Simon Williams Email & Phone Number

Heswall, Gb

London, England, United Kingdom

London, United Kingdom

A key role reporting into the Programme Director and L&G Mature Savings Chief Information Officer, recruited to effectively co-ordinate the programme’s IT projects and management of their inter-dependencies, including oversight of any risks and issues arising. Also required to review and further define the L&G Business & IT Separation Strategy, with specific focus on Data Migration, Application Separation (and data deletion), continued running/execution of the L&G Mature Savings Business, and the wider integrated L&G Businesses, throughout the E2E Separation/Migration Lifecycle. Key responsibilities//deliverables are;- Review of the existing Business & IT Strategy, aligned to the Business Transfer Agreement, L&G to ReAssure- Align Functional & Non-Functional Requirements to the Sale Requirements, and the wider L&G and ReAssure Strategies. This cut across Data & Application mapping, 8.9Billion rows of Data to Transfer and circa 2 Billion rows of Data to Delete across 130 applications.- Responsible for the IT Migration & Implementation Planning, and the associated re-planning to avoid delays due the COVID-19 pandemic (i.e. deployed and successfully executed remotely)- Responsible for the overall Integrity and Coherence of the IT Delivery as part of the wider Programme, internally with L&G across various Business and IT Domains, and Externally with key 3rd parties and ReAssure- E2E Management of 3rd parties, integral to the delivery of the E2E programme, such as TCS and IBM- Act as an Assurance & Technical Design Authority lead specific to the Systems Integrator (SI), L&G Technical Domains and Business Assurance Teams.

Manchester, United Kingdom

A pivotal role reporting into the ERP Programme Director and MAG CIO, recruited post the Blueprint phase to review the delivery of the technical platform, specifically the infrastructure architecture and supporting services (SAP and Non SAP). Key responsibilities were as follows: - Review the Non-Functional Requirements, and align to the Technical Solution Design. - Review/Re-write the SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud Assessment working with SAP.- Define & Produce the infrastructure architecture, which specifically defined and described the overall E2E design for the ERP Programme. This document encompassed the technical aspects of the solution across PaaS, IaaS and SaaS based solutions/platforms. - Act as an Assurance lead specific to the Systems Integrator (SI) Deliverables, and responsible for the review & approval of these.- Act as Technical Design Authority for the programme working with internal and external design authorities to document and introduce Architectural, Design & Service principles, in order to govern the delivery of the ERP Transformation solution. This role required a significant amount of cross team working as the SAP solution was supported by a number of System Integrators e.g. SAP, IBM, MAG and Cap Gemini. - Provide an initial SAP Strategy/Roadmap for future projects, some examples of these are: Use of SAP Fiori to enrich user experience, Identity Management through a Cloud provider for both PaaS, IaaS and SaaS based solutions, SSO based on SAML and Kerberos, SAP Archiving and Information Lifecycle Management, Central Job Scheduling and Enterprise Wide BI framework. - Facilitated the delivery of the Network Design, in order to connect MAG to the SAP HEC private cloud.- Scope and deliver the Operational Acceptance Testing strategy, including execution and defect resolution with the SI & SAP HEC teams.- Work closely with the MAG IT function, specific to Service Design, Transition and alignment to existing IT policies & procedures.

New York & New Jersey

IT Advisory Role supporting the implementation of a major IT Service Management Transformation Programme, being carried out by Dow Jones on behalf of News Corporation Group;Key responsibilities were;• Review the Architectural Design, which would support the Remedy on Demand Solution, make recommendations and provide assurance based on this.• Working with Dow Jones’ tooling partner, ensure that the Remedy on Demand solution & configuration would support defined processes and procedures.• Develop the Test Strategy, as part of the overall Test Management Management Framework (Functional and Non Functional)

Key role providing technical assurance to the Service Delivery function on the readiness to launch major programmes and the subsequent transition into full BAU support covering the SAP, NON SAP & Integration Portfolio;•Review current SAP Supported Landscape, from an architectural perspective (i.e. application, DB and Infrastructure).•Provide gap analysis and recommendations in terms of current SAP Support Models, based on business strategy, service/support & process improvements, TCO reduction and operational sustainability•Lead the establishment of SRB (Service Review Board) Principles, covering service design and operations, aligning closely with ARB (Architectural Review Board) principles. •Responsible for defining SAP & Integration Technical Service Roadmaps, including hardware policies, release upgrades, EhP package installations, Archiving, Landscape Rationalisation and Patching Strategies.•Building on existing delivery approaches, and helping establish standardised, quality delivery practices across the SAP & Non SAP stack (Application, Database and Infrastructure) within Service Delivery•Define & Deliver interim (and standard) support models.•Based on the maturity of the operation & criticality of business processes, define a phased delivery of ‘to be’ Enterprise Support models, providing proactive support & monitoring processes across Technologies, Applications & E2E business processes, with recognised service levels. •Key in establishing SAP Transition processes with senior stakeholders within Programme and Portfolio Delivery, CiTO (including Integration & SAP CoE’s), system integrators, service providers and software vendors.

