Binnu Thomas
******@*****.*** / 1-609-***-****
Professional Summary
Program/Project/Delivery Manager and Agile coach/Certified Scrum Master (CSM) with an IBM certification as System Administrator as well as Integration and Infrastructure Specialist. Executed multi-million dollar projects with teams of varying sizes. Recently the roles have been Project Manager, Scrum Master, Integration & Infrastructure specialist and DevOps Lead.
Solid in project management essentials of initiating, planning, executing, monitoring, and closing as well as processes, methodologies, tools, scope of management, budgeting, financial tracking, scheduling, resource management, solution identification and assessment, vendor selection, contract negotiations, gathering and writing business & technical specifications, and off-shore development center management. Proficient in Waterfall, Agile, Scrum, PMBOK and various project management methodologies.
Experienced Business Analyst working simultaneously with various end users across the globe in financial domain and convert them into Requirement and Test Specifications. He has also capable to provide Effective training, motivating and mentoring onsite and offshore team members as well. He also got experience in Architecture design, Performance Tuning, Load Testing, Sanity Testing, High Availability and Disaster Recovery.
Hands on DevOps engineer and Integration/Infrastructure consultant. Implemented end-to-end automated DevOps pipelines for various IBM middleware platforms. Implemented solutions leveraging Docker container technology, UCD plugins or ANT scripts for automation in a Jazz build engine, Jenkins and Bamboo. Strong scripting skills using ANT, UNIX shell scripting. Installed and configured various IBM products in multiple platforms.
Possesses years of experience in leading small, medium and large development and operations teams, including architecting, designing, installing, developing, integrating and deploying legacy, distributed, multi-tier, object-oriented applications for public and private organizations. Works collaboratively with development teams both onsite and offshore as well as stakeholders to help their businesses achieve their business and technical goals.
Strong communication skills, analytical, problem-solving, and management skills and ability to develop inter-personal relationships vertically and horizontally in the organization. Possess a positive mental attitude towards every situation and is a proactive person, a go getter and excels in producing professional documentation.
Professional Experience Summary
Organization
Position
Duration
Location
Prolifics, IBM partner company
Program/Project Manager
May 2008 till date
New York, NY
MicroAgility Inc.
Project Manager
Apr 2007 – Apr 2008
Plainsboro, NJ
IBM
IT Lead
Jul 2005 – Jan 2007
Singapore
Citigroup
Project Manager
Jan 2001 – Jun 2005
Singapore
Temasek Polytechnic
System Analyst
Nov 1999 – Oct 2000
Singapore
Reuters
Analyst Programmer
Mar 1999 – Aug 2000
Singapore
CPF Board
Analyst Programmer
Mar 1997 – Feb 1999
Singapore
Areas of Excellence
• Program/project management • Integration and Infrastructure • Installation, Migrations and Upgrades
• Scrum, Waterfall, Agile, PMBOK • Issues & Risk / Change Management • Partner & Vendor Management
• Banking & Finance background • Healthcare domain expertise • Production Support
• IBM Technology expertise • Monitoring & Automation • Solution Architecture
• Quality Assurance • Content Management Systems • Business Analysis
• Trainer and Mentor • Customer Service/Engagement • Financial Oversight & Budgeting
• Resource Management • Release Management • Product Development
• DevOps/ Docker • Continuous Integration / Development • Cloud and cloud services
Core Skills – Project Management, DevOps, Integration & Infrastructure
Project Management
Domain Expertise : Corporate & Retail Banking, Finance, Retail, Healthcare, Telecom, Education, Govt Sector, Mortgage
PM Methodologies : Waterfall, RUP, Agile, Scrum, SDLC, ITIL
Organizational Tools : JIRA, Confluence, SharePoint, Salesforce, Rational Team Concert, Google Docs, Documentum, MS Office Suite, Wideband Delphi
Planning Methodologies : Critical Chain Project Management, Critical chain / path, Triple Constraint Theory, Process Improvement
IBM Platform DevOps
Implemented Prolifics Build Conductor, a ready-to-use automation engine for popular DevOps tools such as Rational Team Concert, Urban Code Deploy or other leading automation engines. Implemented end-to-end automated DevOps pipelines for various IBM middleware platforms. Implemented solutions leveraging Docker container technology, UCD plugins or ANT scripts for automation in a Jazz build engine, Jenkins and Bamboo
WebSphere BPM, Application Server, MQ, IIB & MFT
Conducted Infrastructure analysis and provided recommendations. Installed and configured on various operating systems. Worked with Patches, Upgrades and Migration. Developed scripts to automate configuration and deployment. Performed Infrastructure capacity planning and Performance Tuning. Executed Production Support and troubleshooting.
