Project Manager Customer Service

BERNARD CALE

Email: *********@********.***

Address: ** * **** **, ***-524

City: CHICAGO

State: IL

Zip: 60605

Country: USA

Phone: 773-***-****

Skill Level: Management

Salary Range: $135,000

Primary Skills/Experience:

See Resume

Educational Background:

See Resume

Job History / Details:

Bernard J. Cale, Jr., MBA, MPM

47 W POLK ST, STE 100-524, CHICAGO, IL 60605-2085

773-***-**** (mobile)

*********@********.*** www.linkedin.com/in/bernardcale

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Accomplished and Proactive Program Manager and Project Manager with experience in program/project management, business process flows, business analysis, process re-engineering, concept modeling and systems development including both infrastructure and application requirements. Proven track record of driving results, developing solutions and documenting complex business requirements; managing user expectations; gathering, developing and translating business requirements; problem solving; and building client relationships.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

SEARS HOLDINGS, HOFFMAN ESTATES, IL

Sr. IT Project Manager: October 2012 - present

Aligning and managing a web based application built for Sears` eCommerce platform. The geographically dispersed team is based on three continents and 5 locations with weekly enhancement releases. Primary stakeholder sits at the highest executive level requiring the ability to handle high pressure delivery situations with ambiguous requirements through communication and executive level expectation management.

* Provide leadership for project team members and the Project Management process.

* Responsible for project communications and required negotiations with internal and external organizations.

* Work with development teams to remove impediments blocking the completion of work or commitments to get this project back on track.

WALGREENS, DEERFIELD, IL

Walgreen Co. (Walgreen) together with its subsidiaries operates a drugstore chain in the United States. The Company provides its customers with multichannel access to consumer goods and services, and pharmacy, health and wellness services in communities across America. Walgreen offers its products and services through drugstores, as well as through mail, by telephone, and via the Internet.

Program Manager: November 2011 - October 2012

Customer Care Campaign Outbound Program / Implementation Management

Walgreens has embarked on a program designed to provide a single resource for project requests and deliver a single conduit for sourcing inbound/outbound campaigns across the Walgreens enterprise. The Program Manager facilitates the proper tracking, reporting on and controlling of customer contact frequency and timing. The result ensures standardized, prioritized customer communications across the enterprise to optimize customer touch points and identify the appropriate channel of delivery (multi-media, telephone, email, text).

* Developed and built the Intake process.

* Standardized the campaign schedule(s).

* Initiated/communicated the process across the enterprise.

* Managed multiple customer contact campaign projects resulting in 100M+ communications to 27M+ households.

* Provide leadership for project managers, team members and the Project Management process.

* Responsible for project communications and required negotiations with internal and external organizations.

* Work with development teams to remove impediments blocking the completion of work or commitments.

* Developed communicative and productive relationships with business owners, team members and other project stakeholders.

* Assisted in the selection of vendors and service providers.

* Built and supported a refill reminder application which has generated $288M in its first six months with $159M in enhancements slated for production before end of calendar year 2012.

IT Project Manager July 2011 - November 2011

Reports to Sr. Program Manager and manages an end-to-end Information Technology Strategy and Implementation Project whose focus is to develop and implement an overall customer contact technology system.

* Identified all information technology interfaces required by each of the projects in the Customer Contact Strategy Program (CCSP). Provide the one point of contact between the project teams and each of the technology teams needed for the program to be successful.

* Gain an in-depth understanding of the technologies that will be impacting the Customer Care Service Program.

* Managed the IEX TotalView upgrade and new architecture implementation project.

* Developed requirements and RFP for a new outbound dialer and centralized IVR.

* Created and distributed preliminary functional requirements to the project SMEs for review, comment and update as required.

Project Manager: Staffing Model May 2011 - July 2011

Reported to Sr. Program Manager and managed a Staffing Model Project to build a multi-channel staff model where activity and time are related to the processes, products and customer segments suitable to each business unit with a smarter and more effective workforce adept at resolving the customer issues presented. The staffing of Pharmacists and specialized skilled customer contact team members was optimized via centralization and Work at Home models. The existing Walgreens customer contact community and current workforce administration information was analyzed to design and build a staffing model based on workload measurements, call type and customer channel.

* Manages development resources (cross-functional, on-shore/off-shore), supports the resolution of defects and any and all other barriers to task completion.

* Manages weekly releases into the quality Control and Production environments.

