David Picknett Email & Phone Number

London, Gb

London, Gb

London, Gb

Responsible for the creation and management of the Defra Cloud Business Office with functions including architecture, design, finance, service management, customer portfolio and demand management, security and delivery/PMO. This capability underpinned the foundation of the shift to a Cloud Centre of Excellence at Defra.Led the agile delivery of AWS and Azure Cloud Foundation products and cloud processes. This included the delivery of cloud security, workload management and governance tools established using Microsoft Azure DevOps (ADO) and adopted across the Azure, AWS and Microsoft 365 teams.Created the operating model for the Cloud Centre of Excellence including the resourcing and supplier strategies (and associated procurements) - I am currently implementing these.Led the creation of a customer portfolio process for educating and informing customers of the potential of cloud solutions and developed the process for onboarding those customers onto the cloud platforms.Led the procurement of Cloud suppliers to resource the Centre of Excellence. Created and facilitated a senior stakeholder Cloud Steering Group to discuss and set Defra’s strategic agenda for Cloud.Responsible for assisting digital services transition from development to live supported state within the Cloud Centre of Excellence – helping them understanding the Defra Cloud service model.

London, Gb

Managed the development of the Defra Cloud Service Centre (40 people) established to manage Defra’s use of public cloud platforms. This included leading the Microsoft Azure Engineering team and the development of the architecture and design, security, customer portfolio and delivery management capabilities and ensuring the team came together to deliver.Delivered Cloud Service Centre support processes which met the requirements of the Defra service management organisation and operating model. This meant that our Cloud customers could be assured of a fully security accredited and operationally sustainable service.This Service Centre delivered infrastructure-as-code cloud platforms for the 11 critical digital services required by Defra to support No-Deal Brexit. This involved successful delivery leadership and management to extremely tight deadlines.Implemented Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) pipelines to deliver Cloud infrastructure for customers.Introduced Cloud monitoring tools and processes to ensure our platforms were reporting problems and triggering fixes often before customers were aware there was an issue.Responsible for operational and contract management of suppliers engaged to work with the Cloud Service Centre.

London, Gb

Mobilised the Defra EU Exit IT Programme Management Office including management tooling and processes (Agile and Waterfall), reporting and governance board activities and overseeing definition of 22 projects within the portfolio. Once established successfully migrated the PMO manager position to a permanent civil servant.Managed the identification, procurement and on-boarding of digital development suppliers to carry out Discovery and Alpha Build activities for all of the projects in the portfolio.Programme Lead responsible for establishing Programme DevOps capability and digital delivery pipelines (Microsoft Azure) adopting Continuous Development, Continuous Integration and early automated testing and verification. Programme Lead responsible for Supplier Management – established core processes and managed 4 digital delivery, QA and DevOps suppliers. Activities included definition of work packages and supplier performance and relationship management.

Gb

Responsible for the project management of the core software solution for the Common Agricultural Policy Programme for 2015-17 which oversees over £1bn of payments each year. Developed flexible tools to manage, control and report project activities using both agile and waterfall methodologies and ensuring that the solution integrated with other work streams and suppliers of the main DEFRA CAP Delivery Programme. Responsible for the day to day management of the supplier of the core software product with a budget of around £8m per annum. Introduced key controls to ensure that the supplier delivered what was required to the RPA’s specification and Digital By Default standards.Adopted a ‘hands-on’ approach to resolving project problems day to day to achieve very tight timescales for delivery.

Truro, Cornwall, Gb

Upon the creation of Cornwall Council I was responsible for the consolidation of the ICT and document management functions for 6 District Councils and 1 County Council in Cornwall. Merger involved complete restructure (over 250 staff) and downsize of the team as well as development and implementation of a new technical strategy to ensure service delivery maintained and cost savings achieved. Over £2m was saved as a result of the merger and there were no major service failures throughout the period.Following the Unitary merger, led the Information Services team – over 200 staff and with annual budget of £14m. Responsible for application development and support, business partnering, information management and security, datacentre and network infrastructure, end-user computing and document management.Responsible for the development and delivery of Cornwall Council’s Information and Technology Strategy. Working closely with customers to ensure that this was aligned with their objectives and provided innovative solutions to business requirements.As Programme Director led the business case, procurement and implementation of an Oracle ERP (E-Business Suite R12) into Cornwall Council and its arms-length companies. Adopted a hands-on approach to ensure the programme was successful. Modules covered finance, procurement, HR and payroll, Self Service, Hyperion and Org Plus.Responsible for delivering a £70m ICT outsourced Strategic Partnership with BT. Led the ICT negotiations throughout the procurement phase, the implementation of the transition and designed and established an intelligent client function within the Council. This included working with two major health providers in Cornwall and including them within the contract and partnership.