Rational Team Concert
Conducted Requirements gathering and planning. Installed and configured the product. Worked with advanced configuration of the process aspects of the platform. Mentored clients and teams. Performed migration from and to various versions. Developed and implemented Automated Build and deployment.
Other Skills
Smarter Process: Business Process Management, Decision Management, Enterprise content management
Digital Experience: Portal & Web Content Management, Social Business & Collaboration, End-to-End Mobile Development
IBM Products: IBM Cloud, IBM SOA, API Connect, WAS, Connect:Direct, WPS, WID, WMQ / IIB, WMB, WODM / ILOG, WSRR, WXS, Pure, RTC, Data Stage, Data Power, Tivoli, ITCAM / APM
DevOps: Rational Team Concert, Prolifics Build Conductor, Urban Code, Jenkins, GIT, Docker, Chef, Puppet
API Economy: API Portal, API Gateway, API Hosting, API Lifecycle
Java Technologies : Java/J2EE, Java Beans, EJB, JSP, Servlets, JDBC, JNDI, SOAP, RMI, AJAX, Spring, Hibernate, DOJO, JUnit
WebServices: XML, JSON, WSDL, BPEL, SOAP, REST,
Design Patterns : Object Oriented Analysis/Design (OOA/OOD), Model-View-Controller (MVC), Data Flow Diagrams (DFD), Unified Modeling Language (UML)
Solutions: API, B2B EDI, SOA, Data Integration, DevOps, ESB, Mobile
Scripting: Unix shell scripting, Jython, Python, ANT, JACL
App/Web Server : WAS, WebLogic Server, SunOne Web Server, Tomcat
IDE: Rational Application Developer Studio (RAD), Eclipse, WebSphere Studio Application Developer (WASD), Visual Café and Visual Age for Java
Database: Mongo, Oracle, DB2, SQL Server, Informix, IDMS, VSAM, MS Access.
IT Security: Internet Security, Ethical Hack, App Scan, Vulnerability Assessment, Proxy-in-between, PKI Encryption, Certificate management, TCP/IP, NAT, FTP, SSH, HPPTS, SSL
Testing/QA : Mercury Test Director, Load Runner, Bugzilla
Other Technologies : ASP, Connect:Direct (NDM), SQL Windows 3.1/ 5.0.4, Centura 1.5, C, COBOL, Easytrieve Plus, CICS, ADSO, JCL
Operating System: Sun Solaris, UNIX, AIX, HP-UX, flavors of LINUX, Windows, MVS/XA, OS/390
Hardware: AIX, SUN, HP, IBM Mainframes ES9000
Professional Experience Details
Prolifics – Project Manager / Senior Consultant
HealthNow, NY – Project Manager – Jan 2017 – Till date
Leads an array of activities including initializing and planning projects, developing project cost structure, tracking and reporting project deliverables, managing risk, applying project management processes and tools and ensuring projects are completed on time, within budget, and with high customer satisfaction
BJs, MA – Build & Deploy Architect – Sep 2016 – Dec 2016
Provide solution for continuous integration and continuous delivery (CICD). Implement automated build and deploy process. Mentor and train the team on RTC, Automated builds
Two Sigma, TX – MQ Architect – Aug 2016 – Sep 2016
Migrate MQ to v9. Architect the disaster recover solution. Provide mentoring and training in MQ concepts and support
Penske, Reading, PA – Project Manager – May 2016 – Jul 2016
Manages the project effort, defines and manages project activity and provides direction. Worked with offshore and onshore team to make sure the delivery is on time with quality. Worked with the various stake holders to ensure effective cross team coordination and communication. Created and managed the task level project schedule for team and produced weekly progress reports based on the project plan
Ralph Lauren, New York, NY – Program Manager – Aug 2015 – Jul 2017 (multiple projects)
Implemented the solution successfully for various projects. Created and managed the program level and project level plans. Produced weekly status reports based and presented to various stake holders. Worked with the various stake holders to ensure effective cross team coordination and communication including external vendors and third parties. Performed advisory roles for changing requirements and testing demands (concurrent and duplicate transfers) by integrating with various players. Performed analysis on the requirements and provided technical design.
