CURRICULUM VITAE : MARK WESTON

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PERSONAL DETAILS


NameMark Weston
Address9 Aberdeen Road, Prebbleton 7604, New Zealand
Telephone+64 21 183 8188
Emailmark@the-westons.net
Date of Birth6 May 1970
NationalityNew Zealand
Work PermitsNew Zealand, Australia, United Kingdom (Certificate of Entitlement to the Right of Abode)

QUALIFICATIONS


1988 – 1992 : Waikato University, New Zealand

Bachelor of Management Studies
Majors: Management Systems, Computer Science<
Supporting: Accounting, Finance, Economics, Management, Mathematics

1982 – 1987 : Te Kuiti High School, New Zealand

Subjects: Maths, Computer Science, Physics, Chemistry, Accounting, Economics, English, French, Geography
Achieved: School Certificate, 6th Form Certificate, University Bursaries Examination: A award

PROJECT MANAGEMENT / BUSINESS ANALYSIS SKILLS


  • Meeting objectives within tight deadlines
  • Ensuring quality throughout the project lifecycle
  • Analysis and verification of client requirements
  • Identification of key deliverables, client objectives and limitations
  • Effective project planning to meet client requirements and objectives within budget
  • Management and motivation of client and internal project teams
  • Ensuring effective communication between project team members
  • Taking responsibility for project issues and following these through to a successful conclusion
  • Effective, persuasive negotiation to resolve difficult issues
  • Knowledge of structured methodologies like SSADM, PRINCE, PMBOK, AGILE and SCRUM
  • Knowledge of operational reference models like ETOM, ITIL and SCOR
  • Process development, analysis, review and re-engineering
  • Design and implementation of business reporting infrastructure and tools

TECHNICAL EXPERIENCE


CRM, ERP & CCBS:Point, Amdocs, BSCS, PeopleSoft, SAP, Siebel, Oracle, Sage SalesLogix, CBOSS, AMCS Elemos, Village Care
RDBMS:Rdb, Oracle, Access, Sybase, SQL Server, IBM Universal Database, MySQL
LanguagesSQL, Datatrieve, Access Basic, Pascal, HTML, Visual Basic, PHP
Reporting Tools:Forest & Trees, Cognos Impromptu/PowerPlay, Crystal Info/Reports, Business Objects, BrioQuery, Hyperion
Process Modelling:ABC Flowcharter, Visio, Control ES, Enterprise Architect, UML, BPML
Operating Systems:VMS, DOS, Windows 3.1, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows 7, Macintosh
Applications:Microsoft Office, Microsoft Access, Microsoft FoxPro, Oracle Financials, Coda Financials, Cadenza Purchase Ordering, DBArtisan, cc:Mail, Lotus Smartsuite, Matrix Circulation, Guidewire Claims Management System, Orion Health Concerto, Altassian JIRA, Altassian Confluence
Geographical IS:Vistamap, MapInfo, ArcView, Google Earth

HOBBIES AND INTERESTS


Mountain Biking, Outrigger Canoeing, Dragon Boating, Scuba Diving (qualified Dive Master), Wake Boarding, Snow Boarding, Ultimate Frisbee, Travelling

