Brian Robins Email & Phone Number

Vienna, Virginia, United States

The Management Evaluation Management System (MEMS) is a centralized content management, tracking and reporting system used by USDA, FNS regional office and State Agency personnel to record, manage and report on the evaluations of all FNS program areas on a yearly basis. As a Senior Business Analyst, I:• Lead requirements gathering sessions with FNS stakeholders and their State Agency partners to understand their needs and help define the requirements for future development efforts… Show more The Management Evaluation Management System (MEMS) is a centralized content management, tracking and reporting system used by USDA, FNS regional office and State Agency personnel to record, manage and report on the evaluations of all FNS program areas on a yearly basis. As a Senior Business Analyst, I:• Lead requirements gathering sessions with FNS stakeholders and their State Agency partners to understand their needs and help define the requirements for future development efforts, while ensuring their alignment with FNS priorities. Create and maintain decision documents shared with each group to track the major conversation points and decisions made during each session.• Develop user stories and acceptance criteria for new requirements based on feedback received during the working sessions with FNS and State Agency stakeholders.• Worked closely with user interface/user experience team member and technical lead to develop wireframes of proposed solutions to ensure consistency throughout the application and ensure client needs are met.• Prepare Release Notification Text and Product Traceability Matrix documentation for each product release.• Provide additional support to the MEMS Helpdesk and Testing team, as needed. Serve as a liaison for the training teams to provide support and introduce functionality being deployed in upcoming releases Show less

Rockville, Maryland, United States

Provided operational support to the new Office of Data Science and Sharing (ODSS) team by conducting interviews with NIH staff to consolidating business requirements for data gathered across a wide range of Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) programs. As a Business Analyst, I:• Worked with leadership to develop a survey shared with a larger NICHD audience designed to provide initial analysis that would help shape the mission of the… Show more Provided operational support to the new Office of Data Science and Sharing (ODSS) team by conducting interviews with NIH staff to consolidating business requirements for data gathered across a wide range of Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) programs. As a Business Analyst, I:• Worked with leadership to develop a survey shared with a larger NICHD audience designed to provide initial analysis that would help shape the mission of the new office.• Assisted conducting follow up interviews with staff to understand their needs and help leadership determine best practices and implement standards for the collection, management and sharing of the data collected through NICHD grants. Show less

Acquired TeraThink Corporation in April, 2020.Procurement and grants management solutions at Department of State (DoS) are built on multiple platforms. The Department wants to consolidate these processes within a single enterprise solution to enable standardization across domestic and overseas models, provide increase visibility into the processes and help realize savings reducing operations and maintenance costs provides. As a Director Consulting Expert, I:• Led testing effort… Show more Acquired TeraThink Corporation in April, 2020.Procurement and grants management solutions at Department of State (DoS) are built on multiple platforms. The Department wants to consolidate these processes within a single enterprise solution to enable standardization across domestic and overseas models, provide increase visibility into the processes and help realize savings reducing operations and maintenance costs provides. As a Director Consulting Expert, I:• Led testing effort for Regional Financial Management System (RFMS) integrations with Ariba and FPDS, including the development of tests to verify functionality and ensure optimal user experience for new features.• Built and maintain the RFMS training site using SharePoint Online. Reviewed quick reference guides and computer based trainings constructed using Adobe Connect.• Served as a liaison between development team and Department stakeholders for grants management effort. Prepared regular status reports and led weekly status meeting with leadership.• Facilitated requirement working group sessions with DoS grant Subject Matter Experts (SMEs). Participated in user interface design sessions to review drafted wireframes before presentation to broader group. Show less

