MERRILYN SWEET

SUMMARY

Certified Business Analyst with 10+ years of experience.

Drive client requirements and conceptual design for Financial Services, Insurance, and other industries.

Work with partners, including senior management, to define business objectives, process, and requirements for the new software

Project Lead for defect management in a SDLC environment, testing of the Summit Debt and Derivative accounting software.

Analyst and project lead in the evaluation and selection of Business Intelligence technology to replace an obsolete client profitability and business analytics system.

Defined business requirements for integration of processes for a newly acquired bank’s operational and technical needs. Managed team of BAs.

TECHNICAL BACKGROUND

Technologies: client server, mid-range hardware. web-based environments and mainframe

Methodologies: PMBOK, SDLC, RUP, DOORS, Business Process/Object Modeling, UML, Agile, James Martin & Associates Information Engineering Methodology, IEW

Tools: Rational Rose, Business Objects tool, Provision Workbench tool/ BPM vendor Metastorm, MS Visio, Clarity, MS Project, MS Project Server

EDUCATION/CERTIFICATIONS

Certificate in Project Management, based on PMBOK, Ajilon Online Univ., 2005

Certified Business Analyst, Geo. Washington Univ., 2008 { Covering Process Modeling, Workflow, Use Case, & logical data modeling, Gathering User Requirements, JAD/Facilitation Management, Project Management

Bachelor of Arts, DePaul University, Chicago, IL

Certificate in Project Management, based on PMBOK, 2005

Bachelor of Arts, DePaul University, Chicago, IL

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

CONSULTANT 2008 –CURRENT:

Discover Financial Services Consultant/Business Analyst Deerfield, IL 9/13 to 12/13/14

Consultant and Business analyst for a new Student Loan datamart, defining business requirements for operational and technical processes for a newly acquired line of business. Determine how best to integrate new data into current line of business, and map data between the systems, in support of loan operations for the new program. Agile methodology and SQL.

Project Manager/Business Analyst Strategic System Services/Grainger Chicago, IL June 2012 to Nov. 2012

Ebusiness consultant to Fortune 500 industrial supply company, facilitating the completion and the on- boarding of a backlog of EDI implementations and coordination of testing with key business clients. Made recommendations for improvement:

Project management of 30 customers awaiting onboarding to software which brings integration across silos of information for EDI.

Define requirements for e-commerce on-boarding

Coordination of the e-commerce testing process for customer and/or field resources and relationship building

Support/troubleshooting the e-commerce boarding process with the customer, technical and client field resources

Lead/Business Analyst BMO/Harris Bank Chicago, IL Feb 2011 to Apr 2012

Consultant to a Chicago Bank during a merger, and in the selection and implementation of a new portfolio accounting system. Lead analyst in the definition of requirements for five interrelated investment management projects:

Work with parent company and local management in the definition of requirements for the new investment accounting system in a SDLC environment

Work with partners, including senior management, to define business objectives, processes, for the new software. Prepared RFP.

Analysis activities to define current and future environment using various business process models; developed an in-depth understanding of the business needs of the stakeholder

Lead staff and participate in analysis, validation, and definition of requirements to ensure that the necessary information is captured from the relevant stakeholders to address the integration of critical systems, applications, and business processes.

Prepared requirements documents, process diagrams. Utilized Visio, SharePoint.

Conversion planning and data mapping

Participated in UAT testing and creation of test cases using HPQC software

Business Analyst Hewitt/Aon Human Resources Chicago, IL 4/2010 – 12/2010

Consultant to a firm delivering a complete range of integrated services to help companies manage their

HR and employee costs.

Designed Test Plans for a full range of new management and financial operations for Cognos reporting, using HPQC software. This was part of the PeopleSoft upgrade.

Participated in the iterative development and validation, of financial reporting

Business Analyst Ajilon Consulting/ Allstate Insurance Co. Chicago, IL 11/2009 -3/2010

Consultant in the remediation of multiple projects impacted by data center move. (CRM, Marketing Campaign Mgmt., Agent On-boarding). Performed impact analysis, defined scope and requirements, participated in design for various business applications. Translated business requirements into use cases and functional specifications. Used tools/methods such as Agile, Rational Visio. Interfaced with a variety of systems, including SAP, TIBCO, corporate portal, Workflow Management software

Defined user/business requirements with business users, systems analysts

Created process models and Use Cases, participated in user testing.

Participated in design specifications

Project Mgr/Sr. Business Analyst Federal Home Loan Mortgage Co. Schaumburg, IL Oct 2006 - Jul 2008

Senior Analyst in the development of a new single-family Loan Servicing Architecture. Used Rational tools & RUP to create process models and use cases of loan servicing business functions

Analyst and Team Lead in the IT audit of financial projects. Identified and resolved issues with IT controls, addressing Sarbanes Oxley (SOX) material weaknesses 4, IT Controls, so that organization can meet its SEC Registration goals. Assessed risks and internal operating controls by identifying areas of non-compliance; identifying operational weaknesses, inefficiencies/issues and, compliance with the new SDLC/PMLC control framework. Completed audit work papers and memoranda by documenting audit tests and findings. Utilized SharePoint.

