JAMES BARROW

***** *** ** ***** ● Chino Hills, CA 91709 ● 909-***-**** ● ac60kk@r.postjobfree.com

Senior Business Analyst

Creating sane processes and procedures to improve efficiency in day-to-day tasks and projects

Energetic, highly motivated, and self-directed Business Analyst with over 10 years’ experience whose style is founded in collaboration and driving consensus. Superior ability to peer around the corner to drive the execution of projects that drive business goals.

Comfortable delivering very black and white solutions from grey requirements.

Expertise in systems analysis, business process definition, process re-engineering, and continuous improvement principles.

A global perspective, looking across all regions and lines of business when developing solutions to meet the needs of the organization.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Disney ABC Television Group Burbank, CA Apr 2018 - Sep 2018

Systems Analyst / Product Owner

Systems Analyst within the Media IT Client Engagement Team who provided technically astute and creative analysis and pushed the boundaries in establishing a world class practice with a focus on bridging business needs and technology.

Gathered and defined implementation requirements, working cross-functionally with internal and external stakeholders, Business, Operations and Technology teams, and guiding projects through the entire product development lifecycle.

Write concise and effective user stories by conducting interviews, workflow & process analyses, process analysis, and over-the-shoulder sessions.

Managed the end-to-end delivery of new features and capabilities supporting key business processes, product, and platform improvement initiatives from requirements definition to feature release, including but not limited to: concept, scope, specification, design, prioritization, implementation, business acceptance testing, deployment, maintenance and analytics.

Coordinated with programming teams for major television stunts & campaigns for Disney Channel, Disney XD, Disney Junior, ABC Family, and Freeform.

Responsible for system integrations with MAM, traffic, and digital asset management systems, which included data model reviews and defining reporting/analytics needs, including Tableau dashboards.

Collaborated on projects with BTPs and outside vendors on cutting edge technology for future-proof broadcast and file distribution systems and workflows.

Defined, documented and articulated detailed feature and business requirements for new capabilities and major enhancements, including but not limited to: functional, non-functional, and reporting requirements and use cases in the form of user stories and acceptance criteria.

Managed third party integrations to support strategic partnerships and acted as main point of contact for project implementation.

Made trade-off decisions between functionality, resource, and schedules, and communicated to stakeholders and Technology teams effectively in managing change.

Worked closely with Media Engineering teams to determine plans for feature implementation and deployment with business partners.

Provided technical support for multiple clients including Creative Services, Media Services, Broadcast Engineering, Operations and Non Linear Distribution.

NBC Universal Universal City, CA Apr 2017 - Apr 2018

Business Analyst/Project Manager

Ran day-to-day operations of NBC/Comcast O&O networks on all platforms (iOS and Android apps, website, Apple TV, Kindle Fire and others) and oversaw emerging platforms. Directed content promotion, creation, and scheduling of in-app notifications; management of vendor relationships; quality assurance and troubleshooting, as well as led all product updates and future rollouts across all platforms, including commercials, on-air promotions, interstitials, music videos, shorts, short form & long-form.

Generated full-scale master project schedule and communication plans consisting of multiple projects and components to guide teams through processes that most effectively delivered solutions.

Delivered media services, e streaming video & C3/D4, across multiple providers (cable/satellite/on-demand) and on multiple devices (STB, gaming consoles, AppleTV, Roku, PC/Mac, iPhone/iPad/Android mobile devices etc.) and across multiple formats (MP4, HLS, etc.).

Led Brand Product, Editorial, UX and Marketing teams to ideate on innovative personalization experiences that drove customer satisfaction, retention and engagement.

Oversaw system integration efforts and monitored associated impacts, articulating the way changes affected the users on a day-to-day basis.

Optimized media domain expertise in areas such as content ingest, processing, distribution and playback, with exposure to development efforts on consumer devices such as STB, and mobile platforms (Android & iOS).

Designed and configured API-led connectivity to ensure business groups were empowered to access their best capabilities in delivering applications and projects through discovery, self-service, and reuse.

Increased participation with brands to understand their businesses/organizations and how strategic communications supported key goals and objectives, particularly with respect to NBCU scopes of work.

Walt Disney Imagineerng Glendale, CA Apr 2016 - Apr 2017

Senior Business Analyst Project Lead

Represented stakeholder interests and worked closely with development as part of an Agile development process, Scrum specifically. Led the tactical implementation of product development, as well as working with the key business stakeholders to define overall product requirements, vision and long-term strategic roadmap.

Owned the product and design process by prioritizing sprint tasks, and managing the process for implementing, collecting, and analyzing metrics to drive feature development and work toward the roadmap goals.