EMPLOYMENT SUMMARY


FromToOrganisationPositionLocation
Apr 2023Oct 2023MARS BioimagingSenior Business AnalystChristchurch, New Zealand + Remote
Sep 2022May 2023Student Job SearchSenior Business AnalystWellington, New Zealand + Remote
Jul 2022Dec 2022Horticulture New ZealandSenior Business AnalystWellington, New Zealand + Remote
May 2022Feb 2023Summerfruit NZSenior Business AnalystWellington, New Zealand + Remote
Sep 2021May 2022Universty of CanterburySenior Business AnalystChristchurch, New Zealand + Remote
Nov 2020Sep 2021HealthStreamSenior Business AnalystChristchurch, New Zealand
Jul 2020Oct 2020SprayMarksSenior Business AnalystChristchurch, New Zealand
Jun 2019May 2020Ryman Healthcare / StratosSenior Business AnalystChristchurch, New Zealand
Aug 2018Jun 2019StratosSenior Business AnalystChristchurch, New Zealand
Jun 2018Aug 2018RedvespaSenior Business AnalystChristchurch, New Zealand
Jun 2018Jul 2018Canterbury District Health Board / StratosSenior Business AnalystChristchurch, New Zealand
Feb 2018Jun 2018Civil Construction / RedvespaSenior Business AnalystQueenstown, New Zealand + Remote
Sep 2017Dec 2017Environment CanterburyBusiness AnalystChristchurch, New Zealand
Feb 2017Aug 2017Fulton HoganBusiness AnalystChristchurch, New Zealand
Jun 2016Feb 2017Waste ManagementSenior Business AnalystChristchurch, New Zealand
Feb 2014Jun 2016CerebralFixProduct OwnerChristchurch, New Zealand
Mar 2013Dec 2013Forte HealthSenior Business AnalystChristchurch, New Zealand
Jun 2012July 2013Tonkin & TaylorSenior Business AnalystChristchurch, New Zealand
Apr 2011Mar 2012Earthquake CommissionSenior Business AnalystChristchurch, New Zealand
Mar 2011Apr 2011Immigration NZBusiness AnalystWellington, New Zealand
Apr 2010Jan 2011Christchurch City CouncilSenior Business Analyst, City EnvironmentChristchurch, New Zealand
Sep 2009Jan 2010Hotel SOConsultantChristchurch, New Zealand
Feb 2009Jul 2009Wataniya MobileBusiness Process ConsultantPalestine
Jan 2009Feb 2009Fairfax MediaSenior Business Analyst, CirculationChristchurch, New Zealand
Aug 2008Nov 2008Fairfax MediaSenior Business Analyst, CirculationChristchurch, New Zealand
Jul 2008Aug 2008Meridian EnergySenior Business Analyst, RetailChristchurch, New Zealand
Jan 2008Jul 2008Property VenturesInformation ManagerChristchurch, New Zealand
Sep 2007Jan 2008Meridian EnergySenior Business Analyst, ITChristchurch, New Zealand
Apr 2007Aug 2007Clarus ConsultingSenior Business AnalystChristchurch, New Zealand
Jun 2007Jun 2007Meridian EnergySenior Business Analyst, Enterprise ServicesChristchurch, New Zealand
Feb 2007Apr 2007Christchurch City CouncilSenior Business Analyst, IM&CTChristchurch, New Zealand
Jul 2006Dec 2006News LimitedGroup Circulation Business ManagerSydney, Australia
Jun 2006Jul 2006WestpacSenior Business Analyst, LendingSydney, Australia
Feb 2006May 2006British American TobaccoSenior Business Analyst, Supply ChainSydney, Australia
Oct 2005Nov 2005St George BankSenior Business Analyst, CRMSydney, Australia
Jul 2005Oct 2005NRMA Motoring & ServicesBusiness Analyst/Project ManagerSydney, Australia
Feb 2004Jun 2005Nationwide News, News LtdBusiness Analyst/Project Manager, CirculationSydney, Australia
Aug 2003Nov 2003Singtel OptusSenior Business Analyst, Mobile ITSydney, Australia
May 2003Jun 2003AAPTProject Manager & Business Analyst, MarketingSydney, Australia
May 2002Nov 2002OrangeBusiness Analyst, ITSweden & Denmark
Jun 2001Oct 2001OrangeBusiness Process Project Manager, CommercialThailand
Oct 2001Nov 2001OrangeProject Manager & Business Analyst, Sales & DistributionThailand
Jan 2001May 2001Southwark CouncilBusiness Systems Consultant, Information TechnologyLondon, England
Jun 2000Oct 2000British Gas Communications (Centrica)Business Analyst, Information SystemsLondon & Manchester, England
Jul 1999Nov 1999Virgin MobileBusiness Analyst, Customer OperationsLondon & Bristol, England
Jun 1998Sep 1998Legal and General Assurance SocietySenior Business Analyst, MarketingLondon, England
May 1998Jun 1998Mercury One 2 OneBusiness Analyst, Customer ServicesLondon, England
Nov 1997Apr 1998The Walt Disney Company (UK)Senior Business AnalystLondon, England
Jan 1995May 1997Environment WaikatoBusiness AnalystHamilton, New Zealand
Apr 1992Jul 1993Telecom New Zealand LimitedNetwork AnalystHamilton, New Zealand
Jul 1993Jan 1995Telecom New Zealand LimitedNetwork Performance AnalystHamilton, New Zealand
Nov 1991Apr 1992Telecom Networks and Operations LimitedData AnalystHamilton, New Zealand

EMPLOYMENT HISTORY


MARS Bioimaging, New Zealand
Apr 2023 – Oct 2023 : Senior Business Analyst

Contract role to:

  • define and document hardware and software requirements for their new scanner solution to take it to market
  • manage and lead the development team
  • set up development and test environments for the development team
  • provide support to the Operations team for customer issues and implementations

The contract ended due to lack of funding.

