Project Design

SHARON R GRIBSCHAW BUSINESS ANALYST USER EXPERIENCE CONSULTANT

DELIVERY MANAGER

*****@**********.*** 404-***-**** (2228 Fenton Parkway San Diego CA

92108

...

OBJECTIVE Obtain a consulting position that leverages my expertise in

user-centered system design for full life cycle.

Key skills provided are requirements engineering including

stakeholder discovery workshops, business process analysis, user

needs analysis and definition; usability engineering including

user task analysis,

use case development, user interface/interaction design, wire

frames, prototyping, and usability evaluation.

EDUCATION Southern Polytechnic State University, 1998

Master of Science in Technical and Professional Communication,

emphasis in Usability Engineering

Penn State University, 1992

Bachelor of Arts in English, minor in Business

DISCOVER/DEFINE

. Conduct Discovery Workshops with Project Stakeholders to define

project vision, objectives and target end users.

. Perform analysis activities such as user task analysis, user needs

assessments, user research, requirements elicitation, business process

analysis & improvement.

. Write and manage product requirements (business, user, functional and

technical) for full product lifecycle to ensure user-centered design

principles are adhered to from conception through implementation.

. Define personas (actors/roles), user scenarios, business rules, and

exception modeling.

. Write use cases and produce high-level interaction/flow diagrams.

. Produce product functional specifications modeled after the defined

user experience.

. Assist with data modeling/data mapping and integration activities

(XML/Web Services/SOA specs) as needed.

. Promote cross-functional collaboration across Project Team disciplines

by engaging all key contributors in workshops and review sessions as

appropriate. Identify and resolve requirements gaps or conflicts.

Brainstorm solutions.

. Initiate and facilitate internal and external meetings to resolve

Product or Project Stakeholder issues.

DESIGN/DEVELOP/DEPLOY

. Define best practices from a user-centered design perspective and lead

design guideline standardizations.

. Articulate product vision and design concepts verbally, visually and

in written format.

. Produce wire frames, UI mockups or functional prototype to demonstrate

requirements to Project Stakeholders.

. Resolve any design gaps or usability issues; document low-level

detailed interaction diagrams.

. Produce solution schematics (site map/site structure) as appropriate.

. Validate use cases and requirements against design with core Project

Team members.

. Support technical team artifacts production (technical use cases,

sequence diagrams/activity diagrams/entity relationship diagrams) by

clarifying requirements and offering subject matter/product expertise.

. Partner with creative team (graphic designers, art directors, brand

managers, content strategists, and writers) to validate that visual

design/content meets user-centered design specifications.

. Assist with Quality Assurance and User Acceptance test planning and

execution.

. Support implementation activities, knowledge transfer and training

activities.

TOOLS, TECHNOLOGIES & METHODOLOGIES

. Strong preference for Emerging Technologies and the opportunity to

pioneer new user-centered design solutions.

. Complex, multi-tiered, custom- built web applications

RIA/J2EE/STRUTS/JSP/HTML/CSS/Relational Databases (DB2/Oracle)/ Web

Services/XML messaging/Integration. Websphere, Webmethods, Weblogic

environments.

. Mobile web application design & testing (server-side/device

independent) Understanding of WAP/Wireless Platforms.

. RUP/Rational/TogetherJ/Caliber RM/VISIO/Dreamweaver/Quality Center

. Prefer iterative methodologies employing UML/RUP and component-based

development approach, but can execute in any infrastructure from

mature, extremely rigid/process driven shops to the organized chaos of

start-up shops.

. Basic knowledge of Six-Sigma and CMM

USABILITY ENGINEERING/HUMAN FACTORS (ancillary activities)

. Perform Heuristic Evaluations, Contextual Inquiries/User Research,

Ethnographic Observations

. Plan, execute and evaluate Usability Testing

. Identify, prioritize, and track usability issues and make design

recommendations.

