Responsible for overseeing a portfolio of 80 – 100 projects from initiation, to funding, to execution oversight, through closure. Directly managed the firms global project managers and business analysts. Initiated a comprehensive overhaul and simplification of the project management processes, delivery methodology, and SharePoint / Project Server implementation. Oversaw the budget process for IT operations and projects.

Managed the remediation of 50+ applications and the migration of the underlying databases to SQL Server 2008. The portfolio consisted of client-server and web-based applications servicing offices throughout North American, Europe, and Asia. The applications were a mixture of packages and custom built solutions. Responsible for interfacing with the user community as well as IT Management and system support teams. Additionally managed the selection and implementation of a professional services organization Account Receivables management tool (Innovation Software: I4G).

Senior Management consultant with over twenty years of systems integration experience. Specific client engagement project summaries are listed below.

Provided IT Management and support after a physical disaster to the company’s distribution center and office space. Established a new distribution center. Provided planning, oversight, and execution for relocating 80 employees to a new back office facility; internal/external network provisioning, phone services, infrastructure relocation, and commissioning. The employees suffered minimal downtime and minimal business interrupt.

Served as Program Manager, Subject Matter Expert, Lead Business Analyst, and Deployment Manager. The Nursys Program was comprised of five projects: Licensure Data Migration, Nurse Licensure System, a Member Board secure web application, the public nurse verification request website (ecommerce), and the reporting of discipline information to HIPDB (under federally guidelines). The majority of U.S. nurse licenses are centrally collected and consolidated in Nursys. The Nursys system facilitates verification requests, data standardization, sharing of licensure information for endorsements, fraud detection, discipline reporting between Member Boards, and reporting discipline actions to HRSA’s HIPDB repository. Responsible for defining the business requirements, communications with user prototype teams, creation of the development & testing methodologies, resource management, communication planning, issue management, risk mitigation, status reporting, and deployment coordination. Managed the detailed project plans and prototype release bundling. Additionally, defined the Quality Assurance metrics and requirement prioritization to insure functional stability.

Architected a project portfolio master schedule and resource utilization suite of tools. Defined the requirements, processes, procedures, and reporting for embedding dozens of unit resource allocation plans and detailed project plans into a single portfolio plan. The integrated suite of plans provided project dashboard reporting, resource role allocation planning, and resource utilization reporting. Additional responsibilities included a PMO assessment and coaching; and defining a project governance set of processes, tools, and procedures.

As part of a system selection and fit analysis effort, created current-state Business process Use-Case documentation for the Classified Advertising and Display Advertising functions; subsequently identified issues requiring immediate process improvement. Developed an Advertising organizational realignment strategy coupled with the supporting re-engineered business processes which drove the creation of the system selection requirements and user training material.

Performed an IT focused maturity assessment of their life cycle checkpoints, methodology, project processes, interdepartmental procedures, business alignment, and internal control points. The assessment included a gap analysis and corrective action plan. Completed phase-one [of a three-phase strategy] which included: the creation of a Technology Life Cycle and the supporting methodology processes & templates. Assisted with the creation of a three-year IT Strategy which included the expansion of the PMO disciplines across the entire organization. Provided training and coaching of the business analysts and project managers. Responsible for creating an organization-wide Purchase Order business process and systems alignment plan.

SSA Global required improved resource utilization metrics and forecasting capabilities for managing a worldwide software implementation consulting organization. Created a high-level approach and technical feasibility study for implementing Resource Utilization, Profitability Analysis, and Resource Forecasting functionality within the Change Point PSO system. Additionally, researched and advised with interface definitions and integration planning.

Managed the Application Development department and coordinated efforts with the Infrastructure and Testing teams. Served as Project Manager, Lead Business Analyst, Technical Architect, and Production Operations Manager. Initially brought in to rescue a database synchronization and daily update project between NCSBN and their data provider. Issues ranged from loosely defined requirements, poor communication of issues and resolutions, lack of thorough testing, and a convoluted architecture. Coordinated the deployment of an entire development and production infrastructure upgrade from Windows NT/2000 to Windows 2003. Directly managed 10 fulltime resources and indirectly managed an additional 6. Contributed to the creation of the Strategic Initiatives plan and supporting budgetary estimations. Created, trained, and deployed new development and testing methodologies; operational change management processes and procedures; additionally educated departmental managers on project planning fundamentals, including issue management, status reporting, and risk mitigation.

Responsible for managing the Data Synchronization and Data Migration project teams focused on a worldwide data consolidation & application standardization of legacy proprietary Search Systems. Project challenges ranged from non-standard business processes & rules, unreliable incomplete data, a variety of technologies, aggressive timelines, limited stakeholder involvement, and resource constraints due to competing operational requests. Teams consisted of Functional Analysts, DBA’s, Application Developers, and Data Analysts. Formed a grassroots Data Quality team consisting of key stakeholders from [worldwide departments representing] Quality Control, Finance, business process experts and DBA’s all focused on standardizing Data (reference, code alignments, data types, duplications, rules for cleaning data, record requirements, etc.). Other responsibilities included Functional Analyst for several major re-engineered business processes; Deployment Manager for coordinated worldwide application releases; System Test Strategist focused on application integration touch-points, and functional coverage assurance. Developed the concept of an end-to-end back-office “dress-rehearsal” test suite used for both user acceptance testing and departmental training. Assisted the business community and training departments with prioritizing future release functionality and worldwide change management.