* Develops and utilizes a strict change control protocols to manage scope, stakeholder expectations, timelines and budgets to increase project lifecycle efficiency and stakeholder satisfaction.

ACE HARDWARE, OAK BROOK, IL

Ace Hardware is a centralized purchasing organization supplying Ace Hardware organization stores globally. The $13 billion retail hardware cooperative is made up of more than 4,600 independent stores in all 50 states of the United States and in 70 different countries.

IT Project Manager December 2010 - March 2011

Reported directly to the Director of the PMO and to IT Director of Business Relationship via matrix project organization. Managed multi-workstream, on-shore/off-shore project team to stabilize IT environment after an SAP implementation affecting multiple functional organizations and business units. Position required a strong understanding of project management concepts and agile methodology, experience with HP Quality Center and a thorough understanding of distributed development and outsourcing. Duties included:

* Lead team meetings.

* Ensure project remains within scope and budget.

* Effectively hit major deadlines to gather and define business/technical requirements.

* Manage team to analyze and resolve defects and provide system enhancements.

* Complete end-to-end process review to identify and resolve gaps and issues.

* Provide solutions to resolve issues that are impacting the ability to run the business now and in the future.

* Develop and observe metrics to gauge and monitor process effectiveness.

* Create and document executable processes to hand off to be monitored.

* Establish the accountability dynamics within the business.

* Coordinate the development of high-level systems design.

* Develop and publish flow-charts and process diagrams.

* Create and manage project plans, level of effort estimates.

ARTHUR J GALLAGHER, ITASCA, IL

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co., one of the world's largest insurance brokerage and risk management services firms, provides a full range of retail and wholesale property/casualty (P/C) brokerage and alternative risk transfer services globally, as well as employee benefit brokerage, consulting and actuarial services. Gallagher also offers claims and information management, risk control consulting and appraisal services to clients around the world.

Accounting Manager (Sr. Business Analyst) August 2010 - December 2010

Reported to Controller and Sr. Account Manager. Performed Business Analysis and Project Management for project to off-shore cash application. A key part of the initiative was to develop an MS SharePoint workflow application to track all receipts, their application within the respective agency systems, and any exceptions for unapplied cash. Utilized Agile and SCRUM methodologies.

* Designed business information systems and incorporates new technical and business processes to improve work-flow, production, efficiency and effectiveness.

* Reviewed the current AS-IS processes to identify and capitalize on opportunities for improvement.

* Worked with Offshore resources to define future state process and transition.

* Investigated lockboxes being used, load processes and access requirements for offshore resources.

* Documented agency systems and access requirements for offshore resources.

* Documented requirements for new applications.

* Worked with Development Team to develop SharePoint workflow applications.

* Coordinated test cases, resources and test plans.

ACCENTURE, LLP, CHICAGO, IL

Fortune Global 500 global management consulting, technology consulting and technology outsourcing company with more than 186,000 people in 52 countries. Clients include 96 of the Fortune Global 100 and more than three quarters of the Fortune Global 500.

Functional Project Manager February 2008 - April 2009

Reported to Sr. Project Manager and Senior Manager. Developed, directed and managed global projects from inception to an end product through the utilization of Agile, Extreme Programming and SCRUM methodologies.

* Managed development resources (cross-functional, on-shore/off-shore), reviewed and approved functional specifications, resolved service execution issues and managed scope control and cost commitments to reduce costs and drive on-time, within budget project completion.

* Developed and utilized change control protocols to manage scope, stakeholder expectations, timelines and budgets to increase project lifecycle efficiency and stakeholder satisfaction.

* Provided expertise in multiple areas of usability and design.

* Tracked results against market trends to determine applicability to products.

* Initiated action to adopt new standards based on business need.

* Managed, developed and conducted user-focused testing to ensure a superior customer experience including Heuristic evaluations, usability testing, and focus groups, resulting in a 15% increase in project participation.

* Created and rolled out cross-product User Interface and Performance standards used by development teams resulting in a 10% decrease in work hours and 30% increase in user satisfaction.

* Created and transitioned high-level designs for new features resulting in 70% reduction in rework.

* Created conceptual design documentation used by development teams to confirm direction and requirements with team management and project sponsors.

* Developed functional specification for pricing and cost tool to be utilized by project teams to estimate and develop cost initial proposals.

