Manager Director Software QA Test Automation

Michael G. Nelson

404-***-**** ****@*****************.***

SUMMARY

Mike Nelson is a senior Information Technology professional with over 20 years of experience with the last 12 or so in

increasing levels of management responsibility. Mike has had tenures in a variety of industries such as Financial

Services, Transaction Processing, Health Care, Global Services and others. Over that history, he has transitioned from

a developer/DBA/tester to manage global teams for a variety of companies in both development and quality assurance

leadership roles.

As a manager of technical resources, Mike has been responsible for the hiring, training and day to day management of

onshore, offshore and hybrid teams. He has been chartered on several engagements with the development of testing

strategies, communications plans and the selection of SDLC toolchains. Mike has managed teams from 5 to 80+ in

size.

From a process standpoint, each job has required Mike to lead and/or participate in the establishment of processes to

help improve current state of SDLC delivery capabilities, very specifically around QA, its interaction with Development

and Operations teams, and more recently with Audit and Compliance teams as well. Mike has led a nationwide Rational

Unified Process (RUP) practice and during his last two jobs has driven his organization in the transition from manual

testing to widespread adoption of automated tools and techniques.

Mike is interested in helping a company that is looking to improve its overall delivery lifecycle by helping them transition

their testing capability from a mostly manual and isolated activity to a highly integrated and automated set of repeatable

and reliable processes resulting in a dramatic, measurable reduction in delivery time of safe, fully tested software.

InComm Director Software QA Automation Jan 2012 Jan 2014

InComm is an industry leader in prepaid gift and debit card fulfillment, distribution and redemption.

• Responsible for the design, selection, implementation and management of the SDLC tool chain and

automation processes (JIRA/Confluence/Bamboo).

• Established, hired and managed a new software testing group to improve test coverage, reduce overall testing

times and provide faster feedback to the constituent development teams being supported.

• Hired, developed and mentored a complete test automation team.

• Established and implemented new delivery and compliance policies for off-shore development teams on a

major initiative to implement a highly complex transaction processing platform.

• Created and maintained Comprehensive Test Strategies for Manual, and Automated Testing.

• Designed a comprehensive automated Smoke Test allowing QA to determine, within 30 minutes, if any build

delivered broke any core functionality using QTP.

• Moved functional testing of two mission critical application suites from physical to multiple VMWare VMs

spanning multiple new environments (DEV-A, DEV-B, QA-A, QA-B, etc. in a Private Cloud.

• Instituted continuous testing from multiple VMware Desktop VMs, affording simultaneous automated functional

testing of all browsers and all required versions, cutting test time by more than 90%.

• Responsible for communication with upper management.

• Created and implemented a comprehensive Test Data creation strategy, reducing the time required for the

creation of usable, complex test data from weeks to minutes.

• Managed QA relationship with off-shore QA teams to improve the quality of the code delivered.

• Developed vendor and service provider standards.

• Re-trained manual testers to become tool and automation developers.

• Created a trustworthy test result documentation repository where all test results were automatically record

entered in JIRA and Confluence.

• Implemented an automated Requirements Traceability Matrix (RTM) to insure complete requirements and test

coverage.

• Successfully expanded the existing test and automation tools by researching and adopting open source and

subscription based tools, increasing the overall automation capability of the company.

• Directly responsible for shortening the Time-to-Value by reducing average Quality testing time from 4 weeks to

under three days for business critical applications.

• Partnered with a service provider to creatively design a sourcing and on-boarding methodology that resulted in

direct savings to the company of $750k+ over a two year period.

h7fW9

Resume of Michael G. Nelson

Page 1 of 6

http://www.TheRealMikeNelson.com

Michael G. Nelson

404-***-**** ****@*****************.***

• Created custom testing tools that significantly increased quality testing coverage and reduced testing times

using Ruby, Java, Swing, Windows PowerShell, RubyMine, Watir, Cucumber and Rails.

Global Payments, Inc. Manager Software QA Automation Jan 2008 Jan 2012

Global Payments is a commerce company providing ISOs and Merchants a variety of financial services globally.

