaces to all
University voice systems
and the public telephone
network (PSTN)
 Experience in working in IT
service delivery within the
higher education sector
 Experience in delivering
global IT services across
international boundaries
 Experience in structured
cabling systems, patching &
jumpering
 Experience in delivering a
number of large scale IT
projects
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