Project Lead for defect management in testing of the Summit Debt and Derivative accounting software. Created defect analysis reports using ClearQuest, Rational; interacted with all test leads, created daily dashboard of testing status, and other reporting to senior management, led defect issue meetings.

Project Manager for reporting/process enhancements to Eagle GL, and Summit Debt and Derivatives software. Managed a core team of 10, including analysts, developers, QA/testing, architects, and a $400k budget

Business & Tech. Manager/ Consultant Harris Bank 09/2005 to 08/2006 Chicago, IL

Managed projects and provided analytical and technical support for the Investment and Corporate Banking business line, with an overall goal of assuring a stable environment as application processing and support is migrated from Chicago to Toronto-based systems. Worked closely with the finance subject matter experts, Bank of Montreal technology staff and vendors in the selection, implementation and support of technology to meet the evolving needs of the line of business, including acting as the project manager for major sensitive initiatives.

Analyst and project lead in the evaluation and selection of Business Intelligence technology (Seibel), to replace an obsolete client profitability and business analytics system. Accomplishments included developing the project charter, scope, current and future processes, functional requirements as well as data definitions for existing and future data feeds.

Project Manager and consultant to Enterprise Infrastructure as they plan and implement remote access to assure business continuity in the event of a pandemic event. Managed a core team of 8, and activities between business, enterprise infrastructure, vendor, and software implementation team.

Managed a team of 3 to migrate a portfolio of applications from local to parent company applications.

Lead Analyst/Consultant Allstate Insurance Co. 2004 to 08/2005 Chicago, IL

Business Analyst for the implementation of a custom application that tracks and accounts IT assets leased to Allstate’s independent agents on a national basis and as a Senior Consultant in the implementation of its SAP Travel and Expense module. Both projects were completed utilizing the Method/1 and UML methodologies; SAP project employed JAD.

Analyst/Project Lead in process improvement of an asset management project which greatly reduced the cost of leased asset record keeping by eliminating 70% of the manual operations required by the legacy leased asset system. The system, which was completed on time and within budget, also improved the quality of the Company’s financial records by reducing the systems update cycle time by up to 60%.

Lead Analyst in the .NET re-design of SAP user interface (UI) to the Travel and Entertainment module. Prepared user requirements, ID’d current and future processes, wrote use cases, participated in the redesign and UI laboratory testing, worked closely with corporate-wide users, QA, UI developers, resulting in significant improvement of user satisfaction with the SAP Travel and Entertainment module.

Sr. Systems Analyst Argonne National Laboratory 2001 to 2003 Argonne, IL

Worked closely with the Director of IT, in the implementation of a formal project management process as well as an array of administrative and financial disciplines, while personally acting as the Project Manager and Business Analyst for several enterprise-wide initiatives.

Project lead and analyst in the development of a custom contract and contact management (CRM)system utilizing Agile methodology, enabling the organization to meet contractual terms governing outstanding science, engineering and technology projects. Identified current and future processes, data and over-all requirements.

Analyst and lead in Power Builder upgrade and testing for 30 critical financial applications. Managed a core team of 8 and a budget of $150k.

Managed quality compliance review of project portfolio to ensure it met new DoE practices and procedures.

Sr. Project Manager/Consultant Vitech Systems Group Inc. 2000 to 2001 Chicago, IL

Senior Project Manager and Consultant with client relationship responsibilities including planning for and implementing new modules and upgrades.

Acted as the liaison between users and in-house and overseas-based vendors to ensure that system functionality reflected client business needs. Responsibilities included managing projects ranging from the definition of requirements, testing of enhancements, to implementation of updates to core software.

Managed a team of 5 people that helped the company expand its target market by managing issues arising out of a Beta version release of a Benefit and Pension application, with enhanced reporting and control functionality.

Sr. Project Manager GEAC Computer Systems 1998 to 2000 Chicago, IL

Managed large and medium ERP system implementations, the associated upgrades, and multi-functional teams (up to 10 team members), for Fortune 1000 clients located throughout North America. Duties included: Full life-cycle Project Management: defining project scope and objectives, identified and mapped current to future processes. implementation planning, testing, Implementation, tracking and controlling projects and managing budgets, client expectations and internal/third-party consultants.

Implementation of financial modules as part of ERP Sofware, for clients including Daimler Chrysler, Citizens Bank, Caisse de Depot, Schneider International, all of which were delivered on time and within budget.

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