Data Quality

NEELAM DESAI ******.******@*****.***

Data management and data quality lead within Ratings Chief Data Office. Strong experience in business analysis, project management, financial data management (end to end data life cycle management for - financial data, sales and CRM data – Salesforce), data quality management (ratings and reference data, vendor feed data for various domains in financial data - structured finance, financial institutions, insurance and corporations data). Leads a team of 6 offshore data analysts. Acts as primary liaison and coordinates data management, data quality projects with financial and reference data management offshore and onshore teams.

Summary of Core competencies

• 10 years’ experience in Financial Services

o End to end Business Analysis and project management: Skilled at authoring thorough, detailed, high-quality documentation of all aspects of the systems in question, including business requirements, functional requirements, technical requirements, end to end process flows, data flows, use cases and user interface designs. Design and write specifications for new features and/or new releases according to business/client requirements. Defined test plans and managed end to end user acceptance testing (UAT) on various projects, perform cost benefit analysis and handle change requests. Manage projects from inception to implementation including resource management, identify and escalate risks in a timely manner.

o Data management, data analysis, and data quality management with respect to financial data (experience with multiple asset classes – structured finance, corporates, financial institutions and insurance), ratings data, reference data and various vendor data feeds. Experience in all aspects of data operations, data governance including issue management, remediation, defining and measuring KPIs, defining CDEs, business rules, creating end to end data flows, data quality dashboards etc. Active contributor to all aspects of data factory project for various vendor data feeds.

o Thorough knowledge of software development life cycle (SDLC), change management, experience with Agile methodology, scrum techniques (used VersionOne). Experience using Application Life Cycle management (ALM). Experience in data analytics and projects that involved implementations with UX (user experience).

o Advanced skills in writing queries and data manipulation using SQL (Oracle, SQL Server), MS Access, MS Excel (ODBC, power query, power pivot, slicers, array formulas, dashboards).

o Strong Database management skills – experience with various financial databases, reference databases, contracts & CRM databases viz. Ariba, Salesforce CRM platform.

o Experience creating metrics, reports and dashboards using various reporting tools such as Cognos, Business Objects, Qlikview and Microstrategy (Completed training to create reports using Tableau). Experience creating data mart and reporting using various data warehouses.

o Proven results in process design, process improvement, data quality program improvement, external vendor data feed quality improvement

o Knowledge and understanding of Collibra and Informatica Data Quality (IDQ) – completed training.

• Teamwork skills: Experience managing and training a team of 6 resources in the off shore branch of S&P – CRISIL. Experience working with global cross functional teams, including IT, Business Intelligence, stewardship, QA, compliance, sales, product and analytical managers, teams within data operations – including reference data, ratings data, and financial data management, external vendor data feed providers, and internal as well as external audit and regulatory teams. Ability to coordinate on different projects with members of different groups and managers at all levels.

CERTIFICATIONS

• IBM Certified Developer - Cognos 8 BI Metadata Models

• IBM Certified Designer - Cognos 10 BI Reports

• R Programming (completed a course from UCSD with A+, 2017)

Achievements: Participated in process design and development of end to end data management and data quality monitoring for internal financial databases and external vendor feed provided data. Actively involved in onboarding of various vendor data feeds that involved working with data provider, IT and data content teams to ensure high quality of vendor provided data to rating analysts. Developed data quality issue management system and implemented a root cause analysis and remediation process. Defined KPIs and metrics to monitor quality of data for various data domains. Assisted in the creation of data mart using Business Objects. Created a solution in MS Access that resulted in savings of $ 65 K. Involved in creation of various reports and dashboards for senior management and internal business partners, using various BI tools such as Business Objects, Microstrategy, and Qlikview. Identified data quality and process gaps and recommended steps for improvement. Built repeatable and efficient automated solutions to monitor end to end data flow and data quality. Recipient of 2 S&P ACE awards for excellent data quality monitoring and business analysis during implementation of vendor data feeds as part of data factory project.