Student Job Search, New Zealand
Sep 2022 – May 2023 : Senior Business Analyst

Contract role to:

  • define and document service/product requirements, business processes and data requirements for a IT replacement project
  • prepare and manage a procurement process (RFI, FPR, vendor selection, contract negotiation)
  • implement the new IT platform

Horticulture New Zealand, New Zealand
Jul 2021 – Dec 2022 : Senior Business Analyst

Contract role to:

  • audit current IT systems and infrastructure and identify and implement improvements: Sharp PaperCut implementation, Microsoft 365 Teams rationalisation, Independent security audit, Phishing training and programm
  • working with Summerfruit NZ document requirements and identify and analyse potential solution options for an enhanced or replacement membership portal for staff, growers, packhouses and exporters

Summerfruit NZ, New Zealand
May 2022 – Feb 2023 : Senior Business Analyst

Contract role to:

  • audit current IT systems and infrastructure and identify and implement improvements: Microsft 363 tasks/planner, new IT support partner
  • define and implement quick wins on the existing membership portal
  • working with Horticulture NZ document requirements and identify and analyse potential solution options for an enhanced or replacement membership portal for staff, growers, packhouses and exporters

University of Canterbury, New Zealand
Nov 2020 – Sep 2021 : Senior Business Analyst

Short term role to assist in the procurement of the next stage of development for a web application developed for the Child Well-being Research Institute. The role involved gathering of requirements, sorting out of invoices and purchase orders, change of ownership of IT systems from the business to IT and working through the procurement process for the next stage of development.

HealthStream, New Zealand
Nov 2020 – Sep 2021 : Business Analyst

Change Healthcare provides capacity management and reporting solutions for healthcare. The role involved scoping and defining requirements for their new product as well as maintaining a backlog for enhancement of their existing products.

SprayMarks, New Zealand
Jul 2020 – Oct 2020 : Senior Business Analyst

SprayMarks is a South Island based company who specialise in read marking and traffic management. This was a short term role to understand their business in relation to job management and scheduling, provide recommendations on ways to improve and streamline those operations and implement the software solutions.

Ryman Healthcare, New Zealand
Jun 2019 – May 2020 : Senior Business Analyst, Stratos Technology Partners

Ryman Healthcare provides aged care services in New Zealand and Australia. Ryman operates an IT development function developing workflow and user facing apps on top of it’s core business systems. Working in a Product Management team cross functionally integrated with a variety of development and business teams. Key functions are:

  • Business Analysis for a variety of projects in: Sales and Sales Support, Marketing, Contracts, Fees, Construction, Purchasing, HR and Technology.
  • Team leadership/management for up to 3 teams at a time (until permament replacements could be found)
  • Development and mentoring of junior Product Management staff
  • Working in Agile development teams using Scrum, Scrumban and Kanban

Stratos Technology Partners, New Zealand
Aug 2018 – May 2019 : Senior Business Analyst

Stratos Technology Partners provide IT services including software development, SharePoint and Office 365, business intelligence and IT consulting. Key functions are:

  • Business Analysis for clients
  • Internal project management
  • ISO 27001 compliance
  • Service Desk implementation
  • Internal process development

Redvespa, New Zealand
Jun 2018 – Aug 2018 : Senior Business Analyst

Working on various small internal projects in the setup of the new Christchurch/South Island branch.

Canterbury District Health Board, New Zealand
Jun 2018 – Aug 2018 : Senior Business Analyst, Stratos Technology Partners

Short term role documenting requirements for a software development project for CDHB to manage room allocations and scheduling for their new outpatients building.

Civil Construction, New Zealand
Feb 2018 – Present : Senior Business Analyst Consulting, Redvespa

Working for Redvespa (a NZ based consultancy) at Civil Construction (a Queenstown based construction company) to document their business processes and operations and to provide direction on the refresh of their IT operations.

Environment Canterbury, New Zealand
Sep 2017 – Dec 2017 : Business Analyst

Working on a variety of small projects including project scoping, business requirements and process improvements.

Fulton Hogan, New Zealand
Feb 2017 – Aug 2017 : Business Analyst

Working on an electronic timesheet solution for the field force. Key functions were:

  • Review and document business requirements
  • Scope proof of concept teams and implementation requirements
  • Work with developer to design the user interface

Waste Management, New Zealand
Jun 2016 – Feb 2017 : Senior Business Analyst

Working on a new ERP system to management Waste Management’s municipal contracts for wheelie bin collection with a focus to make better use of the system. Key functions were:

  • Review, analyse and evaluate business systems and user needs
  • Investigate and analyse the business for opportunities to improve, enhance or replace applications
  • Meet with users to understand business requirements and advise / implement enhancements
  • Identify and document business requirements and benefits associated with enhancements
  • Ensure overall alignment of business requirements with corporate strategies
  • Provide general application support when required
  • Assist in the maintenance of user and procedure manuals
  • Development of reports using SQL and SSRS
  • Working with the software vendor to learn the application and assist with improvements and support

CerebralFix, New Zealand
Feb 2014 – Jun 2016 : Product Owner

CerebralFix develops some of the world’s most popular games and digital experiences for organizations recognized as the global elite in their industries. This role involved working in a Product Owner / Account Management function with external clients like Disney and Sony. CerebralFix operates in an Agile /Scrum development environment. Key functions were:

