S. Kay McBreairty

Resume

SUMMARY

Kay has over 20 years experience managing projects with over 13 of those years being recent IT project management experience specifically.  She is PMP certified through PMI.

Most all of Kay’s IT projects were for application development and/or re-engineering in large organizations – coupled with aspects of infrastructure implementation or upgrade.  In addition, they included distribution across up to 170 sites and replicated databases. 

·         Managing portfolios of projects;

·         Establishing PMOs and implementing project management and application development best practices;

·         Mentoring others in project management methodology

·         Vendor management;

·         Producing the governing documents; such as, executive summary, charter, and project plan;

·         Assessing and mitigating risks and producing a Risk Mitigation Plan;

·         Defining an Issues Resolution Plan and a Change Management Plan;

·         Developing and implementing a Communications Plan;

·         Managing development and testing teams and cross-functional teams as well as their capacity;

·         Ensuring quality standards are met;

·         Tracking tasks and deliverables using MS Project, as well as obtaining approval of those deliverables;

·         Tracing requirements through development to delivery;

·         Managing client expectations;

·         Managing technical writing efforts;

·         Managing production items as new development is released, often in a phased approach;

·         Briefing business partners, IT management, and an executive oversight committee when needed;

·         Providing status and other reports as detailed in the project plan and communications plan; 

·         Facilitating debriefing sessions and producing a Close-out Report.

Analysis & Documentation experience includes:

·         Documenting business requirements;

·         Conducting business analysis and producing system specifications;

·         Facilitating JAD sessions;

·         Translating specifications into user documentation.

Business Process Improvement:

·         An element of nearly every project;

·         Use of LEAN and ITIL.

Technical Expertise

education/ certifications

·         Bachelors Degree in Business—Organization Management (with Honors)

·         PMP Certification through PMI

·         Certified Integral Coach

·         Paralegal Certification

·         Mediator

U.S. Air Force

·         Paralegal Technical Training

·         NCO Leadership School (with Honors)

·         Information Services Management Technical Training

·         Associate Degree - Administrative Management

Selected accomplishments

·         RFP cited in an international publication for best practices

·         Received award for excellence ("Grace Under Pressure" award) from the Washington State Attorney General

·         Honor Graduate and Communications Skills Award at the U.S. Air Force Leadership School

key experience

Kaiser Permanente

Program Manager / Project Manager                                                   September 2008 – July 2009

Infrastructure/Software Application Projects:  Program Manager for six projects for Print Fleet Management (PFM), specifically the projects with Xerox for the regions outside of California (ROCs).  Upon completion of the PFM Initiative, Kaiser is expected to save over $25M a year.  The project team was 100% virtual across the United States in differing time zones.

Aspects of the project included vendor relations and monitoring; heavy process development; and guiding six individual project teams (one in each region) that had project managers assigned, while managing the overall program/project plan for the ROCs.  Major components included:

·         mentoring project managers;

·         risk assessment, mitigation, and risk management;

·         change control; issues resolution; quality assurance;

·         project planning and scheduling with work breakdown structures (WBS);

·         capacity  management; and

·         heavy reporting on project performance, including dashboards.

Environment:  Network Copying, Printing, Facsimile, and Scanning devices; MS Project; MS Office, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Visio, and Access

Boeing     

Program Manager / Project Manager                                             November 2007 – September 2008

Software Application Projects:  Provided program management on a portfolio of projects, all of which were in different stages of planning and/or execution.  The team was 100% virtual in numerous countries; managed the nearly forty member team (matrixed) using Primavera.  The budget was over $3M on one of the many projects.  Responsibilities and tasks included:

·         mentoring project managers;

·         managing development efforts;

·         leading discussions with business units to refine business rules and requirements;

·         assessing, mitigating, and managing Risks, Issues, and Change Orders;

·         ensuring quality is maintained;

·         project planning, capacity management, and scheduling with work breakdown structures (WBS);

·         heavy reporting on project performance, including dashboards; and

·         ensuring proper documentation was in place during and at the closure of each project. 

Employee Benefits Delivery Projects:  Included the implementation of LEAN practices & use of ITIL; wrote the business case that was approved for a $4M project.

Business Continuity Projects:  Assisted with the organization and alignment to objectives of the newly formed unit; established project management best practices; and mentored project managers on implementing those best practices.

