Project Manager Management

Blair Collings

**** ****** ****, ********, *******, L6L 2C1, (C) 416-***-****

e-mail: *****.********@*****.*** web: http://blaircollings.weebly.com

PROFILE

* Project manager with over ten years experience within retail, IT

portal development, and manufacturing industries

* Areas of expertise include: project management methodologies;

leadership skills; and establishing, monitoring and controlling IT

projects, and maximizing efficiencies.

* Strong analytical, organizational, communication, problem solving and

leadership skills, dedicated to continuous learning and taking

initiative to identify and drive improvement.

* Excellent skills in multitasking and setting multiple priorities to

focus on business needs.

2 PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

CBC (Available immediately)

Project Lead METS Feb 2015 - May

2015

Leading a shared resource pool of eight developers located in both Toronto

and Montreal on multiple metadata related projects. This includes

providing budgetary estimates and tracking towards them using JIRA,

analysis of resource time and project priority, and participating and

leading team meetings to ensure going forward direction.

Media Migration Project: Analyzed project stages and developed clear goals

on how the internal team will address sprint iterations. Worked with

clients from multiple departments and documented the migration steps for

several different legacy systems. Worked with client to set migration

goals in testing phase and co-ordinated developers to achieve set goals

within test sprints using Agile methodologies..

French Radio Legacy System (SONART) to API: Co-ordinated developers and

created sprint iterations for project. I provided clarity to

clients/project management/development team by establishing meetings and

facilitating agreement as to next sprint tasks. Created Definition of

Done outlines to further clarify objectives for the development team.

Lead team through Agile development methodologies, creating stories,

applying priority, level of effort and facilitating between client and

development team to decide on sprint tasks.

Maintenance: Responsible for timely outcomes and addressing end

users/stakeholders when items are in break/fix. These responsibilities

include: TVNLS, Cumulus, Inerplay, Medoc, and EDC.

Target

Product Lead (Sharepoint) July 2012 - Jan

2015

Web Portal was created to be the all-encompassing method of communication

to vendors concerning Target process and business procedures. As well,

collaboration sites were implemented for vendors to retrieve sales,

forecasting and performance statistics.

* Site Ramp up: analysis of business requirements, working with US and

third party teams to ensure business requirements are satisfied;

analyzed and managed change management and break/fix; defined and

managed UAT, working with cross functional teams to execute; analysis

and prioritization of code fixes, working with third party and cross

functional teams; documented portal processes through workflow

diagrams.

* Business point of contact: analysis of break/fix opportunities,

prioritization of change management based on impact, identifying

yearly strategic initiatives; working with India based development

teams to fix day to day operations and strategic initiatives; ramp up

and execution of collaboration sites to share sales/forecasting

information with vendors.

* Site Operations: creation of dashboard for portal that relayed to

managers web site traffic and usage analysis, vendor onboarding

analysis, and general trends to assist with management business

decisions; monitoring of web site mailbox, managing vendor questions

and vendor onboarding; worked with change management board to

implement break/fix opportunities; documented Standard Operating

Procedures (SOP's) to ensure processes were followed properly for

internal and offshore teams; defined and executed test scripts for

break/fix and strategic initiatives.

Rogers

Project Lead July 2011 - Jan 2012

* Hardware Service (HS) Hardware Repair Module (HRM); HRM is a retail-

centric management system for servicing cell phone hardware repairs.

Duties included UAT sign off, stakeholder meetings, cross functional

strategy sessions, product implementation and GO LIVE procedures. In

this project, I was able to identify testing gaps where QA was testing

only one type of profile. Through discussion, we were able to

negotiate a practice to test with different profiles/permission sets

and strengthen the test procedure.

* HRM EDI to Web Services Transition; HS web service installation

transitioning from EDI system to SOAP based web centric system, which

reduced errors and provided a better overall user and customer

experience. This system involves the transfer of information between

Rogers and Vendor Facilities which updates the status of a repair for

retail store level access to improve customer information accuracy.

This program was implemented using Agile and Sprint methodology. Led

a team of 12 people from initiation to implementation stage.