I. S&P Global (Formerly known as Standard & Poor’s), Ratings Chief Data Office

Functional Role(s) / Job Title:

Data Associate (Data Quality Lead, Data Operations) April 2013 – Present

Business Analyst /Data Manager (Data Operations) August 2007 - March 2013

Responsibilities:

• Evaluate data availability and assess the needs of the various business partners globally to optimize the data collection and data management process. Actively work with IT, data content leads and business partners during the onboarding of new vendor data feeds. Perform vendor due diligence and test vendor provided data packages to ensure the requirements of end users are met and data provided by vendor is of expected quality. Proactively monitor issues with quality of data provided by vendor feeds and negotiate SLAs with vendor in line with requirements of the content teams. Ensure data provided is accurate, complete and in the expected time frame. Escalate any issues in data provided by vendor to the respective data content leads and work with the data provider, IT teams and legal in resolving data issues.

• Monitor quality of reference and financial data in internal databases and external vendor data feeds. Monitor quality of data during ETL process at all stages. Work with cross functional teams (data stewardship, IT) to implement new data quality rules, data validations and enhance existing data quality rules to monitor various dimensions of data quality – accuracy, completeness, timeliness, validity etc. Ensure data validations and data quality rules are properly documented. Review performance against properly defined KPIs / SLAs.

• Mentor a team of 6 data analysts in the offshore team. Train the team members on newly created metrics so the metrics can then be routinely run by the team. Monitor workflow of the offshore team members on a daily basis, recommend various learning paths for the members of the team to enhance their skill sets, perform periodic evaluations and assess their performance. Manage various projects with the offshore team and ensure completion of assigned projects in a timely manner.

• Partner with various data content project leads to identify project scope, objectives and define key milestones and deliverables for each milestone. Document end to end current and future state processes during integration of vendor feeds. Manage changes in project scope and identify any potential issues because of the changed scope. Draft business requirements document (BRD), functional requirements documents (FRD) and technical requirements document during onboarding of new vendor data feed, enhancement of existing product functionalities or creation of new products to suite end user requirements. Perform end to end data mapping including documentation of transformation and business rules. Create documentation on technical, business and operational metadata.

• Define test cases, test plans and work with the Quality Assurance team to ensure all documented test cases cover all test scenarios during each project and are accurately documented and executed in the expected priority. Ensure QA / data testers have clear understanding of the requirements. Ensure that all defects are documented in ALM by the QA team and the defects are remediated by the IT team and developers in a timely manner. Verify test scripts when required and formulate acceptance criteria. Ensure QA dashboards are updated as per the project plan. Resolve all issues identified during the testing process with IT teams.

• Draft various use cases and manage user acceptance testing with various business users during the implementations of various projects and reports. Write detailed user stories and acceptance criteria or all stories. Report on various project statuses and identify risks / impediments to the progression of projects. Escalate issues / risks to project leads and identify resolutions in a timely manner.

• Perform data analysis to ensure accuracy of implemented changes to transformations / vendor mappings during ETL process when required. Ensure change management process is followed and responsible parties are made aware of the changes in product functionalities, changes in internal processes or vendor mappings. Define exception management process allowing data operations users to access exception reports and fix issues when needed. Ensure key risks and issues are identified, documented, mitigated and communicated to the appropriate teams in a timely manner.

• Created issue management database and ensured all quality issues are logged by the responsible parties (offshore data quality management team, data operations team, reference team members) in a timely manner in the Issue Management Database. Ensure that all issues have an associated remediation due date or preventative action due date. Generate reports to highlight outstanding issues and escalate to the appropriate teams for resolution of issues in a timely manner. Automate creation of monthly metric reports from the Issue Management System using Microstrategy Reporting Tool.

• Manage defect management process from identification of defects in data quality to remediation. Triage data quality issues and coordinate with various teams in resolving the data defects. Work with IT, stewardship and data owners to rectify defects in ETL process and resolve data issues. Perform root cause analysis, and seek preventative actions from the responsible parties.

• Define framework for various reports and work with business intelligence and IT teams to create new reports / data analytics dashboards (using tools such Microstrategy, Qlikview, Excel). Identify defects in existing reports, processes and make recommendations to streamline existing inefficient processes to enable high quality of data and robust reporting. Identify risks resulting from defects in various operational processes, defects in ETL logic and defects in data within various reference databases and escalate to the appropriate teams for resolution of defects / improvements in processes

• Participate in policy and procedure committees in developing strategies to ensure data integrity for reporting and data visualization purposes. Design metrics to measure process efficiencies, KPIs and create reports and control charts that reflect end to end quality of data within internal databases (from sourcing of data to data flow to downstream systems) and external vendor data feeds. Work with analytical and data management partners globally to refine KPIs, targets and thresholds on a periodic basis.

