MEERA SATYAKUMAR

E-mail – [Send email using form at bottom]
Phone – H: 704 817 9469 | C: 980 253 7746

PROFILE
	Over 9 yrs of professional experience.
	7 yrs of experience as Technical Writer, Requirements/Business Analyst,
Information Engineer, Testing Coordinator, and Process Engineer.
	Worked closely with SMEs, business analysts, engineering teams, testing
teams, and management staff to develop and document product manuals, work process
life-cycle, best practices, lessons learned, and other process documentation.
	Experienced in playing the role of a Testing Coordinator.
	Documented requirement, test cases, technical reference sheets,
work-aids, training material, user manuals, complex administrator guides,
installation guides; drafted release notes, performed sanity checks, editorial
reviews, etc.
	Attended the workshop on Project Management conducted by PSI.
	Experienced in using HP Quality Center, MS PowerPoint, MS Visio, MS
Live Meeting, Viewlet Builder and Captivate for creating simulations and
designing step-by-step instructions for end users of CRM systems.
	Expertise in developing documents in a number of industry standard
formats – PDF, HTML help, and context-sensitive help.
	Expertise in using MS Office product suite, authoring and screen
capture tools such as Adobe Acrobat, RoboHelp, FrameMaker, and SnagIt.
	Well-versed with PSI, Waterfall, RUP and Agile SDLC methodologies.
	Experienced in facilitating conference calls and meetings, working in
distributed delivery model, capturing meeting minutes and reporting project
progress.
	Over 2 yrs of Journalism and editorial experience including covering
regional events, corporate press conferences, managing sub-editor’s desk, etc.


ACADEMIC QUALIFICATIONS
	Masters Degree in Economics from Bangalore University, India.
	PG Diploma in Journalism (Business Journalism), Indian Institute of
Journalism and New Media.
	Bachelor of Arts, SSRG Women’s College.
	Diploma in Computer Applications, ARC InfoTech.
TECHNICAL SKILLS
	Experienced in using authoring tools like Frame Maker, MS Word,
RoboHelp X5, Microsoft HTML Help Workshop, Adobe Page Maker, Quark Xpress, etc.
	Experienced in using HP Quality Center for managing the requirements
and test cases.
	Experienced in conducting Live Meetings.
	Worked on image editing tools like Adobe Photoshop, Coral Draw, and
Dream Weaver for Websites.
	Worked with tools like SnagIt, Clip Sock, VM Ware, Viewlet Builder,
Adobe Captivate (Robodemo), and TechSmith’s Camtasia.
	Proficient with Microsoft Office Suite, including experience using MS
Project and Visio.
	Awareness of Object Oriented Concepts and SQL Programming concepts.
	Awareness of HTML and XML concepts.
	Experienced in using Version Control tools including VSS and CVS.
	Knowledge of issue tracking applications such as Vantive and Tracker.
	Awareness of CMMI and Six Sigma concepts.
	Awareness of Change Management Processes and Action Request Systems
such as BMC Remedy.

WORK EXPERIENCE
Technical Writer/Requirements Analyst
ACT Consulting				Client: Duke Energy Corporation
May 2009 to April 2010
	Created an Online Help document and Context Sensitive Help for the
Smart Grid Meter Deployment Reporting Mart. 
	Installed the builds and tested the user documents for the Head End
system and suggested changes to the vendor.
	Browsed through all the Smart Grid SharePoint portals and created a
list of all the missing documents that would have been helpful for the Support
team.
	Updated the Smart Grid Support Wiki by adding the missing documents and
rearranging the documents within the Wiki to make them more user-friendly. 
	Created Flow Charts for processes to resolve issues related to EDMS and
Head-End systems.
	Facilitated workshops to gather requirements for the Smart Grid Systems
Development and Business Intelligence/Data warehouse projects.
	Played the role of a test-coordinator during the Unit, Systems,
Integration, and UAT testing phases. Set up HP Quality Center to track and manage
the requirements and test cases.
	Created test cases and logged defects.
	Created Vision document, Requirements document, Support Turnover
document, and other necessary documents that form a part of the required SDLC
artifacts.
	Created process diagrams to depict the current and future processes.
	Created high-level architecture diagrams.
	Worked closely with the business team, management team, and vendors to
gather inputs for the projects.
	Suggested and made changes to the existing document templates.
	Created and managed the SharePoint portal that was the central
repository for all the required documents.
	Tracked issues and action items that came up during the project status
meetings and defect meetings.
	On-boarded new team members and mentored them.
	Created PowerPoint presentations to deliver the message about the
company’s Smart Grid and IT initiatives.


