Senior Business Analyst / Project Manager / Scrum Master

SUMMARY

Senior Business Analyst / Project Manager / Scrum Practitioner with more than 20 years of experience in the IT field, working with a variety of technologies such as ECM (SharePoint and Livelink/Content Server), CRM (ServiceNow/Salesforce), ERP (SAP, FI/CO, PS, MM, BW, BI.) and Microsoft AX, Microsoft Dynamic 365 & CRM, PeopleSoft, Oracle JD Edwards, Oracle EBS (Single View Billing, Aptitude ARRE Finance Engine) and JD Edwards ERP including Analytics (MS Power BI/DAX/Power Query) MS PowerApps, MS Flow/Automated, Azure DevOps, Chatbot, AI and .NET/Java products. 17 of those years performing Business Analysis, Project Management, Product Ownership, Product Management and Scrum Master activities. 12 of those years being in the energy, utility, telecommunications, and consulting industries. Strong ability to understand what organizations need, working as a liaison between IT and business unit representatives across all levels, and exceeding clients' expectations. Clearly discusses the management of information throughout the organization, including requirements, processes, testing, training, change management and documentation in a way that business process owners (management) and end-users can understand, helping everyone to achieve the same goal.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Scrum Master - IFRS 15 Enablement Squad May 2021 – Jun 2024

Shaw Communications, Calgary, AB

Worked primarily as an agile transformation coach where scrum techniques were applied along with project management principles.

•Established the IFRS 15 Enablement Squad to support and develop the Aptitude revenue engine as required. Coached a variety of team members on best Scrum practices including developers, technical resources, onshore/offshore resources, testers, vendors and systems analysts.

•Setup Jira Scrum board to manage product backlog items and Confluence pages to store the team’s documentation for ongoing support purposes.

•Trained, coached and assisted the Product Owner/Director of Revenue Recognition on Agile Scrum best practices to provide guidance to the Scrum Team and properly manage and prioritize the Aptitude backlog.

•Developed squad governance on how issues and work would be introduced to the squad and managed throughout the Scrum framework. Socialized the governance with executive managers/sponsors, product owner, and key stakeholders.

•Brought in best practices such as continuous integration, code/design reviews, transparency accountability, Jira tracking, product tracking, empowerment, self-sufficiency, and provided team training as needed.

•As Scrum Master for 3 separate new squads, identified process changes to accelerate development, and remove major impediments. I also facilitated Scrum of Scrum calls following agile processes laid out by the company.

•Focused the team on how to write good user stories, and prioritized the work based on business value and corporate goals.

•Held daily standup meetings to obtain updates from the technical team members which provided the business users and product owner with an opportunity to ask questions or raise critical issues.

•Facilitated meetings with the product owner, subject matter experts and technical resources to properly build and refine project backlog items in preparation for sprint planning sessions.

•Led sprint planning sessions for the team prior to the start of every sprint.

•Collaborated with PO on sprint reviews or progress updates to key stakeholders at the end of every 3-week sprint cycle and facilitated retrospectives so the team could learn from mistakes and successes from previous sprints.

•Responsible for removing impediments, as this business activity relied on data from upstream departments, hence requiring constant, effective communication to unblock the team ensuring they remain on track for tasks at hand.

•Acted as Agile Project Manager on a large service pack upgrade (moving Aptitude from version 2.0 to 2.3.1), I also managed a corporate Marketing trade-up project (cell device upgrades). Owned responsibilities for managing dependancies between Scrum Teams / third parties (business teams, quailty assurance, software vendors, and outsourced sevice providers). Responsible for scope, schedule and budget. Managed team up to 10 on budgets ranging from $600K to $1M.

•Tracked and reported on sprint velocity using burn-down charts to the product owner, senior-level stakeholders and sponsors.

•Led monthly steering committee meetings to give senior leaders updates on squad progress, highlighting any issues or challenges and making requests when needed.

Tools: Oracle EBS, Azure DevOps, JIRA, Confluence, Single View Billing System, ARRE (Aptitude Billing Engine), MS Visio, ServiceNow, SQL, PLSQL, MS Productivity Tools.