• Created Global Payments first Automation Test Team.

• Migrated Requirements from legacy system to HP Quality Center.

• Created and maintained Comprehensive Test Strategy for Automated Testing Functional, Load and

Performance.

• Created Test Plans within HP Quality Center.

• Designed and managed the implementation of a custom test automation suite on a massive, highly complex

project that reduced time to market by as much as 50%.

• Designed a comprehensive automated Smoke Test allowing QA to determine, within 30 minutes, if any build

delivered broke any core functionality using QTP.

• Created and implemented a comprehensive Test Data creation strategy, reducing the time required for the

creation of usable, complex test data from weeks to minutes.

• Performed code reviews on functional, load and performance test automation.

• Designed, coded and managed extensive XML automation to functionally and load/performance test Microsoft

BizTalk applications, reducing functional test durations from weeks to a few hours for each build.

• Achieved 100% functional testing coverage of several business-critical, customer-facing applications in under

12 months.

• For one business-critical application, increased test data points from 500 to over 25,000, while reducing the

labor necessary to conduct the tests from 140 to 2 man-hours.

• Designed a Load Test Harness employing Microsoft PowerShell and J-Meter that was successfully employed

to test in excess of 2,500 concurrent, active users.

• In all scenarios, increased the quality of testing while dramatically reducing the labor costs associated with

testing software.

Gate Gourmet International Director Software Development Jan 2006 Oct 2007

eGate Solutions is the Software Development arm of Gate Gourmet International, delivering world-class solutions to the

airline industry. eGate had created and hosted several very popular SaaS Solutions to the airline industry.

• Overall responsibility for a globally dispersed development and testing team of 85 members.

• Responsible for budget, hiring, terminations and performance reviews of the global development and test

teams.

• Established and implemented IT standards.

• Managed the global quality assurance (QA) workforce.

• Implemented training programs spanning test creation to test automation execution.

• Implemented standards for tracking the progress of the Functional Test Team.

• Completed a new platform project upon which over 100 airport kitchens relied upon exclusively for day to day

operations in the production and delivery of more than 200 million meals per year.

• Worked extensively with internal and external resources to insure the new platform integrated with all modules

of SAP.

• Successfully executed a code mapping exercise to unscramble poorly written Java code in mission critical

production application.

• Provided actionable intelligence regarding the ongoing health of the JVM on the PRODUCTION Application

and Batch Servers.

• Directed the project management of multiple projects critical to GGI’s mission.

• Introduced software development lifecycle for eGate.

• Directed the gathering, analysis and review of all documentation surrounding software previously deployed to

Gate’s second largest customer.

h7fW9

Resume of Michael G. Nelson

Page 2 of 6

http://www.TheRealMikeNelson.com

Michael G. Nelson

404-***-**** ****@*****************.***

• Directed introduction of Security Standards.

• Directed production support for eGate division.

• Iteratively implemented needed production support processes and standards in eGate Software Development

including eGate’s SaaS offerings.

• Managed vendor relationships and worked directly with vendors to ensure Gate Gourmet received what they

purchased.

• Gathered details directly from end-customers to refine Requirements and Test Cases.

• Made final recommendations on outsourcing vendors.

InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) Senior Project Manager Sep 2004 Jan 2006

InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) is a multi-billion dollar leader in the hotel industry. IHG is the world’s largest hotel

chain, measured by daily available rooms.

• Responsible for $3.5m budget (Project GROWTH).

• Created and maintained Project Plan.

• Responsible for all Project Communications.

• Authored Concept Paper.

• Authored Capital Request Paper.

• Authored Cost/Benefit Analysis.

• Co-authored Current & Future States.

• Conducted Fit/Gap sessions.

• Tracked Risk.

• Planned Integration with PeopleSoft.

• Tracked Compliance.

Hanger Orthopedic Group Director Emerging Technologies Feb 2003 Aug 2004

Hanger, Inc. is a premier provider of orthotic and prosthetic (O&P) services and products.

• Designed the custom implementation of CObIT as the standard for the IT Department to use to achieve the

requirements of Sarbanes-Oxley.

