Senior Consultant at ECS

• Feb 2014 - Present

Founded in 2008, ECS has quickly established itself as a fast growing IT consultancy and services company for enterprise clients. With a relentless focus on service quality and delivery that customers trust and depend upon, the company has experienced rapid and profitable growth year-on-year. ECS clients receive outstanding service with a personal touch, blending a positive customer experience with the expertise and professionalism that delivers remarkable value to some of the biggest, most demanding and heavily regulated businesses. ECS provides services in the following areas: • Programme Delivery • End User Computing • IT Consultancy • Data Centre • IT Security • Networks We believe we are here to create more success for blue chip companies by providing the right strategic advice and access to experts that help plan, implement and run your IT infrastructure. Through our community of skilled professionals, you can extend your capability with the right technical people, project managers and analysts to run or work in your IT transformation and business change projects. ECS has over 300 employees, more than 500 associates and is headquartered in Glasgow, with offices in Edinburgh, Leeds, London and Pune. www.ecs.co.uk Show less

Contract Project Management Office

• Apr 2011 - Jan 2014

• Responsible for maintaining the milestones, project plans, risk and issues logs for both Transformation Releases and other projects ensuring they were accurate, highlighting any items that required action or escalation. • Created a finance pack for the senior stakeholder which is reviewed with them monthly. This was to help them manage their portfolio by giving them in one report, an overall view of their resource and finance positions. • Manage the reporting stream for the department which includes consolidating Project Status Reports and producing weekly dashboards, fortnightly PIB pack and input to the IT Project Dashboard • Supporting the Proposal Brief Assessment forum by maintaining the Work stack log, which tracks all new projects and change requests, and coordinating Impact Assessments of changes. Show less

Project Office Support Manager CIS, DIS Insurance

• Sep 2009 - Apr 2011

• Transformed the Insurance Delivery Unit, to using standard Technology Services (TS) processes and reports.• Carried out finance and project reviews to highlight material issues that require action or intervention.• Maintained the Spend Portfolio with an audit trail of all business cases and challenge variances to budget which improved from 52% Revex and 98% Capex in July to 2.5% Revex and 3.5% Capex in December 2010• Implemented an optimised service to the Delivery Unit Heads. Built, maintained and improved stakeholder’s relations. Show less

Project Office Manager Group and Group Finance

• Oct 2008 - Sep 2009

• Responsible for the financial control of all programmes/projects for Business as Usual and Integration.• Managed two financial budget rounds including management reviews and Risks and Opportunities. This was to se the budget for the rest six months• Produced the management report for the Delivery Unit Heads of the area, which was to help them manage their portfolio across the project by the required deadline • Delivered a substantial time saving replacing by automating the manual reporting that was being produced across Technology Services. Show less

Insurance Project Office Manager

• Dec 2007 - Oct 2008

• Responsible for the Insurance Programme Office providing support to the project community.• Conducted a strategic review of the Programme Office leading to streamlined/automated reports and removal or reallocation of tasks, which resulted in an annual saving of £150k a year.• Succeeded in establishing and maintaining a forward plan, and tracking the project portfolio against spend. • Organised quarterly contract renewal process involving all Project Manager and Technical Resources to the value 3.5 Million pounds a year. Show less

Governance and Development Manager

• Aug 2007 - Dec 2007

• Developed proposal on how Infrastructure Projects improves its compliance position.• Arranged pilot awareness session, which was run to raise the level of understanding of the compliance requirement for Projects. Feedback from the pilot session analyzed, and then rolled out across Infrastructure Projects. • Introduced a compliance section into the Project Managers Guide/People Managers Guide/ Induction Pack.• Submitted a proposal for Quality Assurance covering Infrastructure Projects. Show less

Programme Support Manager

• Mar 2007 - Aug 2007

• Led the Throughput engagement process in Infrastructure projects to deliver against the Throughput mission while ensuring a smooth transition to the Throughput model.• Provided “Relationship Management” service to stakeholders and those engaged in Throughput management. This was to help everybody understand the new process, what it meant to them and how to transition across to the new model.• Managed pilot projects selected to use the Throughput Management process. Directed management of issues identified to ensure issues & challenges were resolved. Show less

Business Manager

• Jun 2006 - Mar 2007

• Received recognition for Implementing Risk proposal in Infrastructure projects which led to a greater understanding of Risk Management across the Project community and a greater Risk appetite. • Developed a risk induction process, introduced Risk Committee’s and Boards to review the risk position across Infrastructure Projects. • Designed a Risk questionnaire for Infrastructure Projects. Feedback analyzed, training manual created.• Led the creation of the Risk accreditation process in Infrastructure Projects which everybody sat, passed, confirming people’s understanding of Project Risk and the part they played. Show less

Audit Risk Compliance Manager

• Jun 2005 - Jun 2006

• Introduced reporting on the position of audit, risk and compliance activity across Technology.• Established a Risk Champion Network to help embed a risk culture across the project community. • Wrote a proposal for Risk Management and the way ahead in Infrastructure Projects. This led to raising the awareness of Risk management across Infrastructure Projects.

Change Manager

• 1999 - 2005

• Managed a team of 15 staff split across two locations (Edinburgh and London)• Performed daily briefing to Senior Management on all change related issues over the next 24 hours.• Chaired the RBS Group Daily Change Board which addressed problem fixes and late project changes.

System Operations

• Oct 1988 - Jan 1999