• Create metrics to ensure that data provided to the analytical team are complete, accurate and are made available to the analytical users and downstream products in a timely manner. Ensure all vendor feed data is provided in the expected timeframe and is transmitted across internal systems in a timely manner. Similarly, ensure that data in the internal databases is transmitted accurately and in a timely manner to downstream products. Troubleshoot the reasons for the delays and missing data with the IT department and/ or external data providers, as applicable. Create dashboards to show visibility into end to end quality of data. Generate monthly metrics dashboard.

• Work with the internal controls and data content management teams to ensure that appropriate internal controls are in place. Recommend control enhancements, ensure that actions related to issues identified are remediated. Assist with development and enhancement of control plans, and identify and analyze gaps in controls process and suggest updates to control procedures.

• Work with data content and data stewards to create a glossary to store standardized data definitions, list of critical to quality data elements for various domains, various business rules using the data governance tool Collibra so data can be used reliably between different databases. Ensure that there is appropriate ownership of business rules by data management teams and business partners. For metadata documentation, ensure that there is appropriate audit trail of changes made to the systems and lineage is accurately documented.

Other Projects:

• Managed sales, CRM and contracts data using various Contracts Management and CRM databases (Ariba, Salesforce). Managed various projects as assigned and tracked the progress of the project, ensuring risk management in a timely manner at different stages of the project.

• Worked with various contracts database vendors to identify appropriate software to be used as contracts management system that could be used with Salesforce. Worked with legal department users and Attorneys to gather requirements for modification of Apttus Contracts database for integration with Salesforce CRM. Created use cases for ensuring accuracy of implementation and participated in the UAT sessions.

• Played a major role in ensuring migration of data from Ariba to Apttus was accurate. Worked with the Salesforce and IT team in ensuring accurate migration of data. Post migration to Salesforce, monitored quality of Sales and contracts data and created reports and dashboards using Salesforce for Attorneys and Sales Managers.

• After migration to Salesforce, ensured the accuracy of reference data for various client accounts in Salesforce. Created reports to identify data discrepancies in the CRM system. Worked with the CRM support team to create various data quality rules and resolve data issues in Salesforce.

• Developed reports using MS Access, Business Objects, and Salesforce.com to monitor workflow of legal department personnel on a weekly, monthly and quarterly basis for Senior Management. Created dashboards for Sales Managers and provided insight into the sales performance and revenues generated by various departments for different business units.

• Drafted requirements for creation of Data Mart for reporting purposes using Business Objects. Worked with the Business Intelligence team in ensuring the incorporation of appropriate data elements and measures to support departmental metrics. Migrated reports in Access to Business Objects reports. Generated on demand reports from the Data Mart for Attorneys and Sales Managers.

II. Company : Tata Consultancy Services

Role: Data Manager March 2006 – August 2007

Responsibilities:

• Created, established and rolled-out contract management process starting from gathering requirements from users to modify the existing systems within the department to creating a robust reporting system. Managed a comprehensive contracts database with workflow manager to track various steps during Contract negotiations – from inception of a deal to completion of contracts including onboarding of consultants and completion of deliverables. Refined the workflow steps in the contract management system to accommodate variations in the departmental workflow based on workflow diagrams. Increased the efficiency of the Legal Department contracts process by identifying bottle necks during the end to end process.

• Developed monthly reports using MS Access and Cognos reporting tool for management to track the workflow of legal department attorneys and ensured completion of various contractual negotiations in a timely manner. Matched the revenues generated for various regional branches to the Sales Targets.

• Assisted and supported the General Counsel and 7 attorneys with regards to information technology contracts and responses to RFPs, RFIs and RFQs. Acted as a liaison between the legal department attorneys, various Business Managers and outside Counsels on various projects.

PRIOR EXPERIENCE

Albert Einstein College of Medicine

Postdoctoral Research Associate January 2001 – February 2006

EDUCATIONAL QUALIFICATIONS

Ph.D. (Biotechnology, University of Pune, India) December 2002 (degree awarded)

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