  • Account management & relationship with external clients
  • Development of proposals and costings
  • Facilitation of stakeholders and regular contact
  • Gathering and understanding of client requirements and priorities
  • Documentation of requirements as user stories in JIRA
  • Management of the backlog and sprints in JIRA
  • Participation in Sprint Stand Ups, Planning and Reviews
  • Management of project budget and invoicing
  • Improving the use of technology and best business practice in the organisation

Forte Health, New Zealand
Jun 2013 – Dec 2013 : Senior Business Analyst

Forte Health was a new greenfield short stay private hospital in central Christchurch. This role was working in an ICT project team responsible for the implementation of all clinical and business systems and infrastructure. Key functions were:

  • Development and documentation of business processes & requirements
  • Identification, evaluation & procurement of software vendors
  • Management of vendors through installation, configuration, integration, testing, go live and post implementation support
  • Planning, managing and completing end to end testing
  • User support post go live

Tonkin & Taylor, New Zealand
Jun 2012 – July 2013 : Senior Business Analyst

Tonkin & Taylor provide IT development services for EQC and CERA following the Canterbury Earthquakes. The main systems were used to track the purchase of residential red zone properties and the CDB acquisition. Key functions were:

  • Development of business cases for new systems
  • Project management of the development and implementation of the systems
  • Business analysis to identify requirements and develop new business processes
  • Testing of software releases
  • Training and documentation of system functionality
  • Management of user access/accounts
  • General first line support

Earthquake Commission, New Zealand
Apr 2011 – Mar 2012 : Senior Business Analyst

EQC provides natural disaster insurance cover for land and buildings in NZ. As a result of nearly 10,000 earthquakes in the Canterbury region EQC grew from a staff of 22 and annual claims averaging 6,000 to over 1,700 staff and 450,000 claims. This meant that the business, processes and systems needed to change to support a new business model. This role involved working in a team of Project Managers and Business Analysts providing support to the Canterbury Earthquake Event team initially and then EQC Customer Services in general. Key functions were:

  • Development and documentation of business processes for claims management specific to the Canterbury event
  • Identification and implementation of process improvement opportunities – bottleneck removal, streamlining operations
  • Development of requirements, testing, training, implementation support and vendor management for a web based assessment tool
  • Management of small business projects with external recovery partners and internal teams
  • Support an input into the operational planning changes following each major earthquake event

Immigration NZ, New Zealand
Mar 2011 – Apr 2011 : Business Analyst

Working in a team of Business Analysts in a enterprise system replacement procurement project. The key activities worked on were;

  • Elaboration of high level requirements into detailed requirements
  • Development of a business process model and documentation of business processes using BPMN
  • Development of use cases using UML

Christchurch City Council, New Zealand
Apr 2010 – Jan 2011 : Senior Business Analyst, City Environment

Working as the lead in the Business Improvement Team in the City Environment Group who are responsible for the maintenance and operation of the city’s infrastructure. This team provided resource to support the organisational goal of identifying and implementing process improvement opportunities with the group. The key projects worked on were;

  • Review of the capital project sponsorship structure, development of a project management and sponsorship framework and implementation of that framework.
  • Document of al NZTA related business processes to ensure maximum use was made of that funding opportunity.
  • Development of a business process model designed to capture and display all business processes and procedures.

Hotel SO, New Zealand
Sep 2009 – Jan 2010 : Consultant

Part time role to document the hotel’s current business processes and implement process improvements as identified during the documentation phase.

Wataniya Mobile, Palestine
Feb 2009 – Jul 2009 : Business Process Consultant

Working in various roles in a start-up mobile telecommunications company.

The first (and main) role was the development and documentation of the enterprise Business Process Model:

  • Development and documentation of functional business processes
  • Development and documentation of cross functional business processes
  • Mapping of the functional/cross functional processes to the eTOM model and gap analysis
  • Training and knowledge transfer to local Palestinian Process Analysts

The second role was the coordination and planning for the Soft Launch:

  • Development of the Soft Launch strategy and requirements
  • Project management of all required activities to deliver the Soft Launch programme

Fairfax Media, New Zealand
Jan 2009 – Feb 2009 : Senior Business Analyst, Circulation

Short term role to define the requirements for the SAP-Matrix interface (Finance – Circulation) for Fairfax NZ.

Fairfax Media, New Zealand
Aug 2008 – Nov 2008 : Senior Business Analyst, Circulation

Fairfax Media upgraded their circulation, distribution and subscriptions application. This role entailed:

  • Investigating and documenting Finance, Marketing & Newspaper Sales reporting requirements
  • Understanding the new application in particular the differences from the previous version
  • Documentation and configuration of the new application (development of SQL scripts)
  • Testing of migrated data
  • Functional application testing

The contract finished when the upgrade went live.