Business Analyst / Scrum Master (Contractor) Dec 2020 – May 2021

Deloitte, Toronto, ON

Implemented ServiceNow CSM Artificial Intelligence Chatbot and Power Search, providing a web channel where the end users ask conversational questions to the bot or in a search bar, and receive a list of the most relevant articles answering the query from an integrated knowledge base. The selection of the articles is performed applying a cognitive framework, which uses advanced natural language understanding (NLU) techniques to analyze the question and context, and consequently predict the intention.

•Meet with SMEs to documented functional/non-functional requirments and business/data process flows.

•Wrote the IT Statement of Work (SoW) highlighting the high-level requirements, scope, schedule, resourcing, and costs for the project which was signed off by the business team.

•Brought -in Agile Scrum framework and instilled best agile practices among team members.

•Set up a Jira scrum board and designed a Confluence site to host the bot documentation for the project for support and further development purposes.

•Documented user stories & acceptance criteria and refined those stories (re-prioritized) with the scrum team / SNOW business leader regularly.

•Facilitated scrum ceremonies (standups, sprint planning, refinement, reviews, and retrospectives).

•Provided a demo to key stakeholders to highlight feature development or enhancements to the bot at the end of every sprint.

•Tracked and reported on sprint velocity using burn-down charts to the senior-level stakeholders and sponsors.

•Oversaw work with the project resources to develop conversational level chatbot orchestrations (business requirements) to automate end-to-end CRM business processes for the organization.

•Fostered open communication between executive stakeholders, IT, and business, resulting in a high productivity feature development.

•Oversaw the process of training (with the development/business team) and testing the chatbot prior to going live with the system.

•Point of escalation for the team members encountering blockers or any issues they were unable to resolve.

Tools: Azure Microsoft Bot Framework, Azure Cognitive Services/ LUIS, JIRA, Azure DevOps, MS Visio, ServiceNow, Seibel, and Azure SQL Server databases.

Team Lead, Business Analysis & Project Management Oct 2018 – Dec 2020

Boardwalk Rental Properties, Calgary, AB

Implemented the business analysis and project management discipline for the organization. Supervised a team of project managers, business analysts, scrum masters, and product owners. Created project management (and business analysis) templates, and implemented a stage gate process to improve standardization and consistency across inflight projects. Oversaw analysis and organizational change management activities as well as all documentation requirements including business process reviews, use cases, user stories, functional specifications, and testing. Led product selection processes for inflight projects and managed vendor relationships.

•Oversaw inflight initiatives ensuring project management processes were being followed and provided coaching and mentoring to team members when needed. Facilitated stage gate meetings to review progress, and discuss deliverables, issues and risks with project team members, and key technical stakeholders.

•Implemented MS Project Server to help manage a portfolio of 8 projects and oversaw a capital budget of approximately $6M.

•I was responsible for leading and directing an inflight multi-year ERP upgrade from Microsoft Dynamics 2009 to Microsoft Dynamics D365 on a budget of $2.5M and a team of 15 functional, business and technical resources. I was responsible for overseeing the business process review, FitGap and design for solution development. Managed the corporate communications, change management plan, user acceptance testing, data conversion, and cutover plan. The project was completed on time and on budget.

•Supervised the replacement of a legacy property management solution with Yuhu’s Tenant Portal and the Digital Leasing SaaS-based solutions.

•Managed a team of 2 project managers, 3 business analysts, a scrum master, and a testing resource on a $1.3M budget responsible for delivering the two Yuhu replacement projects.

•Collaborated with the technical lead of software development around the technical aspects of the Yuhu SaaS projects (e.g., data migration/seeding/integration (API endpoint development).

•Worked with an Organizational Change Management (OCM) consultant from the business to ensure the change was successfully adopted.

•Oversaw the implementation of the Yuhu Tenant portal replacing the public website.

•Worked with the implementation team of the Yuhu Digital Leasing solution on the business process review highlighting numerous opportunities for improvement which were fully adopted by the organization. The solution replaced paper-based processes across the company for 800 buildings, fully automating the leasing process, and improving turn around time of closing leases by 40%.

