Program Management and Documentation Specialist

Karina J. Ritchie

PROFESSIONAL SUMMARY:

Experienced technical writer, project manager, e-learning training developer, trainer, and business analyst with extensive years of experience, including experience in the financial, healthcare services industry; some years in government consulting, including IT business analysis, development and testing; and aome time in project management, project documentation, and performance measurement. Proven track record in reviewing, researching, refining, implementing, and documenting processes to streamline workflow, minimize risk, and reduce costs.

Experience also includes researching, writing, editing, developing, proofreading, testing, and publishing policies, procedures, forms, and training materials, including system documentation. Able to develop productive working relationships and interact professionally with a diverse group, including developers, programmers, engineers, clients, vendors, and auditors. Demonstrated ability to quickly learn complex information and communicate it effectively to others. Innovative, motivated team player with excellent problem solving and time management skills. Excellent verbal and written communicator that is poised and professional in front of any size audience.

SKILLS

Working collaboratively with a Project Management Office (PMO) Team

Leveraging contractual requirements to facilitate the finalization of deliverables work products that meet the client’s documented needs as well as to support development of contractual letters

Leading and managing the release of all project related communications and maintaining the project inbox and calendar, including planning, reviewing, and releasing communications for internal and external stakeholders

Managing the intake, review, and tracking of deliverables and work products throughout their lifecycle

Maintaining lists of required deliverables, reviewers, due dates, requirements, and contractual letters

Overseeing deliverable review processes within client work groups

Managing project risks, issues, and change requests and facilitating project wide communications

Managing the logistical aspects of meetings, conducting research, capturing critical discussions, project risks and issues, and action items, and assisting in the preparation of meeting materials

Monitoring system access requests to the SharePoint document repository and escalating if necessary

Maintaining the Risk, Action Item, Issue, and Decision (RAID) Log on the project SharePoint site and supporting the tracking of project change requests

Preparing and Facilitating meeting materials and agendas, and capturing meeting minutes

Monitoring, escalating, and processing communications received

Managing document version control during review cycles with management and external stakeholders for frequently updated documents. Utilizing Workflows, Document Sets, Document Libraries, and folder structures to maintain project documentation

Developing and utilizing standardized templates and style guides to meet business needs and comply with the project requirements. Ability to work independently and manage multiple works in process simultaneously, including performing second reviews and rewriting and adding new information

Providing leadership, mentoring, and work guidance to less experienced personnel so that they may grow and develop professionally

TECHNOLOGY

Ability to quickly learn and use software.

MS Office Suite (Word, Outlook, Teams, Excel, PowerPoint, Visio)

SharePoint

Snagit

Captivate

Adobe Products (FrameMaker and RoboHelp)

Confluence and Jira

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Team Lead/Technical Writer, CGI April 2022 to Present (Remote And Hybrid Remote)

Team Lead/Technical Writer supporting the Quality Assurance Team on the State of California Case Management, Information and Payrolling System (CMIPS) Project. Responsible for leading a team of Document Quality Analysts/Technical Writers, building a shared understanding of CMIPS; providing leadership and work guidance to team members including training and mentoring staff; supporting and assisting team members; and addressing and removing impediments, obstacles, and blockers for deliverable authors to ensure deliverables, reports, work products, and change requests are completed on time and within budget and scope. Managed document version control during review cycles with management and external stakeholders for frequently updated documents. Maintained a SharePoint library of project documents including deliverables and training documents. Managed the yearly SharePoint library audit and cleanup to keep documentation current and relevant.

Other Responsibilities Included:

Maintained a deliverable dashboard via collaboration with an external vendor.

Managed the project inbox; supporting and managing vendor onboarding requests including access provisioning and system use training support.

Reviewed resumes, transition plans, and qualifications for external vendor resources.

Drafted and proofread contractual letters, coordinating multi-level client reviews, and facilitating their release to the external vendor.

Worked extensively in Word and Excel to review, edit, track changes, format, and utilize Styles and file conversions.