Meridian Energy, New Zealand
Jul 2007 – Aug 2008 : Senior Business Analyst, Retail

A short term role to analyse and document the processes and issues for the invoicing processing and reconciliation of meter leasing and field service charges and to provide recommendations to improve their operations.

Property Ventures, New Zealand
Jan 2008 – Jul 2008 : Information Manager

Property Ventures is predominately a property development company but also operates hotels, bars and restaurants through subsidiary and other related companies. This role encompassed the traditional IT manager role but the focus was to manage IT from a business perspective rather than a technology focus and also included business analysis and project management roles. The ICT operation covered 6 companies (PVL & its subsidiaries, Atlas Food and Beverage & its subsidiaries plus 5 other related companies), 4 hotels, 6 bars and restaurants over 8 locations in the South Island. Key aspects of the position were:

  • ICT management & strategy development (development of the ICT business plan and strategy, setup and running of a group-wide ICT Steering Committee)
  • ICT operations & support (Laptops & Desktops, Servers & Networking, Printers, Software & Applications, Intranet & Internet, Mobile phones & data cards, Office phones, Point of sale terminals, EFTPOS, Building Management Systems, CCTV & Security Systems, Guest, Internet & Telephone Billing, Movies & TV, Coordination with 3rd party support partners (mainly Infinity/Fujitsu))
  • ICT projects (Server room upgrade/move, Hardware audit, SalesLogix CRM implementation, Infrastructure upgrade, User audit and cleanup)
  • Driving the use of technology throughout the business (Electronic faxing, Intranet (Sharepoint) development, Best practice implementation (Exchange distribution lists, shared network folders, etc))
  • Provision and automation of management information & reporting

The role was made redundant when Property Ventures downsized due the turnaround in the NZ property and financing market.

Meridian Energy, New Zealand
Sep 2007 – Jan 2008 : Senior Business Analyst, IT

Planning, management and facilitation of the rollout of 500+ new security access cards for a new head office building.

Scoping, planning and management of the distribution of card encoding and issuing services to all main Meridian sites. Included in this were business process and policy changes, hardware and software procurement, user training and documentation preparation.

Clarus Consulting, New Zealand
Apr 2007 – Aug 2007 : Senior Business Analyst

Clarus Consulting is a boutique IT consultancy who were engaged by Property Finance (a leading NZ non-bank lender) to undertake a complete IT refresh of all business systems. Key deliverables were:

  • Identification of high level business requirements, IT strategy and vision.
  • Development of an Invitation to Tender (ITT) – a hybrid RFI/RFP process.
  • Operational improvements in key business processes – loan origination, application tracking and document generation – using Word, Excel and Access.

The project was stopped halfway through the procurement process as Property Finance went into receivership.

Meridian Energy, New Zealand
Jun 2007 : Senior Business Analyst

A short term project role to collate business requirements and write a Request For Information (RFI) for a project to replace the existing enterprise document management system.

Christchurch City Council, New Zealand
Feb 2007 – Apr 2007 : Senior Business Analyst, IM&CT

A short term project recovery role due to resource movements amongst projects with the task to define and capture business requirements from a recently formed department and new policy.

News Limited, Australia
Jul 2006 – Dec 2006 : Group Circulation Business Manager

The Group Circulation department of News Limited oversees the management of the circulation, subscriptions and distribution of all the national, metro and regional newspapers produced by 11 divisions.

The primary role was to:

  • Establish, articulate and drive business strategy for the entire circulation portfolio including new business processes and organisational models.
  • Act as the national business lead for the development and implementation of new business systems and associated processes for all areas of circulation, including distribution.
  • Represent the circulation function in business systems initiatives for Media Sales, Contact Centre, Marketing, Finance and Business Intelligence.
  • Work closely with business groups (both Group and Divisional) to ensure that business strategies and requirements are understood, accepted and documented to sufficient level to allow the IT Solution Centre teams to deliver effective IT solutions.
  • Drive continuous business process improvement and change across all divisions and ensure projects are supported by effective change management and training including co-ordination of project teams that are established to develop and implement the 5 Year Plan for circulation.

This role focussed on initiating, programme managing and project managing a variety of national projects covering areas like data collection of sales data from retail outlets, retail outlet optimisation, developing sales incentive schemes, improving subscriber management and investigating new wrapping technology for newspaper distribution.

Westpac, Australia
Jun 2006 – Jul 2006 : Senior Business Analyst, Lending

A short term project recovery role in the Lending division to redefine the scope and requirements for management reporting of a new 3rd party sales channel. The deliverables were a clearly defined and agreed Project Brief and Business Requirements. Delivery of the reporting was managed by existing internal departments.