JOHNSON CONTROLS, INC., MILWAUKEE, WI

The Fortune 500 company that helped found the controls industry and has remained one of its technological leaders whose focus centers on the temperature control business for nonresidential buildings.

Business Analyst March 2007 - July 2007

Provided business analysis of special project designed to transform the corporate landscape from Maximo database system to a PeopleSoft system via a stage gate project methodology.

* Analyzed the impact of proposed solutions across the business environment and developed use cases to explain business requirements to IT team.

* Contributed a business and process perspective during design reviews that identified, assessed, and documented business requirements.

* Recommended business priorities and advised business units on options, risks and costs to ensure proper development of project deliverables.

* Facilitated the launch of new functionalities through training sessions, demos and the development of appropriate documentation resulting in an increase in user acceptance of new processes and technologies.

* Tracked and mitigated risk while monitoring project progress, providing status reports to stakeholders, business units and project managers.

USG CORPORATION, CHICAGO, IL December 1996 - October 2006

Fortune 500 company and the world`s leading producer of gypsum wallboard, joint compound and a vast array of related products for the construction and remodeling industries.

Developer/Business Analyst/Project Manager

Reported to various managers over the course of six years. Responsible for project development and management across the Software Development Lifecycle.

Manufacturing IT: planned, developed, executed, and finalized full system lifecycle development of enterprise wide Access application (VB6) Data Warehouse project to securely manage global manufacturing costs interfacing with Oracle (finance, Supply Chain Management and CRM), DB2 (CRM, Supply Chain Management, production and logistics) and IMS (product) databases. Process included extensive use of SQL and PL/SQL. Conducted requirements gathering, created business specifications, designed, coded, tested, implemented, documented new application, and developed training materials. Acquiring resources and coordinated the efforts of multi-national, multi-unit team members to deliver project within scheduled timelines and within budget.

eCommerce: developed applications, enhancements and solutions for EDI environment including creation of new and enhanced transactions and introducing new communication and development platforms to the EDI environment (XML, IBM WebSphere). Managed the establishment of the first EDI test environment including development of the procedures to mitigate the risk of EDI server failure including infrastructure and data recovery requirements. Established overall Disaster Recovery procedures for all EDI applications. Conducted project status meetings with both technical and non-technical attendees. Created training materials and documentation for new enhancements and applications to educate the business process owners and users. Developed security profiles and controls including: security administration and planning, authorization and authentication of both users and data to ensure integrity, confidentiality and security of applications and information. Managed internal and external trading partner relationships within EDI environment while developing data maps and transaction schemas to support and expand EDI transactions.

Team Lead (Supply Chain/Customer Service)

Reported to National Accounts Customer Service Manager. Managed a team of 25 CSRs.

* Managed the development and implementation of call monitoring, feedback and quality analysis system to improve customer satisfaction and increase customer care process understanding across all channels with customer care.

* Managed the modeling of customer and company data for introduction of EDI to Customer Service and Supply Chain Management landscapes.

* Reduced overhead and improved transactional efficiencies using EDI Initiatives.

* Developed and implemented best practices and SOPs to be distributed to all Customer Service and Supply Chain Management teams resulting in 50% reduction in order errors.

* Identified and utilized logistical inventory distribution opportunities to enhance service level, optimize product utilization and minimize freight cost.

* Developed and implemented management tools and reports to monitor distribution and service performance in support of Supply Chain Life Cycle resulting in increased product visibility and distribution.

EDUCATION

Master of Project Management (2008)

Keller Graduate School of Management, Chicago, IL

Master of Business Administration (2006)

Keller Graduate School of Management, Chicago, IL

Bachelor of Science Computer Information Systems (2004)

Devry University, Chicago, IL

TECHNICAL SUMMARY

Database DB2, IMS, MS Access, Oracle, PeopleSoft

Programming ANSI X12 (EDI), ASP, C++, HTML/XHTML, JAVA, PL/SQL & SQL, VB6, VB.net, XML

Software and Methodologies Agile, Cognos 8, CRM, Continuous Programming, HP Quality Center, IBM Rational (ClearQuest, ClearCase, Insight, RequisitePro), IBM WebSphere Data Interchange, IRISE, J Creator, Microsoft (Office, Project, SharePoint, Visio), Oracle 9i, Process Analysis/Definition/Re-Engineering, SAP, SCRUM, SwimLane Diagramming, RUP, Unica, UML, Use Cases

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