Pushed the boundaries of what's possible in Microsoft Excel, white boarding analytics with engineers, and iterating on the monetization model.

Used Agile methodology to collaborate with and empower a cross-functional team to create a project plan. These included storyboarding, sprint planning, daily standups, etc.

Ensured all aspects of the project were clearly defined and processes were documented while working closely with team members, both local and remote, in a collaborative, agile and small team environment.

Directed and managed the project roadmap supporting product & content features driving engagement.

“Owned” the product’s feature and tool set, vision, roadmap and acted as the product evangelist to build awareness and adoption within the organization.

Ensured features and future tools that are requested and implemented scaled in terms of both technology (e.g., performance) and business (e.g., support).

Practiced customer empathy, including the ability to learn about customers in different verticals, geographies, and business lines.

Generated awareness and engaged customers through workshops, sessions, and informal (virtual and face-to-face) interactions.

Contributed to the Agile process by grooming user stories and prioritizing product backlogs across multiple software development and delivery teams.

Universal Studios Universal City, CA Jun 2014 - Apr 2016

Senior Business Analyst/Parks Technology

Worked in coordination with the solution delivery executives, application & technical architects, team leads and members, and third-party vendors to successfully manage and complete project deliverables. Contributed to process improvement initiatives as it related to improving project delivery.

Delivered strategic planning for the Harry Potter program and defined and managed all aspects of project planning including scope, budget, financial forecasting, and scheduling.

Responsible for ensuring that the impact of new or upgraded IT systems were effectively managed to support the delivery of desired business and technology outcomes.

Drive, developed, and continuously monitored key value drivers via business partnership with Production/Sales/Marketing teams to ensure financial/operational efficiencies.

Improved collaboration while generating a high-level of productivity amongst cross-functional teams (with up to 20 resources) to deliver features and functions across multiple development environments and vendors.

Generated scope definition, cross-functional estimates and high-level planning workshops to provide seamless communication and complete delivery of requirements.

Led activities relating to the management of complex analysis, evaluation of alternatives and recommended innovative and effective business solutions.

The Walt Disney Studios Burbank, CA Jun 2013 - Jun 2014

Senior Business Analyst

Responsible for producing, grooming, prioritizing, and overall timely management of the requirements backlog, as well as developed user acceptance criteria. Facilitated business adoption/change management activities and analyzed/reported on the impact of introduced solutions on the business. Gathered requirements for projects by conducting interviews, work flow analysis, process analysis, and observation sessions.

Produced clear and concise workflow documents to drive balanced solutions that considered people, process and technology components.

Evaluated information from multiple sources and distinguished user requests from user needs.

Interfaced with all levels of internal clients and analyzed current business and software development processes.

Facilitated and clarified customer business needs and translated them into application and operational requirements, as well as concise and effective User Stories.

Defined precise and accurate User Story acceptance criteria that was used by developers, automation test frameworks and product owners to ensure that product owner intent was effectively captured.

Created project approval request documentation.

Warner Bros Burbank, CA May 2012 - Jun 2013

Senior Business Analyst

Working with both Agile and Waterfall methodologies, performed complex analysis for finance and accounting aspects of digital sales for the Warner Home Entertainment – Digital Distribution client group. Warner Bros. Digital Distribution oversees content through Video-On-Demand, Pay-Per-View, Electronic Sell-Through and Subscription Video-On-Demand via cable, satellite, online and mobile channels, and also distributes content through third party digital retailers and licensees.

Reduced development time for several business applications, supporting various Warner Home Video (WHV), Warner Bros. Digital Distribution (WBDD), and Interactive Games business divisions (both online and mobile).

Managed design and development of Global WHVDirect.com website used to provide retailers and wholesalers instant access to all WHV products (SKUs) and commercial digital assets and promotional materials.

Developed interface to MARS digital asset management application for WHV ingestion of commercial marketing materials for all WHV products.

Created product schedule and project development roadmap required to support Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment – Games division supporting all new games products (PC, PS2, PSP, Xbox 360, Wii, etc.) in both the domestic and international markets.

Created project development roadmap required to support Warner Bros. Digital Distribution division and electronic streaming of products worldwide, including film, TV (episodic tracking), and music clearance used by all international territories, affiliates and licensees.

DataDirector Rancho Cucamonga, CA Mar 2010 – May 2012

Project Manager – Content Manager

Oversaw large scale programs in 89 school districts across the country, spearheading all project planning and implementation and overseeing local project teams in creating systemic change within school districts.