Working collaboratively with a Project Management Office (PMO) Team.

Worked extensively in office productivity and collaboration software utilizing Workflows, Document Sets, Document Libraries, and folder structures to maintain project documentation.

Technical Writer, CGI – May 2020 to March 2022 (remote)

Technical Writer supporting the Quality Assurance Team on the State of California CMIPS Project. Responsible for reviewing Deliverable Expectation Documents, Deliverables, and Change Requests for grammar, consistency, adherence to contact requirements, and adherence to Writing Style Guide standards.

Technical Writer, CGI – June 2019 to April 2020 (Hybrid Remote)

Technical Writer supporting the Application Development Team on the State of California CMIPS Project. Responsible for reviewing and editing Deliverable Expectation Documents (DEDs), Deliverables, and other business documents, such as Change Requests and Work Products, to improve readability and make sure they comply with applicable style guides and project contract guidelines.

Technical Writer February 2019 to May 2019

State of California Department of General Services (DGS)

Technical Writer consulting to Elyon Strategies to work with the California Department of Technology (CDT) to create a Cloud Readiness Playbook.

Technical Writer July 2018 to February 2019

State of California Department of General Services (DGS)

Technical Writer for the State of California Department of General Services (DGS) on the FI$Cal Agile Release Development Project. Responsible for maintaining the product backlog and facilitating Sprint Sessions. Provided subcontracting services to Legato Solutions.

Updated and maintained the Departmental Product Backlog.

Facilitated Daily/Weekly Sprint Standup Meetings and Agile Working Sessions.

Worked with Developers and SMEs to draft, revise, and finalize User Stories, Acceptance Criteria, and Test Scenarios.

Monitored and reported on Sprint Items as they move through the Development, Functional Test, Quality Assurance, and Production Environments.

Created and revised Quality Assurance Test Documents to present to the Change Release Review Board before migration to the Production Environment.

Technical Writer Mar 2018 to June 2018

Technical Writer through DVBE Technology Group on the Medi-Cal Program Integrity Data Analytics Project (MPIDA) responsible for the following technical writing functions.

Developed valid and reliable data and statistical models, data element dictionary, and report documentation.

Documented the system architecture.

Developed privacy policy and security documentation, machine-learning algorithms documentation, risk scoring/ranking equations documentation, and user software documentation.

Created and edited test cases, training documentation, and system help text.

Technical Writer February 2017 to March 2018

AccuTeam

Technical Writer supporting the Delta Dental Administrative Services Organization (ASO) Takeover Contract Management Office team. Responsible for updating manuals and plans to comply with the new state contract.

Technical Writer April 2016 to November 2016

Trinity Technology Group

Senior Technical Writer on the Business Development Team responsible for reviewing and editing proposal text to make the information easier to read and understand, to provide the proposal with a single voice, and to better position Trinity Technology Group as the vendor of choice.

Technical Writer May 2015 to March 2016

Bridge Technologies and Solutions

Technical Writer on the State of California Correctional Health Care Services (CCHCS) Project. Bridge Technologies and Solutions was a subcontractor to the main contractor, Verizon.

Updated and maintained documentation for Detailed Design Deliverables (DDDs), including Visio drawings, to ensure accurate infrastructure documentation.

Performed requirements analysis to support complex enterprise-wide solutions and achieve successful implementation.

Worked with the Infrastructure team to draft and edit various documents, such as Business Requirement Documents, Technical Recovery Documents, and policies to ensure approval.

Technical Writer – Cambria Solutions, Sacramento, CA October 2012 to April 2015

Technical Writer on the State of California FI$CAL Project, an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) project. Cambria Solutions was a subcontractor to the main contractor, Accenture.

Actively participated as a cross-functional team member to collaboratively work with the Accenture team leads to create and edit a variety of technical and nontechnical documents (e.g., Deliverables and work products) for a new PeopleSoft integrated financial management system for the State of California.

Participated in working sessions with the Accenture team leads and client to better understand what the users need and want in terms of applications and documentation, and revised documentation based on these sessions.