•I led the development of an AI-powered Chatbot that was implemented in the Yuhu Tenant Portal so tenants could ask the bot questions related to their lease, reducing 40% traffic to the contact centre. Managed a team of 4 including the Yuhu vendor on a budget of $350K.

•Led the implementation of SharePoint Online and the rollout of team sites for collaboration and content management purposes across the organization (12 departments overall). Managed 2 external resources on a $700K budget. This project drastically improved team collaboration throughout the organization and storage and content management capability (migrating documents from file shares located across the company to SharePoint team sites, over 80K documents in total were migrated).

•Oversaw the development of the SharePoint governance documentation and the formation of a steering committee to evergreen SharePoint services going forward.

•Managed the completion of the Valo/SharePoint online portal project with responsibility for elicitating portal requirements from all departments, developing UI/UX mockups, creating training material including an introduction video and for training corporate users (following a train the trainer methodology), managed the project communications across the organization. I also initiated an awareness campaign with the Marketing department personnel to improve system adoption and usage among head office/site staff. Managed the SharePoint Valo partner ( 2 SharePoint developers and an internal business analyst) on a $250K budget.

Tools: Azure DevOps, ServiceNow, SharePoint Online, Dynamics 365, Valo, Balsamiq, Draw, DocuSign, Power BI, Power Apps, Power Automate, Yuhu, MS Azure Bot Framework, MS Visio, DevOps, PowerShell

Senior Business Analyst (Contractor) Jan 2018 – Oct 2018

ExxonMobil, Calgary, AB

In collaboration with the business and enterprise architecture teams, I was responsible for developing/capturing Kearl's mining (process definition) technical systems landscape.

•Modelled and mapped Logical Systems Architecture and business processes using Excel and Visio (in alignment with the TOGAF architecture framework established by the Kearl operations team) to show how systems were supporting base mining operations.

•Worked across various business units and conducted process mapping sessions and documented complex business processes of mining processes using MS Visio.

•Gather knowledge around the Kearl business domain and business drivers to better assist in reaching consensus, providing direction, and helping to develop a vision and roadmap for the IT systems portfolio.

•Work with stakeholders and technical IT staff to analyze root causes of business issues and determine solutions/designs that accurately define the benefits and risks.

•Work with the Subject Matter Experts to define key elements of the Target Operating Model (TOM). This included Design Principles, Functional Models, Process Models, and Business Data Dictionaries.

•Work with Technology Architects to assess solution designs against the TOM.

•Build an Information System Roadmap (System Delivery Plan and Dates) to ensure that required capabilities exist.

•Defined Kearl System Solutions (Business Choosing Solutions):

•Validate what systems exist today in Oil sands base operations and assess and recommend systems (business choose) based on the following factors:

oDetermine if existing systems should be used or retired.

oEnhance existing systems or perform upgrades if needed.

oConsolidate, rationalize, or integrate existing systems.

oGo with new system implementations.

•Gather feedback/input from the business community on the results of the implemented products/initiatives/operational changes and how that serves as input toward adjusting future roadmaps/plans.

Tools: MS Visio, eDocs, OneNote, Excel, SAP, JIRA, Confluence, SharePoint 2016, Power Apps, Power BI, ServiceNow

Management Systems Analyst Jan 2016 – Dec 2017

The City of Calgary, Calgary, AB

Provided Business Relationship Management services to Calgary Transit, Assessment Review Board, and Human Resources groups providing IT technical support services. Formulated business cases for clients for enterprise technology investments and presented them to funding boards/bodies to secure approval and funding for projects. Supervised IT resources working in these three main areas.