Installed, configured MQ MFT on various servers. Developed scripts for file transfers and automation for a very large number of transfers. Performed product upgrades from FTE to MFT. Assisted in testing cycles conducted. Implemented solutions that fits the requirements of the project
MassMutual, Springfield, MA – WAS Advisor – Jan 2015 – Jul 2015
Conducted Infrastructure analysis on the existing WAS environment. Analyzed the pain points and provided recommendations to be implemented. Conducted series of training sessions on problem determination, automation, scripting and Jython. Implemented health policies as a proactive measure to manage the WAS environment. Helped in day to day troubleshooting
TBC, Juno Beach, FL – RTC Lead – Oct 2012 – Dec 2014
Lead the requirements gathering for the migration. Planned the entire migration process. Migrated RTC from v2 to v4 and integrated with MB 7. Installed and configured RTC v5 and integrated with IIB 9. Mentored the team on installation, configuration and new features of RTC
Stearns, Santa Ana, CA – WAS Admin – Sep 2014
Lead the planning f installation and architecture. Performed an iterative refinement of process. Installed and configured 7 servers with WAS. Configured clustering and automated with scripting. Provided support to application teams during testing.
Herff Jones, Indianapolis, IN – RTC Lead – May 2014 – Jun 2014
Gathered requirements for the RTC. Liaison to Salesforce integration via Cast Iron. Installed and configured RTC v4. Mentored the team on installation, configuration and features of RTC
BCBS, Newark, NJ – Delivery Manager – Oct 2012 – Feb 2014
Provided service delivery management for BPM Managed Services. Oversees the project effort, defines and manages project activity and provides direction. Responsible to deliver services described in this SOW, focusing on Availability, Management, Change Management, Incident Management and Performance Management. Builds and sustains effective communications with customer toward the goal of maximum customer satisfaction.
Collaborated across multiple platforms, departments and people in different time zones. Provides the following point of contact services. Responsible to provide multi-tiered support, with different SLA’s for production and non-production environments
Apple Vacation, Newtown Square, PA – Project Manager – Apr 2012 – Oct 2012
Oversees the project effort, defines and manages project activity and provides direction. Worked with project stakeholders to understand their workflow and pain points in their area of operation. Worked with the various stake holders to ensure effective cross team coordination and communication. Created and managed the task level project schedule for team and produced weekly progress reports based on the schedule
DOHMH, New York City, NY – Program/Account Manager – Dec 2010 – Oct 2012
Spearheaded the project requirement study and came up with Functional Requirements document. Lead an array of activities including initializing and planning projects, developing project cost structure, tracking and reporting project deliverables, managing risk, applying project management processes and tools and ensuring projects are completed on time, within budget, and with high customer satisfaction. Coordinated with offshore for the deliverables and coordinate reviews with client for sign-offs and point of contact for the over project progress. Created and managed the task level project schedule for team and produced weekly progress reports to various stake holders
Pep Boys – Project Manager – Sep 2010 – Nov 2010
Oversees the project effort, defines and manages project activity and provides direction. Worked with project stakeholders to understand their workflow and pain points in their area of operation. Worked with the various stake holders to ensure effective cross team coordination and communication. Created and managed the task level project schedule for team and produced weekly progress reports based on the schedule
CIC, Cincinnati, OH – Project Manager – May 2010 – Jun 2010
Worked with project stakeholders to understand their workflow and pain points in their area of operation. Coordinated with various stakeholders to conduct interviews with them to come up with a scope agreeable for all
Huntington Bank, Providence, RI – Project Manager – Feb 2010 – May 2010
Worked with project stakeholders to understand their workflow and pain points in their area of operation. Coordinated with various stakeholders to conduct interviews with them to come up with a scope agreeable for all. Took ownership and worked closely with all team members for all the deliverables. Responsible for tracking project budget against hours and cost
RBS, NYC – Project Manager – Feb 2010 – Apr 2010
Worked with project stakeholders to understand and document the requirements. Developed, managed and tracked project status and plan. Responsible for tracking project budget against hours and cost.
