Arati Tallikar

**** * ******** *** **** Barrington, IL 60010

Email: ad04id@r.postjobfree.com

Mobile: 847-***-****

OBJECTIVE

Software engineer with over 25 years of experience in Project Management, Business Analysis, Technical Development, Testing and Support of customer facing applications. I seek a challenging and rewarding position that utilizes my extensive expertise in .NET technical skills to drive business insights and deliver measurable value to the organization. With a strong passion for data-driven problem solving, I strive to leverage my expertise in data mining, visualization, and programming to optimize business processes and enable informed decision making.

EDUCATION

M.S. Spring 1994

Pune University, India

Technical Skills

SQL, ASP.Net, Power BI, C#/VB.Net, HTML/CSS, JavaScript, SSRS, Telerik Web Controls, VBA, MS Excel, MS Access, PowerShell Scripting, Microsoft Project, Agile and Waterfall SDLC Methodologies

WORK EXPERIENCE

NCH Marketing Services, Vericast - Senior I.T Engineer 2001-Current

Vericast is a holding company created to harness the collective value of NCH, Harland Clark, Valassis, and QuickPivot. Through the unification, Vericast offers impactful solutions fueled by a powerful combination of intelligence, data, and technology.

Select Projects:

Counterfeit Analytics - Led the development of sophisticated analytics program that provided NCH customers, action-oriented transparency on counterfeit coupons. This is a core aspect of NCH’s smart strategy for countering coupon fraud. Key components of this program included – Dashboard functionality and various drill down reports using latest .Net technologies and Telerik web controls. My team and I worked on the various front-end components and complex backend MDX queries to achieve the desired results. Weekly Comparisons with percentages gave a more accurate picture of the Counterfeit activity to the customers resulting in recognizing and remediating fraudulent redemption before it got far out of hand. This project resulted in significant additional revenue for the company and 100% customer retention by providing unique insights and solutions. Currently working on an aggressive plan to convert all dashboards to use Power BI on Microsoft Azure Cloud.

Valid Offer ID metrics- Team lead and developer on a project that provided metrics data in the form of graphs and charts for tracking counterfeit activity for NCH customers that supply participating retailers with a current listing of all the valid offers they have in circulation, as well as a current listing of all counterfeit offers that are known to be in circulation. Provided customers 24/7 metrics that helped in tracking of fraudulent coupons.

Excel Automation- The Excel automation project called for a tailor-made spreadsheet that could be automated through macros and conveniently sent via email. To meet these requirements, I created a comprehensive and functional spreadsheet using SQL server reporting services (SSRS). To overcome any limitations of the SSRS report, I devised a PowerShell script that executed the macros and applied the desired formatting to the spreadsheet. This approach ensured that the product was not only fully automated but also tailored to the client's specific needs. Thanks to the automation, the client was able to simply receive and print the document without any manual intervention, resulting in significant time savings. I successfully delivered the project on time, providing the client with a fully automated, customized Excel spreadsheet that met all their requirements.

API Program - As part of the Universal Coupon initiative, I was tasked with accurately identifying manufacturers for any universal coupons redeemed in the coupon process lifecycle. To accomplish this, I developed a C# program to call an API provided by a third party. The third party was a key player in the coupon industry and provided us with valuable information that was needed to accurately identify the manufacturers associated with the coupons. The API was an integral part of this process, as it allowed us to access the relevant data in a secure and efficient manner. Created a robust C# reliable application that could handle the complex data processing requirements of the project. The program called the third-party API and extracted the relevant information to accurately identify the manufacturers associated with the coupons. By implementing this program, I was able to streamline the coupon process lifecycle and ensure that manufacturers were correctly identified for all universal coupons redeemed. This initiative was an important step forward for the coupon industry and helped to standardize the process across various retailers and manufacturers. Overall, the development of this C# program was a critical component of my success in implementing the Universal Coupon initiative. It demonstrated my ability to work with complex data sets and third-party APIs to deliver a solution that met the needs of our client and the coupon industry.

Analysis and Trending Reports- As part of my work on the customer-facing website, I developed a series of complex MDX queries to support various reports that were made available to customers. These Web Reports significantly enhanced the existing functionality by providing customers with more insight into their data and giving them rich capabilities for search and customized reports. The Web Reports were designed to show trending reports involving complex calculations with customizable time periods. These reports allowed customers to easily track key metrics over time and make more informed decisions based on the insights they gained from their data. In addition to developing these complex MDX queries, I also addressed potential response time issues that could have impacted the performance of the website. By optimizing the queries, I was able to significantly improve their performance, ensuring that users could access the reports quickly and easily. The enhanced functionality of the website made it easier for customers to search for specific data points and generate customized reports, leading to a better overall user experience. Overall, my work on these MDX queries was critical to the success of the customer-facing website.

