Jurisdiction: City of Cortland

Jurisdictional Class:  Competitive

Adopted 8/17/92

Amended:  2/14/02; 8/15/02, 10/29/02

 

SYSTEMS ADMINISTRATOR

 

DISTINGUISHING FEATURES OF THE CLASS:  Incumbents in this position are responsible for all aspects of the implementation and use of computers in a large county department.  The Systems Administrator is expected to analyze the computing and automation needs of the department and to write, purchase, and customize computer programs and hardware as needed.  This position is also responsible for providing training and consulting services to department employees and for routine and exceptional system maintenance.  The work is performed under the general supervision of the department head, a deputy or assistant department head or other generally responsible administrative director or officer of the department.  Supervision may be exercised over lower level technical or clerical personnel, but such supervision is not a necessary function of this class.  Does related work as required.

 

TYPICAL WORK ACTIVITIES:  (Illustrative only)

Analyzes projects proposed for computerization or automation and determines the most effective method for accomplishing these tasks;

Designs computer programs, prepares detailed programming instructions, and creates input and output forms, layouts and screens, and files and records layouts for original programs written specifically for the department’s needs;

Identifies, specifies, purchases, installs, and customizes computer programs and applications from outside vendors deemed necessary for the department;

Installs and maintains original and outside-sourced software on the department’s computer;

Serves as a system administrator on mainframes, minicomputers and network personal computers as the case may be, performing backups, maintaining security, deleting unauthorized applications and surplus files, performing upgrades and generating reports;

Specifies, purchases, installs, and maintains computer hardware used in the department;

Instructs department employees in the use of all computer systems and applications used by the department, whether original or purchased;

Provides in-person and telephone support during normal department working hours;

Writes local documentation;

 

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SYSTEMS ADMINISTRATOR

 

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TYPICAL WORK ACTIVITIES:  (Illustrative only)

Revises and updates existing software systems in response to changing regulations, technology and user needs;

Reviews periodicals, catalogs, and other publications to keep abreast of the current state of computer technology as it may affect resources available to the department;

Maintains liaison with other computing professionals within the county in order to promote the efficient use of computing resources in county government;

May manage and maintain the department’s voice and data telecommunications system;

May provide installation, consulting and other support to other county departments at the election or with the permission of the System Administrator’s supervisor;

May serve as an emergency support contact outside working hours;

May perform keyboarding and data entry as necessary;

May supervise technical and clerical personnel, delegating tasks and work activities as resources allow.

 

FULL PERFORMANCE KNOWLEDGES, SKILLS, ABILITIES AND PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS: 

Good knowledge of computer programming principles, techniques, and concepts as            they apply to current computing technology;

Good knowledge of systems analysis principles, techniques and concepts as they apply      to current computing technology;

Good knowledge of the capabilities and uses of the computer hardware and software          used by the department;

Working knowledge of computer hardware and software used in other county             departments;

Working knowledge of accounting principles;

Ability to design and to write computer programs that translate and incorporate         administrative, statistical and financial data as necessary to facilitate the    department’s operations;

Ability to analyze and to determine the feasibility of proposed computerization and    automation projects;

Ability to instruct and to train others in the use of computer software and hardware; Ability to work well with others;

Ability to perform close, detail work involving considerable visual effort and strain;

Ability to produce clear, concise and comprehensible documentation;

Ability to train computer users;

Ability to install and to maintain hardware used by the department;
Analytical ability; creativity;

Physical condition commensurate with the demands of the position.

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SYSTEMS ADMINISTRATOR

 

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MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:  Either:

A.        Graduation from a regionally accredited or NYS registered four-year college or university with a bachelor’s degree or higher in Computer Science, Information Systems Management, Systems Design or Development or a closely related computing, scientific or engineering discipline and one (1) year of full-time paid or its part-time paid equivalent experience involving computer programming AND routine maintenance of computer hardware; OR

B.                 Graduation from a regionally accredited or NYS registered four-year college or university with a bachelor’s degree AND two (2) years of work experience as described in (A) above;  OR

C.                Graduation from a regionally accredited or NYS registered two-year college with an associate’s degree in Data Processing or another field as described in (A) above AND  three (3) years of work experience as described in (A) above;  OR

D.                Graduation from a regionally accredited or NYS registered two-year college with an associate’s degree OR completion of a minimum of sixty (60) semester credit hours in such a college or university AND four (4) years of work experience as described in (A) above.

E.                 Graduation from high school and six (6) years of full-time paid work experience as described as in (A) above, two (2) years of which must have been in a supervisory position.

 

SPECIAL REQUIREMENT:  Knowledge of at least one operating system currently used by a Cortland County department will be a requirement at time of interview.

 

NOTE:  Work experience involving solely computer programming OR solely routine maintenance of computer hardware may be substituted at the rate of one year of such experience for every six (6) months of combined experience as described in (A) above.