Scrum Master Business Analyst

Samira Ahmed (CSM)

Scrum Master

Bridgewater, NJ ******.*******@*****.***

www.linkedin.com/in/samira-ahmed-csm®-46308080

PROFESSIONAL SUMMARY

Certified Scrum Master and results-driven Business Analyst with strong analytical and communication skills, enabling the conversion of raw data into insightful business stories. Expertise in financial reporting, project management, and improving company revenue and productivity through detailed analysis. Professional with a proven track record of delivering accurate and high-quality work within strict deadlines. Experienced in investigating and resolving freight payment issues through collaboration with internal and external stakeholders. Adaptable team player known for excelling in high-pressure environments, demonstrating a passion for expanding competencies, and contributing effectively as an independent professional within cross-functional teams.

SKILLS & TOOLS

•Reporting & Data Analysis

•Audit & Reconciliation

•Problem Solving

•Vendor Relationship Management

•Excellent Attention to detail.

•Communication Skills

•Excellent time management

•Ability to meet deadlines

•Proficient in Excel (XLOOKUPS, VLOOKUP, Pivot Tables,

Conditional Functions,Power Query, Index/Match, etc.)

•Microsoft office suite (Outlook, Word, PowerPoint, SharePoint, Excel)

•Jira, Confluence, Slack, Lucidchart

•Power BI, Apex Tableau

•ERP (SAP) CMS (in house Cost Management System),

Python, numpy, pandas, Statistics, Hypothesis Testing, MatPlotlib, Predictive Modeling, Linear Regression.

•PostgreSQL, SQL,

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

•Built and maintained professional relationships with vendors.

•Boosted profitability by reclaiming $300K+ in overcharged funds through effective vendor dispute resolution.

•Streamlined Excel templates to facilitate the invoice auditing process.

•Supervised and managed team of Business Analysts increasing productivity.

•Increased the efficiency in Vendor audit process by 65% through eliminating existing manual processes.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCES

Totam

Business Analyst (Intern) Oct 2024 – Present

TOTAM is a SaaS-based workforce management platform that streamlines workforce operations by integrating freelancers, contractors, temporary staff, and permanent employees into a unified system.

•Assist Sr. Product Manager and Scrum Team in gathering, documenting, and refining business requirements and user stories to ensure alignment with development goals.

•Support Agile ceremonies, including daily stand-ups, sprint planning, backlog refinement, sprint reviews, and retrospectives, to improve collaboration.

•Track and manage Jira workflows, ensuring that Epics, user stories, tasks, and subtasks are properly organized and updated.

•Break down Epics into actionable user stories, ensuring clarity for developers and alignment with business priorities.

•Collaborate with the QA team to review test cases, validate requirements, and ensure smooth defect tracking before feature releases.

•Monitor sprint progress and generate Jira reports to track key metrics such as velocity, burndown charts, and backlog health.

•Identify and help resolve blockers, logging impediments in Jira and coordinating solutions with relevant teams.

•Ensure adherence to the Definition of Done (DoD) by supporting documentation, validation, and approval processes.

•Assist in backlog grooming and prioritization, working closely with the Product Owner to refine and manage the product backlog.

•Support sprint triage sessions, helping to assess backlog items based on business value and dependencies.

•Maintain project documentation in Confluence, including user stories, release notes, and sprint reports for stakeholders.

•Coordinate release activities, ensuring approvals, internal communication, and stakeholder updates are completed on time.

•Facilitate cross-team discussions, aligning development efforts with business needs and project goals.

•Analyze sprint performance metrics, identifying areas for improvement in Agile processes.

Pitney Bowes

Business Analyst Sep 2020 - July 2023

•Designed and implemented a comprehensive audit process for vendor invoice accounts, leveraging advanced analytical formulas in Microsoft Excel to ensure data accuracy, contractual compliance, and alignment with invoice specification.