Audit Dashboard – Led the development of an Audit Dashboard which provided the customer a quick snapshot of coupon-related anomalies by marrying Point of Sale (POS) coupon records to NCH’s audit The Audit Dashboard was highly customizable, with a variety of search options available, and provided granular, detailed reports at various levels. This accelerated discovery and resolution of compliance and loss incidents, yielding improved financial results, while deterring future events.

SSRS Reports- I collaborated closely with users to understand their business needs and translate those needs into actionable reports. By working closely with our users, I created reports that provided the insights they needed to make informed decisions and take action to improve their workflows. One of the most significant benefits of my work was the time savings it generated. By automating manual processes and creating more efficient workflows I was able to save our users an estimated 20 hours of manual work each week. In addition to saving time, SSRS reports provided users with greater visibility into their data, enabling them to identify potential issues and take corrective action before they became major problems.

Power BI reports- As part of our efforts to improve the reporting capabilities of our systems, I led a thorough analysis of our existing SSRS reports. During this analysis, we identified a subset of reports that would benefit from the enhanced visualizations and interactive features that Power BI offers. I worked closely with stakeholders to understand their reporting requirements and then embarked on the task of converting the identified SSRS reports to Power BI reports. This involved extracting the relevant data from our databases and building new reports from scratch in Power BI. The conversion process allowed us to take advantage of the advanced data modeling and visualization features of Power BI, resulting in reports that were more interactive and informative than their SSRS counterparts. We were also able to incorporate real-time data feeds and integrate the reports with other Microsoft tools such as SharePoint and Teams.

Portal Development- As the developer responsible for creating and maintaining the portal, I am pleased to report that the project was a resounding success. The portal has become a valuable tool for our customers, providing them with unparalleled data analysis capabilities, several customizable reports, and dashboards that help them identify potential anomalies. Portal was developed using ASP.net, Javascript, SQL and Telerik controls.

The portal was specifically designed to provide our customers with unique and rich data, enabling them to get a complete picture of their data analysis needs. The portal has proven to be a critical tool for our customers, allowing them to make better-informed decisions and take action to address potential issues. In addition to delivering the initial portal, I also supported it by adding several enhancements and fixing issues and bugs as needed. This allowed us to maintain a 95% satisfaction rate with clients and users, ensuring that the portal continued to be a valuable tool for our customers.

Overall, the development and maintenance of this portal were significant achievements for our team. By delivering a robust tool that provides unparalleled data analysis capabilities, we have helped our customers to make better-informed decisions and take action to address potential issues. The portal has become an indispensable part of our customers' workflows, and I am proud to have been a part of its success.

Console Applications- As part of my role, I developed C# and VB.net console applications to support backend processes that were critical to feeding data into various systems. These console applications played a critical role in ensuring that the systems had the data they needed to operate effectively.

One of the key advantages of the console applications was their flexibility. By using C# and VB.net, I was able to create applications that were highly customizable and could be easily adapted to meet the unique needs of each system. This made it possible to automate complex data processing tasks and ensure that the systems were always up to date with the latest information.

In addition to their flexibility, the console applications were also highly efficient. They were designed to run in the background, with minimal user intervention, which helped to streamline the data processing workflow and ensure that data was processed quickly and accurately.

Web-enabled software - During the project, I worked alongside a team to analyze the existing Visual Basic applications and identify the necessary changes required for web-enablement. We implemented a range of updates to modernize the software and to ensure seamless integration with the web environment.

The transformation process involved careful planning and testing to ensure that the transition from desktop to web-based applications was smooth, efficient and user-friendly. We aimed to provide users with a modern, responsive and intuitive interface, while maintaining the core functionalities of the original software.

Throughout the project, I was responsible for developing and testing new features and functionalities, as well as troubleshooting and resolving any technical issues that arose. The result was a set of web-based applications that provided users with increased flexibility and accessibility, allowing them to easily access and interact with the software from anywhere in the world.

MarchFirst - Programmer 1999-2001

Developed custom software solutions for clients using Visual Basic

Created web applications using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript

Implemented database systems using Microsoft Access and SQL

Collaborated with clients to gather requirements and deliver successful projects.

CW Costello and Associates - Associate Programmer 1997-1999

For Client Software Projects -

Analyzed, designed and developed several front-end desktop applications using Visual Basic

Designed and Developed databases and queries using Microsoft Access and SQL

Provided technical support and troubleshooting for clients.

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