Walid Abu Samaha,  CEO, Founder, Partner

Walid Abu Samaha

CEO, Founder, Partner

Smart Start Center

Location
Jordan
Education
Diploma, Software Programming
Experience
28 years, 5 Months

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Work Experience

Total years of experience :28 years, 5 Months

CEO, Founder, Partner at Smart Start Center
  • Jordan - Amman
  • My current job since September 2021

• Starting up a new family business.
• Building the business Strategy Plan and pursuing strategic goals and objectives.
• Building the business identity, including website and social pages.
• Building business partnership.
• Identify and develop business products.
• Website: www.ss.center.

Senior PMO Officer at NATCO
  • Saudi Arabia - Riyadh
  • My current job since April 2020

• Outsourced to the Agricultural Development Fund (ADF) in Saudi Arabia.
• Operating IT PMO, by providing required PM Methodology and Templates.
• Encourage Vendor's Project Managers and ADF's Project Managers using that methodology and templates.
• Leverages ADF IT Department Project Management Maturity by provide Project Management standards and PM Training.
• Performing Quality Assurance activities on IT Projects.
• RFP Preparation and Development:
• Business Requirements and Technical Specifications development.

Business and Digital Transformation Consultant at Ar’rab Consulting Co.
  • Saudi Arabia - Riyadh
  • January 2020 to March 2020

• Outsourced to the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources in Saudi Arabia.
• RFP Preparation and Development:
o Business Requirements and Technical Specifications development for the following business modules (Content Management System, Correspondence Management System, Archiving System, Documentation and Archives Center, Modules Integration).
• Digital Transformation Consultation:
o Analyzing, designing, and documentation for the digital transformation approach targeting ministry's service operational departments.
o The service operational departments covered in the development are: Inventory Department, Transportation Services Department, Security and Safety Services Department, Facilities Services Department.

Strategy Cascading Consultant at Ar’rab Consulting Co.
  • Saudi Arabia - Riyadh
  • September 2019 to December 2019

• Outsourced to the National Housing Company in Saudi Arabia.
• Working in a Strategic Planning project for one of the Saudi Governmental Sectors.
• Helping departments cascading their objectives with the organization strategy, by building department's strategy map, KPIs and Development Initiatives.

Lead of Technical Delivery at Electronic Company for High Technology (ALIA ICT)
  • Saudi Arabia - Riyadh
  • November 2017 to October 2018

Responsible for delivering projects and services deliverables to client based on expected Quality.
• Managing the following sections (Projects and Services)
• One of the company’s product Section.
• AX ERP Section.
• Infra Structure Section.
• Collaborating with the Sales and Marketing Departing building financial and technical proposals along with Contracts drafting.
• Driving the department process development and re-engineering.
* Project Management.
* Service Operation Management.
* SLA and Contract.
* Technical Documentation.
* Scrum Process.
* Projects UATs.
• Managing Stakeholders Communication.

Senior Project Manager and PM Consultant at Electronic Company for High Technology (HighTech)
  • Saudi Arabia - Riyadh
  • October 2016 to October 2017

Currently outsourced to the Ministry of Labor and Development (MLSD) / Saudi Arabia:
• Reporting to the PMO Manager.
• Currently managing the following projects:
Project Name Brief Cost status
1. EPM 2016 Upgrade project • Upgrade and customize current Microsoft EPM site with the current ministry’s requirements and standard.
• The contract is executed by a vendor. Around 2.5 Millions Closing
2. Others • There are currently other project which are under initiation Initiation

Infrastructure Project Manager, Infrastructure Portfolio Supervisor at Saudi Ports Authority
  • Saudi Arabia - Riyadh
  • November 2012 to October 2016

Reporting directly to the PMO manager, after completing its implementation for the PMO office setup, Saudi Ports Authority (IT Department) has hired me joining it's team for managing and operating it's PMO office:
• Projects that I've directly managed as a Project Manager
Project Name Brief Cost status
1. Two ports Infrastructure Upgrading •
* Upgrading each port internal network, and connecting their building with their main management building through fiber optics network.
* Project Budget is: 17 Millions
* Project Status: Successfully closed.
2. WAN and Internet Performance Optimization •
* Optimizing the entire Ports Authority LAN, WAN and Internet performance and security by installing and implementing Avaya, Bluecoat, Riverbed and Juniper systems.
* The project covers the main department in Riyadh and 10 distributed branches/ports.
* Project Budget is: 14 Millions.
* Project Status: Successfully closed.
3. Back-End Hardware and Software Upgrade and Implementation.
* Upgrading and Implementation for the Ports Authority central business applications and database servers.
* Project Budget is: 13 Millions
* Project Status: Successfully closed.