Environment:  SQL, .NET, Primavera, Sharepoint, MS Project, Visio; MS Office: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Access

Center for Health Statistics, Department of Health           

Project Manager                                                                                                November 2006 – June 2007

Software Application/Infrastructure Project:  Provided project management on a $1.1M project to complete a detailed design and develop the enhancement of the Comprehensive Hospital Abstract Reporting System (CHARS) to support federally required changes to the billing form and new Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, commonly known as HIPAA, requirements. 

It was a deliverables-based project with necessary sign-off’s on deliverables for payment.  Worked as a contractor managing both the contracted development team and the State staff that made up the majority of the team.

Responsibilities and tasks included:

·         establishing the governance and structure of the project (charter, project plan, etc.);

·         managing the development effort;

·         leading discussions with business units to refine business rules and to prioritize requirements;

·         defining a Knowledge Transfer Plan and ensuring its implementation;

·         assessing, mitigating, and managing Risks, Issues, and Change Orders; and

·         ensuring proper documentation was in place during and at the closure of the project.

 Key team accomplishments:

·         Accomplished project on schedule and on budget, although the project had to be done in seven months instead of nine months.

·         Introduced new technology and development tools to a state agency.

·         Moved web hosting from one state agency to another, including the purchase of new hardware

·         Rewrote the entire application and in the process introduced development standards

·         Redesigned the database for efficiencies

·         Integrated the CHARS system maintenance into the agency’s established process and team

·         Moved the testing to in-house staff for long-term benefit to the state agency versus contracting it out

·         The agency’s IT division celebrated its first project success based on the whole division’s collaboration and cooperation

Environment: SQL, .NET, BizTalk; MS Project, Visio, MS Office: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access

Community & Family Health, WIC/IS, Department of Health

Program Manager / Project Manager                                         November 2002 – March 2007

·         Consulting to executive management on project management practices and helping position program for a Project Management Office. 

·         Functioned as a Program Manager for a portfolio of projects – all of which were in varying stages of the project life cycle. 

·         Mentored project managers and functioned as a project manager on some projects. 

 Software Application/Infrastructure Projects:  Each year, the program budget exceeded $10M and is 99% federally funded; individual projects ranged up to $1M.  Kay incorporated the following in all projects at WIC:

·         assessing, mitigating, and managing Risks, Issues, and Change Orders;

·         quality assurance;

·         project planning and scheduling with work breakdown structures (WBS);

·         heavy reporting on project performance; and

·         ensuring proper documentation was in place during and at the closure of each project. 

 Key accomplishments

·         Helping establish processes for the prioritization of projects based on business need

·         Solidifying the need for controlling scope on each project

·         Establishing risk management, change management, and issues resolution processes

·         Ensuring all project managers use common tools

·         Introducing the use of the enterprise version of Microsoft Project

·         Ensuring a communications plan is in place and implemented

·         Establishing the need and obtaining staff for:  1)  Business systems analysis in order to document requirements and specifications before code is developed; 2) Testing

Environment for all projects at WIC: Client-server with replicated database across 170 servers in the state; Sybase & PowerBuilder; MS Project, Visio, MS Office: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access

CIMS Any Authorized Retailer Project

·         CIMS is Women Infants & Children (WIC)’s statewide client-server application.  Project Manager for the project, which allows WIC clients to use grocery checks at any authorized retailer in the state versus a specific retailer. 

·         Managed and trained on the production of documentation – requirements, specifications, test cases, and training materials.  Processes and documentation were used by other project managers on subsequent projects.

 Key Accomplishments

·         The project completed ahead of schedule. 

·         Implemented processes and best practices for project management and applications development

·         First project within WIC in which both the technical team and the business team were tightly integrated for the success of the project.

·         Upgraded OS on all 170 distributed servers

 CIMS Race-Ethnicity Project

·      Project Manager for the initiation and planning of the development project, as well as initial execution of the project. 

·         Mentored another project manager and transitioned the project to him.  Then managed the effort as a Program Manager.

Key Accomplishments

·         First project within WIC to have a clearly defined scope at the beginning of the project

·         First project to have an executive sponsor and a business lead assigned

CIMS Adjusted Age Graphs Project

·         Project Manager for the initiation and planning of the development project, as well as initial execution of the project. 

·         Mentored another project manager and transitioned the project to him.  Then managed the effort as a Program Manager.

CIMS Database Upgrade Project

·         Oversight for the project and mentor for project manager and project director for this technology effort.  Trained on sound business practices and best practices for technical projects.

Key accomplishments

·         Upgrades the development and database tools by three subsequent versions

·         The implementation completed ahead of schedule

CIMS 2004 Maintenance Release

·         Oversight for the project and mentor for project manager and project director for this development effort.  Introduced project management methodologies.

