SUMMARY:

Technically savvy and innovative IT Manager, with proven expertise in developing and implementing high - level system release management strategies to support complex business operations. Collaborate with key partners to analyze and interpret business needs and interface with technical staff to translate needs into solutions. Direct multiple tasks effectively and guide operations teams along with internal and external technology resources to achieve on-time deliverables. Strong organization and problem-solving skills; trained and experience in engineering. Strong record of success in managing and delivering IT projects to agreed time scales, to support development goals, policies, and operating procedures.

TECHNICAL SKILLS:

Scripting: PERL, JavaScript, HTML, VBA Macros, MS Batch

Platforms: Linux, UNIX, Microsoft NT / XP / 2000 / 2003

Database: MS SQL Server, MS Access, Oracle, Stored Procs

Unix/Linux: Shell Scripts, Administration

Other Tools: Accurev, Subversion,PPM, Assyst, TOAD, ARCMAP, MS Silverlight, Symphony, JIRA, Wiki, Google drive and share

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:

Confidential, South Brunswick, NJ

Release Manager

Responsibilities:

• Own Release Management lifecycle which includes scheduling, coordinating and the management of releases across all Commerce platforms for multiple applications.  The releases include application updates, operating system patches, security improvements, and hardware upgrades.
• Maintain documents, reports, release calendar and projects and share and communicate using google drive.
• Initiated project to review and audit users’ access to various environments; drove the project to restrict users access to production environments and funnel the read-only access through LDAP. This resulted in stabilization of environments, reduced business and financial impacts while retaining quality code and data on servers.
• Drive, plan, communicate and coordinate projects related to EBU backup of long standing critical servers, Red Hat OS Systems upgrade, Oracle 11g Upgrade and data migrations.
• Implement and manage release processes for the progression of code in the development, test, training, UAT and production environments while using SDLC background in Agile practices.
• Work closely with users, developers, and business analysts on a project team to formulate how logical designs will be reflected in physical databases
• Work closely with the architects to develop a release management strategy.
• Work with development leads to plan the release windows and cycles across a portfolio of software.
• Work with development Operation team to develop scripts and automation tools used to build, integrate, and deploy software releases to various platforms
• Manage risks and resolves issues that affect release scope, schedule and quality.
• Maintain, coordinate and communicate issues using JIRA dashboard. Communicate release details and schedules to the Business as required using JIRA.
• Measure and monitor progress of software builds to facilitate application releases are delivered on time and within budget, and that they meet or exceed expectations.
• Coordinate software releases around an effort based on the service request backlog, pending service requests, third party applications, operating system updates, or security updates.
• Communicate all key project plans, commitments, and changes including requirements, QA plans, schedule, and scope changes.
• Manage relationships and coordinate work between different teams at different locations.
• Conduct Release Readiness reviews, Milestone Reviews, and Business Go/No-Go reviews.
• Produce Deployment, Run Books and Implementation Plans using Google sheets.
• Negotiate, plan and manage all release activities.
• Understand the functionality of the existing and new platform.
• Work with developers to understand impacts of branches and code merges.
• Maintain release schedule for all core services and ensure alignment across key partners and vendors.
• Continually work towards making improvements in the release process.
• Lead and co-ordinate the Go-Live activities including the execution of the deployment Plans and checklists.
• Maintain a release repository and manages key information such as build and release procedures, dependencies, and notification lists

Confidential, Parsippany, NJ

Release Manager 

• Automated build and deployment of Tibco and .Net source code using MS Batch scripts and Perl for non-Prod environments, reducing resource needs and time of deployments.
• Developed shell scripts to remotely deploy database changes using sqlplus, resulting in reduction of manual errors.
• Worked on Application Release automation project to implement CA LISA across non-Prod and Prod environments for build automation.
• Organized and coordinated complex production releases consisting of cross-functional teams and a multitude of interrelated and independent applications, technologies and infrastructure changes. Technologies included Windows, UNIX, WebLogic, Tibco MW, ETL, Oracle, Sql, DB2, etc.
• Developed Release calendar for upcoming releases that includes release milestones such as Development Complete, QA Test Complete, UAT Complete, VA Scan Complete, CAB Sign-off, and Release to Production dates. This helped PMO to start planning and aligning their future capital projects at least a year in advance.
• Reviewed change requests and determine type of change to determine what kind of process - Change or Release - it needs to go through. This helped in getting configuration changes not needing release process, much quicker to production environment.
• Anticipated release/deployment related issues and initiate corrective action or enhancements when needed, setup triage calls to resolve issues in non-prod environments due to deployments, setup up daily check points to communicate statuses on open or closed issues.
• Finalized planned service outages duration while making sure to reduce both financial and business impacts, reached out to business and incident management for outage duration and time windows approval.
• Generated final master implementation plan for production release that includes pre-implementation, implementation, validation and back-out sections, organized by technology and keeping in mind to cause minimal planned service outages. Plan included detail information related to server listings, resource allocations, duration of each task, any special notes or instructions needed during implementation.
• Provided pre-release communications to key stakeholders, after release has been approved for production deployment. Providing this communication included coordinating with product management teams in preparation of advanced communications regarding scheduled releases (e.g. release notes, etc.) to all internal and external product stakeholders, team members and management.
• Provided post-release communications, status, Issues, Action Items after deployments to key stakeholders, team members and management.
• Participated in root-cause analysis for issues during production release, and provide detailed information for artifacts deployed lower environments.
• Prepared documentation for release processes, roles, policies and procedures in light of RACI chart.
• Conducted weekly release management status meeting to provide status and information to QA, Development and Project Management teams on in-flight releases, include current and future issues and concerns related to releases, compliance patching schedules, etc.
• Worked with six sigma and ITIL execution team on process improvements, identifying gaps, finding best solution to reduce redundancies, and inefficiencies in process.

Confidential, Millburn, NJ

Sr. Release/Project Manager - Assets and Information Strategies

• Liaised with Projects & Operations teams and successfully migrated Projects into Production environment
• Define high level release plan, deliverables and deliverables deadlines based on contractual agreements, business needs and company standards
• Identified new tools, technologies, and processes to improve reliability, repeatability, and efficiency of builds and releases
• Work closely with project managers located in different HMM locations and offshore sub-consultants during initial phases of project to ensure that detailed release map is maintained
• Use company’s project management tools to track project’s lifecycle, its finances, progress, and expenditure vs. billing and available budgets.
• Perform risk assessment and communicate of any potential risks associated with the release and prepare accurate roll-back plans related to the risks

Release/Project Manager - Assets and Information Strategies

• Defined Implementation plan for migrating gas model code from testing to production including back-out plan. Ensured projects were completed and delivered on time and within budgets
• Ensured QA/QC of projects was performed per company standards and quality of work was not being compromised at any cost
• Managed clients’ facilities and assets data including document management through oracle servers.
• Managed balanced flow of work between local staff and offshore companies based on direct costs, available resources and budgets
• Defined Scope of Work based on the project proposal and requirements, and generated specifications and standards for implementation of projects