• Projects that I've directed as an Infrastructure Portfolio Supervisor
1. WAN Lines Optimization
* Optimizing organization's WAN by providing the optimal network lines and speed.
* Project Budget is 1.8 Millions
* Project Status: Successfully closed.
2. WAN Lines Optimization
* Optimizing organization's WAN by upgrading current network lines and speed.
* Project Budget is 16.8 Millions
* Project Status: Successfully closed.

• Maintenance Contracts that I've directed during SLA preparation
Contract Description
1. IT Datacenter Fire Alarm and CCTV Maintenance
2. IT Datacenter Disaster Recovery
3. Two organization sites infrastructure upgrading

• PMO role and responsibilities (Which was extensive during the of the PMO launching period)
o With the cooperation of the PMO manager and PMO team members, we were able to increase PMO office presence by following certain communication policies and strategies.
o Supervising and observation (Program) projects performance, by providing the required support, auditing and meeting with the native project manager, team members and supplier’s project manager.
o Auditing and approving supplier’s project plan.
o Reviewing project deliverables.
o Increasing project managers awareness on PMI standards
o Training project managers and team members on the following:
 Customized Project Management Processes.
 Using Microsoft Project Professional integrated with Microsoft EPM.
o Training PMO operators on using PMO Processes.
o Participate into projects procurement and contract awarding processes:
 Attending bidders presentation during evaluation
 Participating with my team on the creation of the Internal Bidders Evaluation reports.
• I have been able to look at the Saudi Projects initiating processes (reviewing RFP documents and the project management requirements).
Improving the Organizational Processes Assets, by defining and designing project management customized processes, templates (Charter, Schedule plan, WBS Dictionary, Quality Plan, RTM, RBS and Levels of escalation, Checklists and Test Cases, Progress Report, Change Request, Delivery Note, Project Closure Report and Project Closure Statement templates) and project governance.

PM Consultant, EPM Project Manager at Method Corp.
  • Saudi Arabia - Riyadh
  • February 2011 to June 2012

After implementing PMO office and the installation of EPM system into one of its clients in Saudi Arabia, I was nominated to manage the going life phase of that project.
• The project that I worked on is:
o PMO and EPM Implementation Project.
o Manage and control the project deliverables.
o Completing the Hans-on support period for the project successfully by:
 Operating the EPM project scheduling.
 Operating PMO operations (users’ quality of inputs).
 Deliver the PMO Project Evaluation document.
 Deliver the PMO Sustainability Plan.
 Deliver the PMO Setup Project Closure Report.
o I have covered 96 hours training end users using Enterprise Project Management (EPM) and Project Management best practice based on PMI within one year.
o I was able to operate client’s PMO:
 Reviewing and refining Project Schedule Template.
 Reviewing and refining the predefined PM Lifecycle and PM Processes.
 Reviewing and refining the PM documents template.
 Training end users on using EPM based on the predefined Project Schedule Template, PM Lifecycle and PM Processes.
 Training end users on using SharePoint, where document management system is designed to run the collaboration between team members during dealing with project documents.
 Running some of the PMO auditing processes:
• EPM Troubleshooting.
• Project Plan Health Check.
• Project Risk Health.
• Project Changes Health Check.
• Check Active/Inactive Projects.
• Check no show Projects.
• Check Projects Update.
• The training courses that I have attended through Method:
o PMP Online Training.
o Microsoft Project Based on PMI Best Practices.

Project Technical Team Leader at esense
  • Jordan - Amman
  • July 2008 to May 2010

Developing the projects implementation schedule. Reviewing and validating customer's requirement. Coordinating with client’s stakeholders for collecting and analyzing project needs and progress to ensure their satisfaction. Plan daily, weekly, and monthly development related activities during the project. Organize work schedules based on priorities. Control resources as per work requirements. Monitor resources and performance of the team. Act as liaison between the project managers and the software developers. Ensure quality from the development team by conducting smoke testing for their deliverables per development task. Collaborate with Users Interface team to review, develop and refine solutions. Sometimes produce rapid prototypes for the project. Propose and finalize the database design with collaboration with the DBA. Lead the software development efforts through determine the required tasks and their estimation, assigning those tasks to the team members, and following up those tasks progress. Provide project manager with estimations. Coordinate with the quality team to prepare release notes.
• The projects that I worked on as TTL are:
o Protocol Management System.
o User Management System.
o Banqueting Management System.
• The training courses that I have attended through esense:
o Communication Skills.
o English Courses (I reached grade 6A).
o Project Management Crash Course.
o Certified Manager (2 courses).

