Susan Nicholson Project Manager Email & Phone Number

Newcastle Upon Tyne

Amble, Northumberland, United Kingdom

Grant funded charitable organisation bringing together public & charity sectors in partnership with a project to improve outcomes for individuals and families across Northumberland. Attended strategic meetings with senior stakeholders including executive and management teamsArranged monthly operational meetings between partners’ management teams to discuss challenges and miscommunication leading directly to more positive relationships, open communication and trust In depth frontline stakeholder coaching to effect culture change in the approach to system usage to improve customer experience, compliance, data quality and overall project compliance and governanceIdentified risks in data quality leading to non-compliance and lack of achievement against outcomes: developed solution business case and led project to improve processes, reporting, and data qualityCommunicated with key senior stakeholders on the progress of the overall project with accurate reporting, improving data quality, plans, risks & issues Co-ordinated project plans, governance, efficient resource management, budget monitoring, stakeholder communication, and reporting for successfully delivered CRM Developed and delivered training programme for over 45 internal and external system users for the CRMKey AchievementsSuccessfully project managed the transition from bespoke CRM to new upgraded off-shelf CRM including full project lifecycle with significant risk management Increased referrals to the project by 140% by re-building trust with significant stakeholders in partner organisations Presented challenging data to a group of 7 charity Chief Executives and Accountable Body; influencing a direction of travel to support benefit realisation aligned to grant fundsOrganised & facilitated re-launch event attended by 45 representatives of the sponsor and partner organisations. This last-minute intervention prevented a significant failure through non-delivery of the event.

Newcastle Upon Tyne, United Kingdom

Another transition period as Amec Foster Wheeler became part of Wood - • Led global project to transition data and employee records to a new Shared Services system for HR, Payroll and Finance and decommissioning the previous system • Developed scope, objectives, project plans, business requirements, risks & issues logs, dependencies and critical success factors for global implementation project • Facilitated and led daily team meetings, and weekly meetings with key stakeholders• Ensured adherence to all project milestones using internal governance and structures: tracked critical success factors and achievement of key outcomes as well as producing post project reviews and lessons learned tracking Key Achievements • Achieved saving of £700k by successfully project managing the transferring of data to one system and decommissioning another system in 6 weeks’ timescale • Mapped out business processes and established scope to develop a new interface for shared service system for transferring 20,000 employees globally into merged system• Engaged with global key stakeholders and partners on mapping out existing business processes including facilitating online requirements gathering workshops• Key process improvements included increased security through personal data, audits and access controls, and increased efficiency in process workflows

Newcastle Upon Tyne, United Kingdom

As Amec merged with Foster Wheeler.... promoted into this roleProject managed implementation of global SaaS HR Case Management system across UK, Canada and Philippines. • Project managed implementation of a SaaS HR Case Management system for global HR Shared Services • Reported to key global senior stakeholders weekly on project progress and milestone tracking• Developed scope, objectives, project plans, business requirements, risks & issues logs, dependencies and critical success factors for global implementation project • Co-ordinated and reported on accurate tracking on key project activities, milestones, dependencies, and outcomes as well as measuring benefit realisation • Created user guides and trained over 85 globally located staff • Ensured adherence to all project milestones using internal governance and structures: tracked critical success factors and achievement of key outcomes as well as producing post project reviews and lessons learned tracking• Identified a need for resources, recruited and trained two new team members based in the Philippines and remote managed the team from the UK office Key Achievements• Achieved go live 3 weeks early and £40k under budget for project to implement customer portal modules for case management system • Reviewed and re-engineered over 50 manual business processes to create efficiency and standardisation across global teams with disparate approaches • Functioned at a strategic and global level to ensure business requirements gathering incorporated all teams and took account of local challenges • Overcame global conflicts through building trust and establishing professional relationships to agree a consensus on processes in the face of potential local conflicts

Newcastle Upon Tyne, United Kingdom

Secondment to develop Shared Services approach to bring together Entec and Amec systems by project managing the introduction of two key systems. This role was carried out alongside the existing role in Entec.• Developed scope, objectives, project plans, business requirements, risks & issues logs, dependencies and critical success factors for two key IT projects • Negotiated with internal networks to agree technical resources to support the delivery of Case Management and telephony systems• Co-ordinated accurate tracking on key project activities, milestones, dependencies, and outcomes as well as measuring benefit realisation • Built positive two-way networking relationships across all levels of stakeholders with the ability to influence and negotiate to ensure there were no delays to project delivery• Developed robust user acceptance testing scripts and processes• Created user guides and coordinated the training for over 40 staff on the new systems• Followed up with research, design and project planning/control of new customer portal within the Case Management systemKey Achievements• Project managed the introduction of Case Management and Telephony Systems from business requirements mapping through to go live. Project successfully delivered within agreed timescales• Successfully resolved a crisis issue within the Payroll department after the loss of the Payroll manager which meant every payroll was deadline was met• Overcame internal communication barriers to bring together senior stakeholders and key internal suppliers for requirement gathering sessions for both a Case Management and Telephony system• Rapidly learned new skills specifically on case management and telephony system configuration

Newcastle Upon Tyne, United Kingdom

Promotion into this role at Entec UK and continued into Amec, as a direct result of building business case to resolve system data quality issues, and successfully leading the resulting project. Managed 9 key systems including HR & Payroll, supported by a team of 2.• System manager for 9 key systems: HR, Payroll, and corporate CRM (customer relationship management system)• Project managed all system implementations and upgrades from business case to benefits realisation • Developed and implemented change management processes ensuring appropriate governance and risk management for system upgrade projects• Identified & mapped key business requirements for HR & Marketing, monitored progress & reported on outcomes Engaged with key senior stakeholders, internal subject matter experts, and external suppliers to ensure processes and systems were regularly reviewed providing accuracy, efficiency and consistent value to the company • Mapped out the as-is processes for system security, user audit controls and personal data integrity followed by review and re-engineering to create a ‘to-be’ process that provided more security and compliance• Collated and circulated monthly HRIS management reports for senior stakeholders

Newcastle Upon Tyne, United Kingdom

Recruited to predominantly handle data reporting on HR key performance indicators. • Raised business case and achieved budget allocation to resolve identified data quality issues• Managed short-term project to resolve data quality issues ensuring consistent data quality across a suite of internal systems: project plan, budget management, supplier liaison, and stakeholder engagement• Developed and collated management information reports for HR key performance indicators

Newcastle Upon Tyne, United Kingdom

Progressed to role of Senior Business Analyst managing a team of up to 15.• Awarded “Excellence in Supporting the Business” twice for identifying significant risks in previous business analysis related to mapped out system requirements • Managed team of up to 15 responsible for business process mapping, planning, scripting, test scheduling and sign off• Led on business requirements mapping, implementation, and user acceptance testing relating to motor and home insurance underwriting and policy administration systems

Starting With Psychology, Psychology

Professional Certificate In Management, Mba Foundation Level

University Certificate, Computer Studies