Candidates About

Darrell Decker

Summary:

A results-driven Project Manager and Sr. Business Analyst with over ten years of experience in effectively managing business partner expectations, and consistently setting benchmarks by which future initiatives will be measured. Highly motivated, and keenly focused on driving enterprise-wide solutions. Adaptive to changing market conditions and emerging technologies. Demonstrated ability to provide leadership to diverse global teams, and deliver effective and profitable results.

Areas of Expertise:

Career History:

Sr. Business Analyst Project Manager                                                                                                                                           Jan. 2017 – Present

Credit Suisse

·         Strategic Project Manager and Sr. Business Analyst for COO Group IT, serving multiple business process owners across the organization. Active partnership with global IT teams to manage regulatory projects and governance initiatives.

·         Drove the adoption of SAFe Scaled Agile and Scrum practices. Achieved buy in from business partners to utilize tools such as JIRA and shift to an Agile mindset. Lead and coached teams of analysts and product owners.

·         Maintaining a portfolio of four concurrent projects, with a combined spend of over $3 million.

·         Managed cross-functional teams to launch COTS and custom designed web portals. Documented current state processes, analyzed gaps, and developed future state processes. Directed master data mapping and migration in Oracle PL/SQL and Microsoft SQL Server. Annual cost savings of $320,000 and the ability to efficiently implement future enhancements.

·         Develop product roadmaps and lead multiple Agile teams toward continuous improvement and integrated sprints to deliver enhancements to the organization’s contract management, budget reserves, and document library systems.

·         Serve as Product Owner and partner with stakeholders to refine and prioritize scope, user stories and groom the backlog.

·         Serve as Scrum Master to direct application development, production support, and testing teams; negotiate conflicting requirements; encourage collaboration between groups; and facilitate UAT with business end users.

·         Develop strategic plans and prioritize efforts based on factors such as estimated cost, potential variances, downstream business impact, risk, legal compliance, acceptance criteria, and adherence to a balanced scorecard.

·         Negotiate resource allocation; monitor costs, budget and risk in CA Clarity; author BRD, FRD and technical documents in Confluence; BPMN 2.0 process modeling and wireframe in Gliffy and Visio; presentations to managing directors and PMO.

Sr. Business Analyst Project Manager, Corporate Strategy PMO                                                                                        Mar. 2015 – Jan 2017

BMW of North America

• Project planning, execution and process governance for IT, Finance, Legal, Marketing, Sales, and Human Resources. Collaborated with teams in Europe and Asia, and served as a liaison between functions within the matrix organization.
• Facilitated Agile workshops and JAD sessions with subject matter experts and business process owners to elicit business and functional requirements, and translate into system specifications. Built, maintained, and prioritized the product backlog.
• Drove the initiative to implement a COTS vendor management system to recruit and manage contingent employees. Conducted RFP; negotiated contract; managed budget; coordinated deployment; and monitored stabilization and support.
• Championed continuous improvement efforts for the company’s auction practices resulting in a $5.2 million cost reduction. Managed resources from financial services, accounting operations, finance controlling, IT, and third-party vendors to re-engineer processes and enhance finance, transportation, sales and inventory EDI interfaces.
• Implemented two new financial entities into BMW Group’s SAP FICO and local HR systems. Managed internal and external application development teams, maintained stakeholder engagement, and defined accounting business rules. Designed test cases and managed UAT. Resulted in enhanced accounting processes and maintaining SOX compliance.

·         Leveraged relationships with third-party vendors and enterprise security partners, and served as Agile Product Owner for initiatives such as cloud-based tax compliance engine; automated freight auditing and payment; and contract management systems for the US and Canada. Ensured business readiness and closely managed all go-live activities.

·         Developed Agile best practices, presented prototypes to business end users, and provided guidance on program direction.

• Managed strategic delivery plans; monitored program level KPI; develop Agile best practices; design wireframes, mock-ups, BPMN 2.0 and UML process modeling; develop technical documents; facilitate presentations to the executive committee.