Washington D.C. Metro Area

The Plant Protection and Quarantine at USDA uses a web based application to manage data collected from phytosanitary treatments executed to protect the health of U.S. agriculture from quarantined pests. The current system has begun to lose effectiveness, as it can not adapt to meet new business needs. As a Business Analyst, I:• Participated in gap analysis meetings with client to determine the project scope. Sessions identified what requirements and enhancements should be included in… Show more The Plant Protection and Quarantine at USDA uses a web based application to manage data collected from phytosanitary treatments executed to protect the health of U.S. agriculture from quarantined pests. The current system has begun to lose effectiveness, as it can not adapt to meet new business needs. As a Business Analyst, I:• Participated in gap analysis meetings with client to determine the project scope. Sessions identified what requirements and enhancements should be included in the current effort and what is considered future work.• Evaluated information from existing business process documentation and legacy training environments to determine the current state and help identify future needs. Documented detailed as-is and to-be functional business requirements and process flow diagrams.• Served as the primary point of contact for multiple treatment types and facilitated requirements sessions with diverse group of SMEs to elicit and analyze business need.The ezFedGrants external portal used by the Department of Agriculture (USDA) allows users manage their organization’s grants while promoting transparency and efficiency across the agency. The solution was upgraded to the latest version of Pega, refactored to improve performance and included several enhancements requested by USDA. As the Systems Testing Lead, I:• Served as the day-to-day point of contact for the client and the Pega development team for system testing matters and provided support to the USDA quality assurance team performing user acceptance testing. • Oversaw resources and continuously reviewed team performance to offer appropriate feedback. Led daily touchpoint meetings to ensure team remained on track and address any concerns. Delivered weekly status reports to leadership and client.• Authored testing strategy and test plan deliverables to client. Outlined critical functions and developed tests to validate functionality and coverage through ‘happy path’, alternative and negative flows. Show less

Washington, Dc

Acquired Phase One Consulting Group in August, 2017The Office of the Secretary (OST) determined their existing document management system was reaching the end of its useful life. For functional, technical and security reasons, OST decided to replace it with an application built using Microsoft Dynamics and SharePoint. As a Software Developer Specialist, I:• Worked closely with client with to define requirements and understand their needs, investing extra time to assure the… Show more Acquired Phase One Consulting Group in August, 2017The Office of the Secretary (OST) determined their existing document management system was reaching the end of its useful life. For functional, technical and security reasons, OST decided to replace it with an application built using Microsoft Dynamics and SharePoint. As a Software Developer Specialist, I:• Worked closely with client with to define requirements and understand their needs, investing extra time to assure the client their mission/goals would be incorporated in the final product.• Authored and maintained deliverables submitted to the client, including system and user acceptance test plans, test scripts, requirements traceability matrix and the functional design document.• Uncovered and triaged over 160 defects throughout all testing efforts. Worked with the client to reproduce errors and monitored defects in Microsoft Team Foundation Server.• Held 10-12 demonstration and design sessions with client to flesh out new requirements, determine how they would envision potential implementation or introduce them to new features. OST conducts 508 compliance scans of the Department of Transportation website using Compliance Sheriff and provides results for each agencies on either a weekly or monthly basis. As a Software Developer Specialist, I:• Ensured 508 scan groups were executed based on the appropriate schedule. Scans were scheduled to ensure limited disruption to client websites. Approximately 125K scans were executed weekly on Federal Aviation Administration sites and approximately 24K scans were executed monthly for all other DOT modes’ websites.• Executed ad hoc scans and summarized high-level statistics and common checkpoint failures (images missing descriptive text, color contrast issues, incorrect use of header titles, etc). Show less

Washington D.C. Metro Area

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) implemented the Grants Management Solution Suite (GMSS), built on the Microsoft Dynamics platform. GMSS was designed to designed to assist state agencies with the submission of their applications for funding and their Highway Safety Plan. As the test lead, I:• Participated in requirements workshops to elicit requirements for a broad range of stakeholders, accounting for the needs for the 50 states and 7 territories covered… Show more The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) implemented the Grants Management Solution Suite (GMSS), built on the Microsoft Dynamics platform. GMSS was designed to designed to assist state agencies with the submission of their applications for funding and their Highway Safety Plan. As the test lead, I:• Participated in requirements workshops to elicit requirements for a broad range of stakeholders, accounting for the needs for the 50 states and 7 territories covered under NHTSA grants.• Developed testing documentation, including release test plans and manual test scripts and coordinated functional testing efforts. Worked closely with help desk staff to facilitate user acceptance testing.• Provided demonstrations for OCIO and NHTSA’s Regional Operations and Program Delivery (ROPD) staff to showcase new functionality built in to GMSS. Assisted training lead with review of training documentation to ensure accuracy and efficacy of materials. Show less