PROJECT MANAGEMENT/LEADERSHIP/INTERPERSONAL

. Comfortable consulting across all disciplines and levels of project

resources (executive management to end-users).

. Enthusiastic, innovative, creative-thinker who promotes synergy within

project team.

. Effective written, verbal and visual communications skills. Natural

leader and effective organizational skills.

. Proactive, self-managing problem solver. Effective team player and

individual contributor.

. Sensitive to project milestones, deadlines and risk

identification/mitigation.

. Ability to manage complex multi-system implementations from concept

through delivery to production in terms of scope, budget, timeline

and risk.

INDUSTRY EXPERIENCE

Financial Services: Consumer and Small Business Banking, Consumer

Lending (Real Estate & Non-Real Estate), Commercial Banking, Sub-prime

Lending, Cash Management, Investment Services (Retirement & Non-

Retirement) Mobile Communications, Media Buying, Telecommunications,

Retail eCommerce (B2C), Commercial eCommerce (B2B), Retail POS, Non-

Profit.

PROJECT EXPERIENCE

User Experience/Business Analyst: Sony Electronics-San Diego, CA

4/08 to Present

. Lead analyst for strategic projects on Sony's eCommerce solution,

SonyStyle.com

. Integral team member for the full site re-skin and functional redesign

of key product categories, shopping cart and checkout process to

improve the overall user experience and increase site conversion to

drive revenue.

. Lead analyst on Endeca site search, Bazaar Voice Ratings & Reviews

and Omniture Variant Testing implementation.

. Functioned as the implementation liaison for Sony Private Label

Financing and Paypal payment method initiatives. Responsible for

coordinating with development team, vendors and internal legal

department to ensure requirements and design were in compliance with

financial services regulations.

. Partnered with Education Program Managers to define and design the

Sony Campus program which offers discounts to higher education

students, faculty and staff. Responsible for driving a cost-effective

solution by utilizing the existing eCommerce platform to substantiate

the program's revenue opportunities prior to incurring a significant

technological capital investment.

. Key responsibilities include leading discovery workshops with client

to determine solution features and product requirements. Assist with

business case development and ROI analysis.

. Collaborate with multi-disciplinary team including technical

architects, product development team, and business stakeholders to

manage delivery of solutions for new initiatives.

. Identify process gaps and champion best practice for software

development lifecycle. Educate team on process.

. Conduct competitive analysis and user needs assessment for new

integration initiatives with 3rd party vendors.

. Define and manage requirements, identify use cases, produce flow

diagrams including partner integration touch-points, define business

rules, produce wireframes and user interface specifications for

product design.

User Experience/Business Analyst: Firethorn, a Qualcomm Company-Atlanta, GA

2/08 to 4/08

. Lead analyst for new Mobile Commerce solution. Key responsibilities

include leading discovery workshops with client to determine solution

features and product requirements. Assist with business case

development.

. Collaborate with multi-disciplinary team including technical

architects, product development team, and business stakeholders to

determine product roadmap based on market demands, user adoption

trends and internal requirements product requirements. Assist with the

identification and mitigation of risks.

. Conduct competitive analysis and user needs assessment for the initial

phase of product launch.

. Define and manage requirements, identify use cases, produce flow

diagrams including partner integration touch-points, define business

rules, produce wireframes and user interface specifications for

product design.

User Experience/Business Analyst: Macquarium-Atlanta, GA

11/07 to 2/08

. Lead analyst for new IPTV solution. Key responsibilities include

leading discovery workshops with client to determine solution features

and product launch strategy from a holistic user experience

perspective.

. Collaborate with multi-disciplinary team including technical

architects, web application development team, and interactive design

team to determine product roadmap based on business value, user

experience and operational readiness of the client.

. Conduct competitive analysis and user needs assessment for the initial

phase of product launch.

. Define and manage requirements, produce flow diagrams, define business

rules, produce wireframes and user interface specifications for

product design.

