Vanaja Shankara

  • Agile Project Manager
  • Shrewsbury, MA
  • Member Since Apr 02, 2023

Candidates About

 

Vanaja Shankara

 

Goal-oriented, highly accomplished, and multitalented IT professional, with more than 15 years at Fidelity Investments of extensive experience in IT industry with several years of experience in Project Management, System Analysis, systems administration, architecture, and development. Equipped with strong project management skills in implementing end to end applications, application support skills; as well as comprehensive background and expertise in all aspects of business intelligence applications, implementation, configuration, customization, validation, and deployment. Adept at directing and Managed the projects; with track record of reducing costs, improving efficiency, and increasing productivity. Offering vast knowledge in OLAP, Business Intelligence (BI) architecture, intelligence, and data warehouse concepts. Known for exceptional interpersonal, intuitive, technical, analytical, and leadership skills.

 

Technical Expertise

 

Project Management Tools/Microsoft Project/MS Visio/ IBM Rational Team Concert Tool/MS Excel

Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition (Reporting Tools/Administration Tool/Answers/Dashboards/Publisher [xml publisher]/Delivers [iBots]/Office Component)

Oracle Enterprise Performance Management System – EPM - Hyperion System 11 Tools │ WebSphere-Based Applications │ Linux │ Microsoft Access │ WebSphere │ ClearCase │ SQL Server │ Sybase │ DB2 │ VB │ Informatica │ Crystal Reports │ QuickPlace

 

Areas of Expertise

 

ü  Project Management and Operations

ü  Leadership, Training, and Team Building

ü  Problem-Solving and Decision-Making

ü  Quality Control and Assurance

ü  System Implementation and Functionality

ü  PMP Trained

ü  Infrastructure Planning and Deployment

ü  Programming and Testing

ü  Technical Support and Troubleshooting

ü  Time Management and Prioritization

ü  Software Design and Development

ü  Scrum Certified

 

 

Professional Experience

 

 

 

 

 

Fidelity Investments ¡ Smithfield, RI

 

Agile Project Manager

July 2015-Current

 

·         Worked as Agile PM in Personal Investment – Managed Account group and was responsible for delivering a new product. The managed account products under the Portfolio Advisory Services (PAS) include several variations of managed accounts including (but not limited to): separately managed accounts, unified managed accounts, retirement accounts and strategic disciplines to name a few.  In order to meet the client demand and remain competitive, the business requires the ability to quickly launch new investment opportunities used a platform that can be easily modified to support it.

·         Responsible for delivering a new product under multi asset class managed account solutions which are offered to retail client base at Fidelity. The offerings include both traditional rep-assisted as well as client driven Robot advice offerings and was a key member to assist define their digital advice strategy.

·         As a PM, responsible for delivering the new product DPAS, Downside Managed Account info on MARC, Managed Accounts Resource Center. It is a Proprietary Web site for Portfolio Advisory Service including sections with portfolio information, investment vehicles, investment commentary, and PAS product information. MARC is a share point site based web application.

·         Responsible to Worked with Solution delivery team, architecture team, Analyst, development and data teams to ensure the requirements are met and stories are delivered in each iteration as per the plan.

·         Monitor Jira Epics and stories for the project management and report it out to the senior management.

·         Held weekly meetings with all the stake holders to discuss progress and address any concerns/issues etc.

·         Attend program level meetings understand the impact from other deliverables and communicate any intra dependencies that needs to be addressed to the Worked stream.

·         Worked as Agile PM in FFAS team on multiple projects. FFAS supports Money Market Reform application, as a PM, Leading Batch processing team through Iteration planning/Scrum meetings to implement any batch changes through release cycles.

·         Involved to ensure that each team member is fully engaged in a project and is making a meaningful contribution to it. 

·         Responsible to implementing an effective system of project governance. 

·         Used historical data to help anticipate and plan future project Worked.

·         Responsible to manage projects to budgets and timelines. 