Washington, Dc

Merged with V-Concepts, LLC in April, 2013Our company partnered with Fluxx, a software-as-a-service, cloud-based grants management solution for nonprofit organizations, to assist with product implementation for several organizations. Implementations I helped support include: John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Patient-Centred Outcomes Research Institute, Russell Berrie Foundation and the Sobrato Family Foundation. As a Senior Quality Assurance Consultant… Show more Merged with V-Concepts, LLC in April, 2013Our company partnered with Fluxx, a software-as-a-service, cloud-based grants management solution for nonprofit organizations, to assist with product implementation for several organizations. Implementations I helped support include: John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Patient-Centred Outcomes Research Institute, Russell Berrie Foundation and the Sobrato Family Foundation. As a Senior Quality Assurance Consultant, I:• Facilitated kickoff and discovery meetings to outline processes and define requirements. Drafted documentation to assist the configuration team with client build, including the development of master field, workflow and data migration mapping documents.• Influenced product owners on development of quality assurance strategies. Introduced best practices and overhauled existing procedures to improve the efficiency of their testing teams. Guided functional quality and user acceptance testing, including the development, execution and review of test plans, test scripts, traceability matrices and gap analyses.• Conducted demonstrations for client to introduce employees to system capabilities. Coauthored user guide and other training materials based on client feedback and updated functionality.Sole quality assurance resource responsible for ensuring out-of-the-box and custom code SharePoint solutions developed met customer needs. As the Senior Quality Assurance Consultant, I:• Consulted with client and development team to clarify requirements and develop manual test scripts designed to confirm functionality. Held demonstrations for client and contracted staff to introduce new functionality. Show less

Washington D.C. Metro Area

Provided operational support to the Policy, Requirements and Configuration team by consolidating business requirements gathered across a wide range of FEMA programs for Non Disaster (ND) Grants, a customized solution designed to assist FEMA staff with grants management. As a Business Analyst, I:• Worked with clients to gather, refine and prioritize requirements. Liaised with the development team on design and/or implementation strategies utilizing industry best practices.• Reviewed… Show more Provided operational support to the Policy, Requirements and Configuration team by consolidating business requirements gathered across a wide range of FEMA programs for Non Disaster (ND) Grants, a customized solution designed to assist FEMA staff with grants management. As a Business Analyst, I:• Worked with clients to gather, refine and prioritize requirements. Liaised with the development team on design and/or implementation strategies utilizing industry best practices.• Reviewed development team deliverables to ensure stakeholder needs were addressed, and grant policies were adhered to properly. Composed high-level design documentation to streamlining processes while ensuring client needs were met and existing policies and procedures were maintained.• Developed configuration workbooks and other testing materials, including test plans, test cases, test scripts, and requirements traceability matrices. Facilitated functional quality and user acceptance testing. Show less

Bethesda, Md

Awarded 2009 Master Key Consulting Key Principles Award for consistently and efficiently demonstrating corporate key principles in work with the clients and through interaction with coworkers.Served as the primary point of contact for the system owner, development team, mid-tier and Federal staff regarding any Independent Verification and Validation (IV&V) testing issues for multiple applications. Supervised the efforts of 5 testers, ensuring tasks were completed effectively and within… Show more Awarded 2009 Master Key Consulting Key Principles Award for consistently and efficiently demonstrating corporate key principles in work with the clients and through interaction with coworkers.Served as the primary point of contact for the system owner, development team, mid-tier and Federal staff regarding any Independent Verification and Validation (IV&V) testing issues for multiple applications. Supervised the efforts of 5 testers, ensuring tasks were completed effectively and within deadline. As the Administrative Test Lead, I:• Collaborated with stakeholders to develop and clarify requirements for Grants Management System (GMS), a web-based application designed to assist the Office of Justice Programs with grants management.• Oversaw functional quality and user acceptance testing, including the development of test plans, manual test scripts and traceability matrices. • Performed one-on-one training sessions and group demonstrations for essential Federal personnel to train staff on new functionality, and trained new employees on testing procedures and Department process and policies. Show less

Rockville, Md

• Coordinated the implementation of software and interfaced minibar servers with hotel’s property management system to ensure proper billing to guest folio.• Responsible for the on-site training of hotel staffs throughout North America and Europe and acted as the primary point of contact for hotel management during installation.• Assisted with the requirements analysis and UAT testing of proprietary minibar management software installed and aided in the development of training materials… Show more • Coordinated the implementation of software and interfaced minibar servers with hotel’s property management system to ensure proper billing to guest folio.• Responsible for the on-site training of hotel staffs throughout North America and Europe and acted as the primary point of contact for hotel management during installation.• Assisted with the requirements analysis and UAT testing of proprietary minibar management software installed and aided in the development of training materials and attendant ‘cheat sheets’. Show less