User Experience/Business Analyst: Bank of America-Atlanta, GA

6/06 to 10/07

. Lead analyst for new enterprise Mobile Banking Application which

allows Online Banking customers to access accounts via an internet

connection on their Mobile devices. Customers can view account

balances, account transaction details, transfer funds, pay bills and

locate ATMs and banking centers using the new mobile system.

. Application was internally developed and supports several hundred

mobile devices across the major US carriers.

. Application is available to all 20 million Online Banking customers so

long as they have a supported device.

. Overall project objective was to leverage existing OLB functionality

and deliver it in the mobile space providing a seamless experience to

the customer.

. Responsible for requirements and design review, gap identification,

business logic validation and overall end-to-end integrated testing

effort via mobile devices for the new application.

. Key activities include workgroup participation/facilitation, status

reporting to project and executive management, daily problem solving,

test strategy development, planning, coordination and successful test

execution of over 9,000 scripts using a discrete number of test

devices.

. Led a team of 10 test engineers who were responsible for test case

identification and script development, test execution, data

acquisition and defect identification/resolution from an application

and wireless perspective.

. Partnered with Technical Delivery Manager, Application Technical

Leads, Wireless Technology team and Business Partners to ensure

quality delivery of end product.

. Key liaison to the Wireless Technology team assisting with trouble-

shooting, proof of concept activities and resolution of overall

architectural challenges discovered during testing cycles.

. Recognized for outstanding performance by both the Business Partners

and Technology Partners for effective execution in a high-paced,

dynamic and complex technical environment.

User Experience/Business Analyst: Enterpulse-Atlanta, GA

3/06 to 5/06

. Lead analyst on telecom enterprise portal solutions.

. Responsible for requirements analysis and definition, use cases and

wire frame development.

. Support project team through development and quality assurance

efforts.

User Experience/Business Analyst: Community Loans of America-Atlanta, GA

9/04 to 3/06

. Lead analyst on critical path J2EE/Java web service integration

projects. Responsible for reverse engineering requirements from legacy

system, as well as eliciting new requirements from stakeholders for

new system.

. Define interfaces and specify design for integration project. Partner

with vendor development team as well as internal development team to

ensure technical solution meets stakeholder needs. Track and resolve

issues pertaining to the integration solution. Define use cases,

sequence diagrams and other project artifacts for the project.

Document training materials for the end user community.

. Performed requirements discovery and analysis for system enhancements

and new products.

. Created process flows, use cases, and wire frames for user interface

prototype.

. Reviewed requirements and design deliverables produced by client staff

to provide mentoring and feedback.

. Provide general user-centered design consulting across enterprise

project portfolio.

User Experience/Business Analyst: Bank of America-Atlanta, GA

1/04 to 9/04

. Functioned as a lead analyst for a high profile, new J2EE system that

provided the ability to capture, track and report on customer

referrals by tellers to personal bankers for additional bank products.

. Primary responsibility was to lead the technical delivery of the

project by functioning as the point of contact for the development

team, the product sponsorship team and the engineering architecture

team.

. Performed requirements elicitation, analysis and management,

identified and resolved issues and risks, reviewed and validated

functional and technical design, tracked development progress/status,

reviewed test plan, test cases (including the validation of

traceability) and training materials and created implementation plan.

User Experience Analyst (freelance): AMVESCAP-Atlanta, GA

1/04 to 3/04

. Lead analyst responsible for solving usability-related challenge for a

new investment product being introduced to an existing online

Retirement Management System. Executive sponsors desired assurance

that product could be implemented without creating a negative user

experience prior to funding development efforts.

. Performed requirements discovery and analysis, created use cases and

process flows, and developed wire frames for user interface prototype

to demonstrate the feasibility to Executive team.

User Experience/Business Analyst: Community Loans of America-Atlanta, GA

8/03 to 12/03

. Lead analyst responsible for requirements elicitation, analysis and

design for a new J2EE loan application to replace two outdated systems

supporting operations in over 300 retail loan centers as primary POS

system. The objective was to model the new system behavior after the

user's business processes as predecessor systems had severe deviation,

causing significant negative customer impacts while performing routine

loan center operations.