·         Managed stakeholder communications and developing project metrics

·         Performed all agile project management activities. 

·         Ability to multi-task and manage multiple projects in cross-functional environment. 

·         Oversaw the day-to-day progress of project and Conducted daily stand up calls. Worked with Rational Team Concert tool to create  Plans/stories/tasks for iteration planning

·         Conducted Product Backlog grooming sessions to prioritize the Worked stream.

·         Run Burn down charts to ensure on the project time lines and take necessary action.

·         Prepared and distributed progress reports and Managed project risks and problems. 

·         Reporting on project status to senior managers. 

·         Provided leadership and direction to project staff. 

·         Worked with other project managers to come up with best practices across the organization.

·         Possesses vast technical knowledge on various software including Oracle PL SQL, Business Objects, Informatica, Data Warehouse, Unix Systems etc.

 

 

Citizens Bank, Cranston, RI

 

Project Manager

Feb-2015-June 2015

 

               As a PM, Worked on several Infrastructure projects from planning to close phases.

·         Implementing Hadoop framework with in Citizen's bank. The goal is to have the enterprise wide data in Hadoop for data analytics, for scalability and to make cost effective.

·         Implement MDM and DRM products for centralized Master Data Management and Relationship Data management at enterprise level.

·         Involved in all aspects of project lifecycle methodology to execute project. Defining scope, budgeting, forecasting, IT governance, Risk management, business analysis, vendor management, resource management etc.

·         Attend all higher level project steering committee meetings/stakeholder meetings and track project through an Enterprise frame work.

 

 

Fidelity Investments ¡ Smithfield, RI

 

Project Manager/Systems Analyst

June, 2012-Jan, 2015

 

·         Worked as a PM/Sr. System Analyst in PWI Security Systems group, Provided Authentication and Authorization to Internal Fidelity Applications and applications on Fidelity.com Used RBAC (Role Based Authorization Control) Home grown Application (“Fortress”) built on Java Platform based on SOA Used SOAP protocol and SAML for security.  

·         As a System Analyst, Worked on the authorization data, analyze the current data/database model and infrastructure and come up with a new star schema for Reporting platform to be built Used OBIEE software

·         Responsible in gathering technical requirements, Write simple to complex technical specifications, Write complex code, unit test and assist in system testing as well as user acceptance testing in a client/server environment

·         Responsible to maintain and support systems for data warehouse and business intelligence (BI) initiatives, including software, servers, and network.

·         Responsible to perform data analysis, testing, debugging, audits, disaster recovery, and problem resolution

·         Research and evaluate technology solutions and present recommendations for improved system operations

·         Create data verification methods and comply with standard system procedures

·         Test applications and resolve complex problems throughout software development life cycle (SDLC), including Prepared detailed program specifications

·         Research and propose applications and systems, presenting recommendations to higher management

·         Play key role in design and development activities to ensure software requirements were met Liaised with clients and vendors to resolve day-to-day problems and make process change

·         Participate in design analysis and pre- and post-installation reviews

·         Identifying options for potential solutions and assessing them for both technical and business suitability

·         Worked closely with developers and a variety of end users to ensure the project is on track

·         Ensuring that budgets are adhered to the project needs and make sure the deadlines are met

·         Worked with QA teams to make sure all aspects of the product are tested thoroughly

 

 

Project Manager/Team Lead

 

 

 

·         As a project Manager/Tech lead, worked with team from gathering business requirements to implementation.

·         Provided Technical expertise Installation and configuration of the complete OBIEE platform environment.

·         Worked with the team to come up with process improvements in all aspects of the project.

·         Worked with the team to build Answers, Dashboards and BI Publishers reports.

·         Use extensively IBM Rational Team Concert tool (RTC) to manage all aspects of the project, planning the project time lines, tasks, estimate the tasks and plan for the releases.

·         Worked with Business Groups to identify, analyze, and   document Business Requirements and convert them to technical requirements.