British American Tobacco, Australia
Feb 2006 – May 2006 : Senior Business Analyst, Supply Chain

BAT Supply Chain undertook a major cost saving and productivity improvement initiative in their Supply Chain including manufacturing. Main projects included Warehouse Management, Workforce Management, Factory Floor Reporting and SAP APO implementation. Primary tasks were to:

  • Identify all existing IT and Engineering managed IT systems
  • Identify areas for improvement and potential savings
  • Gather high level requirements
  • Obtain approval from senior business and IT management to initiate projects
  • Perform detailed analysis and design, map user requirements and develop functional specifications
  • Manage the progress of the projects
  • Initiate and account management relationship between IT and the business

St George Bank, Australia
Oct 2005 – Nov 2005 : Senior Business Analyst

St George Bank implemented a PeopleSoft CRM solution in all customer related business units. Primary tasks were to:

  • Identify, collate and document business requirements for Phase 2 of the implementation
  • Prepare IT project documentation for the scoping and design phases
  • Work with developers through the design and development phases
  • Manage the business through the user acceptance testing phase

NRMA Motoring & Services, Australia
Jul 2005 – Oct 2005 : Business Analyst/Project Manager

NRMA Motoring & Services provide roadside assistance to vehicles in NSW and ACT. Primary tasks were to:

  • Identify, collate and document business unit operational policies, procedures & processes
  • Map high level procedural workflows
  • Perform gap analysis between policies, procedures and workflows and existing applications
  • Facilitate development of new policies, procedures & processes
  • Develop functional requirements for changes to applications
  • Help the business to define system acceptance criteria and facilitate their testing
  • Translate business priorities and requirements for the development team through the SDLC
  • Managing small change management projects
  • Understand the business strategy and how this is achieved through their procedures, processes and systems
  • Facilitate workshops with the business unit and ICT
  • Ensure buy in and approval of analysis method and results from the business unit and ICT
  • Help business understand & prioritise filling the gaps in their requirements

Nationwide News, News Ltd, Australia
Feb 2004 – Jun 2005 : Business Analyst/Project Manager, Circulation

The Circulation department of Nationwide News is responsible for the distribution and management of the sales channels for 3 state based papers and 1 national paper. The first project was to undertake an operational review of the department, the systems and processes to identify areas for short term or long term improvement. This review also covered staff development, culture changes and industry impacts.

Following this review, a variety of short term improvements were implemented:

  • Replacement of a microfiche system with online electronic storage and retrieval
  • Introduction of network file management and storage procedures
  • Set up of reporting infrastructures and tools
  • Automation of regular processes including outsourcing to external printing companies
  • Development or processes and systems for the capture of retail outlet details and sales information
  • Cleanup of newsagent street allocation data including reengineering of the process and outsourcing data mapping
  • Implementation of laptops for mobile sales force including business case preparation, requirements definition and project management of training and office reorganisation

The main long term improvement project was the implementation of a replacement subscriptions system which involved:

  • Act as the business lead for the Circulation and Subscriptions teams
  • Identification and documentation of the existing subscription business processes
  • Documentation of the new subscriptions business requirements and rules
  • Cleansing of existing subscriptions data including the set up of regular data quality exception reporting
  • Design of new subscriptions business processes, business rules and system configuration
  • Participation in testing, training and documentation teams as the key business input
  • Design and validation of data migration processes
  • Implementation of many operational improvements including automatic subscription renewals, automated letter production and the reduction in the time to start a subscription

Singtel Optus, Australia
Aug 2003 – Nov 2003 : Senior Business Analyst, Mobile IT

Working in a large team of Business Analysts in the Mobile IT group to project manage and implement IT changes into the Mobile group. The main accountability was for the quality, productivity and effectiveness of the Business Requirements Analysis work for a programme; and for the quality of programme scoping. This was achieved by:

  • Providing leadership to the business in programme scoping processes to ensure IT and business impacts of initiatives are understood and factored into development plans.
  • Being aware of the Mobile IT business strategy and applying it to each programme.
  • Acting as the Subject Matter Expert (SME) regarding impact analysis of IT or business initiatives on the IT systems and end to end business processes; and being able to propose technical solutions in these areas and ascertain the related business and IT impacts.
  • Guiding the business towards accepting viable and valid system solutions, which involve changes to working conditions and practices.
  • Assuring that Business Analysts on their program teams works with vendors, clients and IS staff to ensure comprehensive requirements capture; and traceability; delivery of high value requirements; final solution supports the business case; operational business areas understand solution and that their operation can support the project business case.
  • Performing requirements traceability – monitoring the evolving solution design and development to ensure the impact of the solution on the business operation is understood; working with the vendors to clarify business needs in the solution.
  • Supporting testing – support test case development and incident impact analysis and also to ensure comprehensive test scope.
  • Managing change requests – performing impact analysis on change requests which impact more than one system (platform); managing the IT delivery of “non-program” related change requests.

