Project Manager/Senior Business Analyst

Qualifications Profile

Analytical, innovative, and solutions-oriented professional, with extensive experience in business analysis, project management, and business process optimization

Project Manager/Business Analyst with strong experience in all phases of project management from initiation through support and maintenance (including development and maintenance of project plan), with a particular emphasis on Change Management and Training. Demonstrated ability to identify business needs through observations, discussions, research and requests, determine appropriate resources/technologies and methodology required to fulfill business need, define plan/deliverables/ timeframe to strategically obtain a solution that attains project objectives efficiently. Assist in solution design and development of solution. Well-versed in release management and support and maintenance, both with in-house applications and vendor products. Effectively motivate and manage diverse project team that includes business analysts, developers, DBAs, network technicians, business users and management. Successfully facilitate upper management presentations, Divisional meetings, team work sessions and project status meetings.

Content Management- Worked on a variety of projects using Documentum, Filenet, SharePoint and Lombardi.

Developed first document repository in the history of the Insurance industry. Worked on CM projects that contained millions of files. Architect overall structure of the project. Develop detailed taxonomy. Integrate documents into system architecture. Develop Communication and Training plans. Develop training materials and train users.

Change Management/Business Process Reengineering – Many of my projects have been enterprise-wide deployments, necessitating a large degree of intensive change management and restructuring of business processes. This begins at project inception by gaining high-level buy-in from management and continues through the life of the project. At every possible juncture, I advocate for including users in change management and process reengineering, finding this breaks down resistance and invests users in the project’s success. Develop highly effective change management plans, training plans and training materials. Deliver standup and web-based training (over 150 courses developed to date).

Technologies/ Methodologies – COBOL/JCL, .NET, Oracle DB (with Oracle Discoverer), DBMS, SQL, QA/QC, Agile, LEAN, HIPPA, waterfall, hybrids, Rational Unified Process, various specialized system development life cycles, Electronic signature software. LMS, FACETS, FileNet, Microsoft Office Suite

Key Strengths – Strong communications and interpersonal skills. Effective liaison between business users, subject matter experts and IT staff. Ability to identify opportunities for workflow optimization via business processing change and technology solutions. Self-starter. Detail and deadline-oriented.

Professional Experience

The State of Connecticut, Office of Policy and Management, Hartford, CT

Senior Business Analyst 2014

Project Management

Led Executive Team for interagency initiative for web-based, enterprise-wide Content Management application used to allocate and distribute $1.6 billion in state and Federal funding annually to 8 state health and human services agencies. Result of initiative was a Request for Proposal (RFP)

Created and maintained project plan project for resource management, timeframe and deliverables

Designed change management plan for new solution (technical and user audiences)

Wrote communication plan for Executive Team members and agency Commissioners

Developed integration strategy to include Oracle Financial Systems

Designed solutions document for build versus buy scenarios including risks, benefits and ROI

Created and presented PowerPoint presentations and accompanying narrative at Executive Team meetings

Business Analysis

Researched all source documentation

Researched COTS vendors for solutions

Conducted extensive requirements elicitation sessions to ascertain current processes and workflows at each agency and determine future state processes and workflows. all requirements (functional and non-functional) were used as foundation for RFP

Greenlight Consulting, Glastonbury, CT

Project Manager/Senior Business Analyst April 2012 – June 2015

Project Management

Project manager for consulting firm with multiple, cross-functional projects including web-based health care claims processing application for United Healthcare, enterprise-wide web-based attendance system compliant with all Federal and state mandates for United Healthcare and web-based job application system and internal Human Resources job applicant administration system for Chase

Managed staff in all phases of project – business analysts, developers, testers, trainers

Developed and maintained project plans including resources, timeframes and deliverables. This was a critical document as many of the staff were allocated to multiple projects.

Scheduled tasks and monitored team progress.

