Poonam Rana

• Managing the delivery of Sybase to SQL Server Migration project involving over 30 applications, following a hybrid delivery offering optimun mix of traditaion and agile methodologies.
• Fixed Price multi-year engagement, with 40+ resources across global locations- offshore and onshore.
• Directed changes to project scope and cost and implemented appropriate change management processes to keep project on track.
• Presented regular status reports to executive leadership, providing insights into progress made toward achieving key milestones.
• Negotiated contracts with vendors and suppliers, securing favorable terms for the organization''s benefit.
• Managed budgets exceeding $1 million while effectively controlling costs through diligent financial oversight.
• Involved in in-depth planning for FY25 in-scope applications- defining application complexity (L/M/H/HH), sequencing of Applications based on dependencies, S/M/L/XL and bottom-up estimations, scheduling and resource loading.
• Setting up Jira, Confluence, Dashboards and Jira Plans mechanisms for FY25 for seamless reporting.
• Proactively managing risks/issues on pending FY24 scope to ensure adequate mitigation in place to avoid impact on delivery.
• Managed budget allocations for multiple projects, ensuring resources were effectively utilized and financial targets were met.
• Presented data-driven recommendations to executive stakeholders, influencing key decisions on business strategies and initiatives.
• Oversaw risk assessments and mitigation plans for projects, ensuring timely delivery with minimal disruptions or delays.
• Developed strategic plans for business growth, resulting in increased revenue and long-term client relationships.

Manulife Financial: March 2024 to July 2024

• Successfully managed the AWS migration POC for GWAM’s IBOR and GA Futures Applications as Part of Cloud Concentration Risk Mitigation Program.
• Adapted quickly to unexpected challenges or obstacles encountered during project execution, devising creative solutions without compromising objectives.
• Established effective communication channels with stakeholders to ensure transparency and alignment of expectations.

• Successfully managed the data migration from Hortonworks platform (HDP) to Cloud Data Platform (CDP) for CORE Enterprise data lake while managing 30+ onshore/offshore resources, financials, upstream/downstream dependencies and tracking competing project timelines for other migrating applications across Finance IT.
• Ensured decommissioning of all Finance processes & data remaining on HDP ahead of the Enterprise deadline, avoiding significant legacy infrastructure and support costs of ~1M $ per month.
• Managed projects from multiple sponsors like FSDS, FTRB, LRM, Data Remediation and CORE/OTIS RTB and other key CFO and Capital Markets initiatives, as part of Finance IT FRIDA CORE group.
• Successfully managed multiple projects simultaneously by prioritizing tasks according to urgency, resource availability, and alignment with organizational goals.
• Developed strong relationships with stakeholders through regular communication updates, fostering trust and confidence in the team''s ability to deliver results.
• Collaborated closely with senior management to align project objectives with strategic company initiatives, ensuring that efforts contributed to overall business growth.
• Coordinated cross-functional teams and resolved conflicts, maintaining a positive work environment throughout the project lifecycle.

• Managed the Agile Adoption Program for the Digital Subscription and DevOps squads, while liaising with Business Owners and decision makers to define priorities in alignment with Digital Subscriptions and DevOps teams’ roadmap
• Maintained product backlogs in JIRA, facilitated backlog grooming, daily stand-ups, sprint reviews, retrospectives, sprint and release planning and demos for internal stakeholders while highlighting core agile principles of transparency, inspection and adaption
• Championed change management initiatives, guiding teams through successful transitions to new methodologies and techniques.
• Resolved impediments to team progress by proactively identifying issues and facilitating effective solutions.
• Enhanced team productivity by implementing Agile methodologies and improving communication between cross-functional teams.
• - Lead enterprise project management, product management, agile practices, incident management, quality assurance management for an AI/ML powered automation, optimization and prediction platform
  - Develop and execute data-driven and results-driven product roadmap, manage quarterly OKRs and align all development teams to triple customer base and achieve revenue increase
  - Maintain delivery velocity throughout the downsizing process by standardizing multiple operational management processes, including implementing efficient tools (smartsheet, JIRA, confluence, JSM, XRAY QA testing tool, Roadmunk, etc.), and continuous improving and simplifying workflows
  - Liaison between internal teams (Sales, finance, development) and external customers (c-suites, product and development) to ensure sales presentation, project budgeting, project delivery and product performance are aligned to drive best business results (over 10% subscription business growth)

• Served as scrum master to multiple teams - BAU (onshore and offsite squad) within Capital markets and Digital Member Web (Scrum & Kanban squad) within Member Services
• Facilitated backlog grooming, daily stand-ups, sprint reviews, retrospectives, sprint and release planning and demos for internal stakeholders while highlighting core agile principles of transparency, inspection and adaption.
• Spearheaded the agile transformation program to enable higher levels of business agility by strategically implementing the transformation approach in liaison with business leadership by the introduction of proven methods for the discovery and declaration of business value.
• Collaborated with the agile coach(s) on training plans for multiple squads and rendered bespoke solutions for the Mobilization / RPD (Rapid Product Definition) to best suit project needs while facilitating Mobilization and RPD trainings.
• Improved overall project efficiency with effective coordination between development, testing, deployment, and support teams during release cycles.
• Collaborated with Product Owners to develop clear product roadmaps and ensure timely release of high-quality deliverables.
• Mentored junior Scrum Masters and team members in Agile principles, promoting best practices within the organization.
• Reduced time-to-market with efficient backlog management and prioritization of tasks based on business objectives.

• Managed the migration of legacy in-house underwriting applications to cloud based Azure platform Azure within the group benefits division.
• Helped setup a Scrum squad and guided/mentored it on Scrum/Agile principles, to achieve reliable velocity trends that meet >90% forecasted targets.
• Worked with multiple business stakeholders on aligning release timelines, addressing and swiftly resolving risks and issues along the way.
• Successfully completed the migration leading to 125% performance gains across 3 geographical areas and resulted in net infrastructure savings worth $200k/year.
• Improved team efficiency by implementing Agile and Scrum methodologies for project management.
• Facilitated Scrum framework – sprint planning, backlog grooming, daily scrums, sprint reviews, and sprint retrospectives.

• Led the delivery, implementation and management of- data migration projects involving integration with Oracle SaaS applications such as Fusion- HCM / ERP / EBS / SCM, Oracle Field Service Management (TOA) while managing end-to-end value for clients such as need identification, proposal development, solution exploration, resourcing, scheduling, development and release.
• Piloted first SOA CS to go-live for Oracle EMEA consulting while maintaining the support and commitment of stakeholders through a continuous process of understanding and managing their expectations.
• Steered delivery of biggest Oracle Fusion Product Hub Cloud Service implementation globally in collaboration with Oracle’s other business units (including Oracle License, Product Management and OMCS) to gather inputs for the cloud infrastructure (IaaS) and applications (SaaS) and integration with other on-premise / cloud applications using Oracle’s ICS (Integrated Cloud Services - iPaaS), SOACS and SOA Suite and following the OUM and TCM for delivery
• Acted as a liaison between the delivery team and upper management, effectively communicating concerns and suggestions for improvements.
• Managed relationships with key stakeholders to ensure smooth project deliveries and overall satisfaction.
• Championed a customer-centric approach, consistently seeking feedback from clients to make improvements and enhance the overall delivery experience.