Managed the on-site operations of both the End User Support and the Application Development departments. Responsibilities included personnel decisions for over 30 resources, negotiation of service level agreements with the user community, definition and oversight of all active development projects, problem resolution for continuous operations, conceptualization and implementation of internal process improvements, and a member of the I/T Strategic Steering Committee. Managed a $3 million budget within a cost containment fiscal environment, reduced annual departmental expenditures by 30%, and prepared the 2001 Application Development budget for senior management.

Managed an application enhancement and complete System process documentation effort of a PeopleSoft HRMS implementation for a worldwide corn refinement company. Implemented a new development and test environment utilizing change management best practices. Coordinated the upgrade of the RDBMS with a simultaneous deployment of a MetaFrame architecture in support of an international release.

Established the Year 2000 Program Management Office responsible for creating the methodology processes, policies, structure, and due diligence requirements for a large Midwestern financial trading institution. Additional responsibilities included day-to-day project management activities for all mission critical systems, processes, and facilities required to open the trading floor environment.

Please see specific projects during this time period.

As an Instructor for CSC Consulting’s Associate Training Program (ATP) and Re-engineering the I/S Professional (RISP) program, responsible for participants successful understanding of new technology concepts and development languages. Mr. Benson was responsible for evaluating and customizing 3rd party course material, creating lecture material, daily classroom instruction, and evaluating participants’ progress. Courses taught included ANSI C, Client/Server concepts, PowerBuilder, and testing methodologies. Additionally, the participants were instructed in Rapid Application Development (RAD) techniques within a simulation environment.

Program Management Auditor for a retained executive search firm implementing a worldwide deployment of PeopleSoft financials and a custom developed search/match database engine. This independent delivery assurance review consisted of examining the Program Charter and Mission, Project Management methods and practices, methodology adherence, Systems design criteria, and the technical architecture implementation plans. Recommendations were provided for process improvements, design and implementation considerations, and Project Management Best Practices.

Engagement Manager responsible for delivering multiple projects for an industry leading property management firm experiencing substantial growth through acquisitions and market dominance. Projects included strategic technical architecture planning, I/T financial process improvements, telecommunications consolidation and cost reduction, vendor contract reviews and audits, and a Year 2000 Assessment. Responsibilities included project definitions, budget and resource planning, vendor management and contract negotiations, project management oversight, and delivery assurance.

Project Manager responsible for the conversion over 300 workstation’s operating systems, support applications, and proprietary systems for a large Midwestern cable television companies’ 7 by 24 Call Center. Responsibilities included vendor application development and release coordination, end-to-end testing, infrastructure design and deployment, and a non-intrusive rollout within a fully utilized customer care Call Center. Technologies included Windows NT server and workstation, Office productivity tools, and several industry specific proprietary applications.

Project Manager and Subject Matter Expert for a Solution Demonstration Lab (SDL) project responsible for the implementation of an internal Help Desk for a large Midwestern long distance telephone company. The project addressed problem management, automated notification and escalation, workflow management, ad-hoc query development, formal reporting, data level security, and an action based audit trail. An empowered set of users was utilized with responsibilities ranging from business process definition, prototype review, user acceptance, and deployment training. The processes created were able to bridge the gap between operational systems support and application development by managing problem escalation and production system release planning.

Project Manager and Subject Matter Expert responsible for the design and implementation of a Change Management system for a large Midwestern cellular telephone company. The functional areas addressed include problem management (Help Desk), workflow management, development coordination, version change management, systems release, and recovery management. The objective of this effort was to create a Change methodology for the standardization, automation, and improvement of the support and maintenance processes for the Operations function within the Information Technology departments. The project required the creation of product evaluation criteria, vendor interviews, product selection, and vendor management. Additional responsibilities during this assignment included Quality Assurance Manager for the Information Technology organization.

Lead Application Architect and Development Lead responsible for the Re-engineering and creation of all systems and processes required for clinical trial protocol management and data review, validation, and cleansing. The Data Management team was established as a Solution Demonstration Lab (SDL) methodology for a worldwide pharmaceutical company. Major functionality included real-time screening of all clinical trial data independent of protocol structure or data points. Adverse events and protocol anomalies had to be escalated to the FDA for trial continuation approval. Additional responsibilities included Quality Assurance Manager over the Technical Architecture teams. Activities performed included the creation of development Standard Operating Procedures (SOP’s), methodology compliance guidelines, and the auditing of all SDL’s project deliverables. Created a cross-reference deliverables matrix between an Accelerated Application Development (X/AD) methodology and a traditional System Development Life Cycle (SDLC) methodology for FDA consideration.

ACES

FO'CUS

Service 2000

10-X

Warehouse Control System

Customer Order Fulfillment

Inventory Control, Financial Management, and business operations.