SUMMARY:

• Dynamic, versatile business architect and strategic business analyst with a background in business transformations, project management, solution architecture, and team leadership currently engaged in management consulting.
• Capabilities in aligning strategy with execution.
• Substantial experience in business intelligence and analytics.
• Strong software and infrastructure application migration, data conversion, and systems integration experience.
• Employs a strong quality focus.
• Possesses a strong track record of delivering stable, reliable, trusted solutions.
• Working knowledge of multiple ERP, BI, CRM, SCM, and other mainstream business technologies.
• Skilled in forming internal strategic alliances and building consensus, developing and cultivating channels into key vendors and peer technology users for the exchange of knowledge and common practices including modern service delivery models such as ITIL and ITSM.
• Strong communication skills effective at all levels of organization.
• Substantial experience in revenue retention, revenue growth, cost containment, risk optimization, and regulatory compliance projects.

SPECIALTIES:

Management consulting, Business Architecture. Business Analysis. Business Transformation, Business Intelligence. Analytics.. Strategy, Business Process Management, large scale data conversions, technology platform and application migrations. Systems integration. Project management. Solution Architecture. ERP. CRM. Team Leadership. Insurance. Retail. Wholesale Distribution. Publishing. Pharmacy Benefit Management. Automotive.

PROFESSIONAL SKILLS:

• OpenVMS, VAX and Alpha Clusters, VAX BASIC, VAX C, VAX COBOL, DCL, Cognos Powerhouse, LSE, CMS, MMS, RMS, FDL, DDL, CDD, SQLMOD, TDMS, DecForms, FMS, SMG, TPU, ACMS, VMS System Services, VMS Run - Time Libraries, OpenVMS Systems Management, SRI Charon-VAX, DECWindows
• Cross platform software application migrations, data conversions, and systems integration
• E-Commerce, EDI, ANSI X.12, EDIFACT, Sterling Software GENTRAN, Bots
• Microsoft Windows 3.1, 95, 98, NT, 2000, XP, Vista, 7, 8, Microsoft Office, MS-Word, MS-Access, MS-Excel, MS-Powerpoint, MS-Outlook, MS-Visio, MS-Project, Visual Studio, Visual Basic, Visual C++, Visual Foxpro, Visual Interdev, Lotus Notes, Lotus Smartsuite, Lotus 1-2-3, Lotus Approach, Lotus Symphony, Lotus Wordpro, Lotus Ami Pro, Wordperfect, Quattro Pro, Coreldraw, OpenOffice, MS Works
• IBM MVS/TSO, COBOL II, COBOL 95, JCL, VSAM, SNA
• UNIX, telnet, uucp, gopher, emacs, vi, sed, awk, GNV
• Linux, Red Hat, Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Knoppix, Cygwin
• Communications, remote connectivity, IPSec, PPTP, L2TP, 3Com, Cisco, SLIP, LCP, NCP, PPP, ISDN, PSTN, VPN, DECNet, Ethernet, SOA, SaaS
• Markup and Scripting Languages, SGML, HTML, XML, Javascript, PHP, PERL, Python, Omnimark, Adobe PDF, Datalogics Pager, Postscript, Broadvision IM, Arbortext Adept, Documentum, Content Management Systems, Evaluated XYVision, Evaluated 3B2
• ERP, Adonix Transcomm TOLAS, SQL Ledger, LX Office, OpenERP (aka TinyERP), GNUe, ERP5, Opentaps, Compiere, Adempiere, xTuple, OpenBravo, Postbooks, Neogia, QAD MfgPRO, ASI, SAP, Baan, JD Edwards One, Peoplesoft, Oracle Fusion, Activant Prophet21, Sage MAS200, Sage MAS500, Kronos
• CRM, Salesforce.com, Imprezio, SugarCRM, SplendidCRM, CentricCRM, Hipergate, Compiere, Vtiger CRM, CenraView, XRMS CRM, Cream CRM, Tustena CRM
• Relational and Flat File databases, SQL Server, MS-Access, Lotus Approach, Borland Paradox, Progress, Oracle RDB, Oracle7, Oracle8i, Oracle9i, CA-Ingres, DBase, Sybase, Unify, DB2, Datatrieve, MySQL, Firebird, Fyracle, PostgreSQL, enterpriseDB
• Project Management, leadership, coaching, mentoring, training, documentation, team building, software development life cycle (SDLC), statistical quality assurance, Quality Circles, Total Quality Management (TQM), Six Sigma, ISO2000, ISO9000, ISO14000, Software Engineering Institute's CMMI, Primavera, Clarity
• Business Analysis, Brainstorming, Document Analysis, Focus Groups, Interface Analysis, Interviews, Workshops, Reverse Engineering, Surveys, User Task Analysis, Rapid Application Development, Quality engineering, Requirements elicitation, Requirements analysis and negotiation, Requirements specification, System modeling, Requirements validation, Requirements management, JRD, JAD, prototyping, business requirements, functional requirements, non-functional requirements, use cases, test cases, SRS, BPM, UML, BPMN
• Business Architecture, TOGAF, Zachmann, strategic architecture, planning architecture, execution architecture, organizational process modeling, business process modeling, role authorization modeling business process integration, business process engineering, strategic business alignment.
• Data Warehousing, Infobright, Greenplum, enterprisedb, Fyracle
• Business Intelligence, Pentaho, Jaspersoft, SpagoBI, Actuate, Microstrategy, Tableau, Qlikview, Exony
• Business Process Modeling, Savvion, Fuego, ProcessMaker, Intalio, Cuteflow, ActiveVOS, Mega, BizAgi, Aris Express, Archi