Developed new process management system that improved curriculum implementation efficiency to more effectively support systemic change. Introduced change management system to improve rate and depth of systemic change.

Trained supervisors within client school districts in duties, techniques, and strategies to improve adoption rates by teachers, compliance with federal guidelines and regulations, and adherence to budget restrictions.

Created and instituted standardized process evaluation protocol, including KPI, to measure level of change created by newly implemented programs and to demonstrate project progress in making required systemic changes and improvements. As a result, 100% of clients were compliant with federal guidelines compared to a baseline of 63%.

Brought an average of five new products to market each year by identifying and capitalizing on unfilled needs of the school districts.

Warner Bros Burbank, CA Mar 2009 - Mar 2010

Product Manager

High-profile manager over DC Entertainment for the Global Franchise Management department, which is home to DC (Superman, Batman, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, The Flash), Vertigo (Sandman, Fables) and MAD, and is the creative division charged with strategically integrating its content across Warner Bros. Entertainment and Time Warner. I collaborated with many key Warner Bros. divisions to unleash its stories and characters across all media, including film, television, consumer products, home entertainment and interactive games.

Identified incremental opportunities across the company in focal areas such as content, distribution, branding and marketing to achieve long-term financial goals.

Responsible for the analysis of insights and preparation of priority franchise plans, as well as tracking performances of brands and franchises, and drove initiatives and projects across the company, in collaboration with WB divisions, territories and partners, to optimize franchise strategies and business objectives.

Led implementation of key DC franchise initiatives including preparing and driving work plans and setting and management of milestones, budgets, and vendors.

Managed presence and activation of DC branding across content, marketing and communication materials.

Universal Music Group Universal City, CA Mar 2008 - Mar 2009

Senior Business Analyst

As part UMG's Application Design & Build group, collaborated with the Enterprise Portfolio Management Project Manager (EPM PM) defining priorities and execution plans to promote and expand UMG's enterprise architecture, inclusive of process, data, application and infrastructure.

Collected and maintained important metadata regarding UMG's processes, systems and infrastructure, and was a critical contributor to the UMG Enterprise Architecture practice, working in concert with data, software, infrastructure, and solution architecture disciplines to build and promote a comprehensive array of standards, tools, strategies, capabilities and ultimately transformation initiatives to best meet the demands of UMG's business into the future.

Developed a mobile app version of UMG’s royalties and insight portal, designed to benefit songwriters by enabling them to access their royalty and deal data easily on the go.

Ensured data freshness and accuracy of UMG's IT Asset catalog through regular interaction with business and IT stakeholders along rigorous execution of the current enterprise portfolio data validation process.

Supported Enterprise Architecture artifact development and maintenance across business, data, application and technology domains in conjunction with the EPM PM and Enterprise Architecture team leadership.

Technicolor Burbank, CA Nov 2006 – Mar 2008

Product Owner

Managed internal and external processes and oversaw all aspects of the post-production processes for innovative online post-production system for asset management. Managed and tracked multiple projects in all phases of post-production, including content ingest, video editing, visual effects, audio mixing, color mastering, encoding, and archival.

Contributed to the deployment of our Media Asset Management (MAM) systems and their web interfaces, connectivity, backup, and archive.

Managed all meta-data tagging in the asset management system while training and overseeing editors through the process.

Quality checked deliverables that were created by and delivered to our team to ensure all assets met our appropriate specs and were ready for distribution and/or archive.

EDUCATION

● California State Polytechnic University, Pomona – BA – Communications & Information Management

● Cal Tech CTME, Pasadena - Detailed Project Management

● IBA Certified Business Analysis Professional (CBAP) Certification

TECHNICAL SKILLS

Microsoft Access, Microsoft Project, Planview Enterprise, Clarity, Scenechronize, PL/SQL, JIRA, Zeppelin, Datameer, Databricks, Confluence, VersionOne, SharePoint, ServiceNow, API Development, Production Accounting, Adobe SiteCatalyst, Cast & Crew, Sargent Disc, XML, Google Docs, SmartSheets, Tableau, Looker, Optimizely, Adobe Test, .NET, MS SQL, Oracle, AWS, Dalet, SDVI, HP Application Lifecycle Management (ALM), Media Supply Chain, DAM, MicroStrategy, Rightsline, FilmTrack, Cloud-based deployment strategies, IBM Cognos TM1, SAP, Jaspersoft, Vantage, MacCaption, Interra Systems (Baton), Aspera (Orchestrator, Enterprise Server, Faspex with Cargo, Rhozet (Carbon Coder), Mediator, Broadcast and NLD workflow development

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