Developed change control plan and associated document templates and procedures for client whose business processes needed updating

Developed communication plan to ensure that business partners and their upper management were kept informed of progress throughout all project phases

Developed testing plan and supervised the testing phase for multiple projects

Created and delivered training to a team of 3 Business Analysts, focusing on effective methods for gathering accurate and forward-thinking business requirements and functional specifications. Trained BAs on techniques for manual testing and defect logging and reporting.

Assigned deliverables to junior BAs and reviewed all draft and final material

Business Analysis

Developed and maintained all project artifacts for all accounts in conjunction with junior business analysts and client IT staff. These included project scope, business and system requirements matrices, screen mock-ups and screen flows, user guides, testing guides, test scripts, defect/issues log, user acceptance criteria and release plans

Facilitated JAD sessions and work groups to define current and future state workflows, gather business and system requirements, develop screen wireframes and flows (including alternates), testing and implementation plans

Acted as liaison between business and IT staff in all work sessions

Communicated data and quality issues to the IT and business team during regular status meetings

Change Management/Business Process Reengineering

Developed comprehensive change management plan for clients whose business processes needed to be radically revised with advent of new application

Developed user guides and quick reference material to assist users in getting acclimated to new application

Developed courses for clients using Instructional Design methodology. Courses delivered in classroom or web-based.

State of Connecticut - Department of Motor Vehicles, Wethersfield, CT

Project Manager/Senior Business Analyst 2006- 2012

Project manager/senior business analyst for multiple IT projects and enterprise initiatives

Project Management

Managed Real ID project – initiative to make State of Connecticut DMV compliant with Federal Real ID Act of 2006. Compliance (required in order to maintain Federal funding) was achieved on time and within budget. Incorporated HIPPA requirements into solution, including all PII information and guidelines.

Managed business analysts for in-house enterprise-wide technology upgrade project to implement emerging technologies to radically improve DMV processing throughout the agency.

Trained and mentored team of business analysts in requirements building, flowcharting, and development of use cases and high level and detailed design and test documents

Managed development of project artifacts including as-is and future state narratives and Visio charts, conceptual design of application from business perspective, screen prototypes, business uses cases and functional requirements. When management decided to procure a Customized Off-the-Shelf (COTS) solution, artifacts became basis of Request for Proposal.

Developed change management plan and maintained it from development to implementation

Designed document audit website that checked statistically significant number of all Connecticut credential transactions; Designed document management system for all policies using SharePoint 2010 and FileNet.

Change Management/Business Process Reengineering

Project manager for LEAN project for mission-critical unit that automated mail processing using OCR scanning to integrate mail into enterprise content management (ECM) application.

Senior business analyst for business process reengineering initiative for all DMV branches. Produced immediate results in several key problem areas resulting in better customer service. Significantly reduced customer waiting time at all branches. This project used the Six Sigma principles and methodology.

Vendor Management

Daily involvement with biometric technology vendor for Real ID project in order to bring the agency in compliance with new Federal guidelines to ensure completed, tested and timely deliverables

Daily involvement with 3M, vendor selected to implement technology upgrade from RFP through implementation

Business Analysis

Conducted gap analysis to ensure that current states were thoroughly documented for IT and vendors and future states were clearly explained in order to produce products that met strategic business goals

Developed solid and collaborative relationships with both business owners and IT staff to ensure completeness, accuracy and comprehensiveness of all project artifacts through JAD sessions, small and large work groups and personal interviews to support business process excellence

Produced detailed Business Requirements Documents from information gathered through JAD sessions, interviews, as-is and future state narratives and Visio charts and design documents. Worked with development team to create functional requirements from the business requirements. Used knowledge gained though developing project artifacts to suggest and implement business process improvements and changes

Developed standard templates for project artifacts including project plans, business and system requirements, use cases, workflow diagrams, communication plans, test strategies, training plans and curricula. Developed and maintained artifacts for multiple projects

Identified and mitigated risks, processing redundancies and opportunities for fraud or security breaches

Developed SharePoint 2010 project sites for stakeholders and upper management.

Introduced Agile methodology to State of Connecticut DMV by instituting a practice of daily meetings, sprints and well-defined work breakdown structures for projects.

