Administrative Officer

The Purpose of the Role

The Central Timetabling Unit (CTU) is responsible for leading out on all matters relating to timetabling for undergraduate teaching and learning activities. The CTU is also responsible for the interpretation of timetabling and room usage policies, and for appropriate liaison with all relevant timetabling stakeholders, e.g., School/Programme Offices, IT Services, Estates and Facilities, etc.

The Central Timetabling Unit is seeking to appoint an administrative officer, on a specific purpose contract, to assist the Manager and Deputy Manager in ensuring that timetabling is conducted according to the University’s Timetabling Policy. The successful candidate will assist with the administration and continued delivery of the fixed timetable for all years of the shared curriculum. The Administrative Officer will also be required to assist with the management and ownership of the timetabling system, CMIS, and to assist with data gathering and analysis to support and promote improvements in the overall teaching timetable and room usage experience. The post-holder will provide support to the College community for all timetabling and room booking activities.

Context

The centralisation of timetabling, required to support the principles, procedures and responsibilities as outlined in the Timetabling Policy and Procedures, is moving towards placing more ownership of the shared timetable at College level and facilitate the development of an effective, efficient real-time timetable that is published annually from a single access point across multiple devices. Centralisation of the timetable will also lead to improved space usage and data gathering on performance metrics. The gathering and analysis of this data as well as the preparation of reports based on the results of this data will be one of the key roles for this post-holder and will require close collaboration with professional and academic colleagues in Schools/Programme Offices, Estates and Facilities (E&F), Academic Registry (AR), IT Services (ITS), Commercial Revenue Unit (CRU) and Academic Services Division (ASD).

The main responsibility of the Central Timetabling Unit is to centrally manage the processes to ensure the delivery of the common shared timetable for Trinity Joint Honours undergraduate programmes, where all or part of the curriculum is shared, or where modules are available to other programmes. Specifically, the CTU has responsibility for the day-to-day management of the shared curriculum timetable and the central allocation of teaching space for shared curriculum timetable events. The role of the Administrative Officer (Central Timetabling Unit) will be to support the Manager and Deputy Manager of the CTU in these activities.

Main Responsibilities

As part of the functions of the Central Timetabling Unit, the Administrative Officer will be responsible for the following activities:

• Scheduling and room allocation of all core module teaching requirements for the common shared Joint Honours timetable for undergraduate programmes, where all or part of the curriculum is shared, or where modules are available to other programmes;

• Monitoring the allocation and usage of all teaching and learning spaces for the university;

• Resolution of any issues arising from the central or local School/Programme Office/CRU or other area for the allocation of teaching space for undergraduate programmes;

• Providing support as required for School/Programme Offices for the booking of the non-core lecture/tutorial hours for the Joint Honours/Common Architecture modules (dependent on resource availability);

• Providing support as required for School/Programme Offices for the booking of all other lecture/tutorial hours for non-Joint Honours/Common Architecture modules (dependent on resource availability);

• Daily management of the timetabling@tcd.ie

email account;

• Monitor the quality of timetabling data included in the timetabling system (CMIS) by School/Programme Offices and any others responsible for room bookings;

• Ensure timetabling is conducted in accordance with the university’s Timetabling Policy and Procedures;

• Take responsibility for resolving any conflicts relating to the usage of teaching space and escalating to the Timetabling Manager as appropriate;

• Provide assistance and advice for timetabling training as appropriate;

• Work closely with colleagues in IT Services and Estates and Facilities to ensure the timely delivery and availability of the annual teaching timetable;

• Prepare and distribute performance metrics relating to timetabling and room usage statistics, both from a staff viewpoint as well as from a student viewpoint;

• Prepare performance metrics relating to staff and student satisfaction in terms of the overall timetable experience and room usage experience;

• Provide support for ad-hoc projects relating to the future development of timetabling;

• Deputise for colleagues as required and represent the manager or deputy manager at meetings and events;

• Any other duties that arise from time to time as directed by the manager or nominee.

• Note: The above list of roles and responsibilities is not exhaustive and will be increased or modified by the ASD Executive Director as we move towards achieving the goals to support next generation teaching and learning.

Person Requirements

The role-holder will require the following knowledge, skills and attributes for successful performance in the role.

Qualifications

• Third level degree qualification (essential) in a relevant area.

Knowledge

• High level of knowledge and experience in the use of the College timetabling system, CMIS, and in the use of MS Office applications (Essential).

• A good working knowledge of the student management system, SITS (Desirable).

• A thorough knowledge of Trinity College regulations, in particular, academic programmes and programme/student-related regulations, and an understanding of the organisational structure of College (Essential).

• Working knowledge in the use of other College software systems such as SITS, FIS, Planon (Desirable).

Experience

• A minimum of 3-years relevant work experience, preferably within a higher education timetabling environment at School or Programme Office level (Essential).

• Proven experience in data gathering, analysis, report preparation and presentation (Essential).

• Project management skills experience: demonstrable experience of managing and prioritising complex timetabling scenarios and data with excellent IT skills; ability to prioritise and multitask in a busy environment (Essential).

• Demonstrable experience of forming good working relationships with different stakeholders (Desirable).

Skills

• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills;

• High standard of accuracy in both written and numerical work: must have excellent verbal written communication skills, must be able to communicate and write clearly, concisely and error free.

• Oral communication: ability to communicate convincingly and confidently whilst explaining complex and intricate solutions.

• Must have a welcoming, approachable manner and work well in a multicultural environment.

• Excellent organisational and time management skills: the ability to work under pressure to deadlines.

Personal attributes

• Conscientious and detail-orientated: is accurate and attentive to detail.

• Resourceful: is highly motivated with a proven track record of working on own initiative.

• Team Player: must be friendly, and willing to work effectively as part of a team.

• Understands the importance of quality service and pro-actively delivers this.

• Pays close attention to quality standards.

• Takes pride in providing excellent customer service by adopting a helpful and courteous approach to all administrative and academic staff and to all students.

• Committed to achieving results, putting in additional effort as required.

• Flexible approach to working hours as the demands of the post may require work outside normal office working hours from time to time.

Salary:

This appointment will be made on the Administrative 3 Salary Scale (€46,410 - €58,086 per annum) at a point in line with current Government pay policy. monthly/weekly payscales. (tcd.ie)