. Responsible for the effective and intuitive design of a retail loan

store application, which provided loan origination, loan closing,

documentation and loan account servicing functionality including

collections.

. Primary responsibilities include defining current workflow/business

processes, eliciting and analyzing requirements by facilitating JAD

sessions, conducting user task analysis, and modeling the user

experience by the way of UML use cases, business modeling and

conceptual design prototype to ensure system supported the user's

business processes.

. Tested and validated the flow of the user tasks and UI page elements

by presenting the prototype early in product lifecycle. Make design

changes accordingly and communicated to development prototype team.

. Defined and documented user interface behavior and aesthetic standards

for application style guide.

. Collaborated with development team to ensure that user requirements

and interface standards are achieved.

. Developed usability test plan and conducted usability testing with

target users. Produced quantitative findings report and recommended

changes to user interface design based on findings.

. Assisted with functional system testing and development of online help

and training materials.

Business Analyst: Metavante Corporation-Atlanta, GA

5/02 to 7/03

. Lead Analyst in the Commercial e-Banking Group responsible for the

analysis and design of internally developed commercial e-banking

products.

. Prototyped conceptual user interface to demonstrate the flow of user

tasks.

. Conducted high-level usability testing on the conceptual user interface

to ensure design meets target audience needs and adheres to usability

standards.

. Facilitated JAD sessions to identify business and functional requirements

and analyze functional/technical requirements to meet user needs.

. Owned functional and technical requirements from conception through

implementation. Elicited, analyzed and managed requirements. Created use

cases and other UML artifacts through the design phase of the lifecycle.

Traced the requirements through QA [test plans/test cases] and support

implementation.

. Functioned as the liaison between the product management team and the

engineering team.

. Facilitated design sessions with technical lead, system architect and

product manager to work through design issues in a collaborative manner

and document technical requirements.

. Developed UML use cases to the business logic level to drive system

specifications. Facilitated review with project team. Partnered with

engineering lead to develop sequence diagrams, entity relationship

diagrams and other UML artifacts.

. Partnered with QA to ensure their understanding of system requirements

and confirm their ability to write test plan/test cases from system

documentation [requirements, use cases, prototypes].

. Trained other analysts on the UML methodology; specifically use cases and

requirements management.

. Assist with dependency identification and risk management efforts of the

projects.

Requirements Engineer: ForestExpress-Atlanta, GA

9/01 to 5/02

. Sr. Requirements Engineer in the Application Services Group responsible

for the analysis and design of custom built B2B applications for the

Forest Products Industry.

. Owned functional and technical requirements from conception through

implementation. Managed requirements using Caliber RM and traced the

requirements to design and QA test plans/test cases.

. Prototyped conceptual user-interface to demonstrate the flow of the

user's tasks from a presentation layer perspective.

. Conducted high-level usability testing on the conceptual user interface

to ensure design meets end user's needs.

. Functioned as the liaison between the product management team and the

engineering team.

. Primary responsibilities included facilitating JAD sessions to identify

business and functional requirements and analyze functional/technical

requirements to meet user needs.

. Facilitated design sessions with technical lead, system architect and

product manager to work through design issues in a collaborative manner

and document technical requirements.

. Developed UML use cases to the business logic level to drive the system

specifications. Facilitated review with project team. Partner with

engineering lead to develop sequence diagrams, entity relationship

diagrams and other artifacts.

. Partnered with QA to ensure they understand system requirements and are

equipped to write test plan/test cases from system documentation

[requirements, use cases, prototypes].

. Additional responsibilities included performing heuristic evaluations on

applications. Develop reports and present findings to product management

groups.

. Assessed production defects and enhancements to offer implementation

direction to management and engineering.

Information Architect: iXL-Atlanta, GA

1/00 to 9/01

. Sr. Information Architect in the Enterprise User Experience group

responsible for the analysis and design of custom web-solutions for our

clients. Functioned as the lead analyst consultant on client engagements.

