Zahra Ahmad, IT Project Manager

Zahra Ahmad

IT Project Manager

CENTRIC CONSULTING

Location
United States - Plainfield
Education
Bachelor's degree, Information & Decision Sciences
Experience
12 years, 5 Months

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Work Experience

Total years of experience :12 years, 5 Months

IT Project Manager at CENTRIC CONSULTING
  • United States - Chicago Loop
  • My current job since January 2022

o Developed cross functional project plans o Maintained project plans, budget estimates, forecasts and status reports o Used project management tools to track project performance and schedule adherence by vendors o Coordinated the development of documentation to enable implementation and turnover of the process of system o Coordinated change requests o Coordinated with stakeholders such as project personnel, vendors, and business-users
regarding project requirements

Project Manager & Product/Application Development at Zinnova Inc.
  • United States - Plainfield
  • May 2018 to January 2022

Multiple Projects:
• Website and Mobile App Development-
• Performed Product owner responsibilities- Application requirement gathering, translating them to into user stories for development team
• Main point of contact for both Business and development teams
• Working with ofshore team on application development
• Performing all on-shore Project Management duties for a startup company
• Process Improvement and Development
• Consulted with Business side to capture Current Process and mapped the current process using Visio
• Recommended Future State process
• Developed and implemented new Technical Solution using ofice 365 platform- MS Flow, MS Planner etc.

Project Manager Channel Development (Consultant) at Apics
  • United States - Rosemont
  • February 2018 to April 2018

• Designed and developed analytical reports for APICS Certification sales using Power BI
• Performed Market research and analyzed the data using Power BI to create product pricing structure and support market penetration strategy
• Developed Project plan, RACI and a kickof deck for a new global product development project
• Performed analysis on the current New Partner onboarding process, created process flow diagrams using Visio
• Mapped and documented the as-is state and suggested process improvements for Future state

Product Strategy Management Consultant at Strive Consulting
  • United States - Chicago Loop
  • June 2017 to June 2017

• Developed/Defined Strategy framework
• Developed Concept/Product Tracker
• Created product Needs & Features Document (product development requirements)
• Created repeatable due diligence process to enable clients to eficiently identify, assess and
integrate potential acquisition targets
• Designed and delivered structured and measurable sales processes for clients including operating model, roles, responsibilities, supporting technology, metrics and reporting
• Conducted CRM software selection, mapped out CRM tool design and reporting, created
implementation plan, metrics and key milestones
• Managed firm marketing including website content, analytics, email marketing campaigns and case study development to support sales eforts
• Created, tacked and followed up on Action Items
• Created RAID analysis to monitor Risks and issues and their dependencies.

Supplier/Vendor Manager/ Project Lead at McDonald's Corporation
  • United States - Illinois
  • May 2015 to May 2017

• Acted as a point of contact for both internal/external supplier related issues and escalations.
• Facilitated daily /weekly/monthly project meetings/calls with multiple vendors/suppliers.
• Maintained business relationship between McDonalds and its IT Hardware suppliers
• Collected operations data from and created reports detailing trends, risks and determined recurring business needs and helped suppliers maintain necessary inventory levels.
• Performed in-depth analysis on hardware assets and pricing data for inventory cost efficiency and savings.
• Defined, created and managed project plan, scope, and project tracking, analyzed risks of assigned projects.
• Created flow charts/diagrams and RACI for assigned projects
• Executed Process Improvement project for supplier inventory management and reporting.
• Defined/reviewed current process, reports and data; identified reporting redundancies and developed new and efficient reporting structure/process.
• Developed initiative based reporting templates and dashboards.