The main projects worked on included UAT for a new release of the Siebel CRM and Staffware Order Management system and scoping and requirements definition for a call Centre Technology upgrade programme, a Corporate Integrated (SMS) Messaging programme and Speech Recognition IVR replacement programme.

AAPT, Australia
May 2003 – Jun 2003 : Project Manager & Business Analyst, Marketing

Working in a short term role to finish off the project management of two marketing campaigns due to staff changes. The role involved:

  • Project management of the campaigns.
  • Performance reporting and tracking of the campaign.
  • Data analysis and cleansing to identify target customers.
  • Production of customer letters and customer management scripts.

Orange, Sweden & Denmark
May 2002 – Nov 2002 : Business Analyst, IT

Working in a variety of roles in both a start-up mobile telecommunications company in Sweden and an existing mobile telecommunications company in Denmark. Primary responsibilities were within the Sales & Marketing and Customer Management operations to upgrade existing processes and systems into a synergy environment for both countries. The main activities of this role were to:

  • Identify, document and validate the business requirements for all sales channels (retail, direct, indirect, telesales, call centre, web) and indirect customer management channels (web, IVR).
  • Identify, develop and map optimum business processes based on existing operational processes, future strategies and identification of process improvement initiatives to produce a new synergy based operational model.
  • Define appropriate IT architecture for related systems.
  • Produce functional specifications for systems development.

Other activities performed were:

  • Manage planned releases for IT development including negotiation with the business.
  • Project manage the planned implementation and launch of Sales & Marketing systems and Web Developments in Sweden.
  • Provide input as a subject matter expert to business operations and process development.

Orange, Thailand
Jun 2001 – Oct 2001 : Business Process Project Manager, Commercial
Oct 2001 – Nov 2001 : Project Manager / Business Analyst, Sales & Distribution, Commercial

Working in various roles in a start-up mobile telecommunications company.

The first role involved coordinating and assisting with the identification, development and implementation of business processes and supporting procedures necessary to meet the tactical and strategic requirements of the Commercial function. Departments requiring support include Products & Services, Marketing Communications, Marketing Intelligence, Retail, Sales & Trade Marketing, Logistics, Sales Support and Sales Strategy & Pricing. Primary tasks were to:

  • Identify, develop and map optimum business processes to defined standards in defined timeframe.
  • Interface with other functional process modellers to agree interfaces, handovers and information flow.
  • Develop procedures in defined format.
  • Support business system implementations.
  • Load and update the process/procedures in Control (process modelling software) library applying process and document control standards.
  • Support the writing of test scripts for end to end & UAT testing and participate in testing.
  • Support training requirements for role players.
  • Communicate the defined processes and process benefits across department.
  • Define metrics to measure processes.
  • Define and implement process improvement cycle.

The second role involved the project management and business analysis of a variety of projects in the Sales & Distribution department of the Commercial function. The main project was the development and implementation of a web based application to allow sales channels to activate customers, process bill payments and place orders for inventory. Other projects related to the development implementation of internal business processes and supporting IT applications. Primary tasks were to:

  • Identify, document and validate the business requirements.
  • Manage the 3rd party developers.
  • Manage the delivery of testing, training and the rollout of the applications.

Southwark Council, England
Jan 2001 – May 2001 : Business Systems Consultant, Information Technology

The main responsibilities of this role were analysing the business processes of the Council in order to determine those benefits which can result from the introduction of innovative Information and Communication Technology (ICT) solutions and managing associated projects ensuring delivery to agreed budgets and time-scales. Primary tasks were to:

  • Analyse current business systems and practices in assigned areas, assess their organisational strengths and weaknesses and advise on possible ICT solutions.
  • Research and present costed technical and business options which conform to the Council ‘s overall ICT strategy.
  • Manage projects to completion within agreed budgets and time-scales and to report regularly on project status to IT management and users.
  • Work with Information Systems Managers, business unit managers and other interested parties (including external agencies ) in the analysis of IT solutions and the delivery of project plans.
  • Work with the Head of IT in developing and implementing corporate IT standards throughout the Council.
  • Co-ordinate the activities of external suppliers where they had a direct input to the achievement of project plans.

British Gas Communications (Centrica), England
Jun 2000 – Oct 2000 : Business Analyst, Information Systems

Working in a start-up telecommunications company, which offers mobile, fixed and ISP services, on their Customer Management and Billing systems (provided by Amdocs). Responsibilities involved:

  • Managing a small number of projects through all stages of the project life cycle covering feasibility, business case preparation, analysis, design, build and testing, through to implementation.
  • Agreeing the terms of reference, controlling the project budget, mobilising business resource, producing justification and ensuring that the projects are delivered on time and within budget.
  • Identifying, maintaining and interpreting business data from a variety of sources to enable the development of the project definition.
  • Identifying and communicating project process and impact analysis to all areas of the business to update and ensure projects accommodate business requirements.
  • Providing regular and ad-hoc information and analysis to the Project Manager.
  • Briefing and controlling third parties to meet specific system and process development needs and deliver to time, cost and quality requirements.

