SUMMARY:

• Over twenty years in technical and business communications, working as a writer, coeditor, proofreader, and writer. Extensive experience in business and process analysis. Expert knowledge of levels of editing, grammar, punctuation, rhetoric, content organization, document design, style manuals, editing procedures, web content editing, user interface editing, process modeling (Visio), and indexing. Editing experience using a variety of style guidelines, including MLA, AP, and Chicago Manual. Wrote creative non - fiction articles for internet sites. Taught writing, grammar, and indexing at university level. Teach English as a second language (TESOL certified).
• Wrote and edited a wide range of business documents for organizations, including web content, policies, procedures, user manuals, marketing materials, requirements documents, newsletters, brochures, white papers, specifications, and process flows and diagrams covering a variety of functional areas such Accounting, Legal, Human Resources, Retail, Software development, Infrastructure/Data Center, Business Continuity/DR, Financial Services, Purchasing, IT, Quality Management, Engineering, and Supply Chain Management. Captured information through interviewing personnel at all levels, including executive and middle management, technical experts, and functional personnel.
• As a business and process analyst, interviewed subject matter experts and conducted JAD sessions to gather information. Created diagrams and models showing system architecture, data flows, process flows, and other information. Performed gap analysis and identified areas for improvement. Expert user of Visio. As an analyst, interviewed business personnel to collect information and create all forms of business documentation, including user documentation, technical documentation, policy and procedure documentation, business and technical requirements, process flows, use cases, data flows, and architecture models (UML).
• Designed document layouts to present information for accessibility, clarity, and appearance. Created original MS Word template (style sheets). Expert in creating structured formats.
• Wrote and edited articles and books for authors. Performed both substantive editing and copyediting. Assisted authors in restructuring materials to obtain a logical, readable flow. Recommended stylistic revisions to make the writing more lively and engaging, while preserving the writer’s own voice.
• Edited documents for adherence to grammatical rules and standards requirements (AP, Chicago Manual, MLA, internal style requirements). Edited document organization, structure, and writing style for logic, completeness, coherence, and consistency. Edited online content for web sites. Edited UI content in complex applications for usability, consistency, and adherence to standards throughout the interface. Assisted developers in creating interface content for usability and consistency.
• Taught classes and workshops in copyediting and proofreading at the college level and in corporate venues. Mentored and coached writers to improve their writing skills.
• Edited web page content for Internet and Intranet sites. Edited grammar, style, and content structure. Tested links and navigation in sites to ensure a usable flow of information throughout the site. Performed SEO editing.
• Established corporate standards and processes and wrote corporate writing standards manuals, style guides, and internal procedure documents. Developed document designs and formats. Expert designer of MS Word templates (styles).
• Managed corporate publications departments. Developed project estimates, plans, and schedules; assigned writers; and tracked projects to completion. Performed all human resource management functions for the departments, including analyzing staffing requirements, selecting and hiring new writers, coaching writers, and evaluating performance. Wrote audience analysis documents and content plans. Managed a $2,000,000+ budget.
• As a project manager, created project plans, scope documents, project requirements, and other project documentation. Coordinated with all stakeholders to bring project consensus, identify and resolve issues, maintain contact with all parties, and report to management. Maintained all project documentation in a common document management system.
• As a content manager, set up document libraries and designed standards, processes, and procedures for document production, control, and management. Developed search criteria and terminology. Edited documents to ensure consistency and adherence to standards across all documents created by multiple writers. Managed libraries using CMS.

TECHNICAL SKILLS:

Tools: Used: Microsoft Word Visio SharePoint CMS Snag - IT Adobe Acrobat Microsoft Project ServiceNow (SaaS) CMS Microsoft Excel Information Mapping UML

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:

Confidential

(Owner) Freelance editor, writer

Responsibilities:

• Publications consulting company specializing in writing, editing, copywriting, copyediting, indexing, business process analysis, project management, web content, and communications strategies. Teach writing and editing classes in the continuing program for Clayton State University. Write and edit technical and user guides, articles, newsletters, white papers, reports, marketing and promotional materials, web content, and academic papers. Analyze business processes; develop process maps, process and procedure documents, and other process documents. Develop technical and business requirements and specifications. Expert user of MS Word, MS Project, Visio, PowerPoint, and Information Mapping. Teach ESL to Spanish speaker.

Confidential, Pine Bluff, AR

Senior Business Analyst/Process Improvement Analyst/Technical Writer

Responsibilities:

• Analyzed and documented business processes and procedures for Loan Operations for growing South-Central/Mideast regional bank. Worked with processes in all areas of Loan Operations, such as escrow, bankruptcy, insurance payments, mortgage servicing, loss mitigation, loan collection, etc. Worked with Regulation/Compliance to adhere to banking regulations and compliance requirements. Interviewed bank personnel to gather information, document process flows, and create procedures. (Contract with Strategic Staffing Solutions).

Confidential, Atlanta, GA

Senior Technical Writer

Responsibilities:

• Created documentation and managed document libraries in support of change management initiatives for Cox Business. Analyzed document libraries, developed documentation requirements, created project tracking system, created and managed project plans. Analyzed and documented processes and made recommendations for improvement to increase document accuracy, completeness, and usability. Designed and created MS Word templates with sophisticated Word style structure. Worked on design of SharePoint site to make documents available to all relevant users. (Contract with Pyramid Consulting).

