PROFESSIONAL SUMMARY

Experienced Business Analyst, passionate about the Agile methodology and creating a team culture that values results, inclusion, and positive energy.

SKILLS / COMPETENCIES

WORK EXPERIENCE

Wellmark, Des Moines IA
Business Systems Analyst, July 2019-present

• Acted as Scrum Master for a development team.
• Worked closely with Product Owner and various project teams to determine project scope and high-level requirements.
• Organized and facilitated requirement gathering sessions, kick off meetings, and user story building sessions with stakeholders and developers.
• Developed Gherkin user stories for developers and testers.
• Worked closely with a development team to ensure work met technical business needs and target dates.
• Communicated changes in scope to impacted areas.
• Managed work using Azure DevOps and Modern Requirements.

Berkley Technology Services, Urbandale, IA
Business Analyst, October 2017-June 2019

• Developed Gherkin user stories for developers, based on requests from business partners.
• Worked closely with a development team to ensure that completed work met business needs.
• Organized and facilitated requirement gathering sessions, project kick-off meetings, and user story building sessions with project stakeholders and developers.
• Created project artifacts as needed, including context diagrams, use cases, user story maps, etc.
• Acted as primary quality assurance analyst on Agile team. Developed test plans and acceptance criteria for each chunk of work in form of acceptance criteria, and then tested each story against the AC before changes were passed to higher environment.
• Acted as backup for scrum master, leading planning sessions and retro¬spec-tive meetings as needed and providing status updates to cross-scrum team.
• Managed work using JIRA and Confluence.

Nationwide, Des Moines, IA
Requirements Analyst Consultant, May 2016 – October 2017

• Interpreted project-level business requirements for developers.
• Wrote user stories using the Gherkin method.
• Used RRC and RTC to track requirements.

SHAZAM Technical Communication, Des Moines, IA
Senior Technical Writer, March 2012 – April 2016

• Developed documentation plans for multiple projects based on project requirements.
• Wrote technical manuals for client financial institutions using Adobe FrameMaker.
• Created customer-facing forms using Adobe Acrobat. Developed a form template and style guide to create efficiencies in all customer-facing forms.
• Wrote articles for Spotlight on Service, an award-winning newsletter of educational articles directed to operations staff at financial institutions.
• Managed gathering, definition, and analysis of documentation project requirements.
• Managed communicating to SHAZAM’s customers regarding regulatory requirements.
• Updated document library website using Adobe Dreamweaver.
• Created an online help system using RoboHelp.
• Closely collaborated with PMO and participated in project team meetings to make sure that artifacts and milestones were completed in a timely and accurate manner

Ames Laboratory, Ames, IA
Editor/Technical Writer, August 2010 – March 2012

• Edited journal articles, governmental progress reports, grant proposals, and other technical documents.
• Created and updated content for departmental website (using WordPress).
• Created and maintained departmental content management system (using Drupal).
• Assisted with planning and execution of the ETHOS conference in Seattle.

ITS SHAZAM, Des Moines, IA
Business Analyst, April 2009 – August 2010

• Conducted interviews with SMEs to solicit business needs for coding processes/procedures.
• Compiled, analyzed business processes to determine best solutions to achieve project objectives.
• Created reports and diagrams to communicate needed changes to project members, including use case diagrams, activity diagrams, data models, and process maps.
• Designed screen mockups for ATM and web user interfaces.

SHAZAM Technical Communication, Des Moines, IA
Technical Writer, October 2005-April 2009

• Wrote articles for Spotlight on Service, an award-winning newsletter of educational articles directed to operations staff at financial institutions.
• Laid out monthly newsletter issues with Adobe InDesign.
• Wrote/edited technical manuals for client financial institutions.
• Interviewed subject matter experts from diverse departments, gathering detailed and complex information regarding products, then wrote clear, usable documents and instructional materials about a variety of emerging software technologies.
• Wrote and published documents to SHAZAM’s intranet, a database-driven content management system (using Plone); served as assistant to the intranet administrator.
• Wrote and edited an online help system using RoboHelp.
• Wrote a company-wide weekly email newsletter. Edited drafts written by colleagues to improve their clarity and conciseness.
• Collaborated with printers about scheduling, costs, paper, proofs, process (four-color) color management, and graphic images.
• Created instructional videos for employees using Adobe Captivate.

EDUCATION

Grand View College, Des Moines, IA May 2005
Bachelor of Arts in English, with an emphasis on writing. 3.78 GPA.

PROFESSIONAL SERVICE

• Member, IIBA Central Iowa Chapter
• Communications Director, STC Central Iowa Chapter July 2009 – July 2011
  Maintained the nonprofit professional society’s content management system (website).
  Added events and new items to the site.