Ensured Deliverable documents were compliant with Deliverable Expectation Documents (DEDs), the Prime contact requirements, and Writing Style Guide standards to achieve 100% acceptance.

Created user documentation, including how-to guides, quick references, quick cards, and cheat sheets, to provide users with the information they need to fully adopt and utilize the new internet-based financial system.

Assisted the Accenture team leads with edits to text of previously prepared documents to reword and generally strengthen material for client's review and approval.

Worked with the PMO team to manage and track document reviews and submissions to ensure on-time submission of deliverables to client.

Instructional Designer/Trainer January 2012 to August 2012

Global Touchpoints, Roseville, CA

Instructional Designer and Trainer on the California Employee Development Department (EDD) Disability Insurance Automation (DIA) System Project. Global Touchpoints was a subcontractor to the main contractor, Deloitte.

Actively participated as a cross-functional team member to collaboratively develop training and Train-the-Trainer (TTT) materials, including storyboards and courses, to support implementation of the new internet-based EDD DIA System, focusing on Workers’ Compensation and Recomputations.

Worked with system developers and functional designers to develop training materials from business specification documents before functionality was available in the training environment.

Coordinated and facilitated delivering dry run and walkthrough sessions of the storyboards and course materials with EDD managers, trainers, and SMEs.

Collaborated with technical team members, including developers and testers, to clarify functionality and technical accuracy of training documentation.

Reviewed and researched comments and questions about the training materials, managed the responses, and escalated parking lot questions, including obtaining management approval of the answers.

Worked with the data team to develop data to use in training scenarios.

Delivered TTT sessions to EDD personnel using adult learning theory methods.

Provided training to state trainers to prepare them to deliver a training course for a new business system affecting over 1,000 end users across the state of California.

Delivered live presentations and provided instruction during hands-on system functionality training and end-user training curricula.

Assessed the preparedness of the state trainers to present the training curricula, including their functional understanding of the new system and their presentation and training skills.

Provided technical support to EDD trainers during training sessions and facilitated the knowledge transfer process.

eLearning Training Developer December 2010 to September 2011

Technical Writer – January 2007 to November 2010, Sagitec Solutions, Little Canada, MN 55117

Technical Writer and eLearning Developer and on the CalPERS Pension System Resumption project, the world’s largest public employee retirement system. Transitioned from Technical Writer position to the eLearning Developer position because all deliverables were submitted. Sagitec was a subcontractor to the main contractor, Accenture.

Developed eLearning and TTT materials, focusing on health enrollment, to support implementation of a new Internet-based next-generation pension processing system for internal program and Information Technology Services Branch (ITSB) staff, external business partners, and external members using adult learning theory methods.

Validated learning activities in the training environment to ensure the system performed as designed.

Developed course assessments in Captivate to monitor student progress and make any necessary course enhancements.

Tested eLearning modules uploaded to the Learning Management System (LMS) to ensure they functioned properly.

Edited DEDs, Deliverables, Wikis, Online Help Documents, Process Change Guides (PCGs), and various other technical documents, including User Interface Design Documents, Business Rule Specifications, Supplemental Specifications, Background Processes, Interface Agreements and To-Be Business Processes, to improve readability and to make sure they complied with applicable style guides and project contract guidelines.

Managed the submission process and worked with project teams to ensure on-time delivery of deliverables to client.

Managed the project deliverable schedule/calendar to meet all client deadlines.

Ensured all deliverables and work products were in compliance with project policies, procedures, and contract standards and achieve 100% acceptance.

Compiled and reviewed weekly, monthly, and yearly project management reporting.

EDUCATION

MBA, with honors, Otterbein College, Westerville, Ohio. GPA: 3.67, 2002

Course work involved a live consultation project for a public transportation system and overseas studies in Berlin, Germany and Prague, Czech Republic.

BA, Business Management, Magna cum Laude, Capital University, Columbus, Ohio. GPA: 3.75

Major: Business Management with an emphasis in Finance and Accounting.

Nominated for the Student of the Year

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