Employee Handbook
Working in Business Information Technology (BIT)
Our Business Information Technology (BIT) Team plays an essential role in designing, developing and maintaining the digital services that parliament needs and we're always looking for great people to join our team.
We want people to join us who have the skills and drive to deliver customer-focused solutions. This is an opportunity to be part of a unique environment.
Help us to cultivate ideas, products, and services that help our customers serve the people of Scotland.
Because of our size you'll be able to see solutions and products from initial idea to implementation. Joining us would give you the opportunity to work across a diverse technologies.
Our services are primarily provided at, and from, the Parliament building in Edinburgh, but we also support and enable Members in their offices throughout Scotland.
If you're interested in finding out more about working with us, contact:
Want to find out more? Have a read of what our colleagues say below.
What our colleagues say
Qasim Afzal, IT Helpdesk Specialist, BIT Infrastructure
Coming on to the IT Helpdesk I was told no two days are the same and this couldn’t have been truer. I am constantly being challenged with new IT issues to resolve and always have to prioritise my workload. This has encouraged me to work smart and collaborate with other teams to maximise efficiency.
I have learned to take on a range of responsibilities and developed my skills in liaising with colleagues at the parliament and stakeholders beyond. One minute I may be packing kit to post to a constituency office and the next I may be on the phone to a broadband provider investigating an outage at another part of the country. This role can see you providing support to the security team which checks your pass in the morning or an MSP who may be speaking in the chamber in the afternoon. The applications we support range from something as usual as Outlook to niche products used by small teams in specific departments.
As part of Business IT I have been encouraged to challenge current processes and contribute to innovative new ways of working. Improvements are encouraged wherever they can be made and the team is always ready to support one another.
Helen Costello, Business Analyst
My background in Information Management has enabled me to move into IT relatively easily at the Scottish Parliament. After being part of a project team that implemented a Document and Records Management system the move into the role of Business Analyst was a natural next step. My experience as a Business Analyst within the BACT (Business Analysis and Change Team) has enabled me to develop my knowledge of managing business change first hand through a variety of digital transformation projects.
Currently I am taking forward a software development project providing a meeting management application that seeks to achieve a significant service improvement for Members and Parliament staff alike.
Other work I’ve been involved in includes an Exchange Online project supporting the migration of Outlook accounts and the roll out of Microsoft Office 365. I’ve also been part of an organisational wide hardware refresh with an accompanying rollout of Windows 10 along with introducing XML authoring software that resulted in a move away from paper based documents to digital online products for our Committees.
Change management is core aspect of my role and introducing new ways of doing things is at the centre of much of my work. I have introduced digital signature software that has resulted in paperless employment contracts for MSPs and their staff and built bespoke SharePoint solutions that have replaced old unsupported technology.
Every day is different in the Digital Services Group and I have developed a range of skills from agile project management to technical 1st line support knowledge. My learning and development has been supported and sponsored by the organisation which has enabled me to further my ability as an IT professional.
My career goal as an analyst is to enable others in the organisation to achieve their goals with the aim of providing the type of service improvement that offers the next generation a Parliament truly fit for the future.