Set up User Acceptance Testing; identified reported results to stakeholders and clients.

Earlier Career

The Writers’ Group 1984 - 2006

Owner of technology consulting company specializing in project management, business analysis, enterprise content management, workflow optimization, knowledge continuity, technical writing, and training. Assisted in marketing and sales, RFP development, bid proposals. Worked in all accounts as project manager/senior business analyst. Mentored and supervised junior business analysts. Clients included:

CIGNA, Hartford, CT

Project Manager/Senior Business Analyst 2005-2006

Managed team project staff consisting of both consultants and employees; established and monitored deliverables and timeframes for PC-based program corporate property and casualty application

Researched, analyzed and documented all business workflows

Wrote business requirements and functional specifications.

Managed risks and obstacles

UOP, Chicago, IL

Project Manager/Senior Business Analyst 2003-2004

Managed enterprise-wide knowledge continuity project

Assessed corporate knowledge culture and made appropriate suggestions for improvement through numerous JAD sessions

Developed succession planning documentation and job profile online surveys delivered to select departments, management and customers. Result was that the company had a secure and sustainable repository of employee intellectual capital that greatly reduced the negative impact of retirements, transfers, etc. and saved $1 million in the first year of implementation.

Developed Change Management and Training plan for improved retention of intellectual capital

Hartford Insurance Group, Hartford, CT

Project Manager/Senior Business Analyst 1998-1999, 2001-2003

Architected and implemented first knowledge/documentation repository in insurance industry. Developed taxonomy, designed user interface, identified and mapped system interfaces, managed data gathering and presented solution to C-level staff. Developed Change Management and Training Plans. Conducted training. Result was single source of information for nearly all information needs and a $2.5 million savings in the first 18 months (FileNet).

Researched, analyzed and documented work request process for IT department users (programmers, analysts, testers). Result was a consistent development and maintenance process that closely aligned business needs with technical resources.

Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Hartford, CT

Project Manager/Senior Business Analyst 2003-2004

Managed 3 million dollar data warehouse project using unique hands-on approach. Met with all project members to build an alliance that resulted in success of project.

Designed and documented customized Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC) process for new projects and maintenance projects. Result was a consistent, department-wide adherence to structured development.

Researched, analyzed and documented both business and systems procedures for security and disaster recovery. Result was conformance to Federal auditing requirements.

Designed and developed documentation solution for IT claims department at Blue Cross/Blue Shield Medicare Division. Evaluated needs and designed architecture to contain both systems development documentation and internal and government publications.

CSC/United Technologies Corporation, Rocky Hill, CT

Project Manager/Senior Business Analyst 2001-2002

Managed team of UTC and CSC IT staff and consultants for project that involved relocating and upgrading UTC’s IT infrastructure and outsourcing its IT operations to CSC from inception to implementation

Developed exhaustive project plan including budgeting, resource allocation, timeframes and deliverables

Mitigated risks and obstacles

Conducted daily status meetings and developed PowerPoint presentations for upper management

Conducted gap analysis and developed associated report,, documented as-is and future states in narratives and Visio charts

Developed user guides and manuals for all future state hardware and software

Developed all associated project artifacts including implementation plan

EDUCATION, CERTIFICATIONS, PRESENTATIONS

BA in English and History - Dean’s List

University of Connecticut

Graduate Programs

University of Connecticut, University of California, and Fairfield University

PM Certificate and LEAN Certificate from University of California

Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist from Integrated Therapy Center, Seattle, Washington

Seminar Presentations:

KM World– Santa Clara, CA - Workflow Optimization, Performance Enhancement Mapping. Knowledge Retention

Disaster Recovery Convention – San Diego - Developing an Emergency Knowledge Recovery Plan

Central Connecticut State University - Collaboration – How to Get the Best out of Your Staff (3 sessions)

American Records Association – Knowledge Retention

Society of Information Managers – Hartford, CT - Turning Knowledge into Profits

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