• Directed IT implementation of Sarbanes–Oxley.

• Worked closely with Internal Audit on investigations and special reporting efforts.

• Served as IT liaison to the Operations, Finance, Contracts and Marketing Departments.

• Served as a voting member of the Configuration Control Board (CCB).

• Handled day to day interactions with members of the C-Level and Senior Management.

• Established Reporting Standards for the dissemination of financial information.

Software Development

• Managed development of major changes required to correct failures within the company's billing system.

• Managed implementation of Cognos as a reporting tool.

• Managed deployment and integration of custom .NET based A/R System to more than 500 locations.

• Managed the development of a custom browser-based .NET reporting environment for tracking EDI

submissions to clearing houses, government agencies and commercial insurance companies.

• Managed the development of a custom browser-based .NET reporting environment for Finance Department.

• Managed Enterprise EDI Software Projects providing a full implementation of ANSI 4010-a 837.

• Managed EDI Projects responsible for 75% of the company’s revenue.

QA

• Established and implemented standards for Software Testing.

• Designed and implemented Software Test Environments.

• Verified accuracy of company's billing system.

Production

h7fW9

Resume of Michael G. Nelson

Page 3 of 6

http://www.TheRealMikeNelson.com

Michael G. Nelson

404-***-**** ****@*****************.***

• Established the standards for Production Support.

• Managed Production Environments for all mission-critical systems.

Additional Duties

• Headed the department SWAT Team for special, high-visibility and sensitive assignments.

• Spent 6 weeks on-site at key vendor correcting vendor's problems handling EDI transmissions sent from

Hanger, resulting in the recovery of and the eventual payment for more than $6M in misplaced claims.

CDI National Practice Manager Jan 2002 Feb 2003

Profitably managed national practice of Rational Software Services and Senior Consulting Services. Some of the

national accounts where Mike provided services included:

Senior Project Manager Campbell Soup

Advised Campbell while considering their options for the use of the Rational Unified Process as a method for Enterprise

Level Software Development.

• Advised management on the selection of the appropriate Enterprise-Level Software Development tools.

• Worked with governance groups to establish Change Management standards.

• Collaborated with senior management to establish realistic goals for the department.

• Coordinated the implementation/integration of new tools with multiple vendors.

• Trained employees and contractors in the Rational Unified Process (RUP)

• Trained employees and contractors in the Unified Modeling Language (UML).

• Trained Campbell employees and contractors in the theory and use of Use Cases.

GE Capital/GE Medical Senior Project Manager

Worked directly with GE Capital and GE Medical clients to establish a prototype for URGENT Care facilities in Phoenix

and Green Valley, Arizona.

Freddie Mac Data Architect, Development DBA Jul 2001 – Aug 2001

Employed Rational Rose 2001e for Data Modeling using UML on a mission-critical project. Tasked with reviewing and

submitting written, objective analysis of existing and proposed designs, pointing out specific risks to Freddie Mac.

Gemplex Internet Data Architect, Development DBA June – July 2001

Assisted this startup by performing the following tasks:

• Made specific recommendations on Operational Support Systems.

• Established Operational Standards for Production DBAs.

• Installed and configured Microsoft SQL Server.

• Automated test data creation to be used in functional testing.

• Created, configured and documented Development, Test, Integration, Performance and UAT environments.

• Discovered and documented Business Requirements.

Focus Technology Consulting Data Architect, Development DBA Apr – June 2001

Responsible for:

• Collecting/Analyzing Critical Strategies & Policies, Business Strategy and Plan.

• Collecting/Analyzing existing High-level Data Architecture, High-level Business Process Architecture, Business

System Architecture, Technical Architecture, Infrastructure & Support Structures, IT Organizational Information

(Roles, Responsibilities, Authorities), IT Methods & Practices, IT Processes.

• Summarizing, documenting key findings and performing detailed analysis.

• Identifying major gaps between existing infrastructures and architectures and those central to business plan.

• Developing Roadmap plan to implement prioritized recommendations.

