Software Developer - Intermediate

Project Description

Note: This contract will require the consultant to work from the office location 5 days per week.

The Community Services I&IT cluster (CSC) of the Ontario Public Service serves the Ministries of Colleges and Universities (MCU), Education (EDU), Municipal Affairs and Housing (MMAH), and Tourism, Culture and Sport (MTCS). The Data Product Services branch (DPS) within CSC provides data collection and analytic service to all four client ministries. DPS supports the ministries by providing information management tools that help enable public policy decision making, business and strategic planning, and program support and improvement.

The Data Engineering Unit of DPS works on many different initiatives in the Data analytics , Data Warehouse and Business Intelligence area. These tools collect data and transform it into meaningful information, enabling evidence-based strategic, tactical, and operational insights and decision-making. Client Ministries have access to historical, current and predictive views of business operations, increasing the analysis capacity of decision makers.

The Intermediate Software Developer is required to work on a number of initiatives across the various business areas supported by the branch.

The SHSM program requires annual sustainment through reoccurring digital solutions maintenance and enhancements, as well as continuous support through software development, project and requirement management, and software testing. This IT support for the SHSM program officially began in 2011 and has been continued since. Ongoing and significant investments have been made in the delivery of the digital solution for the SHSM program. The digital solution is currently being used by SAD for analysis and management of the SHSM program. Without the existing online program management tool, EDU’s ability to provide key metrics will be impacted and the program will have to be managed manually. This disruption will introduce significant delays in reporting and hinder effective and timely decision making. This role will also support other SAD initiatives including Dual Credits and Math Achievement Action Plan (MAAP).

The successful candidate will work directly with the business to understand and define their requirements and processes, as well as understanding their future data needs. They will also work with various technology teams to translate business needs and work through the analysis and development phases. The assignment entails working with managers, team leads, program analysts, and subject matter experts within the business ministry and Community Services I&IT Cluster throughout the engagement.

This procurement will also include the option to extend the end date of the project if there are unused effort days and no change to the ceiling amount if the need arises.

The successful candidate will provide innovative solutions for the support tasks described below in this RFS.

Job Description

Note: This contract will require the consultant to work from the office location 5 days per week .

Responsibilities/Assignment Deliverables

Key deliverables to be performed by the Software Developer include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Develop application code in a Visual Studio environment to implement application enhancements as per design documents.
• Document code changes as per existing documentation standards.
• Perform unit testing of code.
• Work with design team to clarify, suggest, and recommend implementation approach.
• Work with testers to identify the source of defects and resolve issues.
• Perform knowledge transfer to the Ministry staff.

The Software Developer must have a minimum of 2+ years of the following skills and experience:

• Experience working with source control systems.
• Experience developing, testing and debugging code for enhancements to systems using .Net and XML.
• Experience with troubleshooting and remediation of performance issues.
• Experience working with and contributing to reusable software components.
• Experience developing applications which use a relational database to store and retrieve data.
• Experience writing applications which will be built and packaged automatically and deployed to servers by another team.
• Experience diagnosing application issues without access to servers where the application is deployed.
• Experience analyzing requirements in order to determine functional requirements for reports and other enhancements to the web based systems.
• Demonstrated analytical problem solving and decision making capabilities.
• Proficiency with desktop and web-based tools (Visio, MS Office, MS Project, MS SharePoint).
• Experience with the configuration and administration of operating systems including Microsoft Windows and Linux or other varieties of UNIX.
• Experience in dealing with multiple teams representing various areas in delivering the project.
• Excellent verbal and written communication and presentation skills.
• Demonstrated capacity to work collaboratively with client organizations.
• A team player with a track record for meeting strict deadlines.

Knowledge of industry methodologies, processes and standards

Based on the scope, the .NET Programmer/Developer should possess:

• In-depth understanding of the entire Software development processes.
• Proficiency with different types of development and unit testing methodologies.
• Expertise in developing re-usable components in code.
• Proficiency in documenting code changes for knowledge transfer.

Knowledge Transfer

• Transfer From Software Developer to Designated CSC Resource

When Knowledge Will Be Transferred:

• Knowledge transfer must be completed one week prior to the end of the project or one week prior to the consultant leaving the ministry.

What Knowledge Will Be Transferred:

• All deliverables, including design/supporting/release/training documents must be checked into designated version control repositories (for example, SharePoint). All final documents and working drafts related to project requirements or solution design must be stored on designated project repositories (for example, SharePoint site, HPQC, TFS, etc.)
• Project manager and designated ministry staff must be regularly informed in writing (by email) of where documentation has been stored and must be provided a minimum of one walk-through of all documentation as part of the final knowledge transfer activities.

How Knowledge Will Be Transferred:

• Knowledge will be transferred through 1 on 1 sessions, emails, document updates and document review with the team.5

Deliverables / Responsibilities

"Must haves":

• Experience in developing software applications deployed to a three tier infrastructure with load balancing on both the presentation and application tiers.
• Developing, testing and debugging code for software systems using .Net technologies, XML.
• Relational Database development (Oracle and/or SQL Server) to develop DB side objects(e.g. data tables, stored procedures, triggers, etc)
• Systems development expertise using client-side libraries (Bootstrap, Angular , JQuery, JavaScript), HTML5/CSS3.
• Expertise to produce functional requirements for reports and other enhancements to the web-based systems based on client specific requirements analysis

Software Development - 45%

• Experience with troubleshooting and remediation of application issues, including performance issue in web-based applications and Windows services.
• Experience working with and contributing to reusable software components.
• Experience developing web applications on multiple web browsers/different versions of web browsers.
• Experience analyzing requirements in order to determine functional requirements for reports and other enhancements to the web-based systems.
• Experience developing applications which use a relational database to store and retrieve data.
• Experience writing applications which will be built and packaged automatically and deployed to servers by another team is an asset.
• Experience diagnosing application issues without access to servers where the application is deployed.
• Knowledge of applications which are deployed to a three tier infrastructure with load balancing on both the presentation and application tiers.

Technical Skills - 50%

• Proficiency with desktop and web-based tools (Visio, MS Office, MS Project, MS SharePoint).
• Experience developing, testing and debugging code for enhancements to systems using .Net and/or XML.
• NET framework (4.0+), ASP.NET development, MVC, Entity framework, business entities, WCF, WFF, LINQ
• ASP.NET development with C#, Web forms, JScript for multi browser support, CSS with full WCAG AA compliance in developing web applications
• Experience with the configuration and administration of operating systems including Microsoft Windows and Linux or other varieties of UNIX.
• Strong experience in XML.
• Experience developing in a .Net environment.
• Relational Database development experience/skills (Oracle and/or SQL Server) to develop DB side objects(e.g. data tables, stored procedures, triggers, etc) , troubleshooting experience
• Experience developing systems using client-side libraries (Bootstrap, Angular, JQuery, JavaScript), HTML5/CSS3.
• Development experience in applying current web accessibility (e.g. WCAG 2.0+) standards, and security (OWASP) best practices.

Communication Skills - 5%

• Excellent analytical, problem-solving, and decision-making skills; verbal and written communication skills; interpersonal and negotiation skills.
• Experience in dealing with multiple teams representing various areas in delivering the project.
• Demonstrated capacity to work collaboratively with client organizations.