Project Manager

The goal of the Application Readiness Team is to manage, facilitate, track and report on the full scope of preparing all applications (called Application Readiness) and Microsoft Office files for the Windows 7/Office 2010 Merge deployment. The full scope of Application Readiness includes coordinating, installing, and testing applications on lab PCs, and coordinating either remediation (including packaging as required), or mitigation of applications.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

- Application Compatibility Testing
- Coordinating all application compatibility testing activities by working with IT application coordinators (for IT applications) and business client liaisons (for business applications), as well as directly with IT operations support personnel and business testers as needed
- Managing the Windows 7 test lab computers to support the remainder of Application Compatibility Testing, for those applications that have not yet been tested or require additional rounds of testing
- Understanding and following the project's defined Test Strategy, and revising it as needed
- Working with the enterprise QA Group to manage, status and progress all test activities in HP Quality Center
- Ensuring test plans and test cases are quality and are uploaded to HP Quality Center; Assisting testers with documenting their test results in HP Quality Center
- Assisting testers with installing applications on test lab PCs and locating installation discs or files
- Managing the test lab environments, including re-imaging test machines as needed, assisting application owners to install applications, and preparing testers' user IDs and security access as required prior to their scheduled testing time
- Scheduling testers to test; Guiding testers through the testing process to ensure adequate test cases of high quality are executed, and assisting testers with documenting test results in HP Quality Center Application Readiness Life cycle Management (including Communications, Reporting, Information Gathering)
- Updating, maintaining and analysing the application inventory, Deployment Tool and other related data to determine the following: applications left to test and scheduling testers to test; which applications need to be tested in second round testing (which includes multiple-application testing), and coordinating that testing; applications requiring packaging; applications requiring remediation vs. mitigation, etc.
- Communicating to IT resources (oral and written) as well as to business users (who may not be technical) about the status of the overall deployment project.
- Reporting application readiness statuses on a weekly basis to internal and external team members. Such reporting includes publishing reports and presentations on Defect Management, Test Progress, Test Metrics, as well as Application Readiness Status (through the Remediation and Mitigation life cycles).
- Updating the Deployment Tool with the current compatibility testing status for each application, documenting changes, and providing summary status
- Resolving, escalating and coordinating technical issues encountered during testing due to the complexity of testing across the domain trust, as well as issues related to applications requiring ODBC connections, and applications residing on Citrix that need to communicate to impacted functions, such as Office 2010, and any other technical issues.
- Communicating technical solutions to the resource(s) responsible for the remediation of applications
- Comparing application portfolios to identify opportunities for application consolidation and report back to application product centers
- Providing guidance and look for opportunities for automation and process improvement
- Gathering and documenting applications' security requirements as needed from the application SMEs
- Gathering and documenting relevant information regarding applications as needed
- Analyzing the application inventory, Deployment Tool and other data points to determine which applications need to be tested in second round testing (which includes multiple-application testing), and coordinating that testing.
- Analyzing various data points to determine priorities for application readiness life cycle activities, based on opening up deployments first to the largest user groups possible
- Documenting installation procedures for applications and communicating such procedures to the Deployment Team Microsoft Office File Readiness
- Documenting conversion issues that may be encountered during Office 2003-Office 2010 compatibility testing
- Working with end users to help them remediate Microsoft Office files as required. These issues may range from low complexity (such as formatting) to high complexity (such as VBA code, macros, Excel formulae, Pivot tables, Access databases). Office files include Microsoft, Excel, PowerPoint, Access, Project, Publisher and Visio.
- Documenting issues encountered and solutions implemented and storing documents in a knowledge base for others to reference. Teaching end users how to remediate files themselves when they encounter similar issues.

SKILLS:

- Knowledgeable and proficient in all aspects of the project management Body of Knowledge.
- Experience successfully managing projects and be able to cite practical examples of this including example deliverables.
- Experience with Microsoft Project is required.
- High energy, detail oriented individual who will demonstrate: high calibre communication, leadership and people skills; strong organizational skills; and the ability to successfully initiate, track, report and close projects.
- Ability to collaborate and coordinate activities with diverse groups, including stakeholders, sponsors, team leads, other project managers, and technical staff; a strong process orientation including producing high quality documentation artifacts; and a sound working understanding of IT concepts and the IT design
- Understanding application and desktop compatibility issues;
- Understanding application security authentication (particularly Active Directory); Experience with HP Quality Center;
- Analytical skills
- Ability to develop and manage to processes.
- Application Testing
- PMI (Project Management Institute) certification as a PMP (Project Management Professional) is preferred.