Mark B. Crouse
6612 Earnshaw, Shawnee Mission, KS, 66216/(816) 868-7453 /
SUMMARY
Highly effective senior IT Manager and Business Analyst with strong, proven
track record
CORE COMPETENCIES
* Using both Business and IT knowledge to facilitate process engineering and
improve operational efficiencies
* Understanding core business strategies and translating into actionable
operations initiatives
* Providing operations metrics and detailed data analysis to support the
organization 's strategic direction
* Project managing improvements to operational systems, processes, customer
satisfaction and management reporting
* Driving requirements sessions that result in clear, concise project scope
* Leading test execution and change control teams
* Tracking budgets, vendor/procurement planning and resource scheduling
* Focusing on cost avoidance and bottom line impacts
* Utilizing excellent verbal and written communication skills
* Motivating and managing cross-matrix organizations to deliver results
TECHNICAL SKILLS & APPLICATION EXPERTISE
Oracle, PeopleSoft (Financial and Purchasing), legacy billing system
integrations, requirements management, test planning and execution, JAD
leadership, variation modeling (including IBM Websphere), HTML, XML, SAP, SQL,
Unified Modeling Language (UML), .NET implementations, C++ implementations,
Crystal Xcelcius financial modeling, DBMS, Intel/Windows, IBM/AIX, Microsoft;
extensive knowledge of OMIM (Oracle), Siebel; Microsoft Access, Synergy Test
Director, Remedy and Documentum
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
April 2008 to present, Comsys, Inc., Overland Park, Kansas
* Senior Business Analyst, Sprint-Nextel eCare and eCommerce Team
* Responsible for all facets of pipeline management, including funding,
resource allocation and capacity planning
* Design and implement pipeline and capacity control processes to ensure the
right projects are prioritized
* Project Manage five short-term initiatives
* Work with Project Managers, project sponsors and IT on requirements
gathering and documentation during the early stage of a project, including
integration with legacy systems such as PeopleSoft Finance and Peoplesoft
Purchasing
* Directly responsible for managing Traceability Matrixes from concept to UAT
April 2007 to April 2008, Information Technology Group (ITG), Kansas City,
Missouri
* Assigned to Sprint-Nextel as an IT Implementation Manager directly
responsible for a PeopleSoft Finance and Purchasing integration with legacy
systems and fulfillment operations (Oracle database)
* Evaluated business requirements and priorities; managed projects across
multiple applications from initiation to completion; worked with the corporate IT
group and developed project plans and accurate estimates of business units, IT
and consulting resource requirements
* Achieved project objectives in close alignment with business stakeholders
and project team by managing quality, timeliness and cost of project
deliverables
* Maintained control over the project 's status and budget
* Implemented and executed project management processes, including risk, issue
and scope change management
* In charge of managing multiple, varied teams, including vendors and
off-shore development resources
* Ran daily status calls and oversaw multiple bridges to ensure project
operated as efficiently as possible
* Provided executive updates as needed via status reports and meetings to
ensure business strategy was met
* Maintained positive relationships with IT, vendors, business units and
offshore resources to lead teams in a manner consistent with the original project
plan but flexible to daily occurrences
* Successfully drove escalations through proper channels by engaging the right
resolver groups quickly and proposing valid solutions
* Facilitated Go/No Go decisions and ensure executives have relevant
information to execute business strategy
April 2005 to January 2007, EMBARQ Corporation, Overland Park, Kansas
* Directly responsible for the strategy and day-to-day operations of EMBARQ
's Ecare team, consisting of operations in over 7 call centers across the U.S.