* Customer Measurement Program (CMP); Trained users how to utilize data

from CMP system (IVR and customer response tracking software) to analyze

customer hardware service requirements and needs. Implemented training

course for department of 15 to ensure understanding and increase

utilization of program. This project increased Hardware Service department

customer data visibility by 80%, as there was no previous system to gauge

customer satisfaction linking to hardware.

* Enterprise Ticket Management (ETM); Implemented planning stages to

transform department from manual email ticket management to a

software ticket management solution. Led team of 12 to ensure easy

transition from manual platform to more streamlined report centric

system. Developed relevant documentation to assist in the planning

phase.

* Competitive Update; Created a new competitive update tracking sheet

to compare rival vendors in terms of warranty plans, service

agreements, and subscription services. Created an easy view

interface for director level comparison process.

* Accessory Warranty Program; Proposed alternative method for Return

Material Authorizations (RMA) for accessories. Concept design of

alternative method from manual RMA process to web based system which

is automated and easy to use for the store retail personnel.

* Customer Used Phone Return Program; Team player for concept inception

of hardware repair return process, creating web based application to

give customers reward for returning old and unused equipment when

purchasing new equipment through Rogers programs. Duties included;

concept design, PDP document creation, and concept deck preparation.

Concept Interactive

Project Lead Oct 2010 - Apr 2011

Sharepoint Integration Project for Ontario School boards

* Managed all phases of Sharepoint integration project with budget

impact of $900,000 for 3 Ontario district School boards.

* Lead weekly internal meetings to facilitate staff with project plans.

* Liaised with client teams of up to eight stakeholders and internal

teams of up to eight employees.

* Communicated status reports, status meetings, and project plan to

proper internal and external parties.

* Documented all internal and external meetings and communicated action

steps.

* Created all change requests to meet client needs and requirements.

* Discussed change requests with development team to define time and

cost impact to project

* Gathered both client and internal management signatures required for

documents.

* Gathered business requirements from the customer and clearly

communicated to business analyst team for solution spec creation.

* Identified issues and followed up with resolution paths to internal

team and clients.

* Identified issues and proposed solutions to management team to

mitigate risks.

* Developed internal project plan which assisted in coordinating

internal team for upcoming tasks.

* Updated external project plan to harmonize client team with project

plan and prepare for upcoming tasks

* Presented to client teams to ensure understanding of project plans,

issues, and resolution paths.

* Facilitated full project life cycle using DADI methodology

(Definition, Architecture, Development, and Implementation).

* Assisted in development of UAT test cases, working closely with

Quality Assurance and ensuring client needs were represented

properly.

Gamestop

IT Manager Nov 2008 - Oct

2010

* POS Terminal Roll Out Project - Project manager initiating POS

terminal roll out, including 400 POS devices to over 300 stores

across Canada which allowed the company to take advantage of the

latest technology while saving the company $50, 000 per annum.

* High Speed Roll Out to Retail Stores - Managed high speed roll out to

90 stores across Canada. This significantly increased sales

transaction speed at retail locations, which increased transaction

processing by 50%, significantly impacting seasonal performance in a

positive manner.

* Data Center Upgrade and Enhancements - Upgraded from older stand

alone HP servers to Dell PowerEdge rack mount servers that increased

power efficiencies by 30% and created further redundancy and bigger

data repositories for the Canadian environment.

* Data Center Cable Restructuring - Restructured cabling in data center

environment to increase usable space by 20% and enhance cleanliness

and unclutter data center

* Data Center UPS Upgrade - Upgraded UPS environment from standalone

UPS to APC rack mountable Smart UPS that increased power blackout up-

time by 90% for the server environment.

* UAT Environment Creation - Created UAT environment to diminish the

use of real stores as test environments by 100%. This enhanced

French translation of POS system because a fully functioning French

environment was now in UAT. This functionality decreased French

translation issues by 80%.

* Daily Responsibilities

* Responsible for the management of overall information technology,

coordinating efforts with US head office initiatives and working with

cross functional departments to ensure needs were met to the highest

standards.

* Accountable for telephone systems, servers, desktops, laptops,

security, documentation, licensing, database management,

troubleshooting, help desk support, and service management in a

Microsoft Windows environment.

* Liaised with upper management to provide clarity on projects,

infrastructure, and retail store IT processes.

* Accountable for IT portion of supply chain processes, including

integration between Na vision and WMS system.