•Supervised 6 software developers responsible for re-writing legacy desktop applications into modern E-Commerce applications using Agile-Scrum framework and best practices. Responsible for capturing requirements for the projects by conducting agile requirements workshops with the full delivery teams, including business stakeholders. I ensured user stories were properly documented, managed the backlog with business leads, created mock-ups for solutions, and managed scrum ceremonies (planning, refinement, retrospectives, and product reviews with stakeholders). I was Scrum Master across two dev teams and attended Scrum of Scrum meetings to provide updates on progress and issues if any. Brought in code/design reviews with the architecture and UI/UX teams. Worked closely with the architecture manager ensuring the team was using the most up-to-date City technology framework. Also worked closely with privacy and security and completed a successful vulnerability test. Used Jira/Confluence to manage the project's user stories and documentation for support purposes. Managed 10-12 resources (consisting of Business/Dev/BA/QA) on a $1.5M budget. Successfully implementing three public-facing e-commerce sites over two years.

•Worked on SharePoint Online upgrade project and was responsible for migrating departmental team sites and their content from SharePoint 2013 to SharePoint Online. Helped with the design of the new architecture prior to migration to SharePoint 2013/Online focusing on navigation, and document search ability to increase user adoption. Provided software configuration (lists, libraries, pages, web parts, sites, templates, columns, views, document types, document sets, workflows and InfoPath forms), administration (managing permission, security, inheritance, metadata and approvals), training to drive adoption and day-to-day support.

•Engaged and led a Request for Proposal (RFP) and selection team to elicit requirements for an integrated Learning Management System (LMS). My responsibilities included documenting the business case (funding approval), functional and non-functional business requirements (including documenting AS-IS and TO-BE business processes), and working with the HR group as well as the application, and security teams to select the Peoplesoft Enterprise Learning Management (ELM) solution.

Tools: SharePoint 2013/2016, MS Visio, TFS, PeopleSoft, MS Project Server, PowerShell

Senior Business Analyst (Contractor) Feb 2015 – Dec 2015

Enerflex Ltd, Houston, TX

Joined the inflight Engineering Data Management System software development project. Created, analyzed, and managed high-quality documentation (meeting business, security, privacy, and operational requirements) such as Visio diagrams showing business process flow states, created use cases, user stories, business requirements, and mock-ups. Managed and prioritized the product backlog with the Product Owner (Engineering Manager). Led testing with developers, QA, and business to ensure the solution met the business needs of the organization.

•Worked on the NA Scheduling Project implementing the SAP Project Scheduler (PS) module across the Calgary and Houston manufacturing plants.

•Facilitated an SAP PS level setting sessions with the SAP Consultant and Key Stakeholders prior to business blueprinting (requirements gathering) sessions.

•Developed an Organizational Change Management (OCM) Plan with the Director of Engineering to help communicate the change and mitigate adoption risk with the business users across the company.

•Facilitated requirements gathering (functional/non-functional requirements) and business blueprinting sessions to fully understand business and technology changes.

•Led a company-wide AS-IS and TO-BE review of the engineering and manufacturing business processes.

•Prepared a 200-page Business Requirements Document (BRD)/Business Blueprint that was signed off by the senior management team.

•Facilitated 3 rounds of conference room/simulation testing on live data to discover and eliminate business process gaps. Developed a system gap list from the conference room pilot and eliminated serious issues or developed agreed-upon workarounds prior to business acceptance testing.

•Worked with QA to document test scripts and scenarios and worked with the business resources to execute system testing before going live.

•Held go/no go meeting with key stakeholders and the system went live with very few issues.

Tools: Quality Center, Balsamiq, TFS, MS Visio, Team Foundation Server, SAP PS/MM, FICO, SharePoint Online

Project Manager/Business Analyst (Contractor) Sept 2014 – Feb 2015

Mount Royal University, Calgary, AB

I designed and suggested a solution option to address outstanding issues and pain points resulting from the current implementation of PeopleSoft FSCM 9.2 Project Costing and Asset Management. Apart from overseeing finance business areas to elicit and document requirements and conduct additional analysis, I orchestrated IT and the business resources to collaborate in coming up with viable solution options.