WORK EXPERIENCE:

Consultant

Confidential, Chicago, IL

Responsibilities:

• Engaged as a product architect and strategic business analyst within Confidential Integrated Retail Labs to provide support and guidance for Sears strategy and innovation efforts as they relate to the future of retail operations and customer experience.
• Used existing relationships from past experience at Sears to bridge Integrated Retail Labs to Business Intelligence and Analytics, Business Process Management, Store Analytics, Customer Analytics, and Store Operations teams to inform strategy and drive innovation.

Senior Business Architect

Confidential, Chicago, IL

Responsibilities:

• Engaged in the largest known private sector business transformation effort attempted to date.
• Primary focus is to enabling a state - of-the-art customer experience using customer collaboration capabilities through strategic business process alignment and improvement and through stronger yet more flexible, adaptive, and responsive operational governance.
• Led development and optimization of future state business and systems processes for multiple inbound call scenarios including customer service, claims, recruiting, underwriting, collections, hold place in queue, and call transfers for call centers and agents
• Led development and optimization of future state business and systems processes for warm transfer, cold transfer, whisper, and conference scenarios, including those that crossed unified communications environments for call center and agencies.
• Led development and optimization of future state business and systems processes for outbound call scenarios including collections, scheduling appointments, and completing unfinished documentation and utilizing call masking and outbound call screen pop for call centers acting on behalf of agents.
• Assisted in the development of automated scenarios involving natural language processing and touch tone menus and related IVR capabilities.
• Acted as customer collaboration SME for CRM and Contact Center process development.

Senior Analyst - Business Intelligence / Information Analytics & Innovation

Confidential, Hoffman Estates, IL

Responsibilities:

• Developed initial business requirements for intake of new projects for business intelligence team. Built strong working relationships with key business personnel and SME’s throughout Sears.
• Provided guidance and developed prototype dashboards and reports for teams developing retail and distribution applications concerning data capture and business intelligence reporting capabilities using MicroStrategy, SSRS, Essbase, Tableau, and other tools, as well as data warehousing using Hadoop, Teradata, and SQL Server.
• Provided technical and analytical support for a large scale migration of hundreds of databases and applications from Windows 2000 and SQL Server 2000 to SQL Server 2008 utilizing Worklenz for project management.

Principal Consultant - Business Intelligence

Confidential, IL

Responsibilities:

• Initially worked down backlog of business intelligence intake requirements.
• Developed business and functional requirements and prototypes for multichannel KPI tracking and reporting used to measure retail performance.
• Provided guidance, technical and analytical support to teams developing tablet-based applications for customer-facing and back room store operations.

Project Manager / Senior Business Analyst

Confidential, Lake County, IL

Responsibilities:

• Translated custom OpenVMS PL/1 code to IBM z/OS COBOL code for financial and manufacturing applications for a client in Virginia.
• Created an application to automate substantial portions of the conversion effort, enabling the project to be completed at 93% below budget..
• Developed IT policies, procedures, and practices for a not-for-profit support organization in Colorado for surviving families of deceased military personnel.
• Providing additional guidance using my own experience in leadership roles in not-for-profit organizations.
• Engaged in software evaluation and selection process for a wholesale distributor of construction supplies in Illinois.