Information Engineer				Hewlett Packard, IPG R&D Lab
April 2007 to November 2008
	Worked on Installation guides, documenting and translating the complex
installation procedures into user-friendly procedures while maintaining a level
of abstraction between usage and actual implementation.
	Worked closely with the product development team, business team,
product validation team, and business analysts to gather requirements and prepare
schedules.
	Developed online context-sensitive help and worked with the engineering
team to integrate the help topics to corresponding application features.
	Documented System Administrator’s guides providing complete technical
details required for a qualified administrator to install and administer the
system.  This included database connectivity details, command prompt
instructions, attribute definitions, instructions for OS specific installation,
etc.
	Prepared product release notes for releasing patches and quick-fix,
detailing the fixes included, OS and version applicable, system and security
requirements, additional features, enhancements, and work-around.
	Studied the information engineering and documentation process and
contributed towards improving the overall process by identifying duplication of
efforts, bottle-necks, excessive editing, etc.
	Attended workshops and training on indexing, single sourcing, effective
communication, and on the importance of version control in documentation.
	Mentored members in the information engineering team by providing
guidance and support, trouble-shooting issues with tools and processes, and
driving towards achieving developmental goals.
	Worked extensively on projects that implemented Agile methodology:
	Attended the daily SCRUM meetings and discussed the status of the task
and issues if any.
	Provided inputs during Planning Poker meetings and developed estimates
to assign story points to the user stories.
	Attended Retro meetings at the end of each sprint and reported the
progress in documentation, challenges faced, and gave suggestions for improvement
to sponsors and stakeholders.
	Worked closely with the Product Development Team and Product Management
Team to ensure that the documentation was aligned with the changes in the
product.
	Conducted requirements gathering working sessions using MS Live
Meeting.
	Reviewed the application messages and prompts and gave suggestions to
improve usability and grammar to the product development team and the Human
Factors Engineering (HFE) team.
	Received best-performer award for contributions to the project.

Product Information Specialist			Unisys Global Services
August 2006 to March 2007  
	Worked on product installation and configuration guides, release notes,
and system administrator’s guides.
	Developed online help using RoboHelp X5.
	Worked closely with cross-geographical teams to gather inputs and
performed Use Case analysis.
	Combined CHM files authored by multiple writers.
	Worked closely with the product development team and gave suggestions
about the UI elements, messages and prompts.
	Developed a Webpage for the Information Development team at Unisys,
which would help them showcase their activities and provide quick access links to
related Websites.
	Suggested ways to improve the documentation process. Participated in
brain-storming sessions to chalk out processes for the Information Development
team.
	Mentored the junior writers. Was responsible for training them on tools
and Information Development processes and practices. Was also required to review
their work.
	Attended training on CMMI awareness and basics of Six Sigma concepts.
	Attended a presentation on Information Architecture and Content
Syndication.
	Attended STC annual conference and prepared a presentation on the same
to dissipate the knowledge to other team members across the globe.
	As a member of the steering committee for organizing the Unisys
Software Development Group’s annual event, emceed and organized the event.
	Attended PMO meetings and gave suggestions to define and collect the
team’s metrics data.
	Contributed articles for Unibytes – an e-zine meant for internal
circulation.

Technical Writer			Pivotal Software Development Pvt. Ltd
February 2005 to August 2006
	Developed simulations, job-aids, user manuals, installation guides,
system administrator’s guides, release notes, and customization guides for
Pivotal CRM products using Captivate, FrameMaker, MS Word, and Adobe Acrobat
6.0.
	Used Visio to create graphics and activity diagrams.
	Developed online help using RoboHelp X5.
	Worked on Knowledge Base articles, addressed Support Incidents and
provided documentation for the eService and ePartner Websites.
	Worked on localization projects where the UI terms in the user manuals
were translated to Japanese and French. Used VMware to simultaneously open
English and foreign language applications and used tools like SnagIt and Clip
Sock to capture the UI elements and embed them into the user manuals.
	Documented hot-fixes and software patches in the release notes and
service pack documents.
	Provided inputs to enhance team efficiency during localization
projects.
	Mentored junior writers and gave presentations on SQL Queries and
Pivotal CRM Activity Diagrams.
	Conducted recreational activities for all the employees during
Pivotal’s annual day celebrations.
	Won the Oracle STC India competition and was sponsored by Oracle to
attend the STC India annual conference at Hyderabad, India.

Development Editor 					Infosys Technologies
February 2004 to January 2005
	Worked for Yahoo Search Marketing. Was part of the small, yet very
successful pilot team which turned over the project for Infosys.
	Tasks included researching client Websites to generate a keyword list
using tools such as Search Term Suggestion Tool (STST), Akme, 8Ball, etc.
	Researched and developed content describing the products and services
offered by the businesses listed on the search listings.
	Identified keywords from client Websites and wrote summarized
descriptions for those keywords that would appear on the search listings, thus
improving the hits to client’s e-commerce ventures and eventually leading to
better revenues for the clients.
	Performed peer edits and reviews.  Managed version control.
	On-boarded new members to the team and provided them tips to increase
their productivity.
	Handled additional responsibility to conduct team-building activities
and organize team events.

OTHER WRITING EXPERIENCE
May 1999 to June 2001 and Sept 2002 to July 2003			Raichur Vani
Journalist and Junior Editor
	Worked as a Journalist at Raichur Vani, a local daily with a
circulation of over 25,000 copies, for a period of 2yrs.
	Tasks included reporting, editing, working on page layout and other
print media re-sponsibilities.

July 2004 to January 2005					Rotary International
Freelance Writer
	Regularly contributed articles on topics related to history, culture
and tradition to a monthly journal published by Rotary International.

July 2002 to August 2002						Economic Times
Journalist - Intern
	During the course of a one-month internship program at Economic Times,
edited, worked on page layouts, attended press meets and reported press
releases.
	Also contributed articles to the Sunday supplement of Economic Times.

Thesis
Submitted a thesis on Super Specialty Hospitals in the State of Karnataka,
India. The thesis was a requirement to earn the Diploma in Journalism.

ACHIEVEMENTS
	Received Hewlett Packard e-award for outstanding performance in the
project.
	Received Hewlett Packard e-award for participating and contributing to
the organization culture change initiative.
	Was awarded a certificate of appreciation for contributing articles to
an internal e-zine at Unisys Global Services.
	Was awarded a fellowship by the State Information Department for
pursuing a course in Journalism.