·         Gather requirements for GAP Analysis, translated them into technical design documents and Worked in making recommendations to close the GAP.

·         Involved in Prepared Design Specification documents based on functional requirements and also Involved in the preparation of Technical Design Documents.   

·         Involved with creating Star Schema.

·         Worked in Multiuser Development Environment (MUDE) Used Oracle BI Administration Tool. Migrated Analytics RPD and Web catalog from one environment to another.                   

·         Implemented the single sign on (Siteminder authentication).

·         Extensively Used BI Publisher to create custom reports and burst them to deliver the reports to the user Used BI Scheduler.

·         Installed and Configured OBIEE Unix/Linux Environment.    

·         Implement ETL for data load from Data warehouse to the Star Schema.

 

 

Citizens Bank ¡ Cranston, RI

 

Project Manager/Team Lead/Consultant

Dec2011–May2012

 

 

·         Provided Technical expertise Installation and configuration of the complete OBIEE platform environment.

·         Worked with the team to build Answers, Dashboards and BI Publishers reports

·         Worked with Business Groups to identify, analyze, and   document Business Requirements.

·         Gathered requirements for GAP Analysis, translated them into technical design documents and Worked in making recommendations to close the GAP.

·         Involved in Prepared Design Specification documents based on functional requirements and also Involved in the preparation of Technical Design Documents.   

·         Worked with Data Modeler to create the Metadata RPD and Worked in creating the necessary Subject Areas.

·         Involved with Database team in creating Star Schema.

·         Installed and Configured OBIEE Unix/Linux Environment.    

·         Worked in Multiuser Development Environment (MUDE) Used Oracle BI Administration Tool. Migrated Analytics RPD and Web catalog from one environment to another.                   

·         Implemented the single sign on (LDAP authentication).

·         Involved in setting up Ibots to run reports at scheduled time for Cache Seeding to Improve Query Performance Used Caching.

·         Extensively Used BI Publisher to create custom reports and burst them to deliver the reports to the user Used BI Scheduler.

 

Fidelity Investments ¡ Marlborough, MA

 

Principle Software Engineer and Developer

Feb 1998–Oct-2011

 

·         Provided support on various applications on Oracle Business Intelligence (BI) and Hyperion products and played an integral role in developing design and architecture setup of at least 10 servers with OBIEE analytics, as well as BI Publisher and Scheduler and four EMP - Hyperion System11 environments.

·         Demonstrate senior-level expertise in administering and assisting enterprise-focused initiatives required in Personal and Worked Place Investment group (PWI) wide reporting platforms, aimed to enhance and maximize effectiveness of enterprise business performance management systems.

·         Regularly monitor and check development efforts while moving code across environments. Deliver initiatives Worked on various tools, including Linux operating systems and ClearCase, Version Control.

·         Provided technical assistance and support to 10–15 various applications.

 

Highlights:

 

Major Projects:

 

Administrator, OBIEE (Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition 10.1.3.0)

 

·         Proficiently utilized Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition (OBIEE) as the recommended reporting and analytics (R&A) tool for PWI systems.

·         Involved in design, architecture of setting up OBI EE analytics, BI Publisher and BI Scheduler environments for PWI enterprise wide systems.

·         Rendered support to various environments, monitored the development efforts and moved the code across the environments.

 

Administrator, Oracle Enterprise Performance Management System – EPM - Hyperion System 11

·         Installed and set up several Oracle EPM environments for Hyperion reporting objects; and imposed enhancements such as authentication system.

·         Proficiently migrated Brio 8.3 to next version of Hyperion products for PWI systems.

·         Aided 40 clients in the installation, configuration, design and implementation of Oracle EPM Platform.

 

 

 

Education and Professional Development

 

Master of Business Administration in General Management: 2007

Clark University ▪ Worcester, MA, USA

 

Master in Computer Science and Mathematics

Padmavathi University, Tirupati India

 

Diploma in Computer Science Programming

Digital Corporation of India ▪ Hyderabad, India