Prakash Tobarran

774-***-****

* ********* ***** *********, ** 01609

Summary of Qualifications

Strategic thinker with problem-solving skills and the ability to recognize situations and make appropriate recommendations. Highly developed technical skills and business acumen. Productive, consistent, and effective collaborator who thrives in demanding, fast-paced and ever-changing environment. Experienced and savvy professional with several years of experience in the DB, DC, H&W, HR, Payroll and Financial Services Industry. Expertise in various investment products, services and distribution channels. Visionary in providing business solutions in a TQM environment. Reliable, detailed, results-oriented professional with extensive relationship, communication, systems, operations and solid project management and superior organizational skills. Ability to perform above expectations under tremendous pressures and deadlines with accuracy. Knowledge of and experience in all facets of Pension Plan Administration including various systems enhancements, business requirements analysis, QA testing, investment selections, auditing, compliance and regulatory filing. Extensive knowledge of applicable sections of ERISA, DOL, IRC and HIPAA. Strong IT systems analysis, SDLC, Traditional, Waterfall and AGILE methodologies and database experiences, expert MS Excel skills, proficiency with MS Project, IRS regulations, Plan compliance and administrative processes. Excellent communication, attention to detail, analytical and relationship building skills.

IT Core Competencies – Business Systems Analyst, Testing and Project Management

Developed business requirements for operations, compliance and administration projects, coordinated user acceptance testing, monitored progress and provided status reports to senior executives and management

Worked within context of an agile scrum team to evaluate user stories and verified practicality and applicability of enhancement requests, analyzed user stories for testability and scope of testing effort

Provided agile scrum team with best estimate of testing effort and deliverables

Identified risks associated with testing efforts and making appropriate judgments to minimize risks while delivering on commitments and within tight project schedules

Defined and communicate appropriate approaches to test assigned functionality, governed by complexity and scope

Created and executed test cases demonstrating coverage of all user stories acceptance criteria

Reporting defects and errors, as well as status of testing efforts and challenges

Established and maintained appropriate test bed data and repository with consideration of dynamic and encrypted elements

Implemented adjustments to database schema, user interfaces, and business logic modules as necessary

Utilized technical and domain expertise to mentor team members, improve efficiencies, and refine processes and procedures

Evaluate end user documentation using end product, general knowledge, and content of user stories

Liaison for all IT projects with excellent analytical skills and experience with documentation and capturing requirements

Responsible for updating and maintaining the departments access and excel databases

Represented our team in IT project meetings, conducted and coordinated user acceptance testing, meeting regularly with IT team to monitor the progress of the project and managing the implementation to ensure completion by deadline

Served as the project lead for all required updates, including but not limited to gathering the required updates based on business and regulatory need, drafting requirements for IT purposes, conducting and coordinating user acceptance testing, and managing the implementation within the system to ensure the updates are completed by deadline

Responsible for developing the business case and requirements for all new IT projects, meeting with the stakeholders to determine objectives, drafting detailed requirements based on the objectives and meeting with IT to determine deadlines and format

Developed and maintained reports utilized by staff to manage and prioritize work, and management to monitor accuracy and production as well as required actions and responses by members

Responsible for evaluating current technology processes and providing recommendations to Executives and Program Management for consideration, evaluation of manual processes to determine where technology could be leveraged or an evaluation of existing databases for consolidation

Worked effectively and proficiently in a fast paced environment with competing priorities as part of a cross-functional team. Ability to build and manage relationships effectively in a matrixed environment

Worked closely with end users to analyze and design systems solutions to business problems and needs while acting as a consultant to the development teams. Ability to define issues, establish facts and draw valid conclusions and apply to work environment

Participated in all phases of the systems development lifecycle, from discovery, project scoping, planning, and requirements definition, to issues resolution, testing and implementation; strong multiple corporate actions experience and extensive system test experiences

Developed test cases and participated in system test support, user acceptance testing, participated in data analysis by researching the business rules that governed data relationships

Interfaced with the quality assurance team to ensure that systems functionality meets user requirements

Participated in user interviews and analysis of operations workflows to identify automation opportunities

Translated business requirements to detailed functional specifications

Identified functional requirements for prototypes, facilitated the definition and development of technical specifications by working with programmer analysts

Worked with project leaders to develop project plans that reflect business analysis approach, deliverables and estimates, provided ongoing support to the development team by tracking and resolving issues throughout the life of the project including system roll-outs

Interacted regularly with business partners of varying associate and management levels to ensure clarity of the problems and opportunities and elicited business requirements. Determined and utilized appropriate elicitation method based on stakeholders and desired outcome to elicit requirements and document information for use in analysis. Validated requirements elicited matched the stakeholder’s understanding of the problem and stakeholder needs on medium to high complexity projects. Developed and maintained project documentation including formal proposals, feasibility studies, investigations, requirements specifications, use cases, system test cases, design documents, and testing plans according to standard system development lifecycle methodologies ensuring business expectations related to scope are also established and managed.

Articulated detailed understanding of the business being analyzed including the organizational structure and relationships that exist between business units and an understanding of the business impact of the request being addressed to provide better insight in solution recommendations. Assisted business to identify and clarify business need, problem, or opportunity. Assessed the capabilities of the business channel/group to understand the change needed to meet business needs and achieve strategic goals.

