Heather Fox Email and Phone Number

An adaptable craft workshop space in Warrington, which provides a range of classes covering jewellery, glass and ceramics. The hope is that the offering will expand with time.

Originally my business was set up as part of the Professional Practice Modules whilst at University, for which I got a 1st on this module - Completed market research for the hand made silver jewellery market, researching appropriate venues for sales; Apply to galleries and online marketplaces to sell my work; Business planning, set up accounts system and maintain cashflow; designed appropriate range of jewellery based on a personalised theme; constructed hand made range of jewellery, using a range of technical skills, working in silver and mixed media; designed logo, packaging, stationery; Designed, build and maintain website; apply to exhibit at various galleries and shows across the UK.

Working within an Agile environment, my role is primarily to communicate with stakeholders from all areas of the business to define and document business processes and software requirements for all technology initiatives. I analyse current business activities and processes so that I can recommend the most efficient improvements through the use of IT resources. I act as project lead across all software development requirements, which have included an in-house customer relationship management system, a simple stock management application, as well as the build of a completely new web-based application to cover a variety of compliance requirements. I host regular Sprint meetings between the stakeholders and the developers to ensure requirements have been met in-line with technology capabilities. I provide alternative solutions, where time constraints may affect build available, through problem solving and discussion not only within my team, but finding experts available within other teams. I am also responsible for Monthly Requirements for existing software, which can include items such as data point changes, dashboard changes and reporting, including SSRS reporting. I also provide a range of documentation, requirements specifications and change request. Within the development team, as project lead, I discuss any blockers, timescales, updates etc so that I can communicate accurate timescales to stakeholders. As part of this, I set up and implemented the usage of Jira to log all project work accurately and am currently training another team in how to use it effectively for their own project/workload/task tracking.

As a Business Improvement Consultant my role was varied; responsible for Continuous Service Improvement across Technology and Transformation department (TnT) across a number of work streams including Insight, Burning Platforms, Communications, Projects, Engagement, Service Governance and Shift Left; responsible for a number of budgets within the Business Improvement team including Burning Platforms, Reward & Recognition scheme as well as the Business Improvement Budget; manage/govern the recruitment approvals process for TnT; ensure that we remain within our target headcount and that the correct process is followed; other responsibilities include organisation of Quarterly Roadshows; office moves within TnT, including the property strategy; KPI scorecards for TnT.

Review and update of KPIs, including appropriate targets, for the Technology department, measuring performance with a strong focus on service improvement and best practice; liaise with internal customers, support teams and internal/external business to review performance against agreed service levels and to assess requirements for improvement; identify, record and maintain all service improvements at a high priority level for service improvement; provide a variety of reports to all levels of personnel, design and create with the appropriate audience in mind; determine service requirements by maintaining regular contact with key business stakeholders; visit operational environments, form focus groups, benchmarking best practices and analyse data and applications; responsible for capturing and reporting against the full business impact of any high priority incident to and ensure clear communication to all stakeholders; provide in depth reports on weekly, monthly and quarterly basis to stakeholders on overall performance of Technology.

Manage a small team in a project to reduce call volumes into the Technology Service Centre, set expectations within the team and their roles; liaise with all levels of management and staff and create an appropriate communications plan; coaching in all aspects of continuoual improvement projects; encourage a culture of continuoual improvement across all members of the Technology Service Centre; maintain a You Said We Did program; quality control; project & change management; data analysis and report writing to feedback to all levels of staff; service change; process change; engage with customers via Net Promoter Scores and act on their feedback, both positive and negative, to maintain high levels of customer care; actively seek ways of providing a quality service inline with appropriate KPIs; working within a Lean Six Sigma using DMAIC framework in both Yellow Belt and Green Belt projects.

Answer calls to internal customers, on a variety of IT issues; Customer service skills; answer technical questions; troubleshoot; maintain/achieve daily targets; Identify and escalate situations requiring urgent attention; coach customers on IT issues; problem solve customer issues; ownership of customer feedback to improve the service; work within a team to achieve set goals as well as individual targets.

Support teaching staff and students; maintain equipment for lessons; encourage students in the realisation of their designs; ability to manage a range of skillsets; ensure all Health & Safety regulations are adhered to, including COSHH; maintain stock levels; follow safeguarding guidelines, full CRB checked.

Answer calls to internal customers, on a variety of IT issues; Customer service skills; answer technical questions; troubleshoot; maintain/achieve daily targets; Identify and escalate situations requiring urgent attention; coach customers on IT issues; problem solve customer issues; ownership of customer feedback to improve the service; work within a team to achieve set goals as well as individual targets.