Software Project Manager at ElAjou Group Saudi Arabia (2nd employment with the same company)
  • Saudi Arabia - Riyadh
  • January 2004 to July 2008

Writing Project Solution Concept. Implementing Project Plan by using MS Project Professional. Building stakeholders register. Arranging the SDLS stages kickoff meetings. Preparing SDLS stages outputs. Project Requirements collecting and analyzing. Managing and controlling System Implementation. Project closing by obtaining required stakeholders approvals. Publishing projects documentation.
• Project that I’ve managed and implemented:
o OpenText (Hummingbird) DMS.
o RightFax -Electronic Centralized Fax Server.
o Human Resources Management System.
o Leading PeopleSoft/JDE Application Developer team on implementing ERP reports.
o Maintaining an old Client/Server application called QuotationBuilder (The system was developed by me in the late 2002...See below).

System Analyst & Senior Software Developer at New Era Technology
  • Saudi Arabia - Riyadh
  • August 2003 to December 2003

• Projects that I was in:
o Real Estate Management System.
o Some tools for updating the client’s database structure.
o Components writer.

Project Manager and System Analyst at Analyst House (old Borland ME)
  • Saudi Arabia
  • February 2002 to July 2003

Based on Agile methodology, Maintaining and implementing S.A. MOI (Ministry Of Interior) software projects, by directly contacting high management to collect and approve their requirements. Implementing Project Plan by using MS Project Professional. Converting client requirements into GUI by providing an advanced Design Documents. Managing and Controlling team activities by following unit testing. Getting client approval into product deliveries.
Senior Software Developer
• Projects that I’ve implemented:
o Data Migration between MOI branches.
o MOI Budget Management System.
o Documents Tracking System.
o Electronic Archiving System.
o b-to-b Integration.

Project Implementer and Senior Software Developer at El-Ajou Group
  • Saudi Arabia - Riyadh
  • July 2000 to March 2002

• Project that I’ve managed and implemented:
o Client/Server application called QuotationBuilder.
* Certification has been awarded to me from ElAjou Group after the delivering the software.
o An application that will preview data from the proxy log file.
o Building a new Delphi developers team, by supporting junior programmers with Delphi courses.

Senior Developer and team leader at Integrated Technology Group
  • Jordan - Amman
  • October 1998 to June 2000

• Project that I’ve managed and implemented:
o Client/Server desktop application called SoftwareMaster.
o A wizard to convert SMvI database to SMvII.

System analyst / Programmer at Petra Electronic Amman
  • Jordan
  • February 1994 to September 1998

1. Local DBMS / desktop application called Quotation Builder, using Paradox DBMS & Delphi3, It was to help my company to create quotations to customers.
2. Local DBMS / desktop application for handling the company’s dealer’s transactions from the accounting perspective (using FoxPro).

Education

Diploma, Software Programming
  • at Arabs Community College
  • June 1993

Specialties & Skills

Web Services XML/SOAP
OO Concepts
ASP.Net
MS Visio
MS Project
SDLS (Software Dev. Life Cycle)
Content Management System (CMS)
Web Development
Agile SDLC
PMI Standards
HR System
Distribution Management System

Languages

English
Intermediate
Arabic
Intermediate

Training and Certifications

Certificate of completion the Project Management Professional (PMP) Exam Preparation Course (36 h./f (Training)
Training Institute:
Method Corp.
Date Attended:
August 2011
PMI RMP Online Training (40 h./filling the PMP-PDU hours) (Training)
Training Institute:
Simplilearn Solutions Pvt. Ltd.
Date Attended:
October 2013
- (Training)
Training Institute:
Microsoft
Date Attended:
March 2010
Certified Manager (2 courses) (Training)
Training Institute:
esense Software Co.
Date Attended:
August 2009
Certificate of completion the Project Management Professional and PMO Exam Preparation (36 h./prepar (Training)
Training Institute:
Change Consultant Training
Date Attended:
May 2010
Design Application, Deployment Modifications, Report Writer Training, Advanced Tools, System Admin (Training)
Training Institute:
El-Ajou
Date Attended:
January 2004
- (Training)
Training Institute:
Microsoft
Date Attended:
February 2010
PMI RMP Online Training (40 h./filling the PMP-PDU hours) (Training)
Training Institute:
PYZDEK INSTITUTE
Date Attended:
February 2013
Personal Stady (Training)
Training Institute:
Microsoft
Date Attended:
January 2010
Communication Skills (Training)
Training Institute:
esense Software Co.
Date Attended:
January 2009
PMP Certificate (Training)
Training Institute:
PMP Certificate
Date Attended:
October 2010
Cources (Training)
Training Institute:
Microsoft Project Based on PMI Best Practices
Date Attended:
July 2011

Hobbies

  • Reading
  • Software Development
  • Swimming
  • Lecturing
  • Hiking