British Telecom, New York, NY – Program/Account Manager – May 2008 – Dec 2009
BT is a very large IBM MQ shop with more than 4000 installations of MQ and 400 installations of MB. The project requires qualified administrators/developers to work on new MQ/MB build requests from various application teams that are a part of their 3 major Lines of Business – Retail, Wholesale and Openreach.
Responsible for the successful planning, execution, monitoring, control and closure of a project. Created and groomed a team of 10 people to start the work from NY location. Doubled the team size to 20 people in a year, with a totally new team working from Bangalore, India location. Drafted and implemented Process work flow for the whole team. Drafted and implemented team structure with a buddy system and 3 step Quality Control process for every deliverable.
Responsible for tracking and documenting status update every day. Responsible for tracking project budget against hours and cost. Created training materials that enable anyone to prepare and get ready to be productive from day one. Conducted training to the whole team in India as well as to new hires. Provided business stakeholders with regular status updates
Satellite Radio Company, NYC – Project Manager
Sirius & SM Merger – Project Manager – Feb 2008 – Apr 2008
This project was in conjunction with the possible merger of Sirius and XM, the only two players in satellite radio domain. The executive management decided to offer subscribers the ability to choose a “pay-for-content” plan, which will present an a la carte content selection for those subscribers with new, a la carte-ready receivers. The best of both SIRIUS and XM will be available at a lower cost than the price of subscribing to both services separately. This is a highly critical and time bound project due to company’s commitment to the Senate.
Took charge of critical time bound project in a relative shorter time frame to deliver the project as required by the senior management. Provided technical guidance and reviewed technical documents to the vendor and helped manage the expectations of the company. Created and maintained integrated project plans for all the different component teams involved in the project. Worked and coordinated tasks with different teams and departments and escalated the relevant issues to respective people proactively.
Online Video Platform Company, Boston, MA – Project Manager
Infrastructure Migration – Project Manager – Aug 2007 – Jan 2008
PermissionTV puts the power of online video into internet. PTV offers the most flexible platform for delivering innovative and interactive video experiences on the Web. PTV tools empower companies to use video to capture new audiences, enhance relationships and maximize customer value. Corporations, agencies, media companies and public interest organizations use the PTV platform to design, manage, measure and continuously refine video interactions.
Reports directly to the CEO of the company and works closely with VP/CTO of engineering for product roadmap and client services projects as well as with Director of Infrastructure for all the infrastructure related projects. Spearheaded the infrastructure migration project that was required for maintaining client expectation in terms of SLA by interacting with various vendor teams, local development teams, client services and service provider. Worked with the marketing team for Product management for the PDK changes, innovations, roadmaps and releases. Created use cases for infrastructure requirements that include BAU, Operational, Synchronization, Automation and Security requirements.
Introduced agile methodology and scrum meetings to the existing processes to meet the rapid and dynamic customer requirements. Prepared test strategy and lead QA team to create test plans, ensure quality and performance. Prepared and implemented various process changes pertaining to change management, requirements gathering, customer support infrastructure etc. Managed product maps, client implementation and infrastructure projects and ensured completion.
Neighborhood Health Plan, Boston, MA – Project Manager
Financial Reporting – Project Manager – Apr 2007 – Aug 2007
NHP went live with QNXT software for their various accounting and operations, but the software was lacking critical reports that were crucial for budgeting, planning and decision making for various departments like Finance, Customer services, Claims Ops, Enrollment Ops etc. The existing team structure and development methodology were based on previously existed legacy applications. They were not able to cope with the latest technologies and software development frame works.