Business Analyst Product Owner, Supply Chain Management                                                                                              Oct. 2014 – Mar. 2015

Mercedes-Benz USA

·         Assessed business needs, performed gap analysis, and designed tools to analyze metrics on key performance indicators; service level agreements; logistics and distribution activity; sales and demand forecasting, and operational management.

·         Built the product backlog and lead planning, management, and prioritization of enhancements to the company’s ERP and reporting systems such as SAP, Cognos, Business Objects, Oracle, Siebel, and custom-built CRM applications.

·         Managed material master data and product life cycle information, and maintained dealer parts pricing for regional distribution centers based on demand and availability.

·         Planned, developed, and implemented solutions to address challenges faced by west-coast distribution centers and ports. Cost avoidance of $2 million, increased net promoter scores and the ability to maintain service level agreements.

Sr. Business Analyst Project Manager, Finance Systems                                                                                                            Jul. 2014 – Oct. 2014  

Sterling National Bank

·         Utilized AS/400, JDE, BPCS, and SQL to perform systems analysis and serve as Test Manager for a COTS Fiserv deployment.

·         Lead initiatives to perform end-to-end analysis of risk, profitability, covenants, and approval conditions for all commercial lending and mortgage business.

·         Managed user acceptance testing and release planning.

·         Guided and coached junior team members, designed dashboard reporting and QA and user acceptance testing.

Business Analyst, Compliance and Risk Management                                                                                                Jan. 2014 – Jul. 2014

Nice Pak Products Inc. / PDI

• Conducted analysis of all regulatory compliance, quality assurance and corporate risk concerns. Performed risk assessment, developed investigation reports, closure documentation, and standard operating procedures.
• Ensured current good manufacturing processes; conducted root cause investigations; analyzed health and safety data; implemented Corrective Actions and Preventative Actions and applied the data toward the goal of increasing sales.
• Investigated the failure rate affecting two of the company’s product lines. Performed quantitative analysis and market research to discover the extent of the fault. Conducted site visits to the manufacturing facility, interviewed affected users, authored work instructions, advised on pricing setup, and proposed equitable solutions for management to consider.

Sr. Business Analyst Project Manager                                                                                                                                         Jan. 2005 – Dec. 2012

Jaguar Land Rover North America

• Full SDLC management of all after sales IT business processes, in addition to enhancements to the productivity of North American operations. Developed and managed budget plans, process and cost controlling, and strategic direction.
• Managed a team of six IT analysts serving accounts payable, tax management, auction coordination, and marketing.
• Lead the implementation of enhanced marketing and communication initiatives focused on North American consumers and retail partners. Defined key success factors and identified opportunities to achieve actionable results.
• Lead initiatives with regional management staff, the legal team and in-house general counsel to implement continuous improvement measures to reduce litigation expenditures related to vehicle faults and attorney demands for relief under the Magnuson–Moss Warranty Act. Resulted in an average cost avoidance of $1 million per year.
• Creation and deployment of IT solutions to analyze throughput and monitor the costs associated with Lemon Law buyback vehicles. Enhanced the productivity of vehicle reconditioning and transport and reduced average annual costs by $2 million.
• Developed process enhancements to receive an average sales tax reimbursement of $200,000 per year.
• Conducted workshops and interviews with business stakeholders and subject matter experts to document requirements, use cases, and acceptance criteria for CRM enhancements. This data served as the foundation for test scripts and scenarios.
• Collaborated closely with resources at J.D. Power to enhance and manage the company’s net promoter scores.
• Achieved Six Sigma Black Belt and ISO 9001 certification. 
• Developed ISO 9001-compliant Standard Operating Procedures, Work Instructions and Quality Manuals.
• Developed process and training standards for use throughout the matrix organization. Contributed to an increase in sales of parts, accessories, and service and warranty contracts, an increased Net Promoter Score, and reduction of waste.

Other Experience:     

Corporate Training and Development Lead – AT&T Wireless

Certification and Education:           

Project Management Professional (PMI-PMP)

SAFe Agilist - Scaled Agile Framework 4.0

Scrum Master

Risk Management

Rutgers University – Project Management