In my primary role as Planning Manager I provide Project Planning, Project Controls and Risk Management guidance and support in Land Systems, and fulfilling the Lead Planner requirements on Gasket, a key Land Systems project, and LVM, a major Land Systems bid, using both Primavera P6 and MS Project.

Providing Project Planning and Controls consultancy services to Lockheed Martin, specifically in relation to the company transition from Microsoft Project to Primavera P6 and Acumen Fuse

A senior role within the Bid and Project Management function to provide support to the full portfolio of projects and project management staff, and allowing the opportunity to gain greater experience of how the business operates. This role reports directly to the Head of Project Controls and Governance.Key activities undertaken;• Supporting the rebaseline and project controls refresh of the Manchester Metro Link (MML) project, primary focus being the production of Rebaseline Planning Guidelines, providing detailed ETC analysis, producing the revised project business rhythm, and baseline change control guidance with associated BCR form.• Conducting a PMO Deep Dive into the Connect project, to produce a detailed set of recommendations for improvement against people, process and tools. A detailed set of recommendations were produced covering areas such as PMO / Finance team organisation and responsibilities, project structure in SAP and Primavera, toolset and reporting standardisation, integration and automation, and a revised project business rhythm.• My strong People Management, Recruitment and Staff Development skills continue to be recognised. I am considered a SME in these areas for Project Controls, Planning and Risk Management and I have led the vast majority of recruitment activities. I am also heavily involved in the support of staff requiring detailed Career Development Plans (CDP) which link back to their job descriptions and the functional Competency Framework, with a track record of success in keeping good people in the business through securing promotions linked back to successful completion of a CDP.• A founder member of the Thales GTS “Women In Thales” network which promotes equality and diversity in the work place. I am the committee member who focuses primarily on Recruitment.• I am currently leading the 2019 Work Package Management improvement initiative, which is focussed on embedding strong work package management across the business.

Project Controls and Planning mobilisation for the 4LM and JNSU programmes, supporting the Deep Tube Upgrade Programme proposal, and recruitment and subsequent career development of Project Controls, Planning and Risk staff for Ground Transportation Systems in London.

My duties comprised of ensuring functional planning & risk governance, undertaking all recruitment activities for planning and risk management vacancies, direct line management of 15 staff (including the annual pay and performance process, monthly 121 meetings and working individual Career Development Plans), functional mentoring of a further 10 staff, and functional excellence activities (leading Planning and Leadership improvement initiatives).Achievements• I was nominated as Scout SV IBR Manager, to build on my experience of successfully leading the planning element of the Warrior CSP IBR. I was responsible for managing all elements of the event, ranging from ensuring that all the IBR Category Owners (e.g. Technical Solution, Finance, Programmatics) were fully prepared, to providing functional expertise and support as the project set its Performance Measurement Baseline, and finally managing all the logistical planning for the event. The IBR was a success and I was praised by the Scout SV Deputy Project Manager for my efforts.• Achieving Green status for the Planning element of the Programme Operations Functional Excellence Plan for 2013. This included Professional Accreditation of Planning Staff, defining and training a common set of core planning tools, producing and rolling out a MS Project Start Up File, updating Corporate training courses for Planning staff, producing and implementing an Interview Assessment Tool, undertaking a comprehensive study to define which of LM’s three Schedule Risk Analysis tools should become the core tool for the business, and setting up a Planning and Risk specific SharePoint site.• Successfully managing and mentoring all planning staff, culminating in achieving Green status for the planning governance element of the Functional Corrective Action Board three months earlier than the agreed “Get To Green” date.• Nominated as co-lead for the Leadership Strategy Stream of the 2014 Programme Operations Functional Excellence Plan

My major assignment was Lead Planner for Warrior CSP (WCSP), reporting to the Head of Programme Operations. I provided programme, resource, EVMS, risk and cost management support initially through the capture and proposal phase of the programme, to contract award, and finally through the finalisation of the Performance Measurement Baseline and successful completion of the LM and MoD IBR.Achievements• Post contract award I managed a planning team of 3 staff to produce a fully cost and schedule integrated Performance Management Baseline. I ensured close liaison between the Planners, CAMs, Finance and the Risk Manager to manage conflicting priorities. My efforts culminated in achieving a “Green” rating for Planning in the internal LM IBR (the first such rating achieved at Ampthill) and successfully passing the MoD IBR. I received both internal and customer praise for the thoroughness of the WCSP IBRs. • When LM was announced as Preferred Supplier for WCSP my role as Lead Planner took on a significant change as customer liaison and programme mobilisation came to the fore. Forging strong working relationships with my counterparts in the MoD PMO became a priority, as did supporting the Programme Director in putting together a comprehensive mobilisation plan to present to the Senior Leadership Team detailing the necessary resources and facilities to set the programme up for a successful start. I was given significant recognition and reward for my key role and extensive efforts in helping secure the largest programme in LM Ampthill’s history.• I joined the WCSP proposal team with only 8 weeks to bid submission. The planning elements of the proposal were behind schedule. I successfully produced a new IMS incorporating multiple supplier schedules and Government Furnished Materiel requirements, updated proposal planning, risk and EVM documentation, and produced a risk network and completed a quantitative schedule risk analysis using Predict Risk Analyser / Controller.