Project Lead/Supplier Manager (Consultant) at McDonald’s Corporation
  • United States - Oak Brook
  • May 2015 to May 2017

• Maintained business relationship between McDonalds and its POS IT Hardware technology suppliers by
• Facilitated daily Standups/weekly/monthly retrospective meetings/calls with multiple suppliers
• Acted as a point of contact for both internal/external supplier related issues and escalations.
• Performed in-depth analysis on hardware assets and pricing data for inventory and cost eficiency and savings
• Defined/reviewed current process, reports, and data; identified reporting redundancies and
developed new and eficient
reporting structure/process.
• Executed Process Improvement project for supplier inventory management and reporting
• Analyzed current reports Design and developed reporting templates and dashboards.

Application Development/Jr. Project Manager (Consultant) at McDonald’s Corporation
  • United States - Oak Brook
  • October 2013 to November 2014

• Process Development Project-new Asset Intake, - Analyzed existing process; identified gaps, areas of improvement, documented current state and gather requirements for the future state.
• Defined and Created project plan, data flow diagrams and developed RACI.
• Created documentation- templates for reporting and data gathering and identified areas for
improvement.
• Developed user guides for non-technical people.
• Developed inventory tracking/reporting system- created vendor inventory templates and various
reporting templates and dashboards for senior management review.

Business Analyst/Project Coordinator (Solicits Consultant) at Northern Trus
  • United States - Chicago Loop
  • January 2013 to June 2013

• Supported the following PMO processes: Intake and evaluation, prioritization, portfolio roadmap planning, resource management, monthly status report and excel analysis.
• Performed and presented analysis of various data sets
• Analyzed data using Pivot tables, charts and graphs.
• Created project performance and tracking dashboards
• Program/Project Coordinating activities: Program Status updating from multiple work streams
(Project Managers), project tracking metrics, project planning, RACI updates and maintained
weekly action item and risks/issues log.
• Developed automatic letter generator tool- excel VBA based
• Created and maintained: issues and risks log for letter generator tool, testing and QA scenarios and end user step-by step guide.

Management Consultant/Strategic Sourcing Analyst (WBME Consultant) at Accenture
  • United States - Chicago Loop
  • May 2012 to September 2012

research
• Created analytical reports presenting cost savings levers based on the industry benchmarks
• Vendor Evaluation and Selection
• Procurement proposal development
• Developed RFP using business objectives, scope definitions & baseline data
• Identified vendors capable of meeting RFP requirements
• Managed vendor due diligence inspections
• Evaluated bids for cost/benefit and cultural/organizational compatibility
• Recommended vendor

Project Manager at Xtreme InfoSys
  • United States - Plainfield
  • June 2010 to April 2012

• Virtual Team management- managed ofshore teams.
• Managed project administrative activities for multiple projects-requirements gathering, planning and recourse allocation.
• Worked closely and interactively with the client as primary point of contact and a liaison between the development team and the client.
• Used Scrum/Agile methodology for web site development projects.
• Sprint planning, facilitated daily standups and sprint review

Education

Bachelor's degree, Information & Decision Sciences
  • at University of Illinois
  • May 2012

University of Illinois, Chicago, IL June 2008 - May 2012 Bachelor of Science, Information & Decision Sciences (IDS)

Specialties & Skills

Data Analysis
Microsoft Excel
MS Project
Analysis Tools
Strategic Sourcing
MANAGEMENT
PROJECT MANAGEMENT
AGILE METHODOLOGY
AGILE SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT
INVENTORY MANAGEMENT
TEMPLATES
PROJECT PLANNING
MOBILE APP
PROCESS DEVELOPMENT
SCRUM (SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT)
ADMINISTRATIVE TASKS
DATA ANALYST
DATA ENTRY
DATABASE
DOCUMENTING
FEASIBILITY
OFFICE ADMINISTRATIVE
OFFICE ADMINISTRATOR
PROJECT PLANS

Languages

English
Expert

Training and Certifications

Certified Scrum Master (Certificate)
Date Attended:
September 2014
Valid Until:
September 2018
Scrum Master (Training)
Training Institute:
Scrum Alliance
Date Attended:
September 2014
Duration:
16 hours

Hobbies

  • Traveling