Developed and evaluated alternative solutions and identified a recommended solution on medium to high complexity projects leveraging existing systems where feasible. Presented evaluation of alternatives and recommendations to the business for the purpose of determining and agreeing upon the best resolution. Used negotiation skills to influence project team and gain consensus on the selection of the most viable solution. Facilitated the solution selection and decision making process and provided the necessary information to enable the business to make an informed decision. Worked with business partners to assess related business process changes and impact to users/clients or on current issues and concerns. Assumed responsibility for the resolution of system and process issues and collaborated with the appropriate technical and subject matter experts to provide a solution.

Developed a Requirements Work Plan to identify activities, techniques, dependencies, deliverables and stakeholders to manage the requirements effort for medium to high complexity projects. Used high level business, product and system knowledge to ensure that overall project schedule and priorities are in line with process and system dependencies and design.

Core Competencies – Relationship Management, Implementation, Administration and Operations

Led team for DC conversions including vendor, platform, and investment selections, fund mapping, bi-lingual participant education, communications and implementation, increasing participation rates by more than 20% for each Plan implementation

Managed all aspects of plan administration, operations and compliance testing including but not limited to 5500 preparation and filing. Responsible for a book of business of complex plans to deliver excellent and superior service in all its entirety

Gathered, reviewed and analyzed employee census information and audited against W2 and W3 records of employer or payroll agent. Managed Client and Stakeholders expectations regarding implementation timeline and project plan deliverables

Contribution calculations for DB Plans, Money Purchase, Cash Balance, Age Weighted, Social Security integration and pro rata allocations, 401(k) Matching calculations and true-ups and Safe Harbor plans

Completed nondiscrimination, coverage and top-heavy testing for most complex plans including cross-testing

Handled a variety of client base of Corporations, S-Corporation, sole proprietorships and partnerships annual contribution calculations, consulted with Plan Sponsors and stakeholders regarding Plan related issues

Served as a technical resource for plan sponsors, third party providers, clients and team members for plan design issues and modification as it relates to nondiscrimination testing, plan compliance and problem resolution

Assisted in reviewing plan document designs, provided feedback regarding impact of design on plan testing, recommending plan design alternatives and subsequent amendment language for plan documents

Performed a variety of DB calculations and verified complex DB calculations for accuracy. Supported DC and DB plan terminations and completed complex defined benefit calculations as required

• Prepared 5500 series filings, 4010 filing, PBGC premium filing, and other assorted reconciliations and related filings

• Managed conversion and de-conversion of 401k plans, DC and DB Plans for recent acquisition, divestitures or corporate actions

• Provided direction and supported annual internal and external audits and valuation of the pension Plans

• Interfaced with other HR systems, Check writing and recordkeeping applications to test and validate pension plan participants and RMD population and complex DB calculations utilizing plan provisions of various complexities.

• Applied IRS regulations, Plan rules, administrative processes and compliance activities for an array of Plans that must process initial and subsequent RMD distributions and pension payments.

• Identified and researched data from multiple sources and other applications to perform detail analysis and updates as required to be compliant with regulations and make remedial calculation adjustments.

Set realistic and appropriate expectations with Plan Sponsors, internal and external partners and other third parties regarding reconciliations, filing, reporting, wire transfers and disbursements. Managed ERISA audit and Reconciled payroll and vendor reports for wire transfers, researched plan issues and resolved in accordance with regulations

Demonstrated advanced understanding of how the recordkeeping, trust systems and sponsor & participant websites operate and report information. Maintained current knowledge about system enhancements and new technological and strategic initiatives

Advocated and acted as a primary contact for current and former employees regarding questions and issues on all Plans, resolved eligibility, contribution, calculation certifications and other operational and transactional issues

Professional Highlights

Contract / Consulting Projects 2005–2018

Consultant, Boston Financial, Braintree, MA 2016-2018

Business Analyst Consultant, MassMutual, Springfield, MA 2014-2016

Consultant, JP Morgan Chase, Boston, MA 2013-2014

Business Analyst, T Rowe Price, Owing Mills, Maryland 2013-2013

Implementation Business Analyst, AonHewitt, Lincolnshire, IL 2011–2013

Implementation Business Analyst, ING, Windsor, CT 2010–2011

Implementation Project Manager, Fidelity Investments, Marlborough, MA (various) 1995–2009

Business Pension Analyst/Account Manager, Putnam Investments, Quincy, MA 1991–1993

Client Relationship Manager, Feingold Insurance, Worcester, MA (various) 1987–1995

Pension Analyst, Hanover Insurance Companies, Worcester, MA (various) 1985-2000

Technical Skills

MS Office, Windows Visions, Relius, Omni, ASC, HRMS, PeopleSoft, Workday, Custom Designed Data Bases, Microsoft Project, Access, Kronos, various Systems and Financial platforms, SQL, OmniScript, Mainframe, DB2, JCL, HP Quality Center, Sharepoint, JIRA, OmniPlus, OmniPay, OmniTrade, Admin Web, Integreat and Power Image/EXP AG

Professional Education

Completed several corporate professional and development courses

Project Management Certificate Boston University

Certificate Bentley University

Education

BS., Worcester State University

Continuing Education

Completed several free online SME and IT professional courses from Harvard, MIT and Khan’s Academy

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