Confidential, Duluth, GA

Senior Business Analyst

Responsibilities:

• Researched and documented business processes, procedures, and systems related to Confidential ’s key business practices, including doctor contracting and credentialing, store management, and web site development implementation. Identified root causes of major business issues, analyzed software issues, and made recommendations for resolution. Identified possible software vendors for new product, developed RFP documents for vendors, analyzed and determined UX needs, interviewed vendors, analyzed vendor offerings against requirements, and recommended vendor solution. Developed user stories and requirements for major reporting system and for web site re-design (Agile/Scrum).
• Worked with personnel across multiple company functions, including IT, Marketing, Merchandising, Accounting, Store Operations, Tax Management, and Legal and with various management levels. Resolved conflicting needs and issues across the organization. Worked with web developers on redesign of major customer facing web sites (Agile/Scum), coordinated communications and issues resolution between Ohio-based developers and Atlanta-based marketing management team. Designed and created MS Word templates with sophisticated Word style structure. Made recommendations for web site improvements to provide improved UX. Worked with senior management, including C-Level executives on major corporate initiatives. (Contract with Execusource).

Confidential, Marietta, GA

Technical Writer/Senior Business Analyst (Agile) .

Responsibilities:

• Worked with users, engineers, and developers to write user stories, test instructions, and acceptance criteria for Service Now updates and enhancements. Worked with Agile/Scrum team to track stories to completion and reduce backlog aging from over a year to less than 60 days. Worked with outside vendor to oversee stories assigned to them and track their progress according to the contract agreement. Worked with product owners to gather requirements, acceptance criteria, and testing requirements. Communicated requirements to developers, performed user testing, documented issues, and coordinated information between developers and product owners. Participated in weekly production releases. (Consultant through KForce).

Confidential, Johns Creek, GA

Senior Business Analyst

Responsibilities:

• IT Infrastructure/Information Security/Business Continuity. Interviewed business, technical, and managerial personnel to capture requirements for infrastructure projects including data center and infrastructure, software and hardware migrations and upgrades. Worked with all levels of the organization to resolve conflicts concerning requirements, time and cost constraints, and resourced allocation. Analyzed and documented processes. Analyzed and captured business and technical requirements. Created project artifacts, including use cases, process flows, business requirements, data flows, technical requirements, user stories, business continuity requirements, project charters, and other documentation. Performed gap analyses on processes and procedures. Facilitated group analysis sessions. Analyzed needs with special emphasis on security, DR/Business continuity/crisis management/business resiliency, PCI, and compliance.
• Coordinated requirements gathering process with product owners, developers, and other stakeholders to ensure that all relevant parties were included in the process. Worked closely with project managers and other project parties to ensure that business analysis tasks were completed on time according to project plans. Used ITIL methodology to analyze IT services and develop service catalog for IT services. Designed and created MS Word templates with sophisticated Word style structure. Developed improved processes for managing the business analysis functions, devised new processes, and trained staff in using the new processes, including document design and management processes for document control in CMS (SharePoint).

Confidential, Johns Creek, GA

Technical Writer/Process Analyst

Responsibilities:

• Gathered and documented information for PCI audit; analyzed and documented processes; wrote data center and infrastructure documentation, policies, and procedures. Worked closely with project managers, technical managers and personnel, and PCI managers to determine documentation needs for PCI audit.
• Designed and created MS Word templates with sophisticated Word style structure. Interviewed infrastructure engineers, developers, and other subject matter experts to capture information. Created policy and procedure documents, process flows, and other PCI artifacts. Identified and recommended process improvements for managing the PCI audit process. Managed documentation in CMS and managed document editorial, approval, and change control processes through project lifecycle. (Consultant through Pyramid Consulting.)

Confidential, Marietta, GA

Content manager

Responsibilities:

• Writing and editing IT runbooks. Managed extensive library of IT runbooks. Worked with IT schedulers, business analysts, and project managers to analyze, track, and complete an extensive runbook library. Analyzed document management processes, performed gap analysis, developed library management processes, and made recommendations for process improvements. Used MS Word, SharePoint, MS Project, and Visio. (Consultant with Confidential ).

Confidential, Norcross, GA

Technical editor and writer/process analyst

Responsibilities:

• On contract through Confidential to Confidential writing and editing policies and procedures in support of an ISO initiative. Used MS Word and Visio. Edited documents written by subject matter experts. Worked with accounting, human resources, compliance, and quality assurance.

Confidential, Atlanta, GA

Technical editor and writer

Responsibilities:

• On contract to Confidential editing and writing user guides and policies and procedures for financial services functions, including loan application and processing. Information Mapping.

Confidential, Roswell, GA

Project Manager

Responsibilities:

• Managed projects for major enterprise-wide process re-engineering initiative in support of corporate merger transition. Analyzed processes, identified opportunities for improvement, and designed process improvement projects. Coordinated with new corporate owners, C-Level executives, project sponsors, champions, business subject matter experts, and senior management to develop and track project plans. Facilitated JAD sessions. Developed project plans, project scope, business requirements, process models, and project reporting. Conducted project status meetings and reported to upper management on issues.
• Worked with risk/compliance and business continuity to manage a project to resolve security breaches. Worked with all levels of the organization, including new owner representatives, to resolve issues and conflicts. Wrote business continuity/DR/crisis management/business resiliency plans. Identified and wrote relevant policies and procedures to adhere to PCI/compliance requirements. Managed tasks to mitigate a security breach. As an incident manager, coordinated all parties on incident calls. Wrote incident reports for all stakeholders, including executive management.

Confidential, Roswell, GA

Process Analyst/Technical Writer

Responsibilities:

• Analyzed and documented process and business flows for new system development. Documented software applications, including documentation for application UI, data models, data gathering forms, policies, procedures, user guides, and software documentation in a PCI-compliant environment. Supported numerous areas of the company, including technology, facilities management, software development, infrastructure, accounting, human resources, incident management, and risk and compliance.
• Managed document review, editorial, control, and change management processes through project lifecycle. Analyzed system interfaces, documented gaps in UX, and recommended UX improvements.