·         Supervised hiring from the DOH Convenience Contracts.

Key accomplishments

·         Obtained dedicated resources for systems analysis

·         Started to standardize analysis and project management practices

CIMS 4.0 Project

·         Project Manager for first major release after control of CIMS was transferred to the state from the original contractor.  New federal requirements were implemented regarding eligibility. 

·         Introduced the need and gained staffing authorization for business analysis specialists and a technical testing team. 

·         Managed and trained on the production of documentation – requirements, specifications, test cases, and training materials.
 

Key accomplishments

·         First project within WIC to bring the IT management together to collaborate for the success of a project

·         Obtained dedicated resources for testing

·         Updated client-side OS

·         Rolled out new servers to all 170 WIC sites

WorkFirst/IS, Employment Security Department

Program Manager / Project Manager                                         November 2000 – November 2002

·         Consulting to executive management on project management practices and helping position program for a Project Management Office. 

·         Functioned as a Program Manager for a portfolio of projects – all of which were in varying stages of the project life cycle. 

·         Mentored project managers and functioned as a project manager on some projects.

Environment: Mainframe with web presentation:  Natural/ADABASE, EntireX, .NET, Visual Basic; MS Project, Visio, MS Office: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access

Software Application/Infrastructure Projects:   

e-JAS Project,

·         Project Manager for the initial phases of the project. The scope was to web-enable the statewide mainframe system for users, which included web-enabling the mainframe voucher system. 

·         Managed and trained staff on the production of documentation – requirements, specifications, test cases, and training materials. 

Key accomplishments

·         Brought in consistency and standards

·         Continued collaboration with another state agency as a major stakeholder

Customer Automated Tracking System

·         Project manager for new functionality to support federal and state policies regarding customer participation within Welfare Reform.  New functionality was added to the statewide mainframe system, and a web-presentation was developed so that the new application was used only through the browser. 

·         Gathered business requirements including visits to field sites for user meetings. Coordinated joint development efforts with another State agency.

Key accomplishments

·         The project duration was completed ahead of schedule

·         JAD sessions involved a cross-section of business and IT staff

·         Huge user response for acceptance of the new application

Job Success Coach Initiative

·         Project Manager and responsible for documenting business requirements. The project was in trouble, and Kay was brought in to turn it around. 

·         The scope of the project included adding new functionality to a statewide mainframe system, then putting a web presentation on the system through use of middleware.

o        Introduced the need for and obtained authorization to staff business analysts and technical testers.

o        Managed and trained on the production of documentation – requirements, specifications, test cases, and training materials. 

o        The team was comprised of developers and testers from multiple vendors.

Key accomplishments

·         Saving the project and delivering it ahead of schedule and under budget

·         Obtaining executive sponsor buy-in to using a project management methodology

Alliance Enterprises, Inc.

Release Master & Documenter                                                       December 1999– September 2000

Software Application/Infrastructure Projects: 

·         Web-based, accessible case management system for vocational rehabilitation agencies across the country.  Co-managed releases, including the production of all corresponding documentation; wrote technical documentation; and attended user trade shows as a customer advocate. 

·         Provided consulting services to the proprietors on expanding the capacity and structure of a growing business.

Key accomplishments

·Two major releases went out on schedule with all documentation in place

·Positioned company for several government contracts over many years  

Environment: SQL, Visual Basic; MS Project, Visio, MS Office: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access

office of the Attorney General, IS

Director, Project Management Office & RFP Coordinator                   July 1997– November 1999

Case Management System Feasibility Study and RFP

·         Request for Proposal (RFP) Coordinator that led to a 1.3 million-dollar acquisition (software and services) for a legal case management project totaling 2.9 million dollars.  This included developing a budget decision package for presentation to the legislature, for which we were successful.

·         Included managing the feasibility study, which included work group meetings to define the business and technology requirements.  The work groups were comprised of a cross-section of staff, including executives, mid-managers, and all levels of classified staff.  Kay was the user advocate and communicator to technology staff representing the business requirements.  

Key accomplishments

·         RFP cited in an international publication for best practices used

·         Obtaining funding from the legislature

Case Management System Project – Implementation

·         Project Manager for the business partner project plan.

·         Responsible for contractor relations – mediated between contractor and state agency.  

Project Office

·         Established a project office; briefed other state agencies on establishing a project office.  

Environment: Client-server; SQL, COTS; MS Project, MS Office: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access