Senior Project Consultant - Lead Business Analyst

Confidential, Oakbrook Terrace, IL

Responsibilities:

• Acted as lead business analyst developing functional requirements and application architecture for HIPAA 2012 compliance and NCPDP 5.1 to NCPDP D.0 migration for CVS Confidential , a large pharmacy benefit management provider with a particular emphasis on Medicaid and SPAP subrogation claims processing and EDI transactions in accordance with Confidential ’s methodology.

Project Manager / Senior Business Analyst,

Confidential, Lake County, IL

Responsibilities:

• Led evaluation and feasibility projects for several clients concerning migration from commercial (e.g. Oracle, SAP, Peoplesoft, JD Edwards) to open-source and cloud-based solutions (e.g. OpenBravo, OpenERP, Compiere, PostBooks).
• Managed customization and implementation of open source ERP and financial applications replacing commercial applications for three clients.
• Developed technology disaster recovery and business continuity plans for two clients, a small three-store retailer with web and auction outlets in Illinois and for a small wholesale distribution business in Wisconsin.
• Initiated the implementation of ITIL and ITSM practices for a construction supplies wholesaler in Ohio and for a craftware distributor in Illinois.
• Evaluated and recommended enhancements for a retail and restaurant point-of-sale application for a small software systems house in Illinois.
• Developed and coordinated a collaborative sweat equity project with small consulting firms and software houses to port selected Windows and Linux open source business applications to high-availability disaster-tolerant technology general purpose computing platforms including OpenVMS, UNIX, and OS/400.

Senior Consultant - Project Manager / Team Leader

Confidential, Bridgewater, NJ

Responsibilities:

• Managed applications software development team for client’s outsourced IT staff primarily supporting large-scale distribution and financial applications utilizing CSC’s Catalyst SDLC adapted to client requirements and preferences. Applications included order processing, purchasing, inventory management, warehouse management, billing, A/R, A/P, G/L, Sales Analysis, CRM, ERP, and related utilizing Microsoft Project.
• Led software and hardware systems integration activities for several client business acquisitions through data and database conversion and migration, application migration, and transitioning customers and vendors. Measures also supported attainment of Sarbanes-Oxley compliance.
• Acted as liaison between key client personnel and technical staff in developing business and functional requirements, testing and quality assurance practices, implementation and release, and in services management.
• Mentored staff in best practices related to analysis, design, software development, testing, and quality assurance, implementation, support, and maintenance, and in services management with an emphasis on performance and productivity.
• Implemented software design, software testing, technical and user documentation, change management and quality assurance policies and procedures including peer reviews and post-implementation monitoring resulting in standardization and adoption of best practices. Initiated aggressive defect reduction strategy resulting in a significant reduction of rejected and failed modifications and help desk support requests. Improved stability and reliability enabled staffing reductions and reallocations and cost savings for CSC and client and enabled client to pursue new business more aggressively.
• Initiated a turnaround in the performance of critical applications and systems through software and hardware server enhancements and upgrades. Technologically, applications and systems now have approximately double the physical capacity of the client distribution facilities, removing technology as a limiting factor and further enabling business growth.
• Interfaced directly with client executives, managers, and key business and technical users to discuss key project initiatives and progress in ongoing tasks. Addressed critical concerns and prioritized work accordingly. Acted as liaison to infrastructure and service delivery team.
• Actively participated in disaster recovery and business continuity planning and testing exercises.
• Client became the largest book distributor in the world and a primary supplier of entertainment product (books, DVD’s, CD’s, Computer Games) for numerous retail and online outlets.

Senior Project Consultant - Lead Business Analyst

Confidential, Chicago, IL

Responsibilities:

• Developed a data and application migration plan from OpenVMS platform to other platforms for approximately 25 in-house homegrown OpenVMS-based applications to other platforms, primarily Sun Solaris, for the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicagoland, a government agency.
• Interfaced directly with client managers, and key business and technical staff personnel.
• Provided administration, maintenance, and support of NOVELL - based LAN over a large campus, as well as PC technical support
• Developed and implemented software which accepts data extracted from Peoplesoft and determines eligibility for various employee benefits.
• Provided maintenance and support of Park Access Control systems.
• Provided maintenance and support of IBM Infogenesis-based Point-of-Sale systems utilizing IBM 4690 controllers and over 200 POS terminals on a series of Token-Ring networks.
• Provided maintenance and support for Matra Freedom-POS system used for park admissions, season pass, and all other ticketed transactions.
• Provided maintenance and support for NORTEL-based telephone exchange