Virgin Mobile, England
Jul 1999 – Nov 1999 : Business Analyst, Customer Operations

Working in a start-up mobile telecommunications company in the Customer Operations department on their Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system (provided by POINT) and e-commerce systems. The role included:

  • Definition of business requirements from the Launch Proposition.
  • Development of the end to end business processes from the business requirements.
  • Ensuring the business requirements and processes are aligned to deliver the Launch Proposition.
  • Decomposition of business processes to workflow level for operational call guide development.
  • Design and specification of the requirements for the CRM system.
  • End to end process testing and user acceptance testing.
  • Review and analysis of the implementation to identify implementation gaps and solutions.

Legal and General Assurance Society, England
Jun 1998 – Sep 1998 : Senior Business Analyst, Marketing

The role included managing the existing day-to-day process while also analysing and developing and documenting improved corporate marketing systems and procedures. Primary tasks were:

  • Liaison with the external data processing bureau to analyse and manage operation and development of the existing marketing database.
  • Creation of a data dictionary and data model.
  • Review and documentation of the database marketing processes.
  • Specification of user requirements for a corporate marketing database.
  • Testing of the database for data quality.
  • Implementation of regular automated testing procedures.
  • Implementation of change control procedures.
  • Selection of end user tools for query, manipulation, analysis and reporting.

Mercury One 2 One, England
May 1998 – Jun 1998 : Business Analyst, Customer Services

To improve the level of service received by One 2 One customer’s both during the Registration process for new customers and also changes to services for existing customers. Primary tasks were:

  • Analysis of current procedures, processes and systems.
  • Identification of improvement opportunities in operational procedures and applications in conjunction with user groups.
  • Production of requirements and technical specifications for improvements.
  • Managing implementation of required changes.
  • Training of user groups in new procedures and system changes.
  • Quality review of implementation.
  • Documentation of procedures, processes and systems using ABC Flowcharter and Microsoft Word.

The Walt Disney Company (UK), England
Nov 1997 – Apr 1998 : Senior Business Analyst

Implementation of the purchase ordering module (Cadenza) of Coda Financials in all business units of Walt Disney (UK). Primary tasks were:

  • Production and management of the Project Plan.
  • Management of assigned resources.
  • Control and resolution of issues.
  • Reporting project status to Senior Management.
  • Identification and specification of user requirements for purchase ordering.
  • Implementation and testing of the Cadenza application.
  • 3rd party liaison with suppliers of Coda and Cadenza.
  • Preparation of user documentation, manuals and procedures.
  • Training of users in the use of the Cadenza application.
  • Software installation of Cadenza, Coda, Sybase Client and ODBC.

Environment Waikato, New Zealand
Jan 1995 – May 1997 : Business Analyst

Environment Waikato is a local government organisation responsible for the management of environmental work, issues and concerns. The responsibilities of the role were to manage the resource consent and client databases, ensuring the quality and security of the information held, and utilising this information for management reporting and responding to requests for information. Primary tasks were:

  • Auditing of the database.
  • Development of quality assurance procedures including automated SQL scripts and Microsoft Access reports.
  • Supervision of data entry staff.
  • Liaison with end users to identify their needs and produce a User Requirements Specification.
  • Identifying critical data requirements, rationalising data collection and data modelling.
  • Application prototyping using Microsoft Access and FoxPro.
  • Liaison with 3rd party developer during development stage.
  • Development of functional and end user requirement testing.
  • Developing and documenting operational procedures.
  • Producing training materials and providing training.
  • Creating and maintaining systems documentation.
  • Using SQL, Microsoft Access, Impromptu/PowerPlay, Forest & Trees and GIS.
  • Training users in the use of end user query and reporting tools.
  • Responding to requests for information from internal and external customers.
  • Evaluation and selection of an OLAP tool for end user and management reporting.

Telecom New Zealand Limited, New Zealand
Apr 1992 – Jul 1993 : Network Analyst
Jul 1993 – Jan 1995 : Network Performance Analyst

The main responsibility of these roles was to improve the information flows and proactively identify improvement opportunities for Network Operations. Primary tasks were:

  • Ensuring all Network Operations staff have the information they need to manage their business.
  • Identify potential improvement opportunities in operational issues.
  • Ensuring that measurable improvement is achieved.
  • Continuous improvement of the reporting process.
  • Providing network information to other Telecom groups.

Telecom Networks and Operations Limited, New Zealand
Nov 1991 – Apr 1992 : Data Analyst

Develop, document and implement a reporting solution for the Network Management System using mainframe and PC based applications.