. Primary responsibilities included developing functional requirement

specifications, UML use cases with business rules/logic and performing

workflow analysis.

. Cooperated with System Architect and Lead DBA to perform data and object

modeling for the system, sequence diagrams and entity relationship

diagrams.

. Conducted presentation layer analysis and prototyped conceptual user

interfaces that clients could click -thru to validate that interface

design direction was in line with client concept and user tasks.

. Additional responsibilities included conducting usability testing from

scenario development through report analysis, performing heuristic

evaluations, contextual inquires and ethnographic observations.

. Primary deliverables included user requirements document, use cases and

conceptual user interface prototype.

. Mentored junior level Information Architects on client engagements and

consulted with them on general project issues to develop and grow their

expertise. Assisted in the promotion of a junior Information Architect to

a Senior Information Architect by providing the direction and guidance

she needed to meet her promotion objectives.

. Consulted with clients and recommended user-centered design approaches to

presentation layer of their solutions.

. Stayed abreast of usability trends, industry best practices and research

published with regard to a web environment.

Business Analyst: Bank of America-Atlanta, GA

5/97 to 12/99

. Sr Business Analyst in the Consumer Banking group responsible for entire

life cycle of an internally developed Consumer Banking Loan Application

used in Bank of America banking centers and back-office processing

centers. The application provided loan origination, loan closing,

documentation and servicing for real estate and non real estate

collateral. Products included Mortgages (fixed and adjustable), Home

Equity line of credit, non real estate installment loans and unsecured

line of credit.

. Primary responsibilities included gathering/defining functional

requirements, developing use cases, creating data models and defining

business logic/rules for the application.

. Responsible for functional aspect of the system from business

requirements definition through implementation.

. Managed team of analysts, developers and QA resources throughout the

development life cycle.

. Functioned as the technical liaison to vendor. Responsible for testing

vendor application prior to integration with Bank application. Negotiated

vendor system enhancements and new functionality.

. Collaborated with end-user representatives to understand user

requirements and current task business processes.

. Proposed re-engineering of processes when appropriate.

. Recommended functional solutions to internal clients to support business

objectives and user needs.

. Prepared and conducted usability testing of the system and made

adjustments to the system based on the findings.

. Conducted JAD sessions with multiple stakeholders to discover system

dependencies that may affect the user experience and system functional

requirements.

. Tasked with the deployment of a pilot project that was a proof of concept

to integrate internal bank system with vendor application. Led the

research effort to determine how to design and implement the integrated

solution to minimize the impact of the user experience since the

integration would require change to current business process.

. Provided professional development of junior level analysts on project

team.

Technical Writer: Writers for Hire-Atlanta, GA

1/97 to 5/97

. Online Help developer for a healthcare facility management GUI software

product. Major components of the software included a financial

management module and a patient chart module. The Online help system was

the principal technical support for this application, supplemented only

by a 100 page getting started manual.

. Primary responsibilities included developing Online help system using

Robohelp, defining content specifications including user navigational

strategies, visual design of help system, appropriate topic clusters and

logical relationships for different user levels. Defined index and coded

system for key words for search engine. Also provided usability

consultation, usability testing and system diagnostics when required.

Operations analyst: The Volume Investor-Atlanta, GA

11/95 to 1/97

. Operations analyst for the sales & operations personnel of a boutique

Equity Investment firm.

. Primary responsibilities included providing written and verbal technical

support to the staff for daily tasks required for their respective

functions using Paine Webber brokerage clearing house systems. Coached

sales staff on client account functionality of the system with emphasis

on fund availability and risk management modules of software.

. Trained operations staff to perform wire transfers, execute and book

trades and diagnose system errors.

. Exposure to all areas of operations and products offered in a full

service brokerage firm including stock, bond and mutual fund trade

processing, hedge fund management, margin account /risk management and

trade settlements.

REFERENCES Available Upon Request

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