* Negotiated with vendors to prepare contracts for upper management

signatures.

* Liaised with head office and engaged in divisional responsibilities

for AS400 mainframe system and WMS Pick to Light environment.

* Created KPI (Key Performance Indicators) valuation, including %

budget spent on services, % budget spent on hardware and % up-time

for retail stores.

* Responsible for retail store infrastructure, networking, and security

for over 300 stores across Canada

* Presented to both upper management and US head office to relay needs

of IT department to aide in overall growth strategy.

* Influenced strategic development and overall growth of IT department,

suggesting uniformity and redundancy to minimize outages and maximize

profit.

* Facilitated best practice solutions by documenting current practices,

listening to team suggestions, and changing processes where

appropriate.

* Mentored team members to develop their technical, teamwork,

communication and listening skills.

Standex International

IT Manager Feb 2003 - Nov

2008

* ERP Migration from Quantum to SAP Fourth Shift - Project manager

implementing a new SAP ERP system to streamline all departments,

producing an estimated cost savings of $200,000 per year. ERP system

was implemented within seven month time-frame. Led cross-functional

team of 12, implementing train the trainer approach with sandbox test

system. Developed team of champions to implement system across

various departments with proper training. Project lead for Go Live

procedures as well as escalation resource for issues and problems.

* ERP Migration from Canada to US head office - Project lead for

Canadian division concerning the transition of ERP program from

Canada to the US. The Canadian team needed to remote into ERP system

using Microsoft terminal server. Worked with US team to establish

project deliverables and schedule. Involved in data migration from

Canada to US. Provided training to staff concerning transition.

* AD Migration - Canadian division lead transitioning from Microsoft NT

environment to Microsoft AD environment. Responsibilities included:

strategy brainstorming, planning, project facilitation, end user

communication, head office liaison, AD migration, user training, and

follow up.

* Sarbanes Oxley - Division leader establishing internal control

procedures and preparing for SOX internal and external audits.

* Microsoft Exchange Migration - Division leader transitioning Canadian

Microsoft Exchange environment to US Microsoft Exchange environment.

Responsibilities included: strategy brainstorming, planning, quality

control, project facilitation, end user communication and training,

head office liaison, Exchange migration, and follow up.

* SQL Data Synchronization Project - Division leader contributing to

the synchronization of two CRM databases between two divisions,

increasing data flow between operations.

* Daily Responsibilities

* Managed overall information technology, coordinating efforts with

head office initiatives and working with cross functional departments

to ensure all needs were met to the highest standards.

* Managed IT employees to ensure they had proper resources and support

to complete work in an exemplary fashion.

* Accountable for telephone systems, servers, desktops, laptops,

security, documentation, licensing, database management,

troubleshooting, help desk support.

* Liaised with upper management to ensure clarity of IT infrastructure,

projects, costs, and budgets.

* Managed vendor procurement, analysis, and relationship management.

* Initiated vendor negotiation to provide proper solutions at a cost

that fit within budget.

* Created Canadian annual IT capital budget and monitored throughout

the year.

* Assisted in technology processes concerning inventory management

processes and inventory count procedures.

.

EDUCATION

Bachelor of Information Systems (BA) Ryerson University

1998

Network Specialist Certificate Shaw College

1999

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

PMP Certified

Current

Cisco Certified 2008-

2010

Access, SQL, Cisco courses Sheridan College

2004 - 2010

KEYWORDS

Business Analyst, PMI, PMBOK, PMP certified, Project 2010, Sharepoint

2010, content migration, ERP system, SAP, Fourth Shift, Navision,

Sarbanes Oxley, LEAN, Six Sigma, Cisco router, VPN, POS, DSL, cable,

cellular communications, status reports, customer liaison, vendor

management, debit machines, credit machines, backup, recovery,

disaster recovery, Excel 2010, Access 2010, Office Suite 2010, Word

2010, Checkpoint, Firewall, wireless, AS400, RF devices, Outlook 2010,

computer network, TCP/IP, DNS, WINS, DHCP, Microsoft, Windows, UPS,

telephony, voice over IP, VOIP, BCM500, maintenance contracts, DSL

contracts, credit card company contracts, network diagrams, wireless,

Agile, SCRUM, Waterfall, DADI, Business Intelligence, SQL .

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