•Identified and resolved discrepancies, such as price variances and duplicate or voided invoices, leading to a 15% reduction in erroneous payments. This strengthened vendor relationships through timely resolutions while improving data quality using data wrangling techniques. By structuring data, performing analysis for missing information, and identifying key variables, the process enabled root cause analysis, drove continuous improvement, and supported datadriven decision-making.

•Drove cost-saving initiatives through meticulous invoice data auditing, leading to a 10% reduction in unnecessary expenditures and contributing to significant annual savings for the company.

•Enhanced internal controls and documentation procedures, which increased data quality and operational efficiency, resulting in a 12% increase in audit process efficiency and boosting the company’s revenue by reducing financial leakage.

•Implemented robust internal controls and meticulous documentation practices, maintaining transparency and accountability throughout the audit process. All relevant SOPs were documented to ensure clarity, consistency, and compliance, which minimized errors, strengthened vendor relationships, and enhanced financial transparency.

•Played a pivotal role in crafting monthly end reports for the company, encompassing savings reports, spending reports, and fuel reports, which required exporting data from Power BI dashboards and extracted general ledger accounts from SAP, ensuring meticulous comparison to prevent missed payments during the netting cycle. It enabled accurate financial analysis and decision-making processes by providing comprehensive and reliable reports, contributing to enhanced financial management and cost optimization within the organization.

•Implemented Agile methodologies to oversee business analyst teams, delivering training sessions, conducting regular reviews of their work, and providing mentorship to new analysts. This approach led to team productivity.

SimpliLearn- Data analyst certification training program July 2018- January 2019 Projects Link- https://github.com/samira21?tab=repositories

Nevakar, Inc.

Data Coordinator April – June 2018

•Worked directly with the management and controller to convert a large 2 years contingent project data into a digital format, which enhanced the efficiency and accessibility of project documents, streamlining retrieval processes and reducing reliance on physical storage.

•Stored files as electronic document management (EDM), resulted in improving document management, filing, data security and data accessibility. enhanced data security measures, and facilitated easier access to critical project documentation, thereby improving overall operational efficiency.

•The conversion to digital document simplified the process of tracking and reporting on Accounts Payable and Accounts Receivable activities. Hence enhanced the accuracy and efficiency in tracking financial transactions, facilitating more accurate reporting and analysis of Accounts Payable and Accounts Receivable activities, leading to improved financial management and decision-making.

Stayed Home Mom June 2012-2018

eTeam, Inc.

Data Entry Analyst Feb-May 2012

•Responsible for data collection and data accuracy in timesheet for consultant’s wages which included collection of timesheet data from consultants on a regular basis, verifying the accuracy against the client’s agreement and verifying the time against the project.

•Created time data report and presented to manager for payments approval on weekly basis and resolve any billing discrepancies or disputes with clients in timely manner.

Computax Services, Inc.

Accounting Analyst Feb 2009-April 2011

•Managed multiple stakeholder accounts by inputting financial data into accounting systems and filing business taxes. Analyzed the data to generate performance reports and metrics, supporting the achievement of quarterly and annual goals.

•Helped prepare financial reports, general ledger related to tax file.

•Assisted with internal and external audits by providing necessary documentation and information.

•Assisted with month-end closing procedures, including preparing journal entries and account reconciliation for various client accounts.

•Meet deadlines, managed multiple projects and work independently and as part of a team.

EDUCATION

Kean University, NJ

Bachelors of Science in Accounting

Deans List Award

HONOR & AWARDS

Encore Brovo – Recognized for receiving Peer Recognition Award out of 80 possible candidates multiple times across financial team for hard work and accomplishments at Pitney Bowes.

CERTIFICATIONS

Scrum Alliance - Certified Scrum Master

SimpliLearn - Python programing Certificate code: 1079641, Machine Learning with Tensor flow Certificate code: 1188807 Machine Learning Advanced Certification Training Certification Code:1188808

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