•I was responsible for directing the Accounts Payable Workflow (PeopleSoft FSCM) project that successfully moved 32 business units of the City of Calgary from manual invoice approval processing to an automated PeopleSoft workflow. Besides delivering the project as planned and within the budget, I oversaw a project team of 11 supporting requirements on a $300K budget. I spearheaded the cutover process for successful go-live and post-live support while collaborating between IT, Accounts Payable, and other stakeholders. I was also integral in restructuring PeopleSoft Business Intelligence (Data Warehouse) solutions for Supply Management, Asset Management, and Finance universes. Additionally, I leveraged MS Project Professional and Project Server for budget, schedule, risks, and issues and generated the status update.

•I drafted the project charter, change management process, project plans, and relevant updates. I also effectively utilized resources and briefed about potential roadblocks to the project personnel for resolution. Additionally, I offered consistent status updates, reports, and presentations to stakeholders.

Tools: PeopleSoft ERP, Oracle, O365, MS Visio, MS Project, MS Office

Project Manager (Contractor) Feb 2014 – Sept 2014

Brookfield Residential Properties Ltd, Calgary, AB

I managed the Brookfield Calgary/Denver BEST ERP projects (best-of-breed solution implementing JD Edwards ERP, BuilderMT, and Salesforce CRM) and interfaced with executives and provided regular project reporting. Managed a budget of $2M directing resources to critical implementation areas. Supervised all activities over a 4–6-month SDLC period requiring requirements negotiation, code review, and schedule/timeline modifications.

•Facilitated a large business blueprinting session for the two projects documenting the accounting and construction As-Is and To-Be business processes.

•Managed scope, schedule, and budget and was responsible for developing resourcing plans, risk and mitigation management, vendor management, and project communications.

•Led a cross-functional team of 12 over two projects (Calgary/Denver Best), fostering a collaborative environment. I directed the work of business leads, systems/business analysts/consultants/SMEs working on project tasks that included business analysis and configuration/implementation activities.

•Worked closely with the implementation team/trainers that were rolling out the Calgary/Denver BEST solutions to the users.

•I directed ample testing of the two systems to ensure the products were free of serious defects.

•Facilitated the revision of project plans, deliverables, and other related project documentation.

Tools: TFS, BuilderMT, Salesforce CRM, MS Visio, MS Project, Oracle, JD Edwards ERP

Project Manager (Contractor) Jan 2012 – Feb 2014

Chevron Canada Resources Ltd, Calgary, AB

I directed the Asset Integration Solution project, utilizing a single custom vendor application to optimize and integrate corporate business planning and field asset management processes. Besides overseeing a team of 10 with a $1.2M budget, I was instrumental in moving the Production Accounting function to Azure Cloud and successfully integrating it into internal company data sources. I collaborated with an external vendor (Tech Mahindra) to launch MS SharePoint to business teams - deployment plans, training, and ETL activities during the migration of data/content into MS SharePoint. I also managed payroll and LMS replacement systems for HR while coaching and mentoring junior-level PMs/BAs.

•I initiated a change document management platform from ‘eDocs' to 'Documentum,' including identifying requirements, documentation, data mapping, data migration, conducting training sessions, managing project charter, project scope, risks, schedule, and tracking cost. Besides directing the development and deployment of a new corporate website for Chevron Canada, I promoted an environment that encouraged meaningful engagement between IT, Reservoir Management - Subsurface Data Management, and the Communications team. I attended enterprise IT Architecture Reviews to ensure technical fit with the existing tool ecosystem within Chevron Canada. I also coached and mentored junior-level BAs and PMs and assisted in developing competency in business analysis within the IT team. Moreover, I provided SharePoint training to team members in sessions organized by IT to facilitate the shifting of new users into the SharePoint space.

•Led a Spotfire (Business Intelligence) Project that integrated mapping data from ArcGIS to analyze data for the Athabasca Oilsands Project (AOSP) to build forecasting predictions for financial reporting purposes. Managed a team of 5, 150k budget. Oversaw project schedules, scope, schedules, task assignments, risk management, resource management, vendor relationships, and project communications for moderate to highly complex projects.

Tools: Spotfire, ArcGIS, OpenText LiveLink, eDocs, Documentum, HP PPM, Automation Anywhere RPA, SharePoint 2016, SeeUnity, SAP FICO

Project Manager/Business Analyst (Contractor) Jan 2011 – Nov 2011

Forzani Sports Group Ltd, Calgary, AB

Assumed responsibility for the Dynamics AX implementation Project for the FGL wholesale division. Worked closely with vendors/consultants and interfaced with critical stakeholders including sponsors, business leads, and IT to ensure a high degree of communication and delivery satisfaction. Facilitated business requirements gathering workshop with various business groups and documented the As Is and To Be business process.

•Developed data conversion/migration plan and cutover schedule from JD Edwards to the Dynamics AX system.

•Worked closely with the vendor to develop/configure a conference room pilot so that the subject matter experts could perform simulation testing on the Dynamics AX ERP system on FGL data.

•Responsible for critical path analysis, budget oversight, status & and risk management reporting.

•Worked with the project sponsor/business leads to mitigate and manage risks including removing roadblocks.

•Facilitated quick decision-making between vendor, business, and IT to ensure the project was kept on schedule.

•Worked with an offshore QA team and local testers to ensure the systems were free of any major defects.

•Performed the following duties including gap analysis: review and analyze business process systems needs; wrote detailed descriptions of business needs to develop, modify, or implement customized systems (modules).

•Oversaw and facilitated revision management of project plans, project artifacts, and other project-related documentation. Managed a team of 6 on a $3M budget.

Project Manager / Scrum Master 2007 - 2010

TransAlta Ltd, Calgary, AB

Engage with sponsors, vendors, subject matter experts, and IT leaders to develop business cases, and project charters and facilitated the AFE process (Authorization for Expenditure) for new projects.

•Oversaw multi-year initiatives which included the Deal Management System Project (Custom Development), Trader Authorization System Project (Custom Development), and the 2010 Application Enhancement Projects (40 enhancements performed to SAP, Maximo and several other Trader related applications).

•Scrum Master on two software development projects (Deal Management System/ Trader Authorization System) with responsibility for managing the backlog and facilitating scrum ceremonies, (sprint planning, refinements, sprint reviews, and retrospectives). Held steering committee meetings to provide updates to senior leaders and managers.

•Integrated IT infrastructure (data network, servers and storage, portal intranet, Outlook Exchange - messaging system, SharePoint, desktop computing, phone systems) for over 25 wind and hydro plants in B.C., Alberta, Ontario, and Quebec.

•Managed project schedules, scope, budgets, task assignments, status reporting, health checks, risk management, project documentation, resource management, vendor relationships, and project communications.

•Managed the development work of web application designers, systems analysts, quality assurance analysts, and other project team members as assigned.

•Maintained relationships with the business through effective communication and steering committee meetings.

•Worked with modern software development technologies (including .Net and Java).

•Used Microsoft Project to manage, update, and age project timeline commitments to monitor critical path project resource conflicts.

•Performed month-end project management budgeting and financial management reporting in SAP.

•Worked closely with QA/UAT on assigned projects to ensure all issues were resolved before going live.

•Managed project budgets up to $5M and teams of 10 resources depending on the project cycle.

Business Analyst/Project Manager 2004 - 2007

TransCanada Pipelines, Calgary AB

Member of a team comprising senior legal counsels, directors, and core IT staff in Canada and the US to develop and validate solution scope, gather business requirements, and establish a business case to implement an e-discovery system to mitigate the risk of litigation and ensure compliance of a $3.M project.

Senior Business Systems Analyst 1999 - 2004

System Analyst 1997 – 1999

Apex Distribution Ltd, Calgary, AB

EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND

BSc degree in Computerized Information Systems 2005

DeVry University, Phoenix, AZ, USA

BAdmin degree in Management and Finance 1998

Athabasca University, Athabasca, AB, CAN

COURSE/CERTIFICATES:

•Business Analysis Foundations (refresher), IIBA, July 2024

•Unlocking the Power of AI in Business Workshop, PwC, 2021

•Product Management Workshops, Quadrus, 2020

•Systems Project Management, Ethier Consulting, 2012

•Graduate Certificate in Project Management from DeVry University, 2012

•Online Scrum Master Certificate, DeVry University Calgary, 2007

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