Technical Assurance Lead (Contract) – November 2011 to PresentHeading up the Technical Assurance (TA) and Technical Design Authority (TDA) work streams for Non SAP & SAP, with key focus on Landscape Consolidation and the NGN Transformation Roadmap based on SAP. A key role covering both Functional & Non-Functional disciplines. Key responsibilities are; • Providing architectural leadership in a diverse business and technical SAP environment.• Providing thought leadership in terms of service recovery, application/performance stability and infrastructure projects.• Working with senior business and IS management, system integrators and software vendors to shape the application/technical strategy for SAP Transformation within Northern Gas Networks.• Working with the wider architecture, technical delivery and program management teams to ensure that delivery risk is managed effectively.• Review & document existing NGN SAP & Non SAP estates.• Produce SAP Centric IS strategy, with early adoption of key initiatives such as SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.0 (Enterprise Information Management and Business Intelligence Visualisation), SAP onDemand Sourcing (Strategic Sourcing, Contracts Lifecycle Management and Supplier Management), Consolidation of SAP and Non-SAP Applications and Infrastructure.• Produce SAP & NON SAP Roadmaps aligned to Business Strategies, with delivery focussed initiatives covering medium and longer term timescales.• Produce Technical Tender documents covering Infrastructure, Application, Integration and Data Migration requirements (functional and non-functional).• Acting as a the Tech Design Authority, ensuring alignment of SAP and Non SAP platforms to non functional requirements and key design principles across business as Usual and and project work streams.• Acting as a Tech Assurance Lead for key Consolidation & Transformation programmes (Circa £8m), responsible for the quality assurance of the end-to-end Technical Solution Design.

Application Migration Manager (Contract working for Logica) – June 2011 – November 2011Responsible for the creation and execution of a complete application migration strategy , supporting the wider IT Transition Programme from United Utilities to Northern Gas Networks (circa £6m). Key Responsibilities were;•Co-ordinate and manage multiple, related projects and activities, including 3rd parties•Create and implement a Transition methodology, covering discovery, solution design, testing/pilot, service assumptions and steady state•Manage multiple Application & Infrastructure work packages with varying technical disciplines/principles•Liaise with production teams to ensure changes are managed to industry standard principles•Achieve on-boarding/sign off by BAU application & Infrastructure production teams•Create and implement monitoring processes and improvement plans

Head of Environment Delivery (Contract) – Jan 2011 to PresentHeading up the Environment Technical Work Steams, providing environment provisioning (infrastructure), delivery/deployment (application) and support of the SAP and Non SAP estates. Supporting key SAP programmes (circa £250M, as part of a £5billion change plan over 5 years) and the DC migration of services from TSL to HP and Fujitsu. Key responsibilities were;•Management of a team of 30 people, providing environment delivery services to the Centrica IS function. Managing Multiple E2E environments (circa 250 instances), over multiple code streams/tranches. •Primarily responsible for the environment strategy, design, management and support (functional and non-functional), and empowered to make decisions and influence key direction of technical solutions/proposed IS strategies.•Developed schedules and delivery plan milestones, and dependencies supporting the SAP change and DC migration programmes.•The lead technical environment delivery authority ensuring the alignment of SAP and Non SAP platforms to non functional requirements and key design principles across BAU, and project work streams. •A direct report to the Application Design & Delivery Board and a key member of the Environment Delivery Leadership Team. •Management of multiple third party suppliers, specific to application and infrastructure delivery.•Budget ownership of circa £10m, forecasting and monitoring, specific to SAP and Non SAP project and environment delivery.•Key stakeholder management and engagement at all levels.