Truro, Cornwall, Gb

Programme Managed the One Cornwall Programme and ensured that it met its strategic objectives on time – six District Councils merged with Cornwall County Council. Responsible for planning the programme as a whole and ensured its overall success by managing risk and resolving issues and initiating corrective actions.Responsible for reporting programme progress to the chief officer and member governance boards and resolving issues at that level.Led the deployment and development of Project Managers and the Programme Management Office to ensure the effective and efficient delivery of all individual project priorities within the programme and ensure the management of dependencies and interfaces between different projects.Responsible for managing the engagement of two major consultancy firms involved in making the Programme a success.

Truro, Cornwall, Gb

Led the definition and development of strategic technology business solutions for Cornwall County Council. Managed a County-wide Programme of projects and services that introduced new systems and processes to the Council.Responsible for the ICT Strategies and Policies adopted by the Authority and ensured compliance.Led an ICT Business & Strategic Solutions Team to deliver technology benefits to the Council and its partners. This team included Business Partners, Software Developers, DBAs, Application Support Staff and Project Managers.Worked alongside Chief Officers within the Authority to define their strategic business requirements and match these with suitable technologies and approaches that ensured their required outcomes were achieved. Piloted the introduction of comprehensive internal business processes and controls that supported the delivery of the strategic objectives of Cornwall County Council.

Truro, Cornwall, Gb

Responsible for the ICT Strategy for Cornwall County Council and the development and implementation of a programme to deliver it. Developed and managed the delivery of a Council-wide programme of major corporate and departmental projects in order to deliver the outcomes required by the authority. Led the Business Process Re-engineering components of the projects in the Programme. Responsible for business partnering and account management services which ensured the efficient and smooth delivery of ICT to customers. Created and managed programme management team and processes which ensured the effective delivery of the project portfolio, and the accurate reporting of progress, budgets, issues and risks.Led the development of the authority’s Application Development, Application Support, and Database Administration Services

Truro, Cornwall, Gb

Responsible for the development and support of ICT Applications for all departments of the council.Responsible for a team of 30 developers, analysts and database administrators creating software solutions for the Council. Development of suitable software standards and quality audits.

Bellevue, Wa, Us

Programme Manager for the successful implementation of SAP ERP across the whole UK business – programme budget £50million. Programme delivered on time and budget.Modules implemented included finance and control, business planning, networks management, sales and distribution and procurement and logistics. Utilised extensive change management programme to ensure implementation was successful.

Bellevue, Wa, Us

Responsible for the delivery of a portfolio of major business and IT projects delivering new products and services to UK customers.Led cross-functional project teams (including marketing, IT, HR, Commercial, Finance and Distribution) to ensure that projects were delivered on time, within cost and to agreed specifications.Managed all project documentation, including project plans, budgets, risk and resources.Responsible for communications and stakeholder management within the rest of the organisation and use of specific tools to ensure that business change was as effective as possible.Presented project information to the Board as required.

Responsible for the creation of a Strategic Systems and Process Vision for the Commercial Division, and the production and management of a programme of projects to ensure it was delivered.Responsible for the successful development and implementation of major business systems, initiatives and their related business processes. Projects included Promotional Evaluation and Decision Support, Retail Price Management, Financial Performance Reporting Systems and Information Warehouses and enhancements to the Loyalty Card and Electronic Marketing systems. Production of business cases and project documentation to justify/support proposed projects and the presentation of these to Board Directors. Management of IT and Business cross divisional team resources and liaison with key business personnel. Coordination of IT support teams as they began to support the implemented new system and HR Training Teams as they trained the systems and processes in.

Responsible within Business Controls Team for internal consultancy review projects of IT systems. Working with IT management and the business to develop sound controls and business processes to derive maximum benefit and minimum business risk from IT resource. Assisted in the development of a continuous improvement approach to the IT strategy.Reports recommending process and system improvements presented to Finance Director and Director of IT. Subjects covered included Pricing, Promotions, Stock Management, Buying Income, Accounts Payable and Human Resources Systems.Involved in project covering IT efficiency and effectiveness review of all Safeway IT systems and processes working with Andersen Consulting.

Statutory audit assignments and preparation of accounts. Development of IT solutions for clients. Assessing business needs and also carry out staff training.

Design and execution of audit approaches as part of Audit Team

Bachelor'S Degree, Economics And Law

Nvq Level 5 Operational Management