Drafted proposals for process re-engineering within the organization so that the IT department can adhere to the latest technologies and methodologies. Interviewed various people within the department to understand the roles that they were doing and proposed new team structure that’s required to meet the current technologies and requirements. Proposed a new agile development methodology that can comprehend the necessities dynamic and flexible user requirements. Revamped the business analysis process and created new templates and enforced process. Created and managed Project plans. Conducted daily scrum meetings, got updates from various teams and updated the status regularly to senior management as well as managed risk and issues in the project
IBM Global Services, IBM – IT Lead
Cheque Verification System (CVS) – IT Lead – Jul 2005 – Jan 2007
CTS/CVS is an image-based cheque clearing system. In CTS, cheque is scanned upon deposit and its electronic image (instead of the physical cheque itself) is transmitted throughout the entire clearing cycle.
Managed people, resources and project in accordance to the contractual obligations between IBM and DBS Bank. Lead project team (customer, internal team and vendors) to deliver integration solution from development, testing, installation to acceptance. Created and maintained project plans. Analyzed customer requirements and provided detailed solution design and specification. Ensured solution delivered met customer requirements, was on time and within budget. Provided on-going support to customer on integration solution enhancements.
Negative File Transfer (NX Open) – IT Lead – Jul 2005 – Jan 2007
NX is an intermediate system that stands between loans application and Credit Bureau. It is a central record system that stores all negative information from borrowing facilities of the customers of DBS bank. This information was used for the credit assessment, risk evaluation and effective management of credit performance for the DBS bank.
Managed people, resources and project in accordance with the contractual obligations between IBM and DBS Bank. Lead project team (customer, internal and vendors) to deliver integration solution from development, testing, installation to acceptance. Created and maintained project plans. Ensured solution delivered met customer requirements, was on time and within budget.
Global Corporate and Investment Banking (GCIB), Citigroup – Project Manager
eBilling – Project/Product Manager – Jan 2001 – Jun 2005
eBilling consists of B2B Gateway, an end-to-end solution for the consolidation, presentment and payment of invoices from multiple suppliers’ organizations. This solution enables the suppliers to upload invoices from various sources to the PEX B2B gateway for presentment and payment. The buyers are able to register with the gateway to view and process invoices online. The gateway also enables registered buyers to dispute invoices online. The dispute functionality coupled with the work flow approval capability creates an environment that facilitates efficient delivery, presentment and payment of bills in a secure environment.
Worked as a Project Manager to manage, coordinate and implement Electronic Bill presentment and Payment product for the corporate clients in Asia Pacific, Europe and Latin American Countries. Developed and maintained business models. Worked with marketing team, clients and customers to understand the requirements and incorporated as core product functionalities. Managed people, resources and project in order to ensure successful delivery of complete solutions to customers. Worked closely with the product management to finalize the roadmap and product releases. Promoted the building of good relationships between business, customers and technology
Captured and analyzed the requirements from the corporate customers of Citigroup in Latin American countries. Analyzed and understood the processes to ensure that the context and implications of change are understood by the clients and the project team. Organized, recorded and tracked daily, weekly and bi-weekly review Team meeting Interacted with relevant stakeholders to review improvements to processes and procedures. Provided schedule and resource planning and allocation for solution design, development, testing and roll-out
Worked closely with the product testing teams to ensure product quality. Prepared and distributed reports and documents to senior management and other relevant stake holders. Provided mentoring to other team members and end users to enhance skills, business and functional knowledge. Identified risks, prepared risk mitigation plans and executed contingency actions
Created and maintained Escalation plan. Investigated and resolved product issues brought up through the customer support in accordance with agreed processes and Service Level Agreements. Managed and coordinated Vulnerability Assessment Tests. Implemented and performed High Availability, Performance Tuning, Load Testing and Disaster Recovery for the application.
PIMS (Payment Interface Management System – Project Manager – Jan 2001 – Jun 2005
PIMS acts as a middle layer between enterprise wide applications (Intranet and internet) and Citibank Backend Core Processing systems (FC, BSI, GFH etc). Through these applications Citibank can facilitate payment processing (Electronic Fund Transfer, GIRO Collections, Direct Debit, and Speed Collect), invoice processing (Wholesale Lock Box) and Credit card processing (Online and Offline). PIMS communicates with other systems like Front-end applications and Citibank Backend systems through IBM MQ Series, Sterling’s Connect:Direct and Citibank’s proprietary software SSLXFR (using openssl). PIMS has its own Parameter Driven Services (Java threads) to process the Transaction instructions. Credit card service is a multithreaded process and handles online Credit card Payments. PIMS communicates with different Internet Payment Gateways based on the type/mode of Credit card payment.