Warrington, United Kingdom

Heading up the Technical Work Steam specific to the delivery of a major SAP transformation programme (circa £50M), as part of the wider UU SAP Roadmap. A key role, encompassing both the front office and back office functions (including the delivery of functional and non-functional elements), and the introduction of a SAP Competency Centre for the regulated Water business. Key responsibilities were;•Management of a team of 18 people, initially responsible for the review of the ITT specifications (functional and non-functional) and the review of the SI responses i.e. Business requirements mapping to application, integration, data and infrastructure designs.•The lead technical design authority ensuring the alignment and the integration of the E2E solution (SAP and NON SAP, including the integration principles for the lifecycle of the programme) to business requirements, and the wider UU SAP Roadmap. •A direct report to the PCD (Programme Change Director) and a key member of the SAP Programme Board.•Responsible for delivering the final recommendations to the SAP Programme Board, specific to the application architecture, the underpinning technical solution, the deployment approach and SAP Competency options

Warrington, United Kingdom

Responsible for bringing together a single Technical Delivery function for IT Related change across United Utilities. Key in the delivery of the risk and resilience programme, totalling over £20M, and shared responsibility for a CAPEX budget of £208M for the delivery of the CIO IT programme portfolio which introduces change across all of United Utilities, circa 8000 users. A direct report to the CPO, who has responsibility for leading the IS Capital Investment Programme as part of the AMP5 submission. Responsibilities range from;•Management of a key team of 15 staff to develop and deliver creative and integrated IT solutions, covering infrastructure, application development and data. Also responsible for multiple indirect reports (100 – 150) within Asset Management, IS, ERP and NON IS programme organisations.•Creation of a frameworks agreement to deliver, consultancy, infrastructure, systems integration and support services for key change programmes, which includes 14 strategic IT partners•Delivery of IT programmes in line with UU IS/IT Asset Owners service standards, policies and procedures•Consolidation of the existing Middleware technologies (WebMethods versus SAP PI as a strategic integration platform for United Utilities).•Influencing the direction of the UU SAP Roadmap which fed into the wider UU IS/IT strategy

Responsible for the E2E integrity of the SAP WFM solution from a functional and non-functional perspective. WFM was a key programme for UU, costing in excess of £35M, providing a workforce management solution (i.e. job input, management/scheduling, mobile and reporting). Responsibilities ranged from;•Acting as the WFM Design Authority •Creation of ITT non- functional requirements•Review of the functional requirements•Delivery of a SAP technical upgrade, i.e. SAP R/3 4.6C to ERP 6.0, including Unicode conversion, pre delivery of the WFM solution.•Management of the UU and third Party Technical teams (in excess of 70 staff), covering the E2E design (non-functional and functional), infrastructure, integration, application footprint, application development, data and mobile•Develop, implement and maintain processes ensuring the alignment of functional and non-functional requirements through key phases such as HLD, Blueprint, Realisation and Testing •Responsible for Technical Cut-Over Planning (pre and post go-live)•Post implementation support (functional and non-functional) to enable the transition to BAU state

Warrington, United Kingdom

Responsible for the integration and alignment of Information Systems with new gas business strategies, processes and objectives. Key in the delivery of an IT strategy to provide the necessary infrastructure enabling access to internal and external applications for 1000+ users, and responsible for contract negotiation and subsequent contract management with all internal and external IT Providers. Also responsible for Design Authority .Key in the development and delivery of a £25M project to introduce a new suite of Front Office/Asset Management Systems to a 1200 user base community, replacing those leased from National Grid.

Hinckley, Leicestershire

Worked on a £multi-million pound project responsible for delivering compliant Emergency Systems as part of the sale of four of the eight NG distribution networks. Main accountability was the implementation of an E&MW (Emergency & Meter Work) systems solution, which has Emergency Call Handling, Work Management, Data Warehouse, Job Issue and Field Application capability. The scope of the project involved managing a team of 35 responsible for requirements analysis, design, development, testing, implementation and Post Implementation Support.

Hinckley, Leicestershire

Responsible for the introduction of Natural Speech Recognition and Interactive Response Systems as part of the NG Call Centre solution for non-emergency calls. Managing up to 20 people (some contractors from Fujitsu, Aspect & Nuance) who conducted requirements analysis, design, development, testing, implementation and post implementation support. The project provided cost savings to NG of £1M. Also responsible for the delivery of a strategic review regarding NG E&MW (Emergency & Meter Work) systems, providing a tactical approach for 2003-2004, a strategic approach focusing on the use of a product from Advantex (MDSI) post 2004, and further exploitation of GPRS during 2004-2006.