My major assignment was Senior Project Controller in the Project Control department of the Earth Observation and Science division, reporting to the UK Head of EOS Project Control. I provided programme, resource, risk and finance management support to Aeolus, a £160M project of which EADS Astrium Ltd was prime contractor. On a monthly basis I updated the project schedule, risk and financial position, having to consolidate the UK position with that of the French, German and Italian sub-contractors to produce the European view of the project. I produced, with support of the Aeolus Project Manager, the monthly progress report for internal senior management review. On a quarterly basis I coordinated a full European EAC update across the Aeolus project, preparing financial variances for review at EADS corporate level. I also produced the Consolidated Schedule Report before each customer (ESA) progress meeting. This report provided the customer with schedule variance analysis and various different filtered views of the project schedule.Achievements• Successfully gaining an understanding of the principles of financial management e.g Gross Margin, Working Capital, Net Cash, EBIT etc. The role on Aeolus provided me with the global project view that few positions allow, from updating schedules with the people who work on the hardware through to producing financial metrics for discussion with senior management.• Successfully developing the Aeolus project reporting from national entity based reporting to consolidated European reporting for schedule, risk and finance.• Gaining experience of the Primavera P3 planning tool and SAP, and the integration of both.

My major assignment was Senior Project Controller for the Project Management Function, reporting directly to the Head of Scheduling and Surveillance, providing programme, resource, EVMS, risk and cost management support to a number of projects and proposals. I was responsible for undertaking independent reviews on Integrated Master Schedules to ensure that best practice project management principles were implemented and adhered to, and acted as a mentor for junior members of the Project Management Function who were working to improve their scheduling, EVMS and Risk Management skills.Achievements• On a secondment to the Astor Ground Segment Team I successfully turned around a culture of non-communication and poor understanding of EVMS between the IPT Management, Cost Account Managers and Project Finance Team to a situation where weekly EVMS data was integral to the management of the programme and issues were openly discussed and understood. I also successfully managed the rebaseline of the Astor Ground Segment IMS and made it a focal point of the daily project status meetings, whereas before I joined Astor the project IMS had not been updated for months and was not used by the project team at all. The Astor UK Planning, Performance and Risk Manager thanked me personally for my efforts in turning the Ground Segment schedule and EVMS situation around.• At very short notice I joined the Carrera Bid Team and with less than a week to go provided support in completing a 3000+ activity schedule and a risk network for quantitative schedule risk analysis. I ran the schedule analysis through Active Risk Manager and produced numerous reports to support the proposal documentation requirements. My extensive effort to support the Carrera Team in very difficult circumstances was noted by the Head of Programme Execution.

My major assignment was Senior Project Management Engineer for the Platform Integration Business Area, reporting directly to the Comms SI Programmes Manager, providing programme, resource, EVM, risk and cost management support for all the department’s major contracts, including Skynet 5 REACHER, BOWMAN and GBAD. I was involved in all three projects from the bid preparation phase onwards, and as such was instrumental in consolidating the programme and resource requirements for the department’s vehicle installation, design and certification process.I was tasked directly by the Comms SI Director to manage and refine the INSYS Visual Management initiative.Achievements• I implemented the visual management approach to the programme, resource, EVM, risk and cost management of the BOWMAN, REACHER and GBAD projects, working closely with the project teams to drive the programmes.• I presented on Management Visualisation at the 12th Annual QEI Technical Exchange Programme at Pendley Manor in Tring on 21st and 22nd May 2002. This was a forty five minute presentation delivered to delegates from many international companies from many different industry sectors (for example, Augusta Westland, Ilmor Engineering, Rail Track and SAS), all of whom used QEI Exec as their project management software tool of choice.• I put together the initial design and use strategy for a Microsoft Excel based departmental resource management and analysis spreadsheet that provided 12 weekly, 12 monthly and 5 yearly views of the resource loading for the Platform Integration department. Data could be displayed by department, by individual project and by individual named resource. This provided the Business Area Manager and all project managers with invaluable information to help manage the department’s limited resources to the best outcome for both individual projects and the department as a whole.

My major assignment was Programme Office Manager to the ExCeL account, reporting primarily to the EDS Programme Manager, but also dealing directly with the programme management of the ExCeL consortium, Hewlett-Packard and NTL. My main focus of work was the setting up and maintenance of the ExCeL Project Plan, but other responsibilities included being the EDS Change Control Manager.Achievements• Upon joining the ExCeL account there was no detailed or integrated project plan in place but within four weeks I fully integrated all ExCeL, EDS and sub-contractor plans, and then maintained and issued the integrated IMS on a weekly basis. My detailed management of the programme and extensive communication with all parties had a direct impact on turning the programme around and enabling the ExCeL exhibition centre to open on schedule for the first exhibition.