Created and maintained project plans. Managed resources in accordance with project plans. Worked closely with the product testing teams to ensure product quality. Investigated and resolved product issues brought up through the customer support, in accordance with agreed processes and Service Level Agreements.
Temasek Polytechnic – Project Lead
Modular System (Student Financials System Study) – Project Lead – Nov 1999 – Oct 2000
The existing Student Billing System was re-developed to cater for the new requirements as well as address the limitations in the existing system. The objective of the project was to study the existing system in detail, document it and identify new functional requirements.
Led the team of 6 persons for the system study. Prepared the tender specifications for Student Financials System. Carefully studied the requirements, scheduled meetings with users and prepared minutes for the meeting. Prepared documentation regarding the existing system
Student Development System (SDS) – Analyst Programmer – Nov 1999 – Oct 2000
SDS was developed utilizing J2EE architecture, to monitor and track students’ extracurricular activities. The Student Development System allows Student Development & Alumni Division (SDAD) to monitor and track the student population and co-curricular activities (CCA) participation as well as their CCA Award and Achievement. The front-end was designed using JSP and the business logic is written in Enterprise Java Beans (EJB). Servlets acts as the controller to access the data through entity and session beans. The SDS also interacts with other systems like Student Information System (SIS) to access the student information.
Utilized JSP, Servlets and EJB(s) to write code for the system. Deployed the EJB(s), developed for the implementation of business logic. Integrated with other subsystems. Tested the system in the local version of WebLogic.
Reuters – Analyst Programmer
UKI Core Suite Migration – Analyst Programmer – Mar 1999 – Aug 2000
The role in Reuters was of a Project Coordinator as well as System Analyst. Proper coordination was essential since the project requirement was for UK and Ireland, developed in Singapore. In accordance with the company's desire to adopt administration standards and a single administration system globally, decision was made to migrate the sales order processing system from ISIS (existing Oracle system) to Core suite components (System in Mainframes). All Front Line Business Units (FLBU) with the exception of the UK and Ireland used Core Suite applications to support their business. The purpose of this project was to develop and deliver Core Suite functionality for UK and Ireland.
Prepared Functional, Design and Unit Specifications for the modules. Interacted with users to gather information and analyzed the requirements for UK and Ireland. Carried out coding of various modules. Performed Unit testing, Integration testing, and released the system for User Acceptance Testing (UAT). Updated the project for Reuter’s intranet.
Central Provident Fund Board (CPF Board) – Analyst Programmer
MS Revamp – Analyst Programmer – Mar 1997 – Feb 1999
The project was to revamp the whole system within MIS. It included restructuring of database to accommodate the expanded fields and to cater for the expanded fields in the programs. Modularizing the common functions and cater for Y2K changes.
Managed the progress of subsystems which included MED (Medisave) for the employees medical benefits, SEM (Self Employment) which protects those who are involved in self-employment, PHS (Public Housing Scheme) helps people with housing needs. Developed sub-routines for common functionalities and performed Unit tests of systems that required modifications. Created parallel run environment for the team’s batch applications and conducted and coordinated the integration testing. Ported over the completed applications to production
MVS COBOL Upgrade – Analyst Programmer – Mar 1997 – Feb 1999
This project was intended to serve as a step for the conversion of Operating System from MVS/ESA to OS/390. MVS/ESA the current OS on Mainframe was not Y2K compliant and the OS was going to be migrated to OS/390, which in turn did not support OS/VS COBOL and VS COBOL II compilers. The benefits of the migration being Y2K coding capabilities, built in Math functions, Structured Programming, Object oriented extension etc. The first phase of the project was to convert all routines used by the system to MVS COBOL with the help of CCCA utility. The second phase was to convert all batch programs to MVS COBOL. Final phase deals with the online applications.
Developed new Endevor MVS COBOL processors and amended the existing one. Link-edited all OS/VS COBOL and COBOL II programs. Tested MVS COBOL.. Tested selected programs according to the subroutine, frequency of usage and criticality.
Education
Honors