Manager, Editorial Technology and Composition Systems

Confidential, Chicago, IL

Responsibilities:

• Publishing house primarily focused on legal and tax professionals. Formerly known as Commerce Clearing House and CCH.
• Analyzed existing legacy platform and designed and managed migration to move editorial technology and page composition systems to windows-based technology.
• Developed and managed plan to maintain OpenVMS-based technology using other available platforms allowing for the removal of obsolete hardware technology while preserving applications and maintaining functionality through the migration process. As a result, eliminate the necessity for hardware maintenance contracts on obsolete equipment without incurring the costs of a large-scale interim migration.
• Managed highly effective editorial technology and media neutral publishing team responsible for developing, supporting, and maintaining applications and systems critical to the production of company products.
• Implemented software development life cycle and other best practices within my area of responsibility, dramatically reducing software errors and the frequency of patch releases. Subsequently, a software quality assurance group was created to review and test all software releases throughout CCH prior to implementation.
• Acted as liaison for software development groups to systems, operations, training and support, and editorial units, significantly improving the flow of information and the working relationships between the software teams and other parts of the organization.
• Regularly interfaced directly with key business unit executives, managers, and key users.

MIS Project Manager

Confidential, McHenry, IL

Responsibilities:

• Large automotive parts manufacturer and distributor. Sales of this division grew from $600MM to $1B during my tenure. Was originally the Brake Parts division of Echlin. Echlin was acquired by Dana Automotive and the Brake Parts division was subsequently sold to a private equity firm and is current operating as the Confidential .
• Inventoried production software environment and removed all obsolete, temporary, and redundant applications resulting in a 71% reductions in the number of individual programs residing in the production environment.
• Created test and demonstration environments, thus removing programming staff from live production environment, and improving stability and reliability of production environment.
• Implemented the use of software development life cycle methods which included the creation of business requirements, technical requirements, and test plans, and included code reviews, test reviews, user acceptance reviews, and mandatory communication with systems, operations, database, and information security staff in the cycle. The result was improved communications within Information Systems, and from information systems to other parts of the organization, cross training, and the creation of de facto standards through the review process.
• Established a help desk function served on a rotating basis by the technical staff. The results were improved communication and documentation, better testing, and cross training. The average daily number of calls dropped from 64 to 3 within six months.
• Designed and implemented, and managed the development team responsible for system changes for contractual compliance for large customer accounts including GM's Service Parts, Autozone, NAPA, Car-X, Harley-Davidson, Carquest, and Goodyear.
• Successfully managed EDI team through rapid growth phase during which many customers were implementing EDI for the first time.
• Analyzed, designed, coded, and implemented customer service level management system used to evaluate contractual compliance and overall performance. Replaced existing system which had been misreporting by grossly overstating results.
• Acted as information systems liaison to Coopers and Lybrand consultants working on a project to optimize manufacturing and distribution operations by determine which operations could be consolidated or geographically relocated, or whether to establish new manufacturing and distribution operations to expand capacity.
• Rebuilt and reconstructed data files after massive deletion of data (systems programmer error) and the discovery that there was no synchronized backup - only a portion of the files were backed up on any given day.
• Interfaced with key executives, managers, and key business users

Systems Analyst

Confidential, Lincolnshire, IL

Responsibilities:

• Prescription Benefit Management provider operating five pharmacies and a repackaging facility. During my tenure, sales increased from $130MM to $750MM.
• Analyzed, designed, coded, and implemented materials management (inventory, purchasing, warehouse management, physical inventory) system resulting in dramatically improved reliability and accuracy, and significantly stronger inventory controls. Prior to the implementation of this system, physical inventory and general ledger discrepancies were about 20%. Afterwards, the discrepancies fell well below 1%. The improved controls led to increased inventory turnover, improved gross margins, and substantially higher customer service levels.
• Created an early competitor and business intelligence system which provided up-to-date information on vendors, competitors, customers and prospective customers in advance of print publications.
• Supported and maintained Gentran EDI and participated in the development of EDI insurance claims processing standards for the PBM industry.
• Contributed business and technical knowledge and skills to the system conversion project from VAX/VMS to IBM MVS.
• Evaluated third party software including SAP, ASI, and Baan for compatibility with business requirements. Acted as the technical writer for the evaluation team.
• Developed programming, documentation, and testing standards as part of SDLC implementation effort.
• Created the critical software which managed the drug substitution policy and made the selections between formulary and non-formulary, and generic substitutions.