FINTECH PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Worked for Dovetail Payments Systems 3.6 years and FIS (SEPA Instant) so have good knowledge of Fin Tech companies.

Bank of Tokyo (BTMU) – Delivery PM

Future Clearing Model  (2017)

  • Ran two technical dress rehearsals in regression environments to prepare for go live
  • Managed the go live over a week end in November 2017 from a command centre in BTMU Moorgate office
  • Managed change management resource to enable Tivoli reporting (creating system alerts) pre- cut over into production.
  • Met all gate artefact requirements at each phase (Initiate, Design, Build, Implement) to progress through to live with no outstanding issues

AMLD4 Data Remediation (2017)

  • BTMU were required via AMLD4 regulation to remove customer accounts that were dormant for more than 5 years.
  • I led a technical team of developers and testers advising third party FINSCAN to create scripts to purge data of customer accounts for all BTMU Europe branches. Remediation of production data was implemented in October 2017.
  • Third party management re budget and delivery of data purging scripts

Project Planning 

I had a clear plan supporting the delivery which development and test team helped to create collaboratively and thus bought into for FCM  (based on gated approach)

Stakeholder Management

  • A key subject matter expert was hostile to change – I managed by inter personal skills through re assurance, empathy, listening, communicating understanding back to SME plus status reporting and regular ad hoc communications.

Governance

  • Fortnightly reporting to director of Transaction Banking
  • Weekly status reports to programme manager based on team meetings with development, test and implementation teams

Budget Management

  • Via monitoring of time recording against planned spend (in man days)

 

Dovetail Payments Systems –

Client Facing Delivery PM 

JP Morgan

  • 2011 – Delivered Release R11 – 3 consisting of:
  • South Africa High Value clearing / Virtual Reference Numbers/ SEPA 2011 Rulebook changes/ Defect fix releases
  • 2012 – Delivered Release R12- R3 consisting of:
  • South Africa Direct Debits/Canada EDI /SEPA 2012 Rulebook changes/German EMZ Cheque Digit/Canada CPA Transaction Types/Defect fix releases
  • 2013 – Intesa San Paulo
  • SEDA/IP SDD /Defect fix releases
  • 2014 HSBC
  • Defect fix releases
  • How – via configuring of the existing product with time boxed delivery methodology.
  • Definition –Senior BA works with client to agree scope and functionality for the project or release. BRS (use cases) and Non Functional requirements’ defined and agreed with client – workshops and timelines managed by PM.
  • Design –Lead developer or TDA would write the Functional Specification identifying areas in the product requiring either to be changed or to be written from scratch Detailed Design documented ether at this stage or next stage, delivery and client sign off managed by PM.
  • Build & Test-Modules coded in java and unit tested via fortnightly SPRINTS, managed by PM.
  • Systems Acceptance Test –PM facilitates the onsite presentation of work done to date for the SAT showing by use case/business process screens are either amended or newly written to date for the project. Observations are made by client to be met by team pre SAT sign off and such will need agreement with BA.
  • Client Testing pre go live – Dovetail support of such-Client performs functional testing and UAT in pre-production environments.PM manages client relationship and provides defect fix releases pre go live – can take up to 8 weeks of client testing.
  • Implementation –PM act as go to person for s/w house and client to manage defect fix releases for any production incidents. Usually would involve managing a Dovetail team on site at client premises over a 2 week period. PM is key person in command centre scenario as s/w is utilised in production. PM role is also the go to guy in go live and post go live war room scenario.

 

Payments PM Role – Observations

  • PM – Key Responsibilities:
  • Delivery – Accountable for successful delivery of end to end solution.
  • Communication – Must have empathy for client perspective and permeate that throughout the delivery team drilling down to ensure clear understanding of the importance of such.
  • Planning – Ensure Payments SME’s have right input to shape the delivery so key milestones are realistic and can be managed
  • People Management– Ability to get people on board – ensure they are aligned with the project’s scope and schedule for delivery
  • Status Reporting – Have open communication both verbal and in writing whilst managing client expectations
  • Problem Management – Keep focused and calm under pressure whilst having the tenacity to drive through resolutions of issues and have ability to think laterally is there a different way to approach the solution? Clarify the business impact if difficult to resolve and discuss such with peers.
  • Overall –Manage people positively, engender a team spirit whilst accepting overall responsibility and be ready to escalate for help if absolutely no resolution can be found within the team.

Payments Systems and PM Attributes

  • Payments Systems Are:
  • Complex
  • Rich in functionality
  • Business Critical
  • With many layers and can be fragile when changes are made
  • Key attributes for Payments PM
  • Must have the gravitas to be accepted by the client
  • Must be flexible and responsive to client requirements whilst not committing to delivery without gaining buy in to delivery proposal internally within FinTech company
  • Is used to short delivery timescales
  • Have strong inter personal skills in order to communicate across different skill sets
  • Must ensure all are on same page re delivery
  • Ability to clarify any key risks or issues by asking potential impact of such and gaining agreement to resolution before they become showstoppers – the need to keep the train moving
  • Work with the client to ensure understanding of complex solutions – whether by identifying the need for product training for client test team or by suggesting client and s/w house provider SME’s work in collaboration to ensure required functionality is delivered in time