that handled almost 50k emails and chats monthly
* Managed pay-for-performance metrics with vendors as well as budget
management
* Leveraged project management and best practice methodologies to drive down
costs by growing the online channel
* Ensured a consistent customer experience across channels by engaging key
stakeholders to fully understand their processes and systems
* Over two years of implementing loyalty programs for existing customer base,
focusing on account penetration and renewing contracts
* Facilitated and led JAD workshops for numerous projects resulting in minimal
change requests during testing
* Initiated and led requirements gathering and design sessions for site
enhancements
* Developed years of experience integrating systems with PeopleSoft Financial
and PeopleSoft Purchasing
* In 2006, reduced operating costs across eCare by over $25k monthly by
realigning work-flow and streamlining processes while raising customer
satisfaction significantly
* Authored business cases that resulted in the purchase of multi-million
dollar, industry-leading software packages for embarq.com that will provide
millions in savings over 5 years through web self-service
* Facilitated and led development and execution of web projects focused on
call drivers and how best to promote the site via other channels, always ensuring
the customer need was defined and delivered
2000 to April 2005, Sprint Corporation, Overland Park, Kansas
* As Project Manager, consistently managed a portfolio of 20+ programs with
varying levels of complexity
* Consistently demonstrated an ability to prioritize programs based on the
organization's focus
* Launched over 40 programs with an on-time rate of 96%
* Performed gap analysis, drove requirements gathering and facilitated design
workgroups, ensuring requirements were necessary, testable and consistent with
project 's scope, almost all included integration with PeopleSoft Finance and/or
PeopleSoft Purchasing
* Acted as main liaison between business units and drove escalations to
successful resolution by working closely with executive level management and
project managers
* Maintained issues logs to track action items, open issues for escalation and
set completion dates to keep projects on-time and within budget
* Worked with application developers to communicate functional requirements
and change requests to assist with translating those requirements into system
design
* Focused on end-user experience to drive customer satisfaction
* Redesigned a project 's training strategy from training all call centers to
only the heaviest impacted centers, resulting in a savings of over $1 million and
allowing the project to launch ahead of schedule
* Led the successful build-out of a Puerto Rico call center using project
management methodology, ensuring teams from across the enterprise remained
on-schedule and within budget
* Coordinated a $112.8 million cost recovery effort for Wireless Number
Portability by matrix managing several organizations to ensure compliance with
federal mandates and to minimize call center impacts once deployed
* Acted as PMO between IT and business units to ensure requirements were
clear, concise and that accurate levels of effort were provided and met
* Developed and executed formal test plans to ensure the delivery of best in
class software applications, as well as the documentation and tracking of issues
through-out the project lifecycle using defect-tracking methodology
* Developed Quality Assurance programs and trained testers, helpdesk personnel
and customer service representatives
* Facilitated stage management for project milestones and drove Go/No-Go
decisions for executive management
* Managed successful implementations of self-service applications such as
Voice Response Units and web-based software
* Provided risk management through key analysis of process gaps and matrix
communication
1996 * 2000, Gummed Papers of America, LLP, Los Angeles, California
* Helped launch and direct Western Region customer service center in 13 state,
$11 million territory
* Reported directly to the executive management on day to day operations
* Improved processes and methodologies in the Western Region to recognize a
28% gain in sales in one-year
* Initiated and led to successful implementation numerous projects for both
the Chicago and Los Angeles based sites
* Implemented business process improvements in the Los Angeles site that held
credits well below the 5% national average
Gummed Papers of America continued
* Developed resource forecasts, including WFM applications, to ensure proper
customer support and maintain budget compliance
* Researched and executed best practice methodologies to set and track a range
of goals from sales to inventory turns to receivables management
* Worked closely with IT to ensure connectivity between remote call centers
and deliver application enhancements
* Responsible for developing new hire training and continuing education
classes for all customer service representatives
* Initiated and led programs designed to stimulate existing customer growth
and loyalty
* Acted as main liaison between regional sales managers, vendors and internal
business units to ensure all were focused on company objectives and customer
satisfaction
* Daily management, supervision and involvement with key team members to
implement Cost Performance Indexes while reducing turnover and improving customer
satisfaction across all North American regions
* Led procurement of and managed vendors to ensure top performance
* Project managed successful enhancements to the billing syste |