• Delivering presentation & report to client.

h7fW9

Resume of Michael G. Nelson

Page 4 of 6

http://www.TheRealMikeNelson.com

Michael G. Nelson

404-***-**** ****@*****************.***

• Initiating Implementation Planning with client.

• Preparing management report and management presentation.

IBM Center for eBusiness Innovation eCommerce Solutions July 2000 Apr 2001

Architect,

Data Architect

• Documented Business Requirements.

• Made recommendations on Platform Hardware, Operating Systems, Operational Support Systems, RDBMS, n Tier

Application Servers, and Deployment Strategies.

• Functioned as Data Architect/Data Modeler for various IBM e-Business Solutions. Used ERwin to design data

models/databases.

• Designed, implemented and controlled a number of environments to facilitate Development, and Testing.

• Managed Oracle Developers, scheduling, reviewing code (SQL, PL/SQL, Triggers, Stored Procedures, etc.) and

verified Unit Test results of developed code.

• Installed and configured Netscape iPlanet 4.0 Enterprise Web Server, IBM WebSphere, IBM MQ Series and other

Application/Web Servers used in development projects.

• Worked with end-customers to identify and record Business Rules and Project Requirements.

• Interacted and coordinated with the center’s Creative Design Team to coordinate development efforts on multiple

projects.

• Made a significant contribution to the High Level Design by converting Business Rules and Project Requirements

into a design.

• Made a contribution to the Detailed Design by converting High Level Design into a Detailed Design.

• Created and published the Logical and Physical Data Models from the Business Rules and Project Requirements.

• Created and published complete Data Dictionary for multiple projects.

• Functioned as DB2 UDB Development DBA installing and configuring DB2 UDB on both NT and Sun Solaris boxes.

• Created and unit-tested automated Oracle SQL Loader scripts used to transform and load data received from other

web-based Information portals.

• Made recommendations to the customer's hosting facility for Oracle Backup and Recovery.

• Developed Installation and Implementation Planning.

• Managed the implementation of NAVICP web site and subsequent iterations of the software.

Cable & Wireless Chief Development DBA Nov 1998 July 2000

• Managed both Oracle and SQL Server DBAs

• Established and managed the implementation of Oracle and Microsoft SQL Server Database Standards,

coordinating tasking for ten DBAs.

• Reviewed designs for acceptance or rejection of database designs created by other Data Architects.

• Wrote Technical Evaluations Project Status Reports, options available and made specific recommendations to

mitigate problems.

• Created a control center to monitor database and application activity and readiness. Established and wrote the

business rules, designed and oversaw a plan to move all database and application status information to a central

control center on Cable & Wireless’ Intranet.

• Designed and coded a metadata control mechanism for C&W’s POPS (Proposals, Orders and Provisioning

System) application. The new system, OAPA (Order Approval Process Adjustment) moved the frequently changing

business rules for order approval from static front-end code to a fully configurable, easily changeable system which

accommodates C&W’s changing needs.

• Responsible for migrating numerous SQL Server production and work group databases from SQL Server 6.5 to

SQL Server 7. Process included recoding some stored procedures and triggers as well as taking advantage of

SQL Server 7's new features.

• Designed numerous Oracle and SQL Server databases using ERwin 3.5.2.

• Designed and oversaw the development and deployment of application and environment monitoring system

scripts.

• Designed and oversaw the development and deployment of Web-based Reporting for Developers and Testers.

• Coordinated communications between the Test Group and Software Vendors (whether internal or external).

h7fW9

Resume of Michael G. Nelson

Page 5 of 6

http://www.TheRealMikeNelson.com

Michael G. Nelson

404-***-**** ****@*****************.***

• Designed, implemented and controlled, on average, thirty environments at any given point used for Development,

Testing, User Acceptance Testing as well as Production.

• Managed the implementation of Objectel into the enterprise.

• Wrote processes for installation and upgrade of client software.

• Worked with IT department to coordinate versions and deployment schedules.

• Managed all development, test and production environments for Objectel, IM and POPS.

• Automated alerts to send text and voicemail.

h7fW9

Resume of Michael G. Nelson

Page 6 of 6

http://www.TheRealMikeNelson.com

Contact this candidate