Business Analyst/Program & Project Management

Allen Mecum

Laguna Niguel, Ca LinkedIn 949-***-**** *******@*****.***

WORK EXPERIENCE

Microsoft Sammamish, WA

Business Program Manager Mar 2019 – Oct 2022

As a member of the "Internal" Business Process & Support team at AnswersHub, I have supported over 65,000 field users and partnered with the AnswersHub Leader to develop and execute the support strategy. Key accomplishments include:

• Driving and implementing the strategy to move 55,000 users from an email-based request system to a virtual agent, creating a single point of support for field users and streamlining the support experience.

• Partnering with the Content Lead to shift user-education based inquiries to self-help, resulting in cost savings by reducing ticket volume.

• Developing and executing the strategy for Complex Deal/Account support, initially focused on top tier accounts, and subsequently scaled to manage all complex queries for the AnswersHub service.

• Building a strategy and managing a high-performance team of 25 specialists who solve complex business and technical problems and provide insights to senior leaders on key areas for improving tools and processes.

Revel Consulting Seattle, WA

Sr. Associate - Project Manager and Business Analyst at Microsoft Jan 2012 – Mar 2019

• Coordinated monthly release management for Changepoint and MRF2, and managed product release changes globally by gathering and verifying requirements, working with the development team, and participating in testing.

• Collaborated with partner teams (Aurora, Premier, SAP, MS Expense) and addressed possible impacts to partner systems, ensuring successful resolution of issues and positive feedback.

• Ensured SOX compliance with user access for Changepoint and managed tax configurations to ensure compliance with local government statutory requirements.

• Prepared all Business Requirement Documents and wrote and prepared scripts for user acceptance testing conducted worldwide on a quarterly release schedule.

• Participated in complete end-to-end testing to ensure successful completion and positive feedback from stakeholders.

LEADERSHIP EXPERIENCE

Microsoft Sammamish WA

Business Program Manager / Delivery Lead

• Accomplished the transformation of the AnswersHub team to its current model, resulting in a more streamlined virtual agent process that supports self-help. This was measured by the successful migration of 55k users from email-based request submission to the new virtual agent process.

• Developed a new process and team to support Complex Deals, which led to the successful implementation of the Support Operations Coordination Service (SOCS) program. This program provided the foundation for the new AnswersHub Tiering support model, which included a dedicated Tier 2 Complex Team that I lead to solve complex problems.

• As the AnswersHub Delivery Manager, I lead the Tier 2 team through thought leadership to drive clarity, velocity, and agility. I used data analytics to derive insights and training that help identify current and future program risks and mitigation plans, as well as opportunities to streamline and optimize based on lessons learned.

• Defined the success criteria and performance measures for Tier 2, evangelize Tier 2 support across MCAPS, and communicate program status across stakeholders. Revel Consulting - Consultant at Microsoft Sammamish, WA Project Manager, Release Manager and Business Analyst

• Coordinated monthly release management of all change requests for Changepoint, and MRF2. Worked with partner teams on possible impacts to partner systems, and with the development team based in India to implement changes.

• Responsible for product release management, gathering, reviewing, and verifying requirements for changes to software as requested by field operations around the world. I prepared all Business Requirement Documents to define the changes requested by the regional leads and wrote and prepared scripts that were used during User Acceptance Testing conducted worldwide for changes on a quarterly release schedule.

• I was the high-level tier support for Changepoint, and the escalation point of contact for GESO team on any escalations. I analyzed any escalated issues that arose in day-to-day operations or month-end close and acted as a liaison between IT and the field offices on issues. I took ownership of the issue until resolution.

EDUCATION

Chapman University Orange CA

Computer Information Systems Aug 2009

Coursework; Computer Science, Software Engineering, Economics, Statistics, Accounting, Financial Management, Data Structure & Database Management, Networking, Philosophy, Business and Professional Ethics, Principles of Management, Human Computer Interactions, and Production & Operations Management.

Certifications:

Project Management Professional (PMP)

ProSci Change Practitioner

Celonis Foundations

SKILLS & INTERESTS

Skills: Business Program Management, Process Optimization, Project Management, Data Analytics, Business Analytics, Incident & Escalation Management, and Release Management. High proficiency in the full Microsoft Office Suite. SAP R/3, Power Automate, PowerApps, Power BI (Reporting), SQL, MS Project, SharePoint, MS Teams. PMP skills (WBS, IMS, IMP, Gantt, EVM Earned Value Management) Interests: Off-roading, Surfing